EED LEAF DAYS 



" Woods over woods in gay theatric pride." 



Goldsmith. 



White Mountain woods are generally 

 at their brightest in the last few days of 

 September. This year I had but a week or 

 so to stay among them, and timed my visit 

 accordingly, arriving on the 2 2d. As I 

 drove over the hills from Littleton to Fran- 

 conia there were only scattered bits of high 

 color in sight — a single tree here and there, 

 which for some reason had hung out its au- 

 tumnal flag in advance of its fellows. It 

 seemed almost impossible that all the world 

 would be aglow within a week ; but I had 

 no real misgivings. Seed time and harvest 

 would not fail. The leaves would ripen in 

 their time. And so the event proved. Day 

 by day the change went visibly forward 

 (visibly yet invisibly, as the hands go round 



