OCTOBER’S PARTY
@ Louise Hullinger
When I peered out the window this morning my car & the driveway all matched perfectly! There were golden leaves plastered everywhere all over both of them forming a lovely mosaic of leaves. A capricious nocturnal paper hanger had "done" my car & driveway as I slept!
Who could have believed this would happen for me, who as a child had seen nothing of the "colorization" boasted about by those who live where deciduous trees abound. Living in South Dakota during the drought stricken years left no inheritance of autumn leaves.
Upon seeing such breathtaking artwork snatches of verse memorized fifty five years before in a one-roomed country school began to course nostalgically through my mind.
"Come little leaves," said the wind, one day,
"Come over the meadows with me and play;
"Put on your dresses of red & of gold;
"Summer is gone, & the days grow cold."
and:
"October gave a party
"The leaves by hundreds came
"The ashes, oaks, and maples
"And trees of every name.
I couldn’t help but think how pleased that third grade teacher would have been to realize that what he had introduced had stayed with me for so long.
(Both written by George Cooper, taken from Poems for Course of Study, by Educator Supply Co. Michell, SD 1934