Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1904-11-07
Calnase
Sermon
BY Rev.
Frank De Witt Talmaae, d. d.

AsNN -AiEfltEs '.dl.s NV u lDlAl AAt
Rutumnal frosts. the stripping of for
est verdure and the woods now car
peted with the falling leaves the
preacher in this sermon draws lesson
on the shortness Of human life. The
text is Isaiah Xiv, 6, I'VE all do fade
as a leaf"
Is there any time in all the year
more delightful for a vacation in the
country than the Indian summer"
OF course 10 the lover Of nature the
valleys and the mountains have their
destinations at all seasons Winter
cold, bleak, growing, freezing winter
has her months Of glory. Then the
trees with their long. outstretched
branches. are like the vestal virgins of
old, robed in spotless white Then the
stars, through the keen, biting January
nights, CLEAN brighter than any other
time of the year. Then the country
roads are echoing with the merrymak-
ings of the sleighbells, and the lights
from the farmhouses are the beacOns
to signal friends to enter the home
where Welcome" is written over
every door.
Springtime in the country also has
her months of glory. That is the time
we hear the wooings of bird mating
with bird. That is the time when the
winds are tossing the white blossoms
every whittier. That is the time of
the seed paintings and of the plowings,
the time when the brooks are rippled
with the trouts' fms, while summer has
her glory of the haymakers and the
harvestings and the vineyards and the
orchards in which we all have reveled
year by year when off for the August
vacations. But, though winter, spring
and summer may come to u.s. each with
special forms of enjoyment, the most
rapturous time of all the year in which
to spend a few weeks in the country
Is during the autumn, for then the
glory Of Octobers pride is the fading
leaf Never in artists studio were so
many gorgeous colors mixed together
az God pictures on his canvases of the
autumn foliage.
IAGlE lllC AACNb lOOn lAnU a AIAGhAy
'-riyer OF blood" as though their ar
teries had been opened by the Mosaic
rod which incarnadined the river Of
Egypt The leaves have blushetf a
deep crimson, as did the water at the
wedding feast at Cana when, at our
Lords word, 1t was borne as new
made wine to the governor at the
feast Under yonder trees it seems as
though aged Jacobs sons were feast
ing and had hung up Joseph's coat Of
many colors upon the tree branches
while they were waiting for the Ish-
maelite nOmads to come and take their
younger brother away. There the green
and the yellow, the red and the pur-
pie, the blue and all the colors of the
rainbow, are found blending upon the
same hillside Yonder field looks like
a prairie fire We can almost hear the
flames cracking amid the underbrush;
we can almost feel the hot air touch
ing oIe cheeks. We look at the strange
and wonderful sight of the long grass
Is and brushes, changed within few
weeks to light red, and we wonder
not as we see the birds flying away to-
ward the sunny south, for as they fly
we can almost see the pictures of the
prairie fires of our youth, when the
birds and the beasts and the serpents
fed in wild terror before the onward
rush of the consuming conhagratiOn.
The Leaves of Indian Summer.
Oh the beauty of the autumnal 70
nage! The fading leaves of the Indian
summer fascinate the eye and WOO
plauditory ordinations from all lips
As we go forth today to catalogue
some Of them we find that there ar
big leaves and small leaves, long leave
and narrow leaves, rough leaves ant
smooth leaves, thick leaves and thil
leaves There are leaves that are vel
low, and red, and brown, and crimson
and green, and saffron. There ar
leaves like those which the tired trav
elers twist into cups and dip into tn
cool waters and lift to their parchet
lips. There are leaves like the fresl
emerald ones which the picnickers U.s.
for platters when the merrymaker
are banqueting in the woods ant
leaves like those the field laborers we
when they place them in their straw
hats to cool their aching brOws. Then
are leaves which the little children
gather and press straight between tn
schooIbook pages. There are leaves
which the maidens collect to fill thu
jars and vases and to decorate the
halls, parlors and bedrooms Of the
home. There are leaves which the
dorist cuts to give an added beauty t
the flowers he is clustering together
for assemblages of Joy and also fol
Rssemblages of sorrow. There art
leaves which have hidden the nests o
the birds while they were rearing thei
young-leaves upon the tree branches
leaves in the flower gardens, leave
which have been tossed by the wind
into the dusty road. leaves overhead
leaves under foot. There are hundre
and and forty and four thousand va
rieties of them and thousands upo