Ay, thou art welcome, heaven's delicious breath! When woods begin to wear the crimson leaf, And suns grow meek, and the meek suns grow brief, And the year smiles as it draws near its death. Wind of the sunny south! oh, still delay In the gay woods and in the golden air, Like to a good old age released from care, Journeying, in long serenity, away. In such a bright, late quiet, would that I Might wear out life like thee, 'mid bowers and brooks, And dearer yet, the sunshine of kind looks, And music of kind voices ever nigh; And when my last sand twinkled in the glass, Pass silently from men, as thou dost pass. --William Cullen Bryant. SONNET--AUTUMN. Thou comest, Autumn, heralded by the rain, With banners, by great gales incessant fanned, Brighter than brightest silks of Samarcand, And stately oxen harnessed to thy wain! Thou standest, like imperial Charlemagne, Upon thy bridge of gold; thy royal hand Outstretched with benedictions o'er the land, Blessing the farms through all thy vast domain. Thy shield is the red harvest moon, suspended So long beneath the heaven's o'erhanging eaves; Thy steps are by the farmer's prayers attended; Like flames upon an altar shine the sheaves; And following thee, in thy ovation splendid, Thine almoner, the wind, scatters the golden leaves! --Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. [Illustration: WILD COLUMBINE. (_Aquilegia Canadensis._) FROM "NATURE'S GARDEN." COPYRIGHT 1900, BY DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY.] THE COLUMBINE. Botanically the Columbine is called Aquilegia, from the Latin word Aquila, meaning an eagle, in reference to a fancied likeness of the spurs of its flowers to the talons of an eagle. It is one of the crowfoot family (Ranunculaceae). This pretty and herbaceous perennial is distributed over most of the north temperate zone and, if not altogether a child of the mountains, it may be sought in rocky or stony localities. One is surprised to find the graceful Columbine, defying the storms, with its roots carefully fastened in the deep crevasses of the rocks of rugged mountains and protruding its nodding flowers above some steep ledge where human foot has never trod. To many a weary wayfarer this little hermit flower has brought joy and pleasure. Though attractive to the lover of flowers, it is not met with in folklore nearly as frequently as many other species of plants that are far less attractive.