THE GARDENS OF THE SEA 59 



those that glide dikewise between the 

 Holland fields, piled high with flowers 

 and produce from the farm, with dun- 

 brown sails for horses. 



The keen September winds kindle 

 the autumn fires, and reds, yellows, 

 and purples hold their final tourna- 

 ment. The stubbly meadows wear a 

 yellow tinge, which blends to brown 

 in the shorn marshes, while the golden- 

 rod has filled the place of wild rose, 

 orchid, and mallow. Wands of the 

 blazing-star, and the various asters, 

 purple the fields and lane, where the 

 pokeberry with crimson stem and fruit 

 vies with glazed sumach leaves. Vir- 

 ginia creeper wraps the tallest trees in 

 scarlet, and up and down, wasting the 

 beauty of the marshes and the lane, the 

 fire goes and creeps with briers through 

 the scorched brown grass. Maples and 

 sumach, sassafras and oak, burn slowly 



