The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1893-10-22
JACK rnos1,s r1ssr r1srn
vvorr,,r In Dsrkn-rr, Tie sivers Snburh,,
n,.,so,y, rpd stnirr Woodlands Bro,,,

| Vvorn,,r In Dnrkuees, Tie siivers Suhurb,,
ne,aoyys rad stains Woodlands Brorn
Tho first sharp white frost OF the season
| IN this region came few nights ago and next
| morning early rlsers in the suburbs saw grass
| and fence tops In all directions powdered with
| diamond dust. Before the sun was two hours
high, tender plants out OF doors had fallen into
| ruins. The first frost comes as sort OF epoch
In the life OF the year. and for tho rest Of the
year the aspects OF nature never seem Guitethe
same the day after as the day before Its COM
Ing. Perhars the frost is so salient a fact that
IL fixes mems attention for the moment upon
the aspect OF outdoor things. and thus enables
them to see distinctly what before mas have
failed to register itself upon their vision, At
any rate the apparent difference in natural
conditions Is indicated In hundred ways al.
most too subtle to be put into words.
New Workers. most OF whom tread the same
granite shod pathways almost the year round.
arc hardly conscious that the first frost has
arrived unless they happen to be faithful
students OF the daily weather report. The
public squares chow few traces OF tho early
frosts. because there is at this season little
vegetation to suffer change. Trees in tho
heart OF the city are barred much earlier than
elsewhere. and some days before the coming
OF the frost the sun has been shining fun upon
benches that were only daprled with alternate
sun and shadow all summer LONG. Thus by a
providential ARA ngement the coming OF cool
weather Is preceded BY the fall OF leaves that
are no longer needed to protect the profess
siona sitters from the rays OF n semi-trorical
sun. Even Central Park lacks somethng OF
the natural wildness needed to emphasize the
work of the early frosts But the great suburban
parks. Bronx and Van Cortlandt and Pelham
Bay. are highly sensitive to the changes that
follow this chief incident of the autumn. Al
der plants % be- npped by the frost the ' all
vent of that autumn guest Is recorded by wild
hehes herk m,h rs br
and any observer Of outdoor things sees. or
fancies he sees a sudden alteration Of conduct
in the feathered creatures after the first frost
tops Not that tho early frosts really reach
there are spots in that pleasant wilderness
where an early autumn Temperature is pro
heights But the birds that make these thick
has come. They have not been singing ior
weeks. and their so Q occupation seems to
haw and every other wholesome autumn berry
that turns to vanished red or Ellstening black
Now. however. there seems to be sudden
commotion. a husinesslike sense OF hurry
seea ocE % rons yns hsn
shoot swiftly between the i;azcr's cyos and
the IN w TInIess deep 6gs R chatter
sum- time ne, come in sudden focks and
woodland one sees the flash OF large wings
summer mayhap IS musical The sudden
activity is not the daliance, Of love any more
than the harsh note is one OF affection.
The first frost comes on still clear night
that is commonly followed by a day of Ike
character. the best kind Of a day for noting
elusive aspects and slight changes OF nature.
The wanderer Tin the Van Cortlandt wood
superabundance Of mellow sunlight pouring
in broad full streams upon leaf strewn path
sn 'ihe @hneSse tho
effects Of frost elsewhere 1t is not needed in
this region to paint the woodlands with au-
before We are within two weeks Of frost. Bat
phasize the baroness OF certain trees. Some
OF the hickories are without a single leaf, Tho
nuts Tricky scattered among the dark lead
against tho sky. like nothing 30 much as an
oleratic score reduced to chaos.
contained in the first frost gives to tho imag-
! native listener = sense OF melancholy in tho
through the woodland. The little strea m that
tteebly flows with many hating pool to feed
tLs in paess it oa nst ws
stream q molten gold splashed hNre and
s Th ronSS bnDS saH il sn a
white MT wand,!ik. lines OF trunk and limb Dis
against tho sky. because intervening leRvss
have fallen. and il the tree be hickory it per-
haps carries high UP toward the topmost limb
o suburban boy. whose eyes one, knows
the sentinel gray tower at High Bridge and
many i'm spre OF the great city.
Nature has for weeks been busy producing
pretty mimicry OF the frost. She turned the
golden rod to fluffy prongs that will catch and
hold the first damp snow that falls The wild
'lematis has long trailed IL frosty lace work
high over the shrubbery OF the thickets. and
Z dozen tnlStle-like seed pods have tuFnei
heir silken ornaments to like mimicry. There
: pleasant. tingling sharpness in tho air
eloquent of hard cider and roasted chestnuts
IT Halloween, and seeing again the gray ga
1le OF the old Van Cortlandt manor house one
,traightway has visions OF the hundred hearth
Tres that once blazed in what is now tho sub
Urban region before there was anywhere in
III that district single mock Queen Anne
cottage heated with iron stoves or a Ife-de-
troyng furnace.