An Autumn Day

King Winter has sent warning of his coming! There was a delightful freshness

in the air the other morning and all over the low places lay the first frost of the season.

What a beautiful world this is! Have you noticed the wonderful

coloring of the sky at sunrise? For me there is no time like early morning

when the spirit of light broods over the earth at its awakening.

The Beauty of the Season 

What glorious colors in the woods these days!

Did you ever think that great painters have spent their lives trying

to reproduce on canvas what we may see every day?

Thousands of dollars are paid for their pictures which are not so beautiful

as those nature gives us freely. The colors in the sky at sunset, the delicate

tints of the early spring foliage, the brilliant autumn leaves, the softly 

colored grasses and lovely flowers-what painter ever equaled their

beauties with paint and brush?

I have in my living room three large windows uncovered by curtains

which I call my pictures. Every changing with the seasons, with wild birds

and gay squirrels passing on and off the scene, I never have seen a 

landscape painting to compare with them.

As we go about our daily tasks the work will seem lighter if we enjoy

these beautiful things that are just outside our doors and windows.

It pays to go to the top of the hill now and then to see the view

and to stroll through the woodlot or pasture forgetting that we are

in a hurry or that there is such a thing as a clock in the world.

You are "So busy!"  Oh, yes, I know it!

We are all busy, but what are we living for anyway, 

and why is the world so beautiful if not for us?

These habits we form last us through this life, and I firmly believe into the next.

Let's not make such a habit of hurry and work that when we leave this world

we will feel impelled to hurry through the spaces of the universe using our

wings for feather dusters to clean away the stardust.

The true way to live is to enjoy every moment as it passes, and surely it is

in the everyday things around us that the beauty of life lies.

I strolled today down a woodland path-

A crow cawed loudly and flew away.

The sky was blue and the clouds were gold

And drifted before me fold on fold;

The leaves were yellow and red and brown

And patter, patter the nuts fell down.

On this beautiful, golden autumn day.

A squirrel was storing his winter hoard.

The world was pleasant: I lingered long,

The brown quails rose with a sudden whirr

And a little bundle, of eyes and fur

Took shape of a rabbit and leaped away.

A little chipmunk came to play

And the autumn breeze sang a wonder song.

"An Autumn Day"

(October 1916)

Essay and poem written by

Laura Ingalls Wilder

(1867-1957)

Prolific American author

Taken from the book,

"Little House In The Ozarks"

A Laura Ingalls Wilder Sampler

The Rediscovered Writings

By Laura Ingalls Wilder

Edited by Stephen W. Hines

Guideposts Edition

(1991)