form is this? Sullen and haggard is his face; his ragged
garments float in the blast; a wreath of yew binds his head; thick fogs
arise around him; he tears from the groves the last leaves of autumn;
disease attends his baneful steps; he drinks at the stagnant pool; he
throws himself on the beetling rock; he courts the foaming billows; he
listens to the last groans of the shipwrecked mariner; he wanders
through the churchyard; he seeks the abode of the raven, and horror is
in all his thoughts. Oh, hasten far away from us, gloomy NOVEMBER.

* * * * *

Who is this clad in flannel and warm furs? He wraps his garments close
about him; a wreath of holly binds his bald head; he seeks the warm
hearth and the blazing fire; he expands his hands: they are thin and
shrivelled with age. The snow fast descends; the sweeping blast howls
over the dreary heath, and shakes the cottage of the aged man--he is the
father of the year, and his name is DECEMBER.

Jemima Placid

or

The Advantage of Good Nature

Mr. Placid was a clergyman of distinguished merit, and had been for many
years the vicar of Smiledale. The situation of the parsonage was truly
beautiful, but the income of the living was not very considerable; so,
as the old gentleman had two sons with the young Jemima to provide for,
it was necessary to be rather frugal in his expenses. Mrs. Placid was
remarkably handsome in her youth, but the beauty of her person was much
impaired by a continued state of ill-health, which she supported with
such a degree of cheerful fortitude as did honour to human nature. As
she had had the advantage of a liberal education, and had been always
accustomed to genteel company, her conversation was uncommonly
agreeable; and her daughter derived from her instructions those engaging
qualities which are the most valuable endowments a parent can bestow.
The eldest son, whose name was Charles, was about three years, and
William, the youngest, near a year and a half older than his sister.
Their dispositions were not in all respects so gentle as hers; yet, on
the whole, they formed the most agreeable family.

When Jemima was about six years old, her mother's health rendered it
necessary that she should take a journey to Bristol; and it being out of
her power to have Jemima with her, she left her with an aunt, whose name
was Finer, and who had two daughters a few years older than their
cousin. Miss Placid, who had