And now, when the morning wind rises, how the leaves come down in showers.

October 15.

October 15

Last night the first smart frost that I have witnessed. Ice formed under the pump, and the ground was white long after sunrise. And now, when the morning wind rises, how the leaves come down in showers after this touch of the frost! They suddenly form thick beds or carpets on the ground in this gentle air, — or without wind, — just the size and form of the tree above.

H. D. Thoreau, Journal, October 15, 1853

Ice formed under the pump, and the ground was white long after sunrise. See October 16, 1856 (“Ground all white with frost. ”); October 15, 1856 (“A smart frost . . . . Ground stiffened in morning; ice seen.”); October 21, 1857 (“First ice that I’ve seen or heard of, a tenth of an inch thick in yard, and the ground is slightly frozen.”); October 1, 1860 (“Remarkable frost and ice this morning; quite a wintry prospect. The leaves of trees stiff and white at 7 A.M.”)

How the leaves come down in showers . . . suddenly form thick beds or carpets on the ground just the size and form of the tree above. . . .See October 15, 1856 ("Large fleets of maple and other leaves are floating on its surface as I go up the Assabet, leaves which apparently came down in a shower with yesterday morning's frost.”) See also October 14, 1857 ("On the causeway I pass by maples here and there which are bare and smoke-like, having lost their brilliant clothing; but there it lies, nearly as bright as ever, on one side on the ground, making nearly as regular a figure as lately on the tree. I should rather say that I first observed the trees thus flat on the ground like a permanent colored and substantial shadow, and they alone suggested to look for the trees that had borne them.")

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