Ready for Winter 205 



Ready for Winter 



THE glory of the fall is gone, though its 

 beauty lingers yet in green meadows and 

 the brooding haze that softens the moun 

 tain outlines on sunny afternoons. The delay of 

 the black frosts preserves this brightness of the 

 verdure that contrasts so well with the wintry 

 grayness of the discrowned forest. The farmers 

 on the hills have forecast moderate weather to the 

 very verge of winter, and thus far the season con 

 firms them, and withal the long latter rains have 

 come and filled the springs, though not to their 

 over-brimming autumn standard. The brooks 

 are alive again in the glens and ravines, and the 

 rivers rush and shout down their rapids as if all 

 the spirits of the waters had returned and were 

 telling of their travels in aerial voyages to other 

 lands. There is as much charm in a country 

 walk as at any season ; though it be not the same 

 charm, what matters that ? since life without va 

 riety is tasteless, and the life of Nature no less 

 than that of man. 



