Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1862-10-31

FALLEN LEAVES.

How they are mixed up, of all species-oak
and maple, and chestnut, and birchl Bat na-
ture is not cluttered with them; she is per-
feet husbandm2n; she stores them all. Con-
slider what vast crop is thus annually shed on
the earth, This, more than any mere grain or
seed is the great harvest of the year. The
trees are now repaying the earth with inter
est what they lave taken from it. They are
discounting. They are about to add a leafs
thickness TO the depth of the soil This is the
beautiful way in which nature gets her muck,
while chatter With this man and that, who
talks to me about sulphur, and the cost OF car
ting. We are all the richer for their decay.
am more interested in this crop than in the
English grass alone or in the corn. 1t pre-
pares the virgin mould for future orn-ields
and forests, on which the earth fauens. 1t
keeps our homesteads in good heart.
For beautiful variety no crop can be com
pared with this. Here is not merely the plain
p yellow Of the grains out nearly all the coIors
that we know, the brightest blue not excepted.
The early -blushing maple, the poison sumach
blazing its sins as scarlet, the mulberry ash,
backs are painted like those of sheep. The
frost touches them, or jarring of earth's axcI,
see in what showers they come feat.ng down!
The ground is all parti-colored with them
But they still live in the soil, whose fertility
and bulk they increase, and in the forest that
spring from it, They stonp to rise, 10 mount
higher in coming years. by subtle chemistry
climbing by the sap in the trees, and the sap
iIDg's first fruits thus she'd Transmitted at last
may adorn its crown, when, in after years, it
has become the monarch ofthe forest.
1t is pleasant to walk over the beds Of these
fresh, crisp, and rustling leaves. How beaul-
fully they goio their graves! how gently lay
themselves down and turn to mould!-painted
of thousand hues and fit to make The beds of
US living. So they troop 10 their last resting
2 place, light and frisky. They put on no weeds,
but merrily they go scampering over the earth,
selecting the spot, choosing lot. ordering no
iron fence, whispering all through the woods
some choosing the spot where the bodies
OF mcn are mouidering beneath, and meeting
them half way. How many fluttcrings before
they rest quietly in their gravesl They that
scared so loftily, how contentediy they return
TO 6lus. again. and are laid lore, resigned to lie
and decay at the foot of the tree, and afford
nourishment TO new generations Of their kind,
as well as 10 futter on hgh They teach US
how 10 die. One wonders if the time will ev-
er come when men, with their boasted faith in
Immortality, will lie down as gracefully and
as ripe-wih such an Iud'nn summer sereni-
~ will she'd their bgdics. as they co their hair
and nails
When the leaves fall the who'e earth is q
cemetery pleasant 10 walk in. l love TO wan
der and muse over them in their groves
Here are no lying nor vain epiaphs. What
though You own no lot at Mount An
huth7 Your lot is surely cast somewhere in
this vast ccmetfy, which his been cousccratcd
from of cd. You need attend no auction TO
secure place. There is room enough here
The loose-srie shall bloom aud the buckle
brrry-bird sing over your bones. The wood
man and hunter shall be your sections, and the
children shall tread upon the borders as much
us they will. LIT us walk in the GENE cry ui
the leaves-this is your true Greenwood Gem
etery.- Atlantic Monthly.