A Legend Of Indian Summer

I. Iiisctte, whs sucb a strange girl; suc.li m idle, dreamy girl ! Iler favorite occupation during the day wat to sit ainid tlte rose bushes and watch the salllng clouds, or else to gaze far off ncross the smooth, blue lake tliat lay panting In the sunlight. At night, too, she would steal out to the very self-same place, and watch for hours the lights dance on the lake, and the wandtring moou fullowcd by her host of valiant cavaliers in aruior of silver and gold. Bhe oflen heard st rango storles, so.slie said, Unit the drifting rose leaves told her, and when she repeuted them at home, her sisters all would gayly laugh and cry, "Oh ! vou had better far come down with na upo the green, the inerry villagers are all as;emtled ; do come with us Lisette ! " Uut beautif ui Lisette snid always "No," then quietly stole out to her uccustomed St'ilt. Once, as she gat there on a sumraer's evening btight, with the music, sweepIng 8oftly to her ears from the distaDt green, whlle atnorouu winds carressed lier wavy hair and round full cheek, he heard thU Btory, wierd and sweet, of the lovely Indian Sumnier, rtect of foot and dreamy eyed, who evety year comes boundlug over the hills ; a brancli of tiery suinach íor a peptre, and the golden leaves ai autuin bound around her dusky trow, listened to thls myatic legend of Summer, whom we all adore. It was in the long ago, when this world of ours ürst bcgiin, that FatflèT Time, then young and haiidsome, grew weary of Hkinj; all the care of the inany montiis and seasons, and so he hunted the wide world over to liinl men and maidens fair enough to make rulers of these months and seasons - and he chanced upon a bower, (fortúnate mau ia Fat her Time), a bower whose only guards were the birds among the trees, found tliere in a company of just sixteen ; sixteeu beauteous youths and inaidens; called tUem out from the seclusioii, and cliose twelve to rule the months and fonr to rule the seasons ! Then from bis ampie store house, he Upk fitting garmeiits with which to conceal them from all mortals; then to the seasons gave rich gifts and rare, to sprinkle over the earth. To Autumn he gave the sickle, and the crown of golden grain ; to Winter, weering even then his lintwhite locks he gave the broad and shlning fields of snow; to Spring, the magie wand, at touch of which tlie liKinks and fountains laugh aguln ; to Suinmer, most beautiful of all, he gave the power of breathing most delightful charins in every leaf and flower- of making all the broad land ëinile at her capri.h.ü-i wish, and fairest of the seasuns' flfimmrr walked ! Father Tluie as he wrapped her mantle of woven rose leaves close abeut her sald, "My daughter, never lay aaide this cloak, for should the world behold thy matchless beiiuty, all, bewitched, would turn and folio w thee; spread thy bounteous gifts lavishly o'er all the earth, but keep thyself concealed I " ii. But Summer, wauderlng up and down, chanced to see a fair youth sitting by thls very rose bush sweet; she marked hi pale and delicate brow, she marked the red glow on his hollow eheeks, and knew he wiis too frall and talr for earth. Long did Summer hesttate, but one d;iy urged on ly the youth'a sad look of loneliness, aud by her own desire, she glided up before hiui, threw aslde her mantle and stood revealed in all her glowlnsf beauty. Her long hair, the color of the frlnge upon the corn, rolU-d iu heavy waves about her shoulders, and iningled with the fleecy lolds or her drapery, ciystal white. The youth was speechless, brcathless at the visión, and wltli radian t cyes he üstcned, while Summer in hor soft voice told him, how she ott had watched him there; how she had seen his lullness, aud how, for him alnne, she had thrown aslde the clouk, that coucealed her from all mortals. And the youth forever afterward was her ardent devotee, and he loved her as no one ever loved bt-fore; alwaya sat they side bv side, and he ever implored her, saying: "Summer you must never leave me- promiue you will always stay -for if I see you goli.g I shall lay me down aud die." And the merry maiden Surnmer, shuok her yellow locks, laughed and gayly chided, crying: "Oh ! I pray you speak not thus- look with uie.fttr out aciosa the gleaming lake - can you see as I do, Autumn, with hls sickle in his hnnd, coming quickly on to gather in my gtíU with ! He'e the friond ot Hm vesters- " "And you are my fricnii," crled the youth, "my only friend- my more than friend. Send thy gitts Leforc thee lf thou must, but stay thou with me.1' But sweet