OUR INDIAN SUMMER 195 



Luke's Day the autumn harvest of berries is at its height ; 

 but in some seasons it is combined with a rich display of 

 lingering flowers. Beautiful and unusual posies can be 

 gathered of crimson rowan and guelder berries, mingled 

 with yellow corn marigold, and the dark clusters of the 

 privet contrasted with sky-blue chicory flowers. Mayweed 

 and poppy still brighten the corn and root fields, harebells 

 and blue campanulas mix with the gorse and heather on 



GUELDER-BERRIES 



downs and commons, and honeysuckle and sprays of fox- 

 glove lurk in the thinning copses. But the brightness both 

 of berry and blossom is overwhelmed by the splendour of 

 the autumn foliage. The boughs in the beech-woods range 

 through every shade of red and yellow, from pale buff and 

 ivory to richest orange and crimson. The colour of the 

 rain-washed bark blends with that of the leaves and produces 

 a rich tint of purple. Where a great beech-wood burns to 

 the blue October sky in ridge beyond flaming ridge it almost 

 awes the mind by its vastness ; but the effect is hardly less 

 striking where a single coloured spray lights up some wood- 

 land avenue. In garden alleys and dark paths by streams, 



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