Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1852-10-21
'AUTtJMN.


eFdiiHS over lnelr splflts, Ike an October
haze, as the evening shadows slant sooner,
and longer, over the face of an ending Au-
gust day.
But is not Autumn The Manhood of the
wear? Is II not the ripest Of the seasons p
Do not proud flowers blossom;-.he gold
en- rod, the orchls, the dahlia, and the bloody
cardinal of the swamp-lands?
The fruits too are golden, hanging heavy
from the tasked trees The fields Of maize
show weeping spindles, and broad rushing
leaves, and ears, half glowing with the crowd
ed corn the September wind whistles over
their .hicksel ranks, with whispers Of plenty.
The staggering stalks Of the buck wheat,
grow red with ripeness and tip their tops
with clustering, tri-cornered kernels.
The ca,lle loosed from the summers
yoke, grow strong upon the meadows, new
starting from The soy The. The lambs Of April,
rounded into fullness of limb, and gaining
day BY day their woolly cloak, bite at the
nodding clover-heads; or with their noses
TO The ground, they stand in solemn, circular
conclave, under the pasture oaks, while the
noon sun beats with the lingering passion
Of July.
The Bub-o,Lincons have come back
from their Southern rambles among The rice,
ell epeckled with gray; and-singing no
longer as they did in Spring,-,hey quietly
feed upon the ripened reeds, that sraggle
along the borders Of The walls. The laiks,
with their black and yellow breast-p ales,
and lifted heads, stand tall upon the close
mown meadow; and al your first motion Of
approach, spring up, and soar away, and
iuht N thoir ftod
new the watch. The quails, in half-grown
coveys, saunter hidden, through the under
brush that skirts The woods; and only when
you are close upon them, whir awey, and
drop scattered under the coverls oflhe forest.
The robins, long ago deserving the gar
den neis hborhood, feed al evenloe, in focks,
upon The bloody berries Of the sumac and
the soft-eyed pigeons dispute possession Of
the feast. The squirrels chatter al sunrise,
and gnaw off The fulI-grown burs of the
chesinuls. The lazy black-bird skip after
the lettering cow, wslchful Of the crckels,
,ha, her slow step starts to danger. The
crows, in companies, cav aloft; and hang
high over the carcase of some slaughtered
sheep, lying ragged upon the hills.
The ash trees grow crimson in color, and
The birches touch their fraii spray with
yellow; the chestnus drop down their leaves
in brown, ,wirling showers. The beeches
crimped with the frost, guard their folag e,
until each leaf his.les white, in the Novem
Der gales. The biller-sweet hangs lis bare,
and leafess tendrils from rock to tree, and
sways with The weight Of the brazen berries.
The sturdy oaks unfolding to the winds,
end to The frosts, struggle long against the
approaches of the winter; and in their strug-
gIes, wear faces Of orange, Of scarlet, Of
crimson, and of brown; and finally, yield
ing to swift winds,-as youths pride yields
10 manly duty,-strew the ground with the
scattered glories Of their summer strength
and warm, and feed the earth, with the de-
bris Of their leafy honors.
The maple, in the low-lands, turns sud-
denly its silvery greenness into orange scar
let; and in The coming chilIness of the Au-
tumn even,ide, seems to catch the glories Of
the sunset; and to wear them-as sign of
Gods old promise in Egypt,-lke pillar
Of cloud, by day,-and Of fire, by night.
And when all these are done ;-and the
paved, and noisy aisles of the city, the all
an,hus, with all its greenness gone,-lfts
up its skeleton fingers to the God Of Autumn
end Of storms,-the dog still guards
lis crown; and the branches which stretch
ell their white canvass in April, now bears
up spire Of bloody tongues, that lie against
the ieaf1ess woods, like tree on fire.
Autumn brings to the home, the cheerful
glow of "first fres.' 1t wilhdraws the
thoughts from the wide and joyous land
scape of summer, and fixes them upon those
objects which bloom, and rejoice within the
household. The old hearth that has rio,ed
the summer through with boughs and bios
SONS, gives up its wi.hered tenantry. The
fre-dogs gloam kindly upon the evening
hours, and the blaze wakens those swee,
hopes, and prayers which cluster around
the Preside of home.
The wanton and the riot Of season gone,
are sof,ened in memory, and supply joys TO
the season to come just as youths auda-
city and pride, give z low to the recollec-
iions Of our manhood.
A, midday, the air is mild and soft a
warm, blue smoke lies in the mountain gaps;
the ,rscery of dstsn. woods upon the up
land, hangs in the haze, with dreamy gor-
geousness Of coorng. The river runs low
with Angus. drought, and frels upon the
pebbly bottom, with soft, low murmur,-
as of oyousness gone by. The hemlocks
of the river bank, rise in taperng sheens,
and tell tales Of Spring.
As the sun sinks, doubling his disc in the
October smoke, the low, South wind creeps
over the withered tree-tops, and drips the
leaves upon the land. The windows that
were wide open ct noon, are closed ; and u
bright blaze-to drive off the Eastern damp
ness, that promises a slorm,-fashes light