Vicksburg weekly herald. (Vicksburg, Miss.) 1868-1883, 1877-09-21
Lanai iron YIrgiaIn.

WHITE RICHMOND, AND I At
fractions PORT NoSRoE UcEs.
BURG VISITORS, AND TIE HERALD.
Correspondence Of the Herald
OLD PoISr COMFORT, Va, Sept. 3, -.
Nothing 90 fosters the epistolaFy
mood as a rainy day at a watering
place. One rises reluctantly at nine
flor with the jangllng Of the breakfast
bell, the clatter Of passing feet aud the
force of 8 healthier habit, OF homa, he
finds It impossible to stay longer in the
| dim land OF dreams drags himself,
li.tlessly, to the breakfast table; lin
gers, as II loving it, over bis chicory,
commonly called coffee; smokes q ci'
gar breaks o lance with the first pref
Is woman he meets in the parlor finds
her spirits dropping like the weather
or her mind pre-occupied with some
complex problem IN embroidery or
some absorbing "new.sIitch" in cro-
chetiug; tries a promenade on the drip
ping piazza; twirls his cane; yaWns ;
huns q couplet from Longfellow's
"Raiuy Day." and finally bethinks
him Of that refuge from many
a heavy hour, his home paper. II
would be curious, l dare say, it not in.
structive, could the bottom facts be
come at, TO note how many Of the wa.
tering place letters which grace the
columns of the HERALD and other
great dailies, "from u own cores
p~ondentp," owe their origin 10 the
meditativc moods engendered by drip
ping skies. Your present contributor
"a free TO confess that the impulse
which drives him to inAict this effu-
sion upon your readers, could never
have been born Of the glorious atmos.
phere OF a bright, sunny morning in the
mountains Of the Old Dominion, or Of
the delicious breezes which, on q clear
Summer day, sweep over Hampton
Roads, Turing The Sojourner at Old
Point into that "dolce far ~niente" mood
which must have possessed Buchanan
Read when he wrote those inimitable
lines beginning
"My soul, to-day, Is far away,
Sailing the Yesuyian bay
As the visitor TO this pleasant sea-
side resort sits upon the broad CALLER
lee, or under the picturesque dancing
pavilion of the new Hygeia, gazing out
into the limitless blue, famed by The
ever.fresh and refreshing sea breeze,
lulled by the splash Of the restless
waters as they dash themselves into
spray on the beach, aud enchanted by
music from the splendid Fortress Mon
roe Band, he understands how the
sailor becomes enraptured of"the deep
and dark blue ocean," and, as he sees
sail after sail bounding by, Is tempted
to exclaim, with The poet just quoted:
q, happy ship! to sail and dip,
With the blue crystal at your lip.
This is indeed q charming place. and
your correspondent, fresh from TIKI
haunts of Dame Fashion at the "Olt
White" las Its habilues are proud t.
designate the G%reenbrier White Sui
phur Springs,) and minus TIL
flesh and spirit which a month
wear and tear there inevitabl,
subtract from all who plunge headlonI
into her maelstrom OF pleasure, has en-
joyed, immen ely, the bracing air, flint
bathing and excellent cuisine which
have combined 10 give 10 this place thu
name of Old Point Comfort. But
mean not to speak disparagingly o
The Old White. 1t ia par excellence
the great resort Of the Virginia noun
tains, and II, when 1t passes under tn
auctioneer's hammer, as 1t has been de
creed it must do, on the 10Th day G
August, 1878, it shall happen 10 fall In
10 proper hands, 1t is destined 10 b
one of the greatest III the country
Moreover II Is a Southern institution
aud almost the only feature now re
naming 10 US Of the higher order Q
Southern social life, as we knew ii i
ante. Jellum days. True, we now NEE
there many visitors from beyond The "a
nous Mason and DixoD's line, but the
come either as on~.lookers, merely, or 8
participants willing 10 take things q
they find them. The tone Of the plac
Is as essentially and distinctly South
ern as il was before the war, aud ther
IL no effort TO make 1t otherwise. Tt
atmosphere Is so wholly uncongenial t
~snobbery aud shoddyism, that il is
length beginning TO attract the tette
elements Of Northern society. whic
are naturally repealed BY these banefC
features Of Northern watering plac
life. The great success Of the preser
season warrants the prediction that
ample means and the right sort {
talent shall attend the new manage
ment, this mountain retreat OF h
. south, uniting the advAL tages OF q
surpassed mineral waters and q del
ciousiy coo! aud bracing climate, W!
: yet dispute the palm with Sarotoga,
whose famous fountains the Vlsitc
must drink and pcrspire and perspiI
aud drink, With the thermometer IN
the nineties.
On my way here | stopped over
day at Richmond just TO see how tin
1. had dealt with the whilom Capital
the now "Invisible Empire" | WI
! a~greeably surprised 10 find marke
. evidences of prosperity, everywher
, The o%verhanging clouds of dark smok
the whir OF machinery and the din
+. hammer and anvil, together with Il
D we'll kept streets, the numerol
. churches, fine business houses az
3 handsome private residences, show tht