126 THE SPIRIT OF SEPTEMBER 



Rough winds may "shake the darling 

 buds of May," an insufferable sun may 

 wither the flowers and scorch the grass 

 of June, but to-day the country enjoys 

 the deep contentment which only Au- 

 tumn knows. The low sun will shine 

 golden through the drooping tresses of 

 the birch long after the first frost has 

 laid its gentle touch upon the leaves, 

 the " maple burn itself away " before 

 an inclement wind comes to sweep its 

 branches clean. The hazel-nuts will 

 have grown hard and loose in their leafy 

 jackets, rooks will have come to the oak- 

 wood for the annual festival of acorns, 

 the lordly pheasant will have wandered 

 far from home to lend his splendour to 

 the outlying spinneys, the last of the 

 summer birds will have gone, before we 

 need begin to think of "ruin'd choirs" 

 and the cold gray of winter. And Nature 

 will have been kind and companionable 

 all the time. 



