THE ROMANCE OF OUR TREES 



and countrysides of this and other northern conti- 

 nental areas. They have other things for which we 

 may envy them but the autumn tints of leaves are 

 peculiarly our own. The brightly coloured Codiaeums 

 of the tropics and of our hothouses, beautiful as they 

 are, do not equal the Red Maple, Sugar Maple, Sas- 

 safras, and Tulip-tree in the fall. No scene in nature 

 is more delightful than the woods of eastern North 

 America in the fulness of their autumn splendour. 



It is a weakness of humans to crave most those 

 things beyond their immediate reach, but the wise 

 among us are content to enjoy those which fall within 

 the sphere of every-day life. To revel in the splendid 

 riot of autumn colour no long journey has to be under- 

 taken. It is at our very door. From the St. Law- 

 rence Valley and the Canadian lakes southward to 

 the Alleghany Mountains there is displayed each 

 autumn a scene of entrancing beauty not surpassed 

 the world over. Central Europe, Japan, China, and 

 other parts of eastern Asia have their own season of 

 autumn colour and each area has an individuality of 

 its own but, if they rival, they cannot surpass the 

 forest scenes of eastern North America. 



But wherefore and why all this gay autumnal 



apparel? Is it the handiwork of the charming 



fairies and wood-nymphs of our childhood beliefs 



and nursery days? Surely some guiding hand, some 



36 



