The Atlanta constitution., 1896-09-14
SARGE PLUNKETT
The Coming Of Fall Has Its Charms as
Well as Its Sorrows.
IT'S 'POSSUM TIME IN GEORGIA
The Rabbits Are Ripe for the Pot and
the Muscadines Are Black
Upon the Vines.

| For The Constitution.
There is nothing sad among the young
/ people of our settlement and sometiiiiS
| sweet creeps over the old folks on these
| cool mornings to freshen up the heniorS
| and timber up the bones.
Over the fields and far away
l hear the partridge sing;
1t sounds as sweet for me touay'
And has as clear ring,
| As In the years long, long agone
When there was never sweeter song
To cheer a crisp and frosty morn
Than "Old Bob White"
like the fall season. There are so many
| pleasant memories connected with 1t that
| / think every one would like IT " hey
| would only stop to study and dismiss the
! press of the times
The trapping of partrdSes. so plentHu
I'm old times. would not be the least OF All
the pleasant memories. Every couhtIV
boy had his traps in the olden times anu
l venture there is not one living touay,
no matter where they may he nor now DIG
they are. but what can think OF these
trapping days with feeling or the keeh-
est pleasure.
Every boy had more than one trap, ana
II was the first work of the morning TO
visit these traps and gather the game ana
bait" and set the traps afresh NO
matter how old you are. if you VIII try
YOU can see these boys tripping thfoush
the fields, now hid by sedge and weeds
"coonng' foot log or passing over the
! hill into some little nook where the blrd'
delighted to roam. With witchery OF sly
ness every trap seen to upon every
morning without leaving marks to expose
the traps or to invite the other boys 10
visit your possessions.
These traps were a source of delight 20
every country boy in those days. but the
"cOops' We're the greatest source or proht
and the most destructive to the partridges.
l have known whole droves of these birdS
caught at once in these 'coops' ana II
might interest the young generation II
you would get some old man to explain
| these "coops" better than l could describe
them here. Anyhow, a coop had no
triggers but sort of underground pas
sage which led inside. and the birds. once
in, never look down again and consequent
/ ly never find their way out. Round ana
round these birds will move, when once in
side coop" never once thinking OF re-
turning to the center in search of the tun-
mel by which they entered. Thus 10y 9alt-
ing" this tunnel whole droveS could he
led into these "coops' and captured. but
/ hoy never did feel that he had given the
/ birds a fair showing in using "coops,' and
! so there was delight in trapping not to
/ he found i'm "coopng." While these birds
/ have grown to be mighty scarce. there
! are yet left enough to stir up the memories
| of the old and to inspire the hope that they
] may he spared from being e2terminatod.
though the prospect at this time is mighty
/ gloomy.
Crops are mighty short, but the country
! people are cheerful. The young men have
J quit talking so much of hard times. as they
used to. ana / predict there VIII he a lois
of marrying between now and Christmas.
| The fact is that every young fellow who
] Iii, sff amt ms
| and the girls are sensible enough to take
] them after they tease them awhile ana
( assert their right to make them humble.
I Tho girls are pretty near right in being
! little tyrannical in this matter. MIS-
| Brown says. for il is about the last right
she will ever have, but Mrs. Brown may
| be sour and may talk. I am not fooied
about the situation; they arc mating off and
| sitting up To each other in the good old
way and when the money for cotton begins
! to flow in the marrying viii begin. and one
! wedding begets another, and parties ana
! outings will help along, aad We may look
! for a lively time in Georgia pretty soon'
] crops or no crops, hard times or no hdru
/ times
/ While the young people are getting ready
/ to perform such things. as is always m
I vited by the coming of fall. and are happy
! and cheerful in consequence, those 100 olu
! to enjoy the present are refreshed IN mem
! bN fnp pleasant Se3SOIs Aiti wv y 'i'i''s7
/ I'm our settlement at least, wears more the
| smile of a beautiful spring than the sor-
row Of the sad season of which poets sing.
/ Brown and were cleaning out an old loft
| Yesterday TO make room for fodder ana We
! found many things there to cheer us. y
/ pair OF old-fash:oued cart wheels put me %
/ STUDYING over corn gathering time IN the
/ oldcn times and the oxen we used then. and
/ the pumpkins and the fodder stacks all
| around the lots. and pens of corn Inc
| prospects OF a bad yield this year could not
/ steal away the sweetness of thoS" memories
/ from me. and for Brown, he was stirred
I 10 one OF his poetic frenzies when he looked
upon an old spinning wheel and loom which
/ had been filed away here for ever so long
At Browns special request I give few
verses on this old wheel and loom, as
sort of earnest as to how these old things
l work on his mind-please remember ne is
( the poet Of this firm:
I old wheel. old loom. sad victims to prog
Piled away in this loft you were left to
decay:
How strange does It seem 10 find you so
A pair of companions who had such
! sway.
! Old wheel. how I've watched dear one who
tw!rlcd you!
! Seeming see her. and see as II slips,
/ The soft roll of Gotten or wool she is hold
Out into thread from her deft finger tips.
| Nor must I forget your sad old companion!
| Neglected old loom, so great i'm your day.
| Coul9 YOU not tell MS many a story
| If YOU could relate what you've heard
! lovers say?
For under the sound OF your lumber and
| Lovers were mado TO repeat DER and DER
! Their stories of love. and lost the sweet
answer
| In the thumps OF your treadles down on
the floor
| Rest here together too bungley and slow
To find YOU place in such fast age,
! But the thoughtless who scorn and sneer as
they pass YOU
May never end up with such lfe's page.
And the wild grapes and muscadines are
| ripe unon the vines and the young people
have boon delighted IL gathering some for
the past week. These wild grapes are not
so abundant as they used to he. but the
young generation think they are, and that
is sufficient, and there are plenty now to
be sweet reminders to the old and to start
81 flood of sweet memories to yelling.