The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-09-16

And gaZeS down at her wedding ring,
And still she smiles as she drops tear;
seTts solmner not to. Yes, my dear"
For the vIRGINIAN.
Letter from Healing Springs
| Once upon a time, not so very long ago, a
Young lady at the Healing Springs was writ
ing letter She was obliged to send one every
few days to her father, detained by his bust
ness in thecity, and it was quite cross to
her. Not that material was lacking, but it
was of kind which failed to interest pater
familias What did he care, for instance, for
my partner in the Cuban" for 1.-TWO spares
and strike" made yesterday in the ten-pn
alley, or for that lovely salmon-pink organdie,
trimmed with lananedoc, which Miss ---
was extravaganza enough to wear to breakfast,
Just to show off" And as for that long saun-
ter up and down the white bridge in the moon
light, with fascinating MIR. ---, who
would have the temerty and want OF tact to
enlighten stern parent on the subject OF
Irritation?
So the letter began as follows:
my DEAR PApA:-The fountain on the laaon
is playing beautifully, and the aoetter as so cool
that tile little E.t6aaks children are aoeturrlg Their
00ercO0ts !"
W.
tinues to play beautifully, and the bracing
September breezes render overcoats desirable
not only for the little Eubanks, but for chill
dren OF a larger growth We cannot disguise
from ourselves the fact that the season is not
as young as it used to be, and many OF those
whose time for rest and vacation was limited,
returned to their homes. And we are sorry
tor Them when we read the records OF that
ambitious little Fahrenheit, aspiring into the
nineties and hundreds, and when we look
round about, and see this beauteous region
clothed in untarnished September tnts, as we
lean over the bridges we can count the sign
manual of the month on our fingers:
.sThe golden rod is yellow,
The corn is turning brown.
From the stones of the halfdried water
course, rise sprays of purple asters, the orange
red hoods of the 'dog-corral,' as we were wont
to call it, and the round white disks formed by
the clustered blossoms OF the wild carrot Vel
low leaves drop from the locusts like golden
coins; few redeemed leaves from the maple
glow like Goals of fire in the thick green grass
The sun beams come and go through the vine
wreathed columns of the locust trees, and
rectangular prisms of spar, plentiful as
common pebbles in the gravel walks CLEAN
white in the clear September atmosphere.
Sunset Hill, at the rear of the hotel, pre-
serves its usual cOuntenance, unchanged as the
blush rocks imbedded in its slopes. On its
summit, whence we
Look sunward, and with faces golden,
Speak to each other softly of hope,'
we see the rare blue hills" and beyond them
the mountains of cloudland which screen the
pass through which the sun goes down to his
nights repose. Here on the hilltop is little
vanished slab. On it you may read this in
scription:
DANIEL DERONDA,
A canary,
Who travelled with his mistress through the
State of Colorado and the Atlantic Coast.
Died at Healing Springs,
August 9Th, $780,"
Over the tiny grave wreathes of creepers
have been laid, and some of these have taken
root in very pity of its barrenness. This
time next year it will be garlanded with
green.
Poor, faithful birdie! After thousands of
miles of travel-after days and nights in a pal
ace car, where he f1uttered in his cage, at
frighted at the strange croakings and rustling
over his little head-after handling by porters
and employees a day spent alone in a
Chicago depot, when his friends forgot him
after change from hotel to hotel and town to
town-after this fitful existence "he sleeps
we'll" When he lived, he was one of those
who loved much. How his black eyes would
brighten when friend opened the door, and
with what a joyful chirp he greeted them !
How confidingly he would take seed from the
lips or hand
"L1ttle wouldst thou Joy or do,
Thou who loved'st so greatly
Perchance little one, you, too, may have an
existence in that bright country which CLEANS
beyond the low-lying hills. Stern Martin
Luther thought SO, and who Can tell
o9a ,.,,1y Oco;I crn1,t1n TO ne
lately, that the people of the Healing do not
make enough fuss oyer the Cascade. For my
part, / have travelled much, and have been de-
ceived in SO many places, in regard to Lovers
Leaps, Diana's Baths, &C., that it needed this
beautiful spot, emeralded and little known, to
restore my faith in the Beauties of Nature"
Certes the cascade is worth the mile and a
half from the hotel ten times over. At the
end Of your walk you find yourself at the foot
of pelucid pool, whose-green tranquility is
disturbed by the dash of foaming torrents from
above.
1t is enclosed by high cliffs, and would be a
western canyon were not the scattered pines
of the aforesaid canyon exchanged in this in
stance, for forest trees, shrubs and mammoth
ferns, whose banners overtop the summer
grasses. The rock is fossiliferous and filled
with tiny shells. Huge cushions of moss are
kept ever verdant by the FLASHING spray, and
would make soft, green couches for the fairies
Alas, they are too damp for mortals!
Nature here is prodigal You skirt the cliff,
and, ascending find another cascade much like
the first. You cross its basin on a bridge of
logs, and still upwards find third whose
trickle is feeber than that Gifts elder brothers
You climb treacherOus ladder, and find a
fourth water fall where a shallow stream flows
over broad incline of rock, reminding one of
the way the lava pours down Vesuvius'
slopes.
Some say that trout Turk in these haunts of
the water nymphs and sylvBn fawns-but per-
ish the thought
Now we are both hungry and tired and
ready for a return to the dining-room and
to Lindsay-Lindsay, the prince of walters,
who brings us double rations of ice-cream,
of pound cake, and of iced-cdke-who does
not wait to be asked for second supply of
the famous fried chicken.
We are sure it was not Lindsay who was
mentioned in certain private memorandum
of the head-waiter, the other day, -,
waiter fined fifty cents for talking to naades in
the diaamang room"
When the season was at its height, with a
clatter of knives and forks, and hum of
voices in the sale a munger, it was most en-
phatically dinning-room, but we suppose no
pun was intended. Just think, ladies fair, of
the innate chivalry of -, who would
squander half dollar sooner than forego the
pleasure of conversation with the ''mades"
The Charlottesville C7ta0nace grieveth to
know whether your correspondent land that
of the Richmond State is he, she or it, because
he, she or it holdeth discourse upon the Baths.
Were we not afraid Of offending the modest
delicacy of the Chronicle, we would tell you
that certain hale and hearty gentleman has
been here since May, and has taken the warm
bath in the morning and the plunge in the
evening, every day since. He is a Staunton
man, too, and the city ought to be proud OF
him.
Your correspondent has had fifty plunges and
is fifty times hungrier, fifty times stronger and
only wishes, he, she or it was fifty times stout
er than when he, she or it came here. And so
| Vale! NJ V. d.
| For four years the Democrats have been
working to make the South solid, in order to
| elect the next President of the Tinted STATES