The Waning Year and its Suggestions 



ing to forget the coming cold and the 

 swift fading of leaf and flower. 



It is like the natural clinging of man to Y**- 



dreads death 



life which increases as years steal upon less than the 

 him. Youth does not dread death as age age ' 

 shrinks from it. The habit of living be- 

 comes stronger as we descend the hill, 

 and the suggestion of interruption seems 

 impertinent. The late scentless flowers 

 are more precious than the summer Roses, 

 for their time will soon be gone. Nature 

 cheats us with her autumn splendor, which 

 beguiles the mind into forgetting that it is 

 the precursor of decay. While we admire 

 the glory of a Maple grove, we do not real- 

 ize that the storms of winter are gathering 

 behind the forest. When the mountains 

 are purple in the low sunlight, we forget 

 the snows that shall soon whiten their 

 summits, and there is wisdom in this 

 natural instinct that forbids foreboding 

 when joy is at hand, which can enjoy the 

 present without seeking to lift the curtain 

 of the future. 



Let us rejoice, then, in the autumn flow- Rejoice in 

 ers ; in the soft atmosphere that clothes 

 the world with beauty; in the great 

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