OCTOBER.

THE mornings and evenings had now become very cold, and even in the middle of the day it was not often agreeable to sit with the windows open. But the weather, in general, was very clear and pleasant the finest in the whole year for active exercise. Mr. Milton's family were much in the open air. In their rides they sometimes saw the sportsmen creeping cautiously along with their guns, to shoot the game, which was very abundant at this season. Mr. Milton was no sportsman himself, and, though the boys were not without that fondness for using a gun, which seems almost a natural feeling with young men, yet they had been indulged enough in the exercise to cause it to lose its novelty, and they now generally preferred those amusements in which their sisters could join them. They had also taken so much pleasure in watching the birds, through the summer, that they felt

acquainted with the whole feathered tribe, and had little disposition to make war upon them. Though the fruits were, for the most part, gathered, and there were few flowers that were very pretty, yet they always found something to interest them in their long walks. The chief business of nature, at this season, as far as concerns the vegetable world, appears to be dissemination. Plants, having gone through the progressive stages of springing, flowering, and seeding, have at length brought to maturity the rudiments of a future progeny, which are now to be deposited in the bosom of the earth. This being done, the parent vegetable, if of the herbaceous kind, either totally perishes, or dies down to the root; if a tree, or shrub, it casts all those tender leaves that the spring and summer had put forth. Seeds are scattered by the hand of nature in various ways. Those of them which are furnished with plumes, or wings, are dispersed far and wide by the high winds, which arise about this time. Hence plants with such seeds are, of all others, the most generally to be met with; as dandelions, thistles, &c. Others, by means of hooks, with which they are furnished, lay hold of passing animals, and are thus carried to distant places. The

common burs are examples of this contrivance. Some other seeds, when ripe, are thrown out, with considerable force, from their seed vessels, by means of a strong, spiral, elastic spring, of which the impatiens, or touch-me-not, is a specimen. Many seeds are contained in berries, which being eaten by birds, the seeds are discharged again uninjured, and grow where they happen to light. Thus has nature carefully provided for the propagation and wide distribution of her vegetable offspring.

The

Nuts of various kinds had become ripe, and the frosts had opened the external covering, and permitted the nut to drop out. squirrels were very busy in laying up their store for the winter. Near the window where Mrs. Milton usually sat at work, stood a large walnut tree. She had frequently observed the squirrels very busily running up and down the tree; and at last she perceived that they not only worked diligently, but with considerable contrivance. It was a long journey from the top to the bottom of this tree for the poor little squirrel to run with each separate nut, and this the little creatures found out. One would sit on the branch, and gnaw off the nut with his teeth, while another sat at the