NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. 191 hesitate to say with Job, "Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him!"* NOVEMBER AND DECEMBER. "Where is the pride of Summer-the green prime, We may even yet cull a good nosegay from the garden, but our fields and lanes put forth no new blossoms for the dreary November, or the frosty airs of the closing month; not that the country is absolutely destitute of flowers, for a few autumnal blossoms, as the ragwort, are yet left; and the winter flowering furze is bright; and the pale yarrow still stays with us; and the starry daisy yet sparkles in the grass. Not only, in our rural walk, do we miss the many flowers, but the voice of the tuneful bird now rarely bids us pause to listen. The robin, however, that "household bird, with the red stomacher," sings every day more regularly, and with louder note; the sky-lark warbles a parting song, and the thrush has not yet forsaken the almost leafless woods, but on a bright frosty morning will cheer us with a song, as loud and sweet as even the strains of summer. The countryman finds employment in tending his farm; but the field labour is little now, for the Almighty *Job xxvi. 14. "saith to the snow, Be thou on the earth; likewise to the small rain, and to the great rain of his strength. He sealeth up the hand of every man; that all men may know his work.”* The mushroom, or fungus tribe, with their leathery, or spongy textures, are some of them common on the decayed tree, or putrid substance. Some are of a grey green, others of lemon or orange colour, or red, or spotted with chocolatecoloured spots, and bright mulberry-coloured stains. Though several are poisonous, yet many are beautiful, and display, by their great variety, the Almighty skill. Spring, and summer, and autumn, with their flowers, and fruits, and leaves, pass rapidly away. Other springs shall arise, but which of us can tell that we shall mark its flowers; the voice of the changing seasons is, to us, the voice of God; and well may the prayer of the psalmist suit us all, "So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom."+ *Job xxxvii. 6, 7 † Psa. xc. 12. RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY INSTITUTED 1799. |