284 FROM A MIDDLESEX GARDEN 



leafless hedges and bare and baring trees, above which the 

 clouds and the sun hold combat, the clouds being generally 

 victorious. 



In nearly every garden we may now see the smoke arising 

 from the burning weeds ; all around the air is filled with their 

 aromatic scent ; we may hear the hiss and crackle. It is not 

 unpleasant to watch the opal smoke curl upwards through the 

 mist, and, as one looks, one feels the true charm of Tenny- 

 son's lines 



" A golden Autumn woodland reels 

 Athwart the smoke of burning weeds." 



In a corner of the garden a few blooms of the blue gentian 

 I find, yet everywhere smoulders the flame of the lingering 

 tints. The gold of the leaves is given to earlier Autumntide 

 when they stood out, this year in particular, in the most 

 charming vignettes as the trees stood enveloped in the filmy 

 golden haze, glorifying the most prosaic thing ; now, this 

 gold, as it were, is almost consumed, but dross and embers 

 remain on the cold hearth of Autumn's furnace ! 



These are but a few of November's characteristics. How 

 many more, of greater beauty, are left for each individual to 

 discover ! It is the little that we care to know about the 

 things around us that makes them appear so uninteresting to 

 many ; it is by caring to know as much as we can about the 

 common things around that they grow in beauty, and it is by 

 learning much, or by discovering some of these beauties, we 

 know how much there is still to be learnt how innumerable 

 the beauties still to find. 



Now gleams on high, when the night is clear, the wonder- 



