NOVEMBER.

THE weather was now, for the most part, blustering and cold, or dark, damp, and rainy. The children of the Milton family, who were so full of youth and gay spirits that all seasons were alike to them, contrived, however, to make even this gloomy month, which in England is said to be so dismal that it is difficult to prevent people from hanging themselves, they managed to make even this month lively and pleasant. They had heard of the festival of husking the corn, which used to be very frequent in the interior of New England, and continues to be observed in some parts of it until now. They begged their mother to let them have a husking frolic. The consent of the elders having been obtained, the large barn-chamber was nicely swept out and prepared for the occasion; the neighbors, young

and old, were invited, the barn was lighted up, and, for a short time after the company were assembled, all hands were employed in strip ping the husks from the ears of the Indian corn. Many hands make light work, and in a short time the corn was husked, or as much of it as was thought necessary to give the party a title to the name of husking party. There were several sources of merriment peculiar to parties of this kind, which were drawn upon at this time. Among others, any lady who happened, in stripping off the husks, to discover that hers was a red ear of corn, took great care to conceal it, as, according to the old usage on these occasions, each gentleman had a right to claim a kiss from the lady who held the red ear. It was a chance that, in trying to hide the ear, she might be discovered, in which case considerable laughing and joking ensued. This and several other jokes of the kind prevented the husking from being merely dull labor. After the husking was over, they played blind man's buff and other sports of the kind, and finished by having a good merry dance to the music of old Johnny Twostring's fiddle. The dance being over, the party

were invited into the house to partake of a plentiful supper, in the enjoyment of which they finished the evening.

The hard frosts at the beginning of this month had destroyed nearly all the flowers. A few marigolds, and now and then a china aster, the immortal flower, and some blossoms of the heart's-ease, were about all that remained.

The dahlia stalks having been cut off near the ground, the roots were carefully dug, and laid on a shelf in a warm, dry cellar.

All the flower-stalks were cut off, and at the close of the month the perennials were covered with pine boughs, to secure them from the piercing cold of December. There was but little to interest the children this month in the garden or fields. The verdure of the meadows faded, the flowers perished, and the trees were stripped of their foliage.

George brought, one day, into the house, a branch of the witch-hazel, Hamamelis Virginica, (class 4th, order 2d.) At this season, among the crimson and yellow hues of the falling leaves, there is no more remarkable object than this plant, in the moment of parting with its foliage, putting forth a profusion of gaudy, yellow blossoms, and giving to No

vember the counterfeited appearance of spring. It is a bushy tree, sending up a number of oblique trunks, about the size of a man's arm, or larger.

Sophia asked why this plant had received the name of witch-hazel.

Mr. MILTON. 66 I suppose, on account of its having been used formerly by some people, who pretended, by means of it, to discover springs of water, or mines. They used to go to the spot in the neighborhood of which they expected to find a mine, holding in their hand a rod of this plant. This rod they held in a peculiar manner, and used to pretend that the rod would turn and point to the spring or mine, if there were any in the neighborhood. Of course, you know, this could be only pretence; but ignorant people were sometimes deceived by it."

Some one made the remark, one day, that a solitary leaf left hanging on a branch, might very well be compared to an aged man who had survived all the companions of his youth, and was awaiting the same fate which had taken them away from the earth, to carry him to join them.

Eleanor observed that among the poems of