IN DIM OCTOBER 



was a badly frightened reptile, but as we 

 were mercifully inclined toward such a harm- 

 less member of the snake kingdom, it soon 

 dodged into taller cover and we saw it no 

 more. 



On a slope among the heavy timber we 

 paused by a giant oak-tree and sat down to 

 wait. The trees here were mostly oaks, with 

 a few hickories scattered farther along, where 

 the hill beyond showed dimly through the 

 timber. The tints on the leaves were very 

 gorgeous. The foliage had not been thinned 

 to any extent by frosts and was yet thick 

 on the branches, and some of it was even yet 

 green with the youth of the late summer. 

 But for a long distance in every direction 

 there was a vast drapery of the most vivid 

 red, russet, yellow with hundreds of varia- 

 tions in these colors. It had the effect of a 

 painted wood. And there was something 

 of a funereal grandeur to it all, as though 

 autumn had flung herself on the funeral pyre 

 of a dead season to fill the spaces with the 

 glory of her blazing sacrifice. There were 

 aisles and niches hung thick with splendid 

 garlands, and paths brilliant with spendthrift 

 215 



