THE BEECH WOODS 



woods grew the thickets of young 

 maple gloried in a cloak of brilliant 

 yellow, illuminating all the woods 

 about with the happy glow. The birches 

 that grow hereabout were also trim- 

 med in the delicate tint so becoming 

 to their graceful traceries. So the 

 Neighbour found the woodland paths 

 this Autumn afternoon a fairyland of 

 blended tints, until he reached the 

 deeper shade of the pine trees to the 

 north. Within these silent groves little 

 change had come, except where the 

 sprinkling of other trees broke the 

 quiet greenness with their brilliant 

 draperies. The Autumn days came 

 softly treading with scarcely a sound 

 to disturb these giant trees, who but a 

 short season gone had held the noisiest 

 of all the forest dwellers. 



The wind that went whispering 

 through the oats in June and idly lin- 

 gered over August's golden stubble, 

 now gleefully swept the fields in the 

 days that followed. Each boisterous 

 gust sent the brown nuts of beech and 

 chestnut rattling down and drove 

 clouds of leaves far out from the east- 

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