54 



THE FALL OF THE YEAR 



the world is so new, so fresh and strange, as to seem 

 like a different planet. And then the evening 

 the hour of dusk and the deeper, darker night ! Go 

 once this autumn into the woods at night. 



And lastly, don't go into the woods as if they 

 were a kind of Noah's Ark ; for you cannot enter 

 the door and find all the animals standing in a row. 

 You will go a great many times before seeing them 

 all. Don't be disappointed if they are not so plenti- 

 ful there as they are in your books. Nature books 

 are like menageries the animals are caught and 

 caged for you. The woods are better than books 

 and just as full of things, as soon as you learn to 



take a hint, to 

 read the signs, 

 to put two and 

 two together 

 and get 

 four four 

 paws black 

 paws, with a long black snout, a big ringed and 

 tail a coon ! 



Whether you live in the heart of a great city or in 

 the open country, you ought to begin this fall to learn 

 the names and habits of the birds and beasts (snakes, 

 lizards, turtles, toads ! ) that live wild in your region. 

 Even when all the summer birds have gone south 



