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LIZZIE H. B.--The splendid hues of the autumn leaves are due to their
ripening, and not to the frost, as was formerly supposed by many
persons. The gay leaves
"wear, in sign of duty done,
The gold and scarlet of the sun."
There are many beautiful allusions in our American poetry to the charms
of the autumn woods. The Postmistress will give you a chaplet of verses
next week, taken from some of the poets she loves best, and she hopes
that you and others, who keep a commonplace book, will take pains to
copy these stanzas into its pages in the neatest possible manner. Those
who draw or paint might illustrate their book, and make it a delightful
souvenir for the future.
The little webs which you refer to as stretched from one blade of grass
to another in dry weather are made by spiders, whose instinct teaches
them to spin their webs when there is little probability that the rain
will destroy them.
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INQUIRER.--If you have read the story of Ariadne, you will remember that
after she had married Theseus, and had been deserted by him on the
island of Naxos, she was found and comforted by the young god Dionysus,
or Bacchus. Venus herself had come to her, checked her weeping, and told
her she should become the wife of a god. Bacchus, the god of wine and
pleasure, was generally represented as a beautiful youth with long
flowing tresses. The vine, ivy, and pomegranate were sacred to him, and
he was often represented as seated in a car drawn by panthers and lions.
You can see that the sculptor who represents Ariadne as seated on the
back of a lion may have had her union with Bacchus in mind. The more
beautiful part of her history is the first, where she puts into
Theseus's hand the clew of thread which shall guide him in safely
through the windings of the labyrinth until he can reach and slay the
Minotaur. The lion is the symbol of strength and dominion, and Ariadne
seated upon him is upon a throne.
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We would direct the attention of the C. Y. P. R. U. to the very
instructive article entitled "The Rocks," by Mr. Charles Barnard, and to
the interesting description of "A Visit to an Ostrich Farm," by
Lieutenant E. W. Sturdy, U.S.N. For those who are interested in athletic
sports, and to the lesson which is always attached to them, that no game
requiring quickness, precision, and endurance can be successfully played
unless great attention is paid to health, and all habits of intemperance
and self-indulgence renounced, we would recommend Mr. B. G. Smith's
excellent article upon the game of Lacrosse.
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