INDIAN SUMMER

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 145, 16 December 1929, Page 11

INDIAN SUMMER

A FICKLE SEASON

PRELUDE OF THE WINTER

(From "The Post's" Reprasehtatlve.)

VANCOITVEB, 13th November.

Wo are passing through .the Indian summer, fifth season in N\>rth America. Technically it occurs from 31st October to 15th November, between Hallowe'en and St. Martin's Day. It fills the valleys with gorgeoun colours and burnishes tho hills with go Id. Bedbrown oaks and golden maples, .a warm sun at noon, a purple and saffnon veil for rare sunsets are part of the spell tho Indian summer weaves. Temperatures in the eighties are not uncommon, eveii on the Prairie.

Its origini The first record a\ipcars in 1794, when a Major Denny, sti itioiied at an army post near Lake Erio, ,wrote in his official diary abouti tho pleasant Indian summer days. Indian legend, song, and story do not rei s.u r to it, although for the red man it is a busy period, set apart to making t.t aps and nets ready for the winter. Down south, it is tho time of tho earn* husking contests of colonial days. It is a busy time, too, for the wounta in hiker. Birds -travelling south—tlvtiy arc passing over iv thousands jut it now—halt in protected sanetuai'iet - Apples get tawny and red. The sports - man takes his gun down, i'also ant', fickle, it is a season beloved by youna and old. Lingering but a fortnight, i% departs, making way for winter. In the Arctic, it is known as the 'in-betvv,oen" season, dreaded by aviators, as it blocks their movements, owmg to tho uncertainty as to whether they should land on pontoon or ski. It caused a delay of two precious weeks in tho search of the last Mac Alpine explorer, ilow happily located, fit and well, at Cambridge Gulf.