THE FALLING LEAF. 93 
the welfare of the animal world; and, so far as 
they exhale this gas, they are. But they have 
been well called the ‘scavengers of nature ;” 
for they live by consuming up what would 
otherwise perhaps produce a poison. Hence we 
find them upon decaying fruit, bread, &c.; and 
they very soon remove all the offensive matter, 
converting 1t into vegetable mould—after which 
no further danger of its decay is to be appre- 
hended. 
But to return. The fair days of Summer have 
gently glided over the head of the young plant. 
The evenings draw in, the harvest is past, the 
field again yields to the bright plough-share, 
and puts on her brown dress once more, and 
Autumn, heavy-laden with fruits, appears before 
us in all her soberness and mellowness of aspect. 
But what change is this which has come over 
the plant’s leaves? Whose pencil has turned 
their fresh hues of green into brown, yellow 
and red? And see! the last brush of the wind 
has scattered a heap of them at our feet. This 
is the change and fall of the leaf! 
It is a very difficult thing to understand the 
precise nature of the changes which undoubtedly 
