3/8 



THE NATURE BOOK 



flicker along the hedgerows. Even in 

 the keen, frosty days of mid-December 

 we hear the " twink " of the chaffinch, 

 the incessant "" chink, chink, chinking " 

 of the blackbird, and the thin, piping 

 notes of hedge-sparrows and blue tits ; 

 and, sun or no sun, the starling still 

 " fizzles " on the chimney-pot. Ever- 

 green, holly, and ivy festoons grace the 

 woodlands, and mosses grow thick and 

 deeply green. The giddy gnats still 

 dance in the humid shade. 



The evening of the year is a busy time 

 of preparation for a fresh continuance 

 of life. The plant dies down, but the 

 stores accumulated in Summer are gradu- 

 ally transferred to the roots which live 

 on. The buds upon the branches are 

 stores. Within the seeds which have 

 been scattered broadcast there are stores ; 

 and what are root-stocks, bulbs, and 

 tubers, but life held over in reserve for 

 another year. Your succulent fruit, your 

 rosy-cheeked apple that is the character- 

 istic thing of the season, the triumph 



of the year's work. And what does it 

 tell you when you split it open ? This, 

 that the purpose of every living thing on 

 Earth is to perpetuate a futurity through 

 the fruits of a busy life. Cradled within 

 the apple are the seeds of a new generation. 

 Let it serve as symbol that Fall-time is 

 not an end of life, but a period of fruitage 

 and recuperative rest prior to continuance 

 and a new beginning. When Spring 

 comes the life that went away will again 

 return to remind us that the farewell, 

 which seems for ever, is really only " au 

 re voir." 



But however things may be, and they 

 are certainly dismal enough when Winter 

 howls, and cold rains lash at the pane, 

 let us take a hint these days from the 

 cheery trill and sharp staccato reminder 

 of the perky little gentleman with the 

 red waistcoat ; for what is a robin in 

 winter but a veritable living personifi- 

 cation of our old friend Mark Taple}^ 

 '' there is a credit in being jolly under 

 any circumstances." R. A. Staig. 



Photoirraph by S. H. U'rightsoit, Strcatltani. 



'LOUDER STILL, THE ROCKING AND CREAKING OV THE HALF-STRIPPED TREES AS 

 THE GREAT NORTH-EASTER SHRIEKS THROUGH THEM." 



