108 AUTUMNAL LEAVES. 



upon the surface of a limpid river. Looking up 

 stream it may be that there is a momentary lull in 

 the wind and the motionless tracery of twig and 

 spray on riverside shrubs and trees is mirrored 

 in the clear depths which lie under the banks. 

 But suddenly there will be sylvan music as a 

 gentle breeze, which rising far away has been 

 speeding towards us, airily touches the boughs 

 around. Gentle as is the touch of the zephyr 

 it is strong enough to loosen the slender grasp of 

 departing leaves whose time, before their fellows, 

 has come. Sailing lightly for a moment on the 

 wings of the wind and falling at length, as it 

 would seem, half-reluctantly on the moving sur- 

 face of the current, they are borne steadily yet 

 swiftly to wards us mere colourless, characterless 

 objects as we see them in the near distance; then, 

 as they are swept past underneath us, veritable 

 things of beauty ; green dashed with gold, orange, 

 purple, scarlet, crimson. But it is only a fugitive 

 glance at them that we get. Yet, at the instant of 

 passing, the eye takes in rapidly the form and 

 character no less than the rich colouring of the 

 tiny leaf. Then it is gone for ever colour, 



