AUTUMNAL MORALITIES 123 



tall blueberry bushes all in red, with yellow 

 shadings by way of contrast. This is in a 

 swampy spot, where a lonesome hyla is peep- 

 ing. Just beyond, the drier ground is red- 

 dened under the trees with huckleberry 

 and dangleberry. Nobody who has not 

 attended to the matter would imagine how 

 much of the brightness of our New England 

 autumn one of the pageants of the world 

 is due to these lowly bushes, which most 

 people think of solely as useful in the produc- 

 tion of pies and puddings. Without being 

 mown, the huckleberry bears a second crop 

 a crop of color. It is twice blest ; it 

 blesses him that eats and him that looks. In 

 many parts of New England, at least, the 

 autumnal landscape could better spare the 

 maples than the blueberries and the huckle- 

 berries. Rum-cherry trees and shrubs 

 more shrubs than trees are dressed in 

 lovely shades of yellow and salmon. Spice- 

 bushes wear plain yellow of a peculiarly deli- 

 cate cast. I roll a leaf in my hand and find 

 it still spicy. A bush looks handsomer, I be- 

 lieve, if it is known to smell good. The same 

 thought came to me a week ago while I was 



