s of Alonzo and Melissa were
their frequent visitors, as were also Vincent and his lady, with many
others of their acquaintance, who all rejoiced in their happy situation,
after such a diversity of troubles. Alfred was generally once a year
their guest, until at length he married and settled in the mercantile
business in Charleston, South Carolina.

To our hero and heroine, the rural charms of their secluded village were
a source of ever pleasing variety. Spring, with its verdured fields,
flowery meads, and vocal groves: its vernal gales, purling rills, and
its evening whippoorwill: summer, with its embowering shades, reflected
in the glassy lake, and the long, pensive, yet sprightly notes of the
solitary strawberry-bird;[A] its lightning and its thunder; autumn with
its mellow fruit, its yellow foliage and decaying verdure; winter, with
its hoarse, rough blasts, its icy beard and snowy mantle, all tended to
thrill with sensations of pleasing transition, the feeling bosoms of
_Alonzo and Melissa_.

[Footnote A: A bird which, in the New England states, makes its
first appearance about the time strawberries begin to ripen. Its
song is lengthy, and consists of a variety of notes, commencing
sprightly, but ending plaintive and melancholy.]

* * * * *
* * * *
* * * * *

Chronology

Based on references to datable external events, the story covers at
least ten years. The parts of the book that take place in Connecticut
are filled with descriptions of changing seasons. Europe and the
southern states have no climate.

"two young gentlemen of Connecticut ... graduated at Yale College"
"Beauman ... came regularly once in two or three months"
"Beauman's visits to Melissa became more frequent"
"[Beauman's] visits became more and more frequent."
"It was summer, and towards evening when [Alonzo] arrived."

To accommodate Beauman's repeated visits, a full year would have to
pass.

"The troubles which gave rise to the disseveration of England from
America had already commenced, which broke out the ensuing spring into
actual hostilities, by the battle of Lexington, followed soon after by
the battle of Bunker Hill."

The battles took place in April and June of 1775; "the ensuing spring"
would mean that the year is 1774.

"Winter came on; it rapidly passed away. Spring advanced..."

1774 changes to 1775

"T