AUTUMN 29 



the banded purple (Arthemis) ; and even 

 here in the hill country it is never so com- 

 mon as to lose that precious bloom which 

 rarity puts upon whatever it touches. 



As I turned down the Bethlehem road, 

 the valley and hill prospects on the left be- 

 came increasingly beautiful. Here I passed 

 hermit thrushes (it was good to see them 

 already so numerous again, after the de- 

 struction that had wasted them a few win- 

 ters ago), a catbird or two, and a few ruby- 

 crowned kinglets, some of them singing, 

 and before long found myself within the 

 limits of a rich man's red farm ; fences, 

 houses, barns, poultry coops, and the rest, 

 all painted of the same deep color, as if to 

 say, " All this is mine." I remembered the 

 estate well, and have never grudged the 

 owner of it his lordly possessions. I enjoy 

 them, also, in my own way. He keeps his 

 roads in apple-pie order, without meddling 

 with their natural beauty (I wish our Mas- 

 sachusetts " highway surveyors " all worked 

 under his orders, or were endowed with his 

 taste), and is at pains to save his woods from 

 the hands of the spoiler. "Please do not 



