240 THE EULOGY OF RICHARD JEFFERIES 



brown spot a long distance down the glade 

 suddenly moves, and thereby shows itself to 

 be a rabbit. The bellowing sound that comes 

 now and then is from the stags, which are 

 preparing to fight. The swine snort, and the 

 mast and leaves rustle as they thrust them 

 aside. So little is changed : these are the 

 same sounds and the same movements, just as 

 in the olden time. 



" The soft autumn sunshine, shorn of summer 

 glare, lights up with colour the fern, the fronds 

 of which are yellow and brown, the leaves, the 

 gray grass, and hawthorn sprays already 

 turned. It seems as if the early morning's 

 mists have the power of tinting leaf and fern, 

 for so soon as they commence the green hues 

 begin to disappear. There are swathes of fern 

 yonder, cut down like grass or corn, the harvest 

 of the forest. It will be used for litter and 

 for thatching sheds. The yellow stalks the 

 stubble will turn brown and wither through 

 the winter, till the strong spring shoot comes 

 up and the anemones flower. Though the 

 sunbeams reach the ground here, half the 

 green glade is in shadow, and for one step that 



