MINSTREL WEATHER S? CHAPTER 

 IX. SUMMER PAUSES *i? 



|HERE the slow creek is put- 

 ting out to sea, freighted 

 with seed and wan leaf, 

 cardinal-flowers watch the 

 waters reddened by their 

 image. Old gold and ocher, the ferns be- 

 neath move listlessly up and down with 

 the ripple. As spring walks first along 

 the stream, autumn, too, comes early to 

 the waterside, to kindle swamp maples 

 and give the alder colors of onyx. The 

 lustrous indigo of the silky cornel hangs 

 there in profusion. Scented white balls 

 of the river bush have lost their golden 

 haloes, and even the red-grounded purple 

 [48] 



