Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1893-01-26
HE AuIltMn LeAf.
Beauties of Nature a. Revealed In the DC
eli Yea

Beauties of Nature Revealed In the DC
clinfng Year
The trees are always beautiful. Even
in midwinter the bare branches sharply
outlined against the dull, gray sky have
a peculiar grace which artists strive in
vain TO initiate. The delicate green o.
spring and the luxuriance of the sum
ner foliage are equally delightful &c
the eye. But it is in autumn that the
trees assume their most beautiful dress.
The changing leaves, in every degree
of color from white TO dark brown,
through all the shades of yellow. green
and red, give an harmonious and lovely
aspect 10 our deciduous trees 1t is the
season of the falling leaf, and nature
seems, like the dying dolphin, to as.
sumo its bravest and most beautiful
hues to mark the period of death. For
il is death and not life that causes the
maple leaves to assume the scarlet and
makes the sumach blaze in the woods
and clearings. The sap no longer cir
culates in their cells, and in few days
the life-work of the leaf is over and it
drops to its mother earth to return
again to dust
To the philosophic mind the death of
the leaf is not subject for sorrow, but
for joy. 1t shows that the tree--its
mother-is living, for in this case at
least death is a vital phenomenon. A
dead tree does not shed its leaves ex-
cept by the slow processes of decay. A
living tree forces off the leaf when the
latter's life function is ended The sap
moves with less and less vigor as the
heat Of the summer sun declines
The walls of the veins" thicker
and finally close just at the base of the
Leaf stem until a sharp line Of demarl1a,
tion forms just where the stem joins
the woody twig. Gradually bud for
next years growth forms on the twis !
side OF this line, and as ;t grows it
forces the leaf from its attachment un.
I'll IL falls, leaving not a scar, but deli |
cate bud fully protected from the cold
of winter by scales and hairs and some
times wax-like substances, and ready TO |
take up the life-work when the warmer
sun of spring shall walen it to activity. |
Meanwhile in the leaf itself thus cut |
off from its parent marvellous change
Is taking place. No longer supplied
with moisture from the tree, it gradu-
ally shrivels and dries. The juices con-
tinue for awhile a local circulation, but |
they finally thicken by evaporation of
moisture and the leaf is dead. That
wonderful substance which chemists
call chlorophyll, and which gives to the
leaf its vivid green color, undergoes
curious change. No longer needed as
an oxygen producer, it becomes itself
oxidized aud slowly changes TO yellow,
or red. or brown, according to the ma
tute of the leaf or the circumstances by
which it is surrounded. And finally |
some sportive wind tears the old leaf
from its base and carries it off TO serve
again as food TO its ungracious mother.
This is the story of the autumn leaf.
While we should, as we must, admire
its brilliant hues, we can see a deep
lesson of life and death in its colorings.
Its work as leaf is done and careful
nature utilities it elsewhere. 1t dies
that another leaf, perchance blossom
or twig, may in another and happier
time take its place. And so the world
goes on. Nature often seems cruel TO
the individual, but TO the world she is
yet our dearest mother. -Baltimore Sun.