the atmosphere, to protect that beautiful assemblage of fields and
meadows and groves and brooks.

The group of young officers paused to examine a scene so filled with
natural beauties. The eyes of some roved among the copses, which the
sterner tints of autumn were already enriching with their russet
tones, contrasting the more with the emerald-green of the meadows in
which they grew; others took note of a different contrast, made by the
ruddy fields, where the buckwheat had been cut and tied in sheaves
(like stands of arms around a bivouac), adjoining other fields of rich
ploughed land, from which the rye was already harvested. Here and
there were dark slate roofs above which puffs of white smoke were
rising. The glittering silver threads of the winding brooks caught the
eye, here and there, by one of those optic lures which render the soul
--one knows not how or why--perplexed and dreamy. The fragrant
freshness of the autumn breeze, the stronger odors of the forest, rose
like a waft of incense to the admirers of this beautiful region, who
noticed with delight its rare wild-flowers, its vigorous vegetation,
and its verdure, worthy of England, the very word being common to the
two languages. A few cattle gave life to the scene, already so
dramatic. The birds sang, filling the valley with a sweet, vague
melody that quivered in the air. If a quiet imagination will picture
to itself these rich fluctuations of light and shade, the vaporous
outline of the mountains, the mysterious perspectives which were seen
where the trees gave an opening, or the streamlets ran, or some
coquettish little glade fled away in the distance; if memory will
color, as it were, this sketch, as fleeting as the moment when it was
taken, the persons for whom such pictures are not without charm will
have an imperfect image of the magic scene which delighted the still
impressionable souls of the young officers.