ed, appeared to be in their
fullest glory, bright red, yellow, some of a tender green, appearing at
a distance as if bedecked with new foliage, though this emerald tint was
likewise the effect of frost. In some places, large tracts of ground
were covered as with a scarlet cloth,--the underbrush being thus
colored. The general character of these autumnal colors is not gaudy,
scarcely gay; there is something too deep and rich in it: it is gorgeous
and magnificent, but with a sobriety diffused. The pastures at the foot
of Browne's Hill were plentifully covered with barberry-bushes, the
leaves of which were reddish, and they were hung with a prodigious
quantity of berries. From the summit of the hill, looking down a tract
of woodland at a considerable distance, so that the interstices between
the trees could not be seen, their tops presented an unbroken level, and
seemed somewhat like a richly variegated carpet. The prospect from the
hill is wide and interesting; but methinks it is pleasanter in the more
immediate vicinity of the hill than miles away. It is agreeable to look
down at the square patches of corn-field, or of potato-ground, or of
cabbages still green, or of beets looking red,--all a man's farm, in
short,--each portion of which he considers separately so important,
while you take in the whole at a glance. Then to cast your eye over so
many different establishments at once, and rapidly compare them,--here a
house of gentility, with shady old yellow-leaved elms hanging around it;
there a new little white dwelling; there an old farm-house; to see the
barns and sheds and all the outhouses clustered together; to comprehend
the oneness and exclusiveness and what constitutes the peculiarity of
each of so many establishments, and to have in your mind a multitude of
them, each of which is the most important part of the world to those who
live in it,--this really enlarges the mind, and you come down the hill
somewhat wiser than you go up. Pleasant to look over an orchard far
below, and see the trees, each casting its own shadow; the white spires
of meeting-houses; a sheet of water, partly seen among swelling lands.
This Browne's Hill is a long ridge, lying in the midst of a large, level
plain; it looks at a distance somewhat like a whale, with its head and
tail under water, but its immense back protruding, with steep sides, and
a gradual curve along its length. When you have climbed it on one side,
and gaze from the summit