The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-11-17
The Weather.


told him that the earth quaked when he was
born. Very probable replied the matter
Of fact, piain.spoken Northumbrian-"v Very
probable, and so IL would have done had your
mothers cat produced litter of Kittens
The beavens, II they have any sympathy Win
the troubles of man, certainly are not won't
to manifest IL nv any outward and visible
sign. The sun shines as brightly upon the
overthrow of an Empire. as upon the birth
of n S,ateupon the coronation of tyrant,
n, u,on the inauguration Of a patriots statue.
There never was more charming weather than
,here Is now whe the Republic seems rocking
To its foundation, and all the world, outside OF
America. is writhing in the agonies of politi-
cal CONFUSION. The Indian Summer, that
most delightful of all the American seasons
aud nowhere, we have been told, are there
more delightful seasons than in America is
more brilliant this year, and more enduring,
than it was ever known to be before. As the
country grows older one of the features of
this season-that by which 1t was peculiarly
distinguished in the olden time-becomes grad
ualIy modified, and will probably disappear
altogether in the course of time. We allude
to the hazy, smokey condition of the atmos-
phere W hich we recollect TO have seen so in
tense as TO make the eyes sore. There is now
scarcely anything left of this phenomenon. 1t
is all neutrality-suspicious. sunshine. so pail able
that you may almost touch it, SO thick that
you may almost battle in it, SO unearthly that
A. seems to lransfigure those who stand in it.
For ourselves, we confess the old, dingy,
Indian Summer, with its dark atmosphere,
and its sunbeams forcing its way through the
cloud, until they fell on earth like the rays of
the sun after passing through q window Of
stained glass, pleased us much better. There
was always to us charm ia the soft, dreamy,
Indian Summer of the olden time, that we
| cou i'd never explain, nor can we even now I'M =
derstand it. Ithad q tendency TO promote mel
| aucholy, but melancholy of a nature SO gentle
| that it was exquisitely luxurious. Itseemed
| TO call up the memory of something in the
long, long past, which we could not distinctly
unders tand, yet which we eagerly desired to
grasp, as though it were the connecting link
between our present being and some previous
| stence, OF which all traces had not been en-
tirely extinguished. But now, since nature
has raised the misty veil from the face Of the
Queen of the Seasons, we live, teaiis she Nres,
| in an ocean of uDclouGed light.
We have not lately been in the country but
we suppose the leaves are yet on the trees,
| presenting that rich variety ofcolors, the union
| of which invests our forests during the presen
season with a gorgeous magnificence Of beauty
| altogether incoEceivable to those who have
| never seen it. Rasset, carnation, yellow,
| orange gold-all these tints blend into one
| picture OF indescri5abie beauty, as cunninsly
| as though arranged by the hand of some
| skilIful pain ter, expressly with view TO
| avoid all violent contrasts. And, III truth,
| there is no pain Ter like nature.
ItisnoW the season for field sports, and We
| presume sportsmen are taking the field in all
| directions Some four years ago, an apPre
heusion existed that the breed of partridges
| had been entirely eXterminated by the hard
winters Appeals We're frequently made 10
sportsmen, through the public prints, TO alb
stain from pursuing their game until the
remnants, if there were any, should have time
to rally and recruit. Either those appeals
proved very successful, or the birds have de-
fed the skill of the spor tsmen, or the winters
have been very propitious, or all this taken
together has come to pass; for we learn that
there never were SO many birds rs there are
now. We hope the sportsmen will be mode
rate-shoot not for glory, but recreatlon-kill
II more than they can eat each day-and care
fully abs tain from shooting birds on the
to be made penal. A sportsman who would
do it ought to have his gun taken from him,
as a knight in the olden time had his spurs
hacked eff and his sword taken from him, for
any offence against the laws of chiyalry. 1t
ought to be point of honor with sportsmen
to give the bird chance for his life. They
ought 10 call convention Of all the sports
men in the State of Virginia, TO establish rules
for their sport.
We are fast coming to that period Of life
when it is more agreeable to talk about sport
ing than to practice it, We recall with infinite
pleasure recollections Of old sportsmen and
their deeds. The present generation may beat
them for aught we know--they have better
guns and better eq uipmen ts-yet the O bs tinacy
of age is very strong upon us, and We find it
as hard to believe that ny of the present gen.
GRAFTON could beat CHARLES TAYLOR, LITTLE
BURY MosBY, JOHN SYME, JOHN HETH, Bly,
ERLEY HETH, MERRlwErhEG VAUGHAN and
MILES SKLDEN, when they were in their
prime, land, alas but one OF them, Mr. Sell.
DEN, is now aliye,) as we do to believe that any
of the horses whose fame now fills the racing
Journals, are superior to Eclipse and Henry
or FIirtiila and Ariel We mention the gen.
tlemen above-ramed, because they were ali
genuine sportsmeE-men who did honor to
the craft-men who would as soon think of
stealing sheep or robbins hen-Toost, as of
We're models OF sporismen, every one. We
hope their successors may be even they
were.