Atlantic Autumn

October 1996

Autumn is again upon us, bringing fresh delight in woodsmoke, hot cider, tart apples, colorful foliage, and -- for those in northern climates -- crisp cold air. Atlantic contributors have waxed poetic about the season over the years, and we thought you'd enjoy a fall sampler:

"Chesuncook," by Henry David Thoreau (1858)
"After a dinner, at which apple-sauce was the greatest luxury to me, but our moose meat was oftenest called for by the lumberers, I walked across the clearing into the forest, southward returning along the shore. For my dessert, I helped myself to a large slice of the Chesuncook woods, and took a hearty draught of its waters with all my senses...."

"Autumn Thoughts," by Edward Thomas (1902)
"On that October day, nothing was visible at first save yellow flowers, and sometimes a bee's quiet shadow crossing the petals: a sombre river, noiselessly sauntering seaward, far away dropped with a murmur, among leaves, into a pool...."

"October Frost," by Josephine Johnson (1953)
The early part of October is a beautiful and uncertain time, cold and wet and dry and warm. The trees have a drying yellow color all over the countryside with only a solitary burning light here and there. Our black kittens move out distastefully into the cold mornings...."

"Brigadoon, USA," by Jack Beatty (1989)
"The windows were thickly covered by embroideries of frost. We had had a large, delicious dinner, had sat by the hearth watching the logs spark and glow, had had our brandies, and were snug in our beds...."

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