anfO Jhrufts of 0utumn. 3 7 



only store these golden autumn days to draw 

 from during the tedious months of winter when 

 the shadow is not on the dial ! The next best 

 thing is a gracious autumn lingering into late 

 November, when the fire of the year goes out so 

 slowly that it seems still to flicker amid the pat- 

 tering rime. 



Autumn is the harvest of those flowerless 

 plants par excellence, the fungi, when old past- 

 ures and orchards and close - cropped sheep- 

 walks yield up their treasures. There can be 

 nothing pleasanter at this season than an expe- 

 dition into the country in quest of the pink 

 mushroom of the pastures. To inhale the air is 

 in itself an inspiration, while road- side and lane 

 are brilliant with the fall flora, and grasshoppers 

 and crickets are chanting merrily in the fields. 

 Then there is the excitement of pursuit and the 

 triumph of capture. Mushrooms are like trout 

 and game they possess thrice the flavor where 

 you earn them yourself or where they are sent 

 by a friend. Neither should be purchased in the 

 market ; the bloom has been brushed off, the 

 freshness has fled. The mushroom is more 

 easily procured from the pastures than by arti- 

 ficial open-air culture. Like the poet, the out-of- 

 door culturist is born, not made, and, I believe, 

 must be born an Englishman. The leathery, in- 



