AUTUMN 23 



Again and again I rested to admire the 

 glory of Mount Lafayette, which loomed 

 more grandly than ever, I was ready to de- 

 clare, seen thus partially and from this point 

 of vantage. Twice, at least, I had been on 

 its summit in such a fall day, — once on the 

 1st of October, and again, the year after- 

 ward, on a date two days earlier. That 

 October day was one of the fairest I ever 

 knew, both in itself (and perfect weather is 

 a rare thing, try as we ma^y to speak notliing 

 but good of the doings of Providence) and 

 in the pleasure it brought me. 



For the next year's ascent, which I re- 

 member more in detail, we chose — a bro- 

 ther Franconian and myself — a morning 

 when the tops of the mountains, as seen from 

 the valley lands, were white with frost or 

 snow. We wished to find out for ourselves 

 which it was, and just how the mountain 

 looked under such wintry conditions. 



The spectacle would have repaid us for a 

 harder climb. A cold northwest wind (it 

 was still blowing) had swept over the sum- 

 mit and coated everything it struck, foliage 

 and rocks alike, with a thick frost (half an 



