54 A Foretaste of Autumn 



nature in every field and forest, by the wide 

 river or its skirting meadows ! Yet these 

 odors are full of significance the student can- 

 not afford to overlook. They are many and 

 marked and full of meaning. If I were 

 blind, I think I could make many a clever 

 guess as to the date and, perhaps, the time 

 of day. Much is lost if we are sensitive 

 only to the malodorous waves of tainted air 

 that at times cross our paths as fleeting 

 shadows dim the bright light of day. 



I take my fill again of the fragrance of 

 yarrow, and in doing so anticipate the coming 

 autumn. Much of the prosy side of life is 

 given over to anticipation. Why not some 

 of its pleasanter phases ? There is little real 

 attractiveness in an August day. It is the 

 old age of summer, and not a very vigorous, 

 cheerful old age either. Did I look straight 

 before me and see nothing but a green land- 

 scape bathed in dreamy sunshine, I should 

 grow as stolid as these huge trunks about me 

 are sturdy and unmoved. The yarrow sug- 

 gests the changes that are coming; as if 

 Autumn in advance had stored her sweetness 

 in this wayside weed, and so it is autumn to 

 all my senses. The eye and nose have led 



