Produced by Irma Spehar, Markus Brenner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.) Minstrel Weather BY MARIAN STORM _With Illustrations and Decorations By Clinton Balmer_ [Illustration] Knowledge, we are not foes. Long hast thou toiled with me; But the world with a great wind blows, Crying, and not of thee! EURIPIDES HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS NEW YORK AND LONDON [Illustration] MINSTREL WEATHER Copyright, 1920, by Harper & Brothers Printed in the United States of America Published November, 1920 K—U _For_ AMY LOVEMAN The Minstrel Made His Tune of Hours and Seasons Dewfall, moonrise, high sweet clover, Chimney swifts at their twilight play; Quail call, owl hoot, moth a-hover, Midnight pale at the step of day. Star wane, cobweb, brown-plumed bracken; Morning laughs, with the frost in flower; Duck flight, hound cry; wild grapes blacken. Day leaps up at the amber hour. Sun dark, snowcloud, eaves ice cumbered, Gray sand piled on a carmine West; Faint wing, flake dance; winds unnumbered Swing the cradles where leaf-buds rest. Wide light, bough flush, gold-fringed meadows, Berries red in the rippled grass; Stream song, nest note, dream deep shadows Drawn back slowly for noon to pass. CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Faces of Janus 1 II. A Woodland Valentine 7 III. Ways of the March Hare 13 IV. The April Moment 19 V. The Crest of Spring 25 VI. Hay Harvest Time 31 VII. The Month of Yellow Flowers 37 VIII. The Mood of August 43 IX. Summer Pauses 48 X. When the Oaks Wear Damson 54 XI. November Traits 60 XII. The Christmas Woods 66 XIII. Landscapes Seen in Dreams 72 XIV. Hiding Places 78 XV. The Play of Leaves 84 XVI. The Brown Frontier 90 XVII. Far Altars 96 ILLUSTRATIONS The Milky Way Revealed to Lonely Herdsmen _Frontispiece_