Evening star., 1924-10-26
Heard and Seen

Peace hath her victories no less
than war; Autumn, her beauties no
less than Summer. The charm of the
National Capital takes on new glories
as the leaves fall.
Autumn is surely the time that
memory calls its own, for now the
smell Of burning leaves will plunge
almost any one back through the
years into the days of youth.
1t may be against the police
regulations to burn leaves. but it is
being done, nevertheless, with the
same results as of old-a brisk blaze.
cloud of pungent smoke and an
arising of many memories.
Halloween is very near, and the
spirit of this reckless night calls for
| blazing fires, you know. These fires
are as the last gasp of beauty. the
licking flames being a reminder of
the browns and reds of the leaves on
the trees.
Washington, with its extensive tree
system, has an Autumn mantle ex-
ceiling that of any other great city.
Owing to the mild Fall weather many
trees are still green, but their late
changing will but prolong the
Autumn beauty.
On many streets the NAPLES on the
north side have turned brown, and
| have fallen to the sidewalk, lawn and
| thoroughfare, while on the south side
the trees are still fresh and green.
The naples are giving the street
| cleaning department, as well as care
| full housewives. much trouble in their
| removal. The winged seeds which
| float down are marvelously tenacious.
Nature intended them to stick, and
stick they do. hugging the front walk
with might and main, as If loath to
swept into the gutter.
OF course, the seeds could not grow
on concret-but the seeds do not
| know that. With their little planes
! they lie fiat on the pavement, resist
| ing the sweep of the broom. 1t is
curious to feel their resistance under
the broom. The harder one sweeps
the closer they stick. Often it is
necessary to stoop down and pick
| them up. one by one.
Children play with all sorts OF
implements, but the maple seed is
one thing they seemed to have
missed. Yet they would provide rare
! sport. Two boys might each take
| 100 of the winged things and in turn
| throw them for a circle. the game
| being to see who could get the most
| in his circle.
The flutters made by the seeds are
quite fascinating to watch, to any
| things of life and nature, as we'll as
| the large ones. OF course he who is
| interested only in politics could not
possibly find a minute to give to
| contemplation of maple seed. Nor
| should he, indeed.
|
Fallen leaves give the street clean
| ing department of the Government
| severe run until the last leaf on
| the tree is gone.
Men come along to sweep up the
leaves in great piles, while other
| men come along later, with wagons,
| to gather them up. This scheme
| works nicely unless the small boys
| of the neighborhood are just out Of
| school.
Then the neat piles are scattered
| every which way. 1t seems impossi-
BILE for small boy to resist scunling
| his shoes through the thick piles Of
| leaves, with the result that in two
| minutes every such pile along the
| block is leveled fiat.
] When the big wagon comes along
| the men find they have much OF the
| work to do over again. The result
| is that they are disgruntled, and end
up by leaving many leaves lying. 1t
is no easy job, at best, gathering up
fallen leaves. They have a firm
! habit Of waiting away just as one is
about to scoop them up. Festive
breezes, too, play havoc with the
| neatest piles.
|
| X
The amateur gardener sighs when
he sees the great wagonloads of dry
| leaves being hauled away. What
| humus they would make, piled for
| year, with earth and water added
| from time to time,
| Leaves are excellent protection for
rose bushes and other plants that
| need some sort of Winter covering to
| help them weather the cold weather
A thick layer of leaves, held in place
by a few boughs, is quite enough in
| this climate.