ON THE SIGNS OF THE SEASONS IN RURAL PURSUITS.
"Our forefathers probably paid more attention to the periodical occurrences of Nature, as guides for direction in their domestic and rural occupations, than we of the present day are accustomed to do. They seem to have referred to the Book of Nature more frequently and regularly than to the almanack. Whether it were, that the one being always open before them, was ready for reference, and not the other, certain it is, that they attended to the signs of the seasons, and regarded certain natural occurrences as indicating, and reminding them of, the proper time for commencing a variety of affairs in common life.
The time was (perhaps it is not yet gone by), when no good housewife would think of brewing when the beans were in blossom. The bursting of the alder-buds, it was believed, announced the period at which eels begin to stir out of their winter quarters, and, therefore, marked the season for the miller or fisherman to put down his traps, to catch them at the wears and flood-gates. The angler considered the season at which tench bite most freely to be indicated by the blooming of the wheat; and when the mulberry-tree came into leaf, the gardener judged that he might safely commit his tender exotics to the open air, without the fear of injury from frosts and cold. Then there was a variety of old sayings, or proverbs, in vogue, such as—
When the sloe-tree is white as a sheet,
Sow your barley, whether it be dry or wet.
When elder is white, brew and bake a peck;
When elder is black, brew and bake a sack.
People talked of "the cuckoo having picked up the dirt," alluding to the clean state of the country at the time of the arrival of the cuckoo; and of "blackthorn winds," meaning the bleak north-east winds, so commonly prevalent in the spring, about the time of the blowing of the blackthorn. Virgil, in the recipe he gives in his Georgics, for the production of a stock of bees, states that the process should be begun,
Before the meadows blush with recent flowers,
And prattling swallows hang their nests on high.
And Shakspeare, in his Winter's Tale, speaks of
-----------Daffodils
That come before the swallow dares, and take
The winds of March with beauty.
The intelligent observer of nature, from whose writings we have been permitted to make some extracts, has been greatly struck with coincidences of this kind; and he mentions, with interest, an idea suggested in the same work, of forming "a calendar, by which the flowering of a plant should acquaint us with the appearance of a bird, and the appearance of an insect tell us the flowering of a plant."
Following up this idea, he annexes a plan of such a calendar, in which each month, except "dark December," contains notices of these occurrences in nature. The grounds for his remarks are extremely curious, and worthy of our observation. In associating the wasp with the hawthorn-leaf in April, the author says, "Wasps seem to delight in frequenting hawthorn-hedges in the spring, as soon as the early foliage comes out. What is it that attracts them to these haunts? Perhaps they come in search of the larvæ of other insects which feed on the hawthorn. That wasps, whose ordinary food seems to be fruit, yet occasionally devour insects, there can be no doubt, as, even in summer, they may often be seen to attack and devour the flies in the windows. When they make their first appearance in spring, there is no fruit for them; therefore they may, at that season resort to hawthorn-hedges, which abound with the larvæ of various insects. The song of the cuckoo is found to occur at the time of the appearance of the Papilio cardamines, (or orange-tipped butterfly.) It is a common remark, that the cuckoo is seldom heard in July, and this papilio is rarely met with so late. In the end of November, the little winter-moth (Phalæna brumaria,) is classed with the late-flowering asters." We add an account of this insect in the author's own words. "This modestly-attired little moth is found abundantly throughout the greater part of the months of November and December. Its delicate texture, and weakly form, would seam to mark it as an insect ill calculated to endure the inclement season appointed as its proper period of existence. But nature knows her own business best; and, accordingly, these slender creatures brave the tempestuous weather they are doomed to encounter, totally regardless of the cold, the wet, the winds, and the fogs of November and December;
These little bodies, mighty souls inform!
Let it blow, or rain, or shine, there they are sporting and dancing away, under the sheltered sides of banks and hedges, with a resolute hardihood and perseverance that are truly admirable, apparently enjoying themselves as much as the butterfly in the sultry sun-beams of July."
[From a paper by the Rev. W. T. Bree, in the Magazine of Natural History.]
If a man will look at most of his prejudices, he will find that they arise from his field of view being necessarily narrow, like the eye of the fly. He can have but little better notions of the whole scheme of things, as has been well said, than a fly on the pavement of St. Paul's Cathedral can have of the whole structure. He is offended, therefore, by inequalities, which are lost in the great design. This persuasion will fortify him against many injurious and troublesome prejudices.——Cecil.
The Christian member of a Christian household has this heavenly and solacing assurance, "that so strong, so unearthly become the bonds which unite those who have long lived together in the unity of the Spirit, no less than community of blood; that they undoubtedly enjoy," even in absence, "a certain, though undefinable, fruition of each other's presence; they hear each other's voices speaking in the depth of their bosoms, dissuading, approving, comforting, rejoicing, and thus realize, to its fullest extent, that blessed privilege, alas! how seldom enjoyed, or even understood, of the communion of saints."——The Rectory of Valehead.
We cannot keep our bodies long here, they are corruptible bodies, and will tumble into dust; we must part with them for a while, and if ever we expect and desire a happy meeting again, we must use them with modesty and reverence now.——Sherlock.
DEATH.
.............Death!
What art thou, O thou great mysterious terror!
The way to thee we know; diseases, famine,
Fire, sword, and all thy ever-open gates,
Which day and night, stand ready to receive us;
But what's beyond them?—Who shall draw that veil?
[Hughes's Siege of Damascus.]
Answer, by the late Rev. S. Bishop, M. A.
Beyond? and, Who shall draw that veil?—The man
Whom Christian Spirit hath ennobled can:
He from th' abyss beyond, the veil shall tear,
For 'tis his triumph, that Death is not there!
That there is all sublime devotion's scope;
All rest from sorrow; all expanse of hope;
There perfect souls, the path he treads, who trod;
There Immortality! there Heaven! there God!