134 
CHILDREN'S GARDENS 
v 
perfection before the winter or time of decay. 
Autumn is like the crimson sunset glow of 
evening, which comes before the chilly darkness 
of night. 
I am very fond of these following lines in a 
poem by Bryant, called “The Death of the 
Flowers,” although when I learnt them as a 
child I thought the verses very long to remem¬ 
ber, even though they had been specially 
selected because of my love of flowers. They 
express so well the beauty of each season of 
the year :— 
The windflower and the violet, they perished long ago, 
And the briar rose and the orchis died amid the summer glow; 
But on the hill the golden-rod, and the aster in the wood, 
And the yellow sunflower by the brook, in autumn beauty 
stood, 
Till fell the frost from the clear, cold heaven, as falls the plague 
on men, 
And the brightness of their smile was gone from upland glade 
and glen. 
Everything has changed since the spring. 
The apple boughs are no longer covered wu’th 
blossom, but laden with rosy-cheeked fruit; the 
grass-like blades of corn are now tall ears of 
grain ; the horse-chestnuts have lost their look 
of Christmas trees with all the candles lit, and 
have instead the large green husks bursting 
and showing the polished brown nuts inside. 
