OCTOBER DAYS 



fusion of orange and scarlet, of reds and browns 

 and bronzes that surround it and are reflected 

 in it. These are the days when the world is 

 afloat in a haze of purple and gold. The con- 

 flagration of the woodlands gives a brilliancy to 

 the landscape that summer has never known. 



The great leaf fall comes some time between 

 the 17th and 27th of October. Again and again 

 one hopes against hope that the unexampled 

 will happen and that the fall will be deferred 

 until on All Saints' Day the leaves may pass, 

 as it were, in a certain odor of sanctity. What 

 a fact to remember and to treasure ! But it 

 never is deferred, or at least it never has been 

 in my experience. Other latitudes doubtless 

 have other dates. One of two causes appar- 

 ently precipitates the catastrophe, and we 

 fondly think if these things did not happen the 

 leaves would stay. But they always happen. 

 Either we have two or three warm, sultry days, 

 which ripen every leaf to its fall, when they 

 come down softly and gently, turning once or 

 twice with stem as rudder, or a furious wind 



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