Litchfield enquirer., 1841-10-07
AUTUMN.

September! mellow, golden sunset ofthe
years departing g1ories 100 S""ii are thy
skies of gentle radiance Ob$cmred, and thy
breezes of delicious fragrance succeeded
by the scOwling clouds and fiiul blasts OF
OCtober-the evening twilight at The fading
year Nature has CONNIE need in earnest To
disrobe her Of her glnlious mantle Of life
and vcrdure :: tho leaves, which wee but
yesterday brig Int in aIf the varicgated lIues
of beautv-and the brighter their colors,
arraying his victims in splendor for their
sad inevitable destiny-now withered,
fallen and lifeless, but cumber the walks
they were wont to ornament and o'ershade,
or impede the free flow of the rivulets ,ha,
danced SO late in joyousEess and in melody
beneath the screen of their outrageous CO
vering. The flowers which smiled so gaily
from every bank and meadow are gathered
to the mighty receptacle Of things that were
gone, not merely, but forgotten; and the
lonely blossom which now chances TO lift its
shrinking head in some wind sheltered val
ley, to meet the forbidding glances Of the
once genial planet, wakes emotions Of pity,
Frather than that Of gladness, in the heart Of
the pensive wanderer.
Yet We are not of those who find sadness
alike with sentiment-who can extract a
sorrow US we'll as a moral from every
change in natures aspec.-who see alike
in the cradle, the aEar, and the peering Of
the FIRST slvery tokens Of age from among
the dark locks of manhood, but steps in the
great journey to the tomb. No, our philo-
sophy is Of a less despondent, and yet per-
chance as deep a cast. In the great chain
of being, we would look beyond the single
link which is present to our senses, and see
future springs still bursting in triumph the
iron bands of winter, and coming forth in
all the freshness and beauty of youth-new
worlds and fairer assuming the stations Of
the stars that have been Quenched III the
darkness Of oblivion, and life awakening tri-
umphant from the leaden slumber Of death.
To the calm observer, therefore, we hold
that there may be ample room for contem-
plation-none for despondeney-iR the
change which has passed over natures ever
varying phenomena.
But Autumn in the forest for it IS
there alone that nature appears in her own
majestic apparelling, undisguised and un-
shackled by the fantastic trickory Of man.
II is there that we have learned to love her
in her moods of genlleness, and to feel in
the deep communings Of the spirit with her
low, soft voices, that she hath Iessons-aye,
and pleasures-which the careless and the
cold may never know. What a world of
subtle, and anon Of mighty changes are
comprised in the circle Of a few brief weeks!
At first, the exuberant foliage of summer
wakes fainter and less luxuriant-the dark
green of balmy June is supplanted by a
paler and a sicklier hue, from the simple
exhaustion Of the energy which called it
into being. Anon the leaves assume q
thousand fancifnl colors, more brilliant, and
yet more varied than those of the dying
dolphin, and the spectacle presented is
more gorgeous and magnificent than the
widest dreams Of eastern romance. But
brief and uncertain is the duration Of all
earthly splendor. The biting frosts and
chilling breezes of October soon wi,her in
Discriminatory, the pale, the livid and the
gaudy and the spoiis Of continent are
trodden TO the earth or scattered to the
winds Of heaven, in proD'iscuous and I'M
distinguishable ruin.
+. And yet there is one scene connected
with our forest "reminiscences, which has
come down through years unfaded from
the tablet of memory, while many fond
and treasured recollection has crumbled
beneath the iron hand Of time. 1t is of
that deep, solemn rustic which accompanies
the fall Of the leaf in the far depths of
natures else unbroken soliludes. When
the first bitter frosts which mark the close
Of October are succeeded by the bright
sunshine Of still yet bracing morning, it
were study for poet to wander forth into
the deep recesses Of natures lonely temples,
and listen to the sound Of the thousands on
thousands of wilhered leaves returning to
tho earth from which they sprung, each Of
itself SO noiseless, yet together forming a
subdued, unbroken harmony, which may
we'll attune the mind to pensive, perchance
TO melancholy contemplation. No monitor
can more clearly, perhaps none more for
chilly, rei,eraie the great lesson of mortal
ity-lhc impressive Dust to DUST
DIALOGUE