OCTOBER 



17 



There is hardly a more striking feature in the 

 landscape nowadays than the red patches of blue- 

 berry and whortleberry bushes, as seen on a slop- 

 ing hillside, like islands among the grass, with 

 trees growing in them ; or crowning the summit 

 of a bare, brown hill with their somewhat russet 

 liveliness ; or circling round the base of an earth- 

 imbedded rock. At a distance, this hue, clothing 

 spots and patches of the earth, looks more like a 

 picture than anything else, yet such a picture as 

 I never saw painted. 



HAWTHORNE: American Note-Books. 



18 



The leaves of late red maples, still bright, 

 strew the earth, often crimson-spotted on a yellow 

 ground, like some wild apples, though they pre- 

 serve these bright colors on the ground but a day 

 or two, especially if it rains. On causeways I go 

 by trees here and there all bare and smoke-like, 

 having lost their brilliant clothing; but there it 

 lies, nearly as bright as ever on the ground on one 

 side, and making nearly as regular a figure as 

 lately on the tree. ... A queen might be proud to 

 walk where these gallant trees have spread their 

 bright cloaks in the mud. 



THOREAU: Autumnal Tints. 



