AUTUMN HUES. 



285 



gated hues to serve as figures in the magnificent 

 ground work. It is astonishing how well Autumn 

 understands the effect of light, especially as he works 

 so much in the dark. But there, on the bold spur of 

 that hill, right where the sunlight falls at evening 

 through a gorge in the western range, he has laid on 

 his richest and most gorgeous colors. And when the 

 western sky is melting and flowing into fluid gold, and 

 the glowing orb of day is swimming in its own splen- 

 dor as it sinks to rest, it pours its full brightness upon 

 that already bright projection, till it is converted into 

 a throne of light. 



Thus does this frolicsome Autumn roam abroad 

 with brush and colors in hand, obeying no law but 

 that of beauty. But while he paints on such a grand 

 scale, and with such long sweeps, and so rapidly, too, 

 finishing millions of acres in a single night, he omits 

 none of the details. Each leaf is as carefully shaded, 

 and as delicately touched as if miniature painting was 

 his only profession. 



