The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-09-29
LATE sEPTEMBERs BEAUTIES.
a 1ssd Il Color Nov 70 He seea IN sky.
Woodland and resd.

Woouteno mo FIes0'
Late September comes upon the town
With q food Of color and q delicious sug-
se-tion ~ peace. The color- that give
character 20 the weeks between mld-scp-
TENDER and the first sharp frosts. the -sason
just before and just after the autumnal
equinox. IL not that Of the ripening foliage.
though tho leaves have then begun 20 turn,
but n sort OF Intensified splendor in the sky,
whether q evening and morning or OF mid
day and a peculiar and harmonious rch-
ness In the display of Wild blossoms.
Bright mornings find the suburban sktcs
cloudles and intensely blue. with foods Of
melloweSt sunshine that goes through and
through the woodlands. thinncd already
with the loss al the earliest fallen leaves.
The pillarod majesty Of the hardwood
timber thus shows In a new aspect. IL 10
almost a. green and a. thick ~ In mid
summer, one 10 at first inclined 70 think.
and. indeed. upon dull days II shows little
sign Of lie loss. but thoee searching golden
showers, which everywhere splash and
dapple the woodland carpet. penetrating
the inmost secrets OF the thickets woven
against the heats Of August. unmistakably
tell % autumn.
AZ To the fields. they are still more altered.
Cropped OF mown grase IL stnl freshly
green, but wherever a suburban meadow
has been left 20 itsnlf IL u robed In s~plendors
that neither spring nor summer can APP
proach. The maiden year IL appropriately
clad In the freeh pale ptnks. delicate bhie-
and faint y%ellows Of the spring Wild flowers.
but the matronly autumn proudly wears
the darker glories Of purple n gold and
cardinal red.
The golden rod and the Wild asters. with
other gold and purple blossoms. broider
every hedgerow and edge every meadow.
The cardinal fycatcher. lone and rare,
glow. IN serene lovelin.-s within the shade
OF the woodland. Patches Of almy bios
soming grasses sparkle beneath the sun
with all the colors Of the rainbow.
But the late september skies, whether In
city or suburbs. eeem wrought Of natures
most precious stun Even those who know
the New York skiee only by the strip that
overhAns- the narrow tunncl-ike thor
oughfares lined with tall houses must guess
even from the little that they -ee that the
late September skies arr literally gorgeous
In their prodigality OF color
Thoee who cross the high-ewuns bridges
that are from year to year more and more
characteristics OF the city. guess something
Of the purple sa In which Diana swings
arDtt tine tnifllluk ibhtkE VI "thArfl
square. But the late September skies Of
the northern suburbs seem To enclose as
with a giant b~ell-glass n delirium OF color
The midday sky that edges the woodland
tops IL apparently OF a denser blue than
even the zenith Every prospect seems
drenched In the colors OF the sky, The
very shadows Som To have purple edges.
A near landscape Of tangled meadow and
ripening orchard with perhaps q suburban
home deep at In trces and shrubbery seams
az if freshly washcd In rainbow tint4L Tins
effect In as Of undertoncs OF color that re-
fuse TO decicrr theTselve- To the ordinary
glance. The painter who should se and
put them upon canvas would be accused OF
Importing the tropics into this sober North.
Al hour before sunset. while yet the
swallows are high In the air weaving to the
music Of their own ripping twitter Intricate
invisible nets. the western sky FOR many
degrees above the horizon In a vast sheet
Of old ro-e and cool pink shot through with
purple, while the hall moon floats faint and
ghost-like, see mingly the only cloud In the
heavens.
The night repeats the s~plendors Of the
day. Half an hour after sunset the ghostly
moon warns TO life. and the few stars begin
to appear In a sky doubly III by the moon
and the Vanished sun, and seeming deeper
with thai ethereal illumination than at
MONDAY. The thinned woodland roof ad-
mits the moonbeams to every nook. and
that fairy light again endows the thickets
with the mystery Of which the sunshine
robbed them.
The spider webs sparkle In the mellow
light a. II powdered with frost. The moon
light falls more softly and stcalthily than
In midsummer. and the shadows move
In softesi blurs and patches as the Septem-
her night wind pleys among the trees.
That ceaseless and varied din OF the
Angus, insect chorus has died away To the
sharp rattle Of the katydid and the shrnled
melancholy Of the cricket. The dim foods
Of moonlight, tho alternate loud call and low
monotone Of the insects. and the suggestive
slight chill In the air for the first time him
To the heart Of autumn's teaeingly sweet
melancholy, and the throAt suddenly
thickens ~ q mentAl vision shows the sensi-
tive watcher the woodland wall etched
with is mass Of dun and serried tvigs. the
moonlight ~sharpencd to the keenncss OF
qua and The halds sheetei in snow.