NUMBER XXV 

 THE FALL OF THE LEAF 



LATE autumn, which marks to many of us the 

 beginning of winter work and winter plea- 

 sures, means to the wide world of life an ebb-tide. 

 It is sometimes, indeed, a period for rest and repair, 

 or, as is often the case, a time for dying, but it is 

 always an ebb-tide. And one of the very beautiful 

 signs of this, more striking than the homing of the 

 birds or the winter sleep of mammals, is the fall of 

 the leaf. 



The life of the plant is like a tide ; it sets in with 

 a flood in spring, manifesting itself in growth of 

 stem and exuberance of foliage ; it rises to the high- 

 water mark, and turns in summer when the blossoms 

 burst and the flowers shine forth ; it is well on the 

 ebb by autumn, bearing on its breast all manner of 

 ripe fruits and seeds, treasures to be cast on the 

 shores of another spring. Each of these tidal 

 periods, one may say, has its characteristic colour : 

 green and gold are the colours of early spring ; 

 orange, red, and purple mark the full splendour of 

 summer flowers ; and autumn, with its flame-like, 

 often blood-like, withering leaves, rivals all that has 



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