Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1862-10-24
Autunnal That's.

AOtutuhHi hi0tss
October Is tue mouth OF painted leaves.
Their rich ghvw nov flashes round the world.
As fruits and leaves and the day itself ac-
quirc brigh, tiut jast before they fail, so
The year near its setting October is its
sunset sky; November the latter twilight.
Now, too, the first OF October, or later.
the Elms are at the height of their autumn
nal beauty, great brownish-yellow masses,
warm from their September ovens, hanging
over the highway. Their leaves are per-
fecrly ripe. What is the late greenness OF
the English Elm, like cucumber oul of
season, which does not know when to have
done, compared with the early and golden
maturity of the American tree2 The street
is the scene Of a great harvest-home. 1t
would be worth the while to set out these
trees, IL only for theic autumnal value
Think of these great yellow canopies or
parasols held over our heads and houses by
the mile together, making the village all one
and compact,--an diaarsass, which is at the
saoie time nursery Of men! And tlen
how gently and unobserved they drop their
burden and let in the sun when it is want
ed, the leaves not heard when they fall on
cur roofs and in our streets; and thus the
village parasol is shut up and put away!
BY the sixth of October the leaves gen.
orally begin to fall, in successive showers,
after frost or rain; but the principal leaf
harvest, the scene Of the FuA, is commonly
date there is perhaps harder frost than we
have seen, and ice formed under the pump,
and row when the morning wind rises, the
leaves come down in denser showers than
ever. They suddenly form thick. beds or
carpets on the ground, in this gentle air, or
even without wind, just the size aud fern of
the tree above. Scme trees as small Hick-
orics, appear TO have dropped their leaves
instantaneou>ly, as soldier grounds arms
at a signal; and those of tire Hickory, be-
ing bright yellow still, though withered, re-
feet blaze of light from the ground where
they lie. Down they have come ON all sides,
at the & rst earnest touch of Aotumn's wand,
making a sound like rain.
4 Or else it is after moist and rainy wealth
er that we notice how great fall of leaves
there has been in the night, though it may
not yet be the touch that loosens the Rock
} Maple leaf The streets are thickly strewn
with the trophies, and fallen Elm-leaves
make dark brown pavement under our
J feet. After some remarkably warm Indian
summer day or days. perceive that it is
the unusual heat which, more than anything,
causes the leaves to fall, there having been,
perhaps, no frost or rain for some time
The intense heat suddenly ripens and willis
5 them, just as it sottens and ripens peaches
a and other fruits, and causes them to drop.
: The leaves of the late Red Naples, still
4 bright, strew the earth, often crimson-spot
e ed on yellow ground, like some wild ap
Y ples,-though they preserve these brigh
colors on the ground but day or Two, es
s. pecially it it rains. On causeways | 60 b.
: trees here and there all bare and smoke-like
II having lost their brilliant clothing; bu
II there it lies, nearly as bright as ever, on tn
S ground on one side, and making nearly a
e regular figure as lately on the tree.
= would rather say that first observe tn
S trees thus fat on the ground like perma
!, nent colored shadow, and they suggest t
d look for the boughs that bore them. 4
n queen might be proud to walk where thes
i gallant leaves have spread their brigh
n cloaks in the mud. / see wagons roll owe
:, them as a shadow or a reflection, and tn
d drivers heed them Just as little as they di'
5, their shadows before.
e 1t is pleasant to walk over the beds Q
e these fresh, crisp, and rustling leaves. Ho'
e beautifully they go to their graves, ho'
). gently lay themselves down and turn
o mould painted of thousand bues, an
o ft to make the beds Of us living. So the
o troop TO their last resting-place, light an
II frisky. They put on no weeds, but merril
n they 60 scampering over the earth, selectin
e the spot, choosing lot, ordering no iro
fence, whispering all through the wood
5 about it,--some choosing the spot where th
l. bodies Of men are mouldering beneath, an
% meeting them halfway. How many flu
y terings before they rest quietly in the
II graves! They that soar ed so lcftiiy, ho'
h contented they return to dust again, and ar
I, laid low, resigned TO lie and decay at th
:, foot of the tree, and afford nourishment
# new generations of their kind, as we'll as
Is autter on high! They teach US how to di'
= Bot think not THAT the splcadcr of th
J. year is over; as one leaf does not make th
is summer, neither does one failed leaf max
+ an autumn. The smallest Sugar Maple
in our streets make great show as earl
e as the fifth of October. more than any othe
is trees there. As look up the Main stree
Il they appear like painted screens standin
$, before the houses; yet many are green.-