AN OCTOBER DAY 
i5 
and occasionally a blossom of the bonny bouncing 
bet (Saponaria officinalis ), whose bland leaves and 
swollen stems make an oasis of green in a sur¬ 
rounding desert of brown. 
To get the most out of an October day one 
must go to the riverside, even if it be necessary 
to take a short railway journey. On the way 
down late blooming asters nod pleasantly as the 
car passes and red-cheeked boys are in the big 
apple trees shaking down the last of the red-cheek¬ 
ed apples for the red-cheeked girls below. Great 
and countless ears of corn hang ready for the 
husker, one of the biggest and best ripened crops 
for years. Most of the pastures have been baked 
brown by a long dry spell, but here and there a 
meadow of blue grass and clover is as green as 
the garden of Eden. A slight haze hangs over 
the horizon and tints the far woods with purple. 
By the river side, the flowers have mostly gone. 
Here and there a belated lobelia or bell-flower 
gives a glint of blue. The lemon-colored sneeze- 
weed yet lingers here and there and the marigold 
adds a richer tone. But the glory of the flowers 
has gone and passed into the trees. The Virginia 
creeper rises to the top of a tall hickory and the 
sun smiles on the flaming embrace. High on the 
bluffs glow the sun-painted leaves of the sumac. 
