Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-05-16
MOUNTAIN MUSINGS.
THE BEAUTIES OF THE MONTH OF
MAY DILATED UPON.
step-afothcrs,. Haif-Mothers, and
rs-nnd-a-HaIf-The Lords of
Creation M shirl<ers Incidentally
Touched Up-Personal Notes.
ocorresnondence Of the Dlspatch.)

(Correspondence or the Dispatch)
ACTON. VA, May 4-Last years
flowers. last years growth. and green
ness and profusion Of sweet delights are
all hack This Is the great renewal month
OF the year; the leafy month,
the month OF bud and blossom.
Tho coy and uncertain "milder
days" are real and are here to stay.
Through the open windows come celestial
breezes. and out to the sunny porch and
grassy yard venture the old and sick
and feeble. housed so long with mortal
terror of n dangerous draught. 1t is
n busy month; birds are jubilant. In mated
palrs. chirping and building for the honey
moon and housekeeping; down at the
stable the gentle little "bossy' stands by
the lowing mother, and chickens OF all
sizes and colors are scudding about to
learn something OF this big. green earth,
TO which they have so mysteriously come.
How? Nor they, nor you, nor i, can
ever ten. When we solve that egg rid
die we get behind the origin OF life, and
will be wise enough for translation.
Not much do the fuzzy little chickens
care. Life Is a dream OF Joy to them
until the cooks wary eye marks them as
frying size" and the fattenins-coop
does the rest. But they are a study In
evolution while they last. See that pre-
tentious little rooster on the back fence
II know a man who IS his exact proto-
tvpe) Ny, He has just found out that
ne is possessed OF a crow-this VIII apply
IN either biped. Watch the self-satshel,
human way he stiffens his little feathery
neck. and emits the first discordant croak.
No wonder his scdate mamma, in horror,
lifts one horny foot from my iiower-beds.
and cogitates as to where that crow
was hidden in the smooth, white egg OF
her patient soicitude.
May has a thousand charms, but that
which impresses us most is the youth ana
freshness everywhere in the world OF
nature. The early berries. the crisp
vegetables on the table, are OF new
growth: the heavy garments are put aside
and fresh, diaphanous materials keep us
warm; the piazza bench and garden chairs
invite one to rest beneath outrageous
trees and creeping vines, and soft. warm
glow floats over objects far and near.
A REMUNERATION.
At no other time throughout the whole
year does Heaven seem so near to
earth as in this merry month of May ;
with it's early and late sunshine; its new
born perfume and song. Newborn, and
yet, as we know, a rejuvenation, Old
and ceaseless as the ages. The sweet
fields beyond that stand dressed In
living green come very near.
Christians OF to-day do not sing so
much OF the dark waters" and swell
ing food"-in the light OF the softened
doctrines OF increasing enlightment we
speak oftener of the gentle river OF
DEATH" Life suggests life. 1t Is one OF
our most cherished ideals. this picture
of a dear. sunnyland across the gentle
stream-a Beulah Land OF perpetual
bloom and sweetness, and the freshness
of days. such as we glory in now. Very
sweet it is to fancy, with all this, q
new body" fadeless as the immortal
flowers.
May Is the month Of the lily and the
locust, not the locusts upon which st.
John sustained his natural body with
sauce of wild honey. but the flower
ing tree-locusts of greenish white, and
delicate ETHEREAL fragrance. l have read
somewhere that the most powarful
quickener OF memory Is a perfume. !
believe It. Certainly no one has been
able to define the essential action Of a
scent so fine and subtle Is its power OF
penetration. Like all more potent fac
tors OF nature, perfumes are impon-
derable and invisible.
/ once knew a young woman, widow ed
after a few happy months OF marriage.
who could not inhale the odor OF a GER
tain kind of fine cigar. which had been
the husbands favorlte brand. The
fof,
street in passing, or In crowded hotel.
overcame her. and renewed from men,
DRY years after, all the poignancy OF
her early grief One of these lovely
mornings that now enchant us I saw an
old lady gazing wistfully UP at tho
locust trees. She was drinking in the
soft air, with a smile about her placid
mouth. and q faint tinge Of red upon her
cheek. l love old people and am glad
that old age has its rlghtful place Qike
autumn in the great economy.
IN DREAMLAND.
grandmother" seemed very handsome
to me. and knew she had gone off into
Dreamland. A tear glLstened as she
watched the fiowery locust punches, but
I knew 1t had no more relation to pain
than the dew upon the buds.
This had been the old lady's home;
here she had been born and married, and
here, under the blooming locusts, one by
one her joys and sorrows had come and
gone. what is 1t, Grannie" 1 asked,
waiting upon her mood.
II was thinking of IL ALL" she said.
There was never fuller bloom Of the
locusts than the morning we were mar
ried. l seem to see them now. re-
member that when the prayer was over.
Joshua turned to me and whispered: