6 FROM A NEW ENGLAND HILLSIDE. 



II. 



THE night brought us only light and re 

 freshing showers, though these were accom 

 panied by the ripening leaves, which fell 

 thick and fast, and strewed the ground this 

 morning with a carpet of red and gold. 

 But the sun came out between the clouds 

 with his face washed clean for the holiday, 

 and brought back with him the warmth of 

 summer. As I passed down the village 

 street I had to dodge the horse-chestnuts, 

 which have become ripe enough to fall, and, 

 bursting their burrs as they reach the path, 

 scatter shell and nut on either side. 



(And apropos, as I was writing this I be 

 came conscious of a bombardment in my 

 room at intervals, the cause of which I 

 found in something of the same nature. 

 Yesterday I placed a flowering branch of 

 witch hazel above my piano. The dry air 

 of the room has rapidly matured the last 

 year s fruit, and the shells opening from 

 time to time with a snap, send the seed 

 scurrying across the room to find an un- 



