A STORY OF THE LEAVES. 



The southern forests give their share 

 of grace and glow of color to the festivals 

 of the North. It was a woman in sore 

 trouble who first thought of using their 

 wealth of beauty for a support. During 

 a yellow fever epidemic in the South her 

 husband, Dr. Kibbee, sacrificed his life 

 in his brave and untiring efforts to save 

 the people. His wife and his young chil- 

 dren were left in absolute poverty. It 

 then occurred to Mrs. Kibbee that she 

 might gather the beautiful sprays and 

 clusters of leaves and sell them to north- 

 ern decorators. They were first bought 

 in small lots at two dollars a hundred. 



This little venture has grown to be a 

 great business now. Millions and mil- 

 lions of leaves are gathered for sale. It 

 is the most valuable talent a man or 

 woman can have, to see the true value of 

 common things within their reach and to 

 recognize hidden possibilities — it always 

 brings success. 



The graceful maiden's hair fern, and 

 even the stiff,- sturdy, green Christmas 

 ferns, the evergreens, cedar, larch, hem- 

 lock, holly and mistletoe were already in 

 the market for winter sale. But here 

 was a new and strange thing, leaves as 

 exquisite and rich in color as summer's 

 flowers — it was a new world of beauty 

 opened in the woods of the south. It was 

 the galax or coltsfoot that Mrs. Kibbee 

 first sent, not the starry spikes of flowers, 

 but the heart-shaped, notched evergreen 

 leaves, of so durable a texture that they 

 retain their beauty for a long while. The 

 lustrous green of their first growth has 

 a lovely golden tint in May, but later 

 on they change to rosy pink, and in win- 

 ter are a rich maroon or wine color. The 

 little colts' foot or shortia, the odd flower 

 that was lost for nearly a hundred years, 

 also shows shining leaves of copper and 

 maroon tints in autumn, and grows 

 beyond Bear's River in great masses. 

 "Wagon loads," says Miss Lounsberry, 



"can be taken away without any percept- 

 ible change." The leaves of the sour- 

 wood turn into a lovely pinkish red, and 

 the soft, pale-green capsules hang thickly 

 on the boughs. Lucothoe is another 

 beautiful shrub for decoration. Its grace- 

 fully curved boughs show in autumn the 

 most brilliant colors, varying from crim- 

 son to bronze ; even the stems are rich 

 with color, and it seems to glow with 

 warm, life. One variety of this, well- 

 known in the southern mountains, is 

 more beautiful in foliage than in bloom. 

 The upper buds are a deep red, blending 

 with the deep red leaves, while the lower 

 buds are still green and charming in con- 

 trast. The mountaineers gather great 

 loads of it to send to the markets of the 

 North. The cornel trees and tupelos show 

 a wonderful variety of color, both in the 

 berries and leaves o!f the different kinds. 

 The berries are with some scarlet, with 

 others blue, and yet again white, in con- 

 trast with leaves of silvery green, or of 

 bright, red, or of purple. 



It is often said that the Japanese first 

 taught us to see the beauty of stems and 

 leaves, but we find in the southern for- 

 ests of our own country trees and shrubs 

 whose leaves show as great a variety of 

 shape, texture and growth, and as ex- 

 quisite and glowing colors as those of 

 Japan. 



The northern woods also send 

 their greenery to the cities of the 

 South. In New Orleans especially, 

 the common wood-ferns, which do 

 not grow south of Tennessee, are 

 sent down "by the millions from New 

 England in the autumn and are 

 kept in cold storage until wanted." 

 It is a charming exchange that is 

 thus made between the forests of the 

 North and South in order to keep the 

 freshness and beauty of the out-of-door 

 world within our winter homes. 



Ella F. Mosby. 



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