CHAPTER VIII AUGUST 

 SOBER SUMMER 



THE foliage of summer is generally mature, 

 green, sober. There is a certain warmth 

 and gaiety about the leaf progress of June 

 and early July, and a vast variety in shades, as 

 well, so that any body of trees and shrubs of vary- 

 ing kinds will display anything from the youngest 

 light yellow leaves of the Norway maples to the 

 deep, even green of the horse-chestnuts. Toward 

 the first of August the leaves are quite or nearly 

 full-grown, and they have settled down to their 

 real work of elaborating food for the trees that 

 bear them. 



My water-color friend, Little, finds in this color 

 maturity another confirmation of his theory that 

 there is a sort of color compensation, a chromatic 

 balance, of the seasons. In spring, the air and the 

 ground are cool, though slowly absorbing heat, and 

 the leaves and flowers are warm in hue there 

 are the really hot colors of the tulips, the yellows of 

 some tree blossoms, and so on. As the season 

 warms, the foliage and flower hues become in 



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