Minneapolis Spokesman

Have you ever stopped to think what a glorious privilege it is to be able to drive out through the woods or along a country highway and see the wonderful colors of Autumn?

Most of us take our eyes for granted beautiful fall colors but to the sightless they can only feel the smell of fall, and they tell you they know it must be beautiful.

Not long ago I saw Autumn through the "eyes" of a sightless friend. She was so cheerful it was hard to believe she could not see what she was talking about.

As I listened she was saying, "I know the fields along the highway have many different shades of brown and gold now and I imagine there are several kinds of fall flowers along the highway."

I glanced down at the roadside and there was a group of flowers that looked as though a florist had arranged them. The colors were perfectly blended and the tall yellow goldenrod were as a background for the smaller flowers in rows clear to the edge of the roadside. There was a very bright red small bunch of flowers that made the bouquet one that could be picked and put on your table if you really thought they were not poison flowers.

Here and there you saw large rows of corn stalks and the winter wheat was swaying in the gentle breeze adding a delicate color to scenery.

As a perfect background for the beautiful bouquets you saw the apple orchard with the trees full of ripening apples. They were various colors, too. Some of the apples seemed green, some were turning a pale pink and others were a beautiful shade of red.

Mary L., my sightless friend, enjoyed the scenery and she continued, "Isn't there a grape arbor near?" I hadn't smelled it as she had, but I looked and there was a huge grape arbor loaded with large purple grapes behind the high wire fence!

Some of the fields were still green and I could not count the many shades of green I saw but it was beautiful.

I cannot describe how beautiful the trees were along the side of the highway. They were beautiful with their part green, red, gold and brown.

Farther on we saw the pumpkins, the huge hay stacks and cattle of all kinds grazing. My sightless friend enjoyed "seeing" it all. Not one murmur of regret because she could not see, she enjoyed knowing what was there because in her earlier days she had been blessed with sight. so she had an idea of what we were seeing and was happy to be out and "smell the new mown hay".

I told her there seemed to be a mist upon the top of a hill that made that short portion of the country side beautiful as the sun shone through it. By the time we reached the top of the hill the haze seemed to be on top of the next hill and it cast a blue shadow on the earth.

As we drove on we noticed a crowd of people out on the "shoulder" of the highway and before we could wonder what was going on we saw they had bags, baskets, buckets and hats gathering up

How we wished we had a bag or box so we could gather some of those huge walnuts. We were told this owner was the only one who let passers-by take the nuts that fell outside of his fence. The other owners went out each morning early and gathered all that had fallen during the night. This man was very kind and generous and had made many friends because of this gesture.

We gathered several hands full and went on our way. Soon we came to an apple orchard and here, too, were many people. They had a parking lot in front of their orchard and they had picked off the ground, apples that had been picked a day or two, apples ready for pies or baking on up to the most delicious apples to eat. The owners, a man and his wife owned the huge apple orchard and their married son, his wife and their children had built a home next door to his parents, and the women did most of the selling

There were many farmers along the way who sold fruits and vegetables that they picked or gathered that day or while you waited, if you wanted something special.

The fresh air was making us feel like new persons and we enjoyed seeing fall in all its glorious colors.

We saw many more "flocks" of goldenrod growing along the country side and beside fences.

Most of you had been out on the beautiful drives this fall and you have seen the beautiful fall scenery but the next time you go, appreciate it more because I saw it through the "sightless" and I appreciated seeing it, really seeing it. for the first time.

Even the autumn of human life can be brightly beautiful

From FFT

Until next week, this is "30".