OCTOBER 



The witch-hazel loves a hillside with or without 

 wood or shrubs. It is always pleasant to come 

 upon it unexpectedly as you are threading the 

 woods in such places. Methinks I attribute to it 

 some elfish quality apart from its fame. I love to 

 behold its gray speckled stems. The leaf first 

 green, then yellow for a short season ; then, when 

 it touches the ground, tawny leather-color. 



THOEEAU: Autumn. 



The jays scream on the right and left as we go 

 by, flitting and screaming from pine to pine. 



THOKEAU : Days and Nights in Concord. 



The scarlet maples burn, the golden leaves of 

 poplar and birch shine through the misty veil, 

 and the deep purple of the ash glows as if it held 

 a smouldering fire that the first breeze might fan 

 into a flame, and through all this luminous leafage 

 one may trace branch and twig as a wick in a 

 candle flame. Only the evergreens are dark as 

 when they bear their steadfast green in the deso- 

 lation of winter, and only they brood shadows. 



ROBINSON: In New England Fields and Woods. 



