OCTOBER 



O one perhaps realizes as strongly as 

 the naturalist (or he who has the 

 spb'it of the naturalist, even if too 

 modest to apply the pretentious 

 title to himself) — no one else, I say, feels so 

 keenly the characteristic mood of the several 

 seasons ; a mood and atmosphere so peculiar to 

 itself as to give to each of the seasons much of 

 the dignity of personality. 



Autumn has a mellow, ripened glow dis- 

 tinctively its own. The inflection of its cad- 

 ence is downward, as that of spring is upward. 

 The two seasons have all the contrast of youth 

 and maturity : the symbol of the one, inquiry ; 

 of the other, assurance. If the jubilant and vi- 

 vacious song sparrow be a type of spring-time, 

 autumn is represented by the rich and noble song 

 of the wood thrush. Spring is silvery ; autumn, 

 golden. Even spring's climax, June — queen- 

 month of all the year — is fairly rivalled by Oc- 

 tober's regal splendor — the consummation and 



273 



