Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1876-08-23

Then when saw the drifod leaves.
said, " Already autumn grevcs
TO summer skies the swallow hics:
So love departs and longing flies
BY the calender autumn begins on the
twenty-first Of September; but my observa-
tion has shown me that even as far south as
Washington, summer eliminates in beauty
by the tenth Of July then the season stands
at full tide for few DAYS, and before the
first Of August it is evident that autumn
has fully begun. The eye of the careless
observer is caught by the more obvious
signs only; by those changes which take
place long after summer has gone. and
goodly part of autumn also. As if not
sure of welcome, autumn approaches almost
stealthily, while the fields are all aglow with
the sunny vitality of summer He winds
himself about our hearts with the loving
persistency Of child, and before we know
it he is dearer to us than the flushed beauty
of radiant June. The coming OF autumn,
the turning point Of the season, is something
to be watched for and its beauty remem-
bercd forever. ANY change, however deli
cate, in the color Of the leaves, the appear
ance Of the forest the songs Of the birds, is
as evident TO the habitual wood wanderer,
and is more quickly noted. than changes in
the streets are to the city resident, or the
disarrangement of her furniture 10 the good
housewife
IN July the woodbine begins to prank it.
self out in gay scarlet. here and there a leaf
blazing with intense color as if trying be-
torehand bits Of its autumn inery; as
girl holds a knot Of ribbon 90 her throat 10
see whether its tint harmonizes with the
rest Of her dress. A few days later, the
lance-shaped leaves of the gum tree glow
with a crimson SO bright rs almost to pain
the eye.
The pinnated foliage Of the shrubby sumac
shows, about the same time, green, yellow,
scarlet and orange, sometimes all Of these
colors on a single leaf and in dusky glens
the more delicate ferns have lost every ves-
tige of color and stand white as SNOW.
feathery ghosts reyisiting their native dingle
from some ferny heaven. In breezy upland
pastures, and beside sunny lanes. the golden
rod. brighter in color than the butterflies
which haunt it, gows like patches OF un-
moving sunshine The bluebird's song at
this time though 10 most ears the very same
which he sang ia spring, has, to a more acute
listener an undertone of sadness not heard
at the beginning of the season. As Onora
knew by the hills that her lover was anear
so the hills tell US Of autumn's approach be-
fore the secret is whispered to any but Ma
ture's truest lovers Though the weather is
still hot the air has changed. for, looking to
the distant horizon, the far hills shine with
transparent purple, such as summer never
mixes on her palette Of colors. Later in the
season come two kinds of days, differing
totally in character yet each so perfectly
beautiful that they impress the mind like
poems. The sun rises in fog, which slowly
disperses, leaving a thin, dry mist on the
hills, which tones down their color to a gray
purple, and more than any tint in nature
suggests infinite distance. Sounds from the
farm-yard, the growing Of the cock, or the
/ lowing Of kline, etherealized by the sunny
air, come like messages of eternal peace. 1t
is on such a day that
40 wind 'l,rcs 10 stir unless on trioc;"
only light breath from the southwest nut
ters the hectic leaves, and dimpes ftfuly
the sleepy river \ few soft clouds dim in
outline and saturated with sunshine drift
slowly across the sky the birds renew their
summer songs, and the whole scene is as
sweet and beautiful as a poets dream; 80
perfect, So satisfying, it is as if one of the
choicest flowers had been taken from the
/ cycle of eternity and transplanted among
/ the days of time, TO show the sons of men
the likeness of heaven.
\ day like this is the harvest time of
thought. In spring and early summer the
immense energy and vitality Of nature stim-
ulate into rapid growth not alone the vegt-
table world, but the mind also feels the ex-
citement OF the vernal season. The germs
of ideas which have accidentally dropped
into the mind require the calm repose OF
autumn TO expand into beautiful and devel-
oped thought The clouds, chased and torn
10y the gale, are merely gray streaks of un-
lovely Napor but when the wind is stll the
mist weaveS itself into forms Of inexpressible
loyeliness. SO our thoughts in spring, dis
turbed and rapidly changing sympathy with
natures change and energy, are crude and
/ formless, and lack the unity Of truth but
/ with the repose of autumn, the shaping
spirit Of beauty broods over the chaotic mists
Of thought and brings from the confusion
| the ordered creation OF poetry.
Differing from this almost as light from
/ darkness, comes stil later another day. No
| fog obscures the morning sun, but from a
sky perfectly free from cloud and mist he
/ looks down on the yellow earth The hori-
zon no longer has the gray purple tint which
/ becomes opalescent under misty sunshine,
but even the most distant hills are blue
black in color. and their outlines are keen
and distinctly drawn as the edge OF a thun-
der cloud against summer sky. The wind
nours from the cool northwest, and sweeps
along the earth, tossing the tree-tops, aud
bending the shrubs and grass in its invisi-
Die march. In the afternoon long, straight
edged clouds appear in the west. their upper,
sun-lighted surfaces bubbling and seething
as If from some fierce internal commotion.
At sunset they glow like brands of fire
blown upon by the wind and afterwards
they lie, bands of leaden gray, across the
gentian blue of the autumn sky. There is
no tonic in all of natures infinite store
bouse so like a droupht from the fountain of
caressed crss anj hnffeted nv the northwest