SEPTEMBER FRUITS. 107 
fully; for such, the September fields and woods have a 
charm of their own. All Nature seems to be pervaded 
by an air of rest and quiet. In the springtime we are 
drawn through glade and mead to enjoy the pleasure of 
seeing dormant life awaken, of watching the develop- 
ment of leaf-bud and blossom. They then seem so 
eager to unfold their beauty to us that the flowers can 
scarcely wait for the leaves to open before they spread 
their delicate petals to the wooing sun and the gentle 
breeze. The procession is to be a long one, and the 
earliest ones to appear are urged on, as it were, by an 
instinctive feeling that they must not delay nor encroach 
upon the time or space of those which follow. Like a 
well-managed railroad, Nature reserves the right to vary 
from her regular time-table as circumstances may re- 
quire, but her trains usually make close connections. 
The flower of brief duration will find the short-lived 
insect at hand, whose aid is essential to its proper fer- 
tilization; the caterpillars will be snugly housed in their 
cocoons before the killing frosts come; the migratory 
birds take warning and keep near the sun; the winter 
store of grains or nuts is laid up in the cells of the little 
creatures which need them; winter with its needs is 
always preceded by the abundance of autumn. 
There is no hurry about the later flowers. Few of 
them have the delicacy of the early ones. It is suff- 
cient if there is time to ripen their fruits before winter. 
