Around and around the house the leaves fall thick—but never fast, for they come circling down with a dead lightness that is sombre and slow. Let the gardener sweep and sweep the turf as he will, and press the leaves into full barrows, and wheel them off, still they lie ankle-deep. – Charles Dickens, Bleak House

Fall, not spring, is the time in this region to clear away dead leaves and branches, to renovate the borders, to start new gardens…. And even if something is left undone, everyone must take time to sit still and watch the leaves turn. – Elizabeth Lawrence, A Southern Garden

The bright summer had passed away, and gorgeous autumn was flinging its rainbow-tints of beauty on hill and dale. – Cornelia L. Tuthill, “Virginia Dare: Or, the Colony of Roanoke,” 1840

It was one of the loveliest days in early autumn, and the general atmosphere had a tendency to subdue every feeling of the heart, and threw me in a thoughtful mood. – Charles Lanman, “Musings,” 1840