PArre LV —— BUDS 
Sa Fae ek oe 
BUDS-IN WINTER 
HEN schooi opened in September, all the trees 
‘ were covered with leaves; and some of these 
trees were bent with their burden of pears and apples 
and peaches, while others were hung with prickly chest- 
nut burrs or with acorns or walnuts. 
But now all is changed. The woods look gray and 
bare; for nearly all the leaves have fallen save those 
ot the oak, which are still holding fast to the branches. 
These oak leaves are brown and stiff and leathery. They 
crackle and rustle when the wind blows through them. 
In the city squares you see the same change, — bare 
branches in place of green leaves. 
At this season it is hardly worth while, perhaps you 
think, to go to the woods or to the park; for there is 
nothing to be seen, —no leaves, no flowers, almost no 
fruits. Better wait till spring for any such expedition. 
Here you are wrong. Provided you know what to 
look at, and how to look at it, there is no month of the 
year when the woods and parks are not full of interest. 
And so at this season, when the trees are bare of 
leaves, better than at any other, certain things can be 
studied. 
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