AUTUMN IN THE ALPS 103 



never sent bad weather to Snowdon yet only 

 variations of good.' And that is the spirit in which 

 Autumn in the Alps should be greeted. There 

 should be 



' No sense of aught but of her loveliness.' 



Blended with its own strong individuality there 

 is a distinct strain of Spring, a marked note of 

 promise, in an Alpine Autumn. Nature is not dour 

 and hopeless. A rainbow-coloured arc domes the 

 season an arc in which the hopeful tints of Spring 

 are prominently present. Bright and tender blue 

 is there, in the two autumnal Gentians and in the 

 reappearing Vernal Gentian ; so also are the clear 

 and tender greens and yellows, in the changing 

 foliage of the Alpine Eglantine, the Alpine Honey- 

 suckles, and many another deciduous bush and 

 shrub ; whilst red as strong and vigorous a red as 

 at any time of year pervades the whole with a full 

 and ample note of life. It might be thought that 

 with, on every hand, such broad, dense forests of 



6 Green pine, unchanging as the days go by, 



an autumnal glory of foliage would be most notice- 

 able by its absence. But this is not the case. The 

 Alps glow with colour, and the sombre Pines and 



