Cup-like leaves of the
honeysuckle hold bunches of scarlet berries. So on and on the creek
leads to new beauties of color and form, new delights for taste and
smell. Every plant has some excuse for its being, something of the
loveliness and fragrance of the summer stored in its fruits. There is
a lesson for the mind and the soul to be gathered with the fruit of
these shrubs and vines. Summer still works with tireless energy. She
has done with the leaf and the bud and the blossom; all her remaining
strength is being spent in filling the fruits before the night of the
white death comes.
* * * * *
Since the first of the month the little catkins have been creeping
from the twigs of the hazel, and their tender, spring-like green is
quite as interesting as the ripening bunches of nuts. These little
catkins will hang short and stiff all winter, but when the ice goes
out of the rivers and the first frog croaks in the springtime, they
will lengthen, soften and grow yellow with their abundant pollen.
Squirrels are busy among the acorns and the hickory nuts; the split
husks and shells are thickly strewn beneath the trees. Red-headed
woodpeckers are gathering acorns and pushing them behind the flaky
bark of the wild cherry for use during the late fall; sometimes a
little family of the redheads remains all winter.
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