the cows and pick up crickets and other insects.

At noon, the air is still, mild, and soft. You see blue smoke off by
the distant wood and hills. The brook is almost dry. The water runs
over the pebbles with a soft, low murmur. The goldenrod is on the
hill, the aster by the brook, and the sunflower in the garden.

The twitter of the birds is still heard. The sheep graze upon the
brown hillside. The merry whistle of the plowboy comes up from the
field, and the cow lows in the distant pasture.

As the sun sinks in the October haze, the low, south wind creeps over
the dry tree-tops, and the leaves fall in showers upon the ground. The
sun sinks lower, and lower, and is gone; but his bright beams still
linger in the west. Then the evening star is seen shining with a soft,
mellow light, and the moon rises slowly in the still and hazy air.

November comes. The flowers are all dead. The grass is pale and
white. The wind has blown the dry leaves into heaps. The timid rabbit
treads softly on the dry leaves. The crow calls from the high
tree-top. The sound of dropping nuts is heard in the wood. Children
go out morning and evening to gather nuts for the winter. The busy
little squirrels will be sure to get their share.




SELECTION XIV

THE RETORT