People living near said, “Hark! Do you hear the wind ? It sounds like fall.” Nobody told them it was the leaves, all over the forest, saying to each other, “We are going to die! We are going to die!”

“My dear little leaves! ” sighed the MapleTree, “Poor things, they must go! Ah, how sad to see them droop and fade away! ”

5. “I will make their death beautiful,” said kind Mother Nature. And she changed their color to a scarlet, which glowed in the sunlight like fire.

A WOODLAND SCENE, SHOWING THE FOLIAGE IN ITS MIDSUMMER GRANDEUR

And every one said, “How beautiful! ”

And one cold morning she stood with her limbs all bare, looking very desolate. The bright leaves lay heaped about her.

“Dear, pretty things! ” she said, “How I shall miss them! They were such a comfort! And how ugly I am! Nobody will care for me now!”

But presently a flock of schoolgirls came along, talking cheerily of ferns, red berries, and autumn leaves.

6. “And I think,” said one, “that there's a great deal of beauty in a tree without any leaves at all.”

“So do I,” said another, “Just look up through this tree. Its branches and boughs and twigs make a picture against the sky !”

And the lively schoolgirls passed on.

“Ah,” said the MapleTree, “this will at least be pleasant to dream about! ”

For she already felt her winter's nap coming on. If she could but have heard what her little leaves said to each other afterwards, down there on the ground!