The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1942-09-21
After Many
Years
The Frost Is On
The punkin"
The Flowers Are
SONG TO Rest
And rs Fine For
A Morning Walk
BY " I. SHORT

- A8aAA AAAssH AsAA-f - HHaA
Interestingly but differently de-
scrihed by two Of Americas we'll
known poets. Possibly the latter
part Of the statement should be
qualified. once upon q time they
were wellknown and were fayorite
authors for speaking day at
school, but they may not be 30
familiar today. More than likely
not half Of those who read this
column could tell who wrote
"When the Frost is on the Pun
kin or The Death Of the Flow
ers."
II was William Cullen Bryant
who saw in the coming Of autumn
the season which brings death to
the flowers.
Probably he was a lover Of
flowers and was saddened when
he walked through his garden af-
ter one Of the heavy frosts which
New England experiences as Sep
temher draws To close. That
might have inspired him to write
his Death of the Flowers
1.-The melancholy days have come,
the saddest Of the year, with
wailing winds and naked woods
and meadows brown and sere.
etc.
The other side of the picture is
presented by James Whitcomb
Riley as he wrote about the frost
on the "punkinp and the .fod-
der" all shocked to feed the stock
through the coming winter. Prob
ably the fact that the fodder"
was in the shock might have
something to do with the exuber-
ance of the farmer pictured by
Riley on a bright autumn morn
ing. II meant that he was a fore
handed chap and laid by store
Of harvest for the unproductve
days ahead.
Like Bryant, Riley missed the
flowers. but with different view
point he saw the fruit the sum-
mer days had left. And you can
Just see him throw his shoulders
back and take In a great, deep
breath as he looks at the frost
Drowned vegetation and say:
But the airs so appetizin'; and
the landscape through the
haze
OF a crisp and sunny morning OF
the early autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has
the colorin' TO mock
When the frost Is on the punkin
and the folders in the shock!"
And then as he takes a broader
look over fields left bare by har-
vest he sees:
"The stubble In the furras-hnda
lonesome-like, but still
A preachin sermuns to US Of the
barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack In the medder,
and the reaper In the shed;
The horses in their stalls below
the clover overhead
o. il sets my heart a cliclSin' like
the tickin' Of n clock,
When the frost il on the punkin
and the folders In the shock
Next he gets the picture of the
cellar, with the apples a Teller
keeps in red and ysller heaps"
the "mincemeot and apple butter,
and the souse and sausage. too
it's a fit place for the angels 10
come and bosrd--snd he's ready
10 "commodste 'em-the whole
endurin' flock"
Though we still have the air
that's so sppetizin" and the
landscape through the haze Is still
"a pictur" that no painter has
the colorin' to mock" modern
Riley probably would have diff
Guilty in finding a subject that
would inspire anything as whole
some as When the Frost is on
the Punkin and Folders in the
Shock" More likely he would find
inspirst ton 10 muse over the mel
ancholy that's Just ahead but
which won't be so bad when we
really get into it.
There's another old picture
OF autumn which these mod
ern DAYS have turned Ia the
wall. There was the bolt of
pinlish red shaker flannel
TO make underwear and night
shirts for everybody In the
family; a gray striped flannel
for petticoats II the old gar
ments seemed too thin, gray
yarn for socks. and red. vel
low and brown for mittens
and hoods. The heavy knitted
socks used 20 pinch the toes,
and the underwear and nit
tens would priekle but any
body who complained would
get a boz on the ear for not
being thankful.
Everybody. anyway nearly sv-
erybody. but the town orunEsro
and the couple Of families On the
other SIDE Of the tracks. had eel
lars L they didn't raise their own
food they always laid in supply
from the farmers who drove about