Autumn in the American Midwest
In October of 1985, the South Bend Tribune editorial board published a glorious tribute to autumn in the American Midwest. I submit it to you today, the first day of autumn, as encouragement during this otherwise troubling year.
Autumn on the Land
The South Bend Tribune, October 20, 1985
Logic suggests that there must be somewhere a land more beautiful than Midwest America in autumn, but we don’t know where it is.
Our fall colors have peaked now; the leaves are falling. Everything reminds one of the eternal round of our four distinct seasons. Winter is a step away. But each year, before it comes, we are treated to a display so glorious, so profuse, so wanton in its use of color, that it mocks the pretensions of man and his technology.
Being human, we tend to take autumn for granted, no great crime. But at least the display is there for all to see. No conglomerate has put a copyright on it. Our greatest scientists have yet to make a maple tree. Our greatest artists have been reduced to recording, not creating, when they look at autumn.
Was this our most beautiful fall? Oldsters may point to other years, but it is all moot. Each year is beautiful in its own way. Our woodlands, for a few weeks, tell of what the land once looked like. The shady streets, which are such a summer asset, give us one final salute before they yield to winter. The corn stalks are dull and sere now, but go out into the country and watch the golden stream pouring from the reapers into the grain hoppers. The show is free and there is no excise tax on it.
Most of us have friends who have moved to places alleged to be better, or easier or richer. Most of the latter speak nostalgically of our four seasons. Ever notice?
Now it is time to rake the leaves and carve the pumpkins, sure rites of passage from one season to another. It is a good time for people in Indiana and Michigan to contemplate what they have seen. No rocket will ever inspire the awe, no words will recreate the wonder, of those who take a long look at October in this fair land.