OCTOBER 259 



until yellowed. How crisp my sprig of beech, shining with 

 its natural lustre like beaten copper ; and of a like tint, only 

 of a richer hue and more fiery, the leaves of the plane ! 



As I stooped to gather the rich leaves of the oak, comes 

 back an eve of Summer, when, under the same trees, I 

 watched among the branches a beautiful monstrous stag 

 beetle, humming furiously. How I longed to possess it ; and 

 yet I had no wish to catch it, for to gaze upon it for five 

 minutes, happy in its brief existence, to listen to it droning 

 in the twilight, was worth far more than years of possession 

 of its lifeless body. 



What is this cause of the trees' one consent in changing 

 from " the green leaf to the sere"? Probably it is because 

 the energies of the trees have become weakened, unable to 

 supply their great families with nourishment necessary in pre- 

 serving the emerald tint. The earth calls each fluttering leaf- 

 banneret, for she has need of them, and they must fain obey 

 and flutter down upon her breast. 



Colour, with me you will agree, is a mystery the 

 colour of the day sky ; the soft violet, velvet, star-sprinkled 

 canopy of night ; the greys of dawn ; the flush of sunset, with 

 its soft tints the colour of doves' breasts, down to the fierce 

 blood-red and leaden hues. Immense mystery ! The deep 

 pure colour of a crimson rose, whose beauty is heightened 

 when glows a dew-jewel upon its petal ; the burning gold 

 of the daffodil and sunflower ; the pale yellow light of the 

 primrose ; the violets in their home of moss ; the poppies' 

 fiery flame among the emerald wheat ; the pearly irradiancy 

 of the April anemone. Why and whence these fiery hues 



