. They were so far above my head that their
loud clamor added to the quiet of the scene, instead of disturbing it.
There was no other sound, except the song of the cricket, which is but
an audible stillness; for, though it be very loud and heard afar, yet
the mind does not take note of it as a sound, so entirely does it mingle
and lose its individuality among the other characteristics of coming
autumn. Alas for the summer! The grass is still verdant on the hills and
in the valleys; the foliage of the trees is as dense as ever, and as
green; the flowers are abundant along the margin of the river, and in
the hedge-rows, and deep among the woods; the days, too, are as fervid
as they were a month ago; and yet in every breath of wind and in every
beam of sunshine there is an autumnal influence. I know not how to
describe it. Methinks there is a sort of coolness amid all the heat, and
a mildness in the brightest of the sunshine. A breeze cannot stir,
without thrilling me with the breath of autumn, and I behold its pensive
glory in the far, golden gleams among the long shadows of the trees. The
flowers, even the brightest of them,--the golden-rod and the gorgeous
cardinals,--the most glorious flowers of the year,--have this gentle
sadness amid their pomp. Pensive autumn is expressed in the glow of
every one of them. I have felt this influence earlier in some years than
in others. Sometimes autumn may be perceived even in the early days of
July. There is no other feeling like that caused by this faint,
doubtful, yet real perception, or rather prophecy, of the year's decay,
so deliciously sweet and sad at the same time.

After leaving the book at Mr. Emerson's I returned through the woods,
and, entering Sleepy Hollow, I perceived a lady reclining near the path
which bends along its verge. It was Margaret herself. She had been there
the whole afternoon, meditating or reading; for she had a book in her
hand, with some strange title, which I did not understand, and have
forgotten. She said that nobody had broken her solitude, and was just
giving utterance to a theory that no inhabitant of Concord ever visited
Sleepy Hollow, when we saw a group of people entering the sacred
precincts. Most of them followed a path which led them away from us; but
an old man passed near us, and smiled to see Margaret reclining on the
ground, and me sitting by her side. He made some remark about the beauty
of the afternoon, and withdrew himself into the