The Fall of the Year

THE FALL OF THE YEAR DALLAS LORE SHARP
“ONE OF THE EAGLES STRUCK ME A STINGING BLOW ON THE HEAD”
Chapter V .
The Dallas Lore Sharp Nature Series
BY DALLAS LORE SHARP AUTHOR OF “THE LAY OF THE LAND,” “THE FACE OF THE FIELDS,” ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY ROBERT BRUCE HORSFALL
BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge
COPYRIGHT, 1896, 1903, BY PERRY MASON COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1907, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN AND COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE GOLDEN RULE COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY THE ATLANTIC MONTHLY COMPANY COPYRIGHT, 1911, BY DALLAS LORE SHARP ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
TO DOCTOR AND MRS. TRASK OF THE SOUTH JERSEY INSTITUTE BEST OF TEACHERS, DEAREST OF FRIENDS
It is interesting to observe that the subject of the initial for chapter IV is witch-hazel; that for chapter VII, the cocoons of the cecropia, the promethea, and the basket worm; and that for chapter VIII, a sprig of alder, with the old fruit and a budded catkin. The subjects of the other initials require no identification.
There are three serious charges brought against nature books of the present time, namely, that they are either so dull as to be unreadable, or so fanciful as to be misleading, or so insincere as to be positively harmful. There is a real bottom to each of these charges.
Dull nature-writing is the circumstantial, the detailed, the cataloguing, the semi-scientific sort, dried up like old Rameses and cured for all time with the fine-ground spice of measurements, dates, conditions—observations, so called. For literary purposes, one observation of this kind is better than two. Rarely does the watcher in the woods see anything so new that for itself it is worth recording. It is not what one sees, so much as the manner of the seeing, not the observation but its suggestions that count for interest to the reader. Science wants the exact observation; nature-writing wants the observation exact and the heart of the observer along with it. We want plenty of facts in our nature books, but they have all been set down in order before; what has not been set down before are the author’s thoughts and emotions. These should be new, personal, and are pretty sure therefore to be interesting.