SINCE AUTUMN HAS COME 255 



the ones that came In spring and early summer. 

 They seem to have just been saved for the autumn, 

 when the trees' leaves are changing from green to 

 scarlet and yellow. 



Often now there is a high wind blowing, and 

 Tommy begins to talk about chestnuts. He doesn't 

 love the autumn as much as the spring, for he 

 says it is close to the time when there'll not be a 

 flower In sight. 



One flower that came when the Foxgloves and 

 Wild Bergamot bloomed, and which is here still, 

 Is called Everlasting, or Sweet Balsam. It has 

 ever so many little flower-heads, all in a group 

 together, and growing at the tops of the stems. 

 They are white with a tiny tint of yellow in their 

 centers, and they feel more stiff and dry than any 

 other flowers I have seen in the country. The 

 leaves of Everlastings are the shape of blades of 

 grass, and they are covered with a thick, whitish 

 wool. I think their own color is a very pale green. 



One day I picked a little bunch of Everlastings 

 on the side hill where Philip goes to gather Huckle- 

 berries. Sweet Fern also grows there, and I can 

 tell when I am near by its spicy fragrance. I put 

 the Everlastings in my room, and every morning 

 when I awoke, I looked to see if they had faded. 

 At first I hoped that they would keep fresh a long 

 time, and then I began to wonder if they were ever 

 going to fade at all. It didn't seem to matter to 

 them whether their stems were in, or out of water. 



