102 ALPINE FLOWERS AND GARDENS 



a sign of decadence, and Nature generally in a bad, 

 depressing way. All things are putting on a dress 

 of mourning, and it is only decent, he avers, that 

 thoughts should be of death and of the grave. To 

 be sure, he may address to Autumn some such 

 words as did Keats : 



' Where are the songs of Spring ? Ay, where are they ? 

 Think not of them, thou hast thy music too ;' 



but what a terribly doleful music our pessimist 

 makes of it ! And yet the music of Autumn is not 

 the wailing dirge he would have us to understand ; 

 there is strength in it, promise in it, life in it. 

 Autumn has no lack of gladness ; but * loeil qui 

 pleure trop jinit par s'aveugler^ and our poet's eyes 

 are bhnded by his pessimistic tears. 

 Who was it wrote : 



* It ain't no good to grumble and complain ; 

 It's easier and cheaper to rejoice. 

 When God serves out the weather, and sends rain, 

 Well — rain's my choice !' ? 



Whoever it was, he was a well-regulated optimist, 

 one more likely to catch the real beauty, the true 

 music of things. Ruskin said much the same in 

 speaking of the king of Welsh mountains : ' God 



