LEAF AND BRANCH 
269 
storms, will be flying with the winds, heaping 
in fence-corners and about bushes for the long, 
long-sleep of decay; but while the flame-like 
mantle lasts how supremely glorious its color- 
ing! 
The distribution and arrangement of these 
autumn colors, from some points of view, may 
not always result in the most perfect color-har- 
mony. Indeed, the “loudness” of the Hudson 
River scenery in September has been the com- 
ment of more than one traveller in the United 
States; but this, I fancy, comes from consider- 
ing the cubes of the mosaic separately instead 
of regarding the picture as a whole. Looked 
at in the part, the cold green of the pine may 
jangle with the scarlet of the maple, the blue 
of the sky may be out of key with the flaming 
sumacs along a bare hill-ridge ; and in that way 
the autumn covering may be analyzed into 
something like a discord. But nature does not 
scatter its parts and leave them in any such 
helpless loneliness. There is just as much har- 
mony in this pageant costume of the autumn 
as in the sombre grays and browns of the 
spring. For the same binding qualities of 
light and air are present. The autumn haze 
and the mellow glow from the sun cement all 
The scarlet 
Foliage. 
Harmony 
of the 
scarlet 
landscape. 
