340 
RURAL HOURS. 
the woods that skirt the dimpled meadows, in the thickets and 
copses of the fields, in the bushes which fringe the brook, in the 
trees which line the streets and road-sides, in those of the lawns 
and gardens — brilHant and vivid in the nearest groves, gradu- 
ally lessening in tone upon the farther woods and successive 
knolls, imtil, in the distant back-ground, the hills are colored by 
a mingled confusion of tints, which defy the eye to seize them. 
Among this brilhant displa}^, there are usually some few trees 
which fade, and wither, and dr}^ into a homely brown, without 
appearing to feel the general influence ; the sycamores, the 
locusts, for instance, and often the elms also, have little beauty to 
attract the eye, seldom aiming at more than a tolerable yellow, 
though at times they may be brighter. 
Imported trees, transplanted originally from the Old World, 
preserve, as a rule, the more sober habits of their ancestral woods ; 
the Lombardy poplar and the we<eping willow are only pale yel- 
low ; the apple and pear trees, and some of the garden shrubs, 
lilacs, and syringas, and snow-balls, generally wither, without bril- 
liancy, though once in a while they have a fancy for something 
rather gayer than pale yellow or russet, and are just touched 
with red or purple. 
Other trees, again, from some accident of position or other 
cause, will remain a clear green, weeks after their companions of 
the same species are in full color. 
But amid the general gayety, the few exceptions are scarcely 
observed, unless they are pointed out, and the beautiful effect of 
the great picture remains unbroken. 
One observes also, that the spirit of the scene is carried out in 
many lesser details, for which we are scarcely prepared. Walking 