Summer, laughing answered: "That would never, never do, for without my gay stirroundings I should IOOB grow old and homely; all my face grow dark aud wrinkled, and my cyes their brightness lose; and my hands would shake and tremble llke the vines swuiiji by tho brecze ; and my volee be shilll and hollow, like the screeches of the seabirds, and my skliibe rough and yellow llke the sand along the sea : and tlic brazen sun when rtsing would not know me, and Hesperus, pillowed deep on clouds of night, would not; and worgt of all, my bonny boy, you would uot love me." But he answering cried: "Indeed, 111 ever lovo you, Suinraer, always worskip just the same, even if you're old and gray." But coy Siiiiiiiirr ehook her liead and would promlsc nothing. Twined sweet roses 'bout his brow, fanned hitn with lier baltny breath, told him of the hilU and valleys she'had traversed with the llsrhtwinged wimls au lier sole corapanions; tlms tlu' fond ilays fled. Summer fulr and fairer grew; more sportive too, as now the time carne for departing; she raiscd the wimls to riot in the 8iiltry air, and they with joy, danced witli the slender rose leaves fair ; the tiny wavelets joined their hands and daoced in iz lines o'er the lake ; all the world was happy, save the youth who paler grew, as the time came for her going - tod he feit her drifting from hiin further every day. :Now, he fuintly ueard her voice as she glided over hills and vales - away, far away - and now he only heard the echo of her sweet volee borne back to him on the wiiigs of the Autumn wiiuls. To him theearth seemed cold and chili, and the dry leaves falliug, made his heart feel dull aad heavy ; and soon the dying rose leaves, drifllng from the bush, never saw him ; and the lake, with bright stars lighted, never saw hiin, for Summerfair in going took his joyousness and inirtli, and every fond hope vanlshiu he fmled trom the earth. in. Now, gentle Summer tripuing onward ne'er forgot the youth, and at the carnivnls where the nierry inontha and season's sport waitiiii; for their turn again to visit eartl), she sut sad and lonely. Did not care to Jota the d:ince, and would not siiin - would not listen when Father Time once began a lengthy story - tossed her wayward locks and cried, "Leave me to rayself, I beg ; teil your tales to June or August, I am weary, let me rest." So they left her wondering ever, "Cm it be thatour Summer dear, loves a fading mortal ? " Returning from the chase, one day, they looked in vuiii for Summer. Peered iu all the paths and valleys leading to the earth, calling: "Summer, we are looking for you." No one did they see, when seeking, save a dark-browed, Indian muiden, hasting o'er the sloping hills. Sad, they turned back, wonderlng idly.who the dusky maiden was, with the locks of ravcn-black streaming in the mellow air- never dreaming it was Summer, in a diirk disguise, going back to llnd her lover. On the dark-eyed malden sped ; sought the rose-bush brown and bare, asking for her fair-haired lover, but no answer did she hear ; then she hastened to the Lake, cried out to the chilly waves: "Can ye teil me aught of my dear lover?" aud the cold waves only shivered, and they answered not a word. Long she stood there while the west winds tossed her raven hair; and her glorious eyes were shsded by her daik and shapely hand, and her robes, the color of the brown leaves of the autumn, clung about her lighted here and there, by strlpes of lurld red and tavvny yellow, Thus she eager stood, looking for the youth who loved lier, crying ever:. "Ohtlmt I had onlystayedl Oh.Jthat I had only told him, I shonld come again- did he dream I left forever, when I bade hiin not adieu." And the drifting leaves of Autumn seem to answer back "adieu." "Shall I see htm never more?" Slghed the rustling leaves in answer, "Xever more ! " Then turning knelt she by the listcning bush, and In accents mild and sweet she said: "Be tliou my witness, rosebush, whom we both did love, that every year in this dlsguise, l'll strew the earth with tinted leaves, and breathe a hazy sweetness thro' the air, iu honor of the youth I love, until the seasons aredispersed and Time shall be no more ! " So every year you'll seo a tawny muiden hasting o'er the hills ; the ripe corn bound about her brow like a royal crown. Her nimble feet in sundals shod, of wrinkled leaves and sure.jyou wlll see the sad, sweet beauty of her dreamy, hazel eyes and whisper softly: it is Summer, in her dark .dlsguise, looking for lier lover, lost; fighing to the goldrn harvest, for her lover- lost.