[00:14.72]There is no month in the whole year,
[00:17.57]in which nature wears a more beautiful appearance than in the month of August! Spring has many beauties,
[00:26.72]and May is a fresh and blooming month,
[00:29.85]but the charms of this time of year are enhanced by their contrast with the winter season.
[00:37.30]August has no such advantage. It comes when we remember nothing but clear skies,
[00:45.07]green fields and sweet smelling flowers when the recollection of snow, and ice,
[00:51.61]and bleak winds, has faded from our minds as completely as they have disappeared from the earth
[00:58.78]and yet what a pleasant time it is! Orchards and corn-fields ring with the hum of labour;
[01:07.26]trees bend beneath the thick clusters of ripe fruit, which bows their branches to the ground;
[01:13.87]and the corn, piled in graceful sheaves, or waving in every light breath that sweeps above it,
[01:22.13]as if it wooed the sickle, tinges the landscape with a golden hue.
[01:28.14]A mellow softness appears to hang over the whole earth;
[01:32.21]the influence of the season seems to extend itself to the every wagon,
[01:38.02]whose slow motion across the well-reaped field, is perceptible only to the eye,
[01:44.78]but strikes with no harsh sound upon the ear.
