Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-10-13
We Do All Fade an a Leaf.
(Aroostook Correspondence to Ken Jour

(Aroostook Correspondence to Ken Journal.
On one of the very few beautiful day
which October has given us this year, and n,
Gays OF all the year are more beautiful thai
these quiet, dreamy October days when a
tnelr best, we were riding with party o,
friends and stopped for a while upon thu
summit of lofty hill to admire the splendol
OF the landscape spread out before u.s. A,
far as the eye could reach were hills and vale.
thickly wooded and colored in all the glory
OF the most gorgeous autumnaI.. tints, '.as nc
thinner on earth can paint them; the dark
rich green of the spruce, fir and hemlock
making pleasing contrast to the gaudy col.
ors OF the naples, in those tints are blended
all shades from the brightest crimson to the
palest and most delicate yellow Dot
ted here and there upon the hill
sides were neat clearings with
coy white cottages and large roomy barns
from which stretch away broad fields cleared
sharp up to the confines of the forest, while
IN the valleys, meandering like a silver
thread through the landscape, now hiding
behind some wooded knoll, AID anon SHIN
mering into view again, the forest stream
winds its way along to the larger river-all
this seen in the mellow sunlight of an Octo-
Der afternoon, with just enough of that
filmy, tremulous haze 10 the atmosphere to
give the proper tone, goes to make up PFC
ture which for beauty and variety of land
scape scenery can hardly be found in the
State outside of AroostOok. As we sat in the
carriage drinking in the glorious scene, and
commenting upon the rich coloring of the
autumn forests, one gentleman remarked
that though very beautiful, yet
autumn scenery had always to him a
feaIiny Of aaApaaa =.
suggestive of death and decay. We have
heard this remark before and doubt not
many persons are affected in similar man
ner, yet when rightly viewed there should
be nothing conducive to sadness in the fad
ing of the forest leaf or even in that of
which it is type, death when it occurs in
the course of nature at calm and ripe old
age. The fading and coloring of the leaf
are caused by no spasmodic outside influence
as frost or storm, for when the autumn
days are mildest and frosts are long de-
layed the forest coloring is most beautiful.
1t is simply gradual maturing or ripening.
The leaves are, so to speak, the lungs of the
tree through which it breathes, and by
means of which it concentrates and absorbs
the gases necessary to its vitality and growth
As the autumn days approach the
tree begins to prepare for its season of rest
and the leaves in ripening array themselves
in most gorgeous hues, as though the grand
old woods were putting on mantle of re-
joicing that its season of labor was ended
and its period of rest approaching. Observe
the forest closely and you will see that here
and there some solitary tree, as early as the
latter part of August, begins to clothe itself
in autumnal tints. These multiply during
September, and as the October days come on
Ill. =.
of splendor. Soon another change takes
place. The little stem grows weak and
loses its hold upon the twig, and though as
sailed by no rude gust, the ripened leaf drops
silently and noiseiessly to the ground. The
broad forest alsles are richly carpeted, while
far above the grand old trees stretch
out their naked limbs to the later
November blast. Then commences the
greater change which we call decay
And what is thisf Is it a process of des-
truction or humiliation? BY no means. 1t
is simply a separation and Encouragement of
the particles of matter of which the leaf is
formed, no one of which, not even the mi
nutest atom is ever lost, but reappearng in a
different form provides nourishment again
for the mighty tree which after its winters
rest begins to arouse itself like an awakening
giant and put on new strength for its sum-
mer's work. SO the fading leaf does not
mean death, but simply maturity, and the de-
caying leaf means not destruction or annihi
lation, but rather Encouragement and renewed
vitality, and with neither of these natural
changes is there any necessary association of
sadness. SO with the maturity of the body
in healthy ripe old age and the natural
change which we call death.
Though the strong ties of kin
dred and the natural affection for aged
friends cause grief at their departure yet if
rightly viewed, the only cause for sadness is
that we are deprived of their companionship.
The physical forces mature as does the fad
ing leaf, and as the calm October days of
life approach, the body begins to prepare for
is rest from labor, and were there no such
thing as disease, we should all ripen, fade and
fall, as fades and falls the forest leaf when
winter days draw near. w.