Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-09-24
THE AUTUMN DAYS.
THEIR GLORIEs IN THE NOUN
TA,Ns OF VIRGINIA.
The BIRDS AND THR BREEZES.
The Floral Aftermath of summer
september Brides and Gratitude to
Them - Weddings Past and to
Come-Notcs.
Correspondence Of the DIspatoh)

| correspondence Of the Dispatch)
ALTON, VA. September PIN a little
book Of quo,atio.s tabulated for each day
l find this selection from Shakespeare:
September 22d.
Wisely and slow; they stumble that
run fast"
DO not remember in what connection
the greatest Of human mind-readers uses
these words. but surely nothing was ever
penned ihat is more suggestive of the
season and the day.
Talk as we may Of the perfect days Of
June. the days of autumn are simply in
comparable. What with their waning
sunshine and lengthening. softenlng
shadows. their strange foreshades Of
things ideal; their glories crowning the
mountain range. and their raptures
| flooding the limped air. they bring to us
| what no other season OF the year can of
| Ter. In the delights which they hold
fOTth. they charm us 10 forgetting Of
/ the priVations 10 come
Automatically. the summer ends on
| the list day OF September After that
| the days are so still and GREATNESS that
/ one is inclined to think Nature has for
/ gotten she has any more work TO do.
/ There is such a brooding. restful quiet
over the land.
Summertime. with the chill Of winter
| in allegiance. cool nights and mornings
! while the noon sun beats with the linger-
ing passion Of July. The summer schools
have closed, the country schools are not
yet commenced. The visitants are has
/ tening down the slopes Of the mountains.
and FEWER throng the hotel piazzas than
ola month or a week ago. Though The
autumn has not asserted its dominion
over the leaves OF the forest, and they
/ are not, save on the mountain tops, turn
ed, the golden-rod is aname with feather
| fronds. and the autumn lowers. the pur-
pie orchid. the wild dahlia, and the Grim
son cardinal of the swamp lands are
abloOm In scattered glory.
Especially TO Natures lover are there
signs which elude the gaze Of others.
| There are the birds. for instance; they.
except a solitary oriole or ali amorous
little wren, whose cadenzas are vet to
be heard on an ambient September morn
ing, have ceased their song and the birds
with as are like the sober season
no longer fitting merrily about az they
did in spring: they quietly feed upon the
ripened seeds that struggle along the
walls; the BOb-o'- Lincoln. who is back
from his southern ramble among the rice.
all speckled with gray; the lark, with his
black and yellow breastplate, and lifted
head STANDS tall upon the close mown
meadow. anG al the first motion of APP
prOach scars away and lights again, with
lifted head ever on the watch. The
robins long ago DESERVING the garden.
/ feed at eventide in hocks upon the blood
rec berries OF the sumach, and the soft
pTFcd Dipnnng Of 10.
feast The quails in half-grown coveys.
saunter hidden through the underbrush
that skirts the wood, and only when one
is close upon them whirr away TO drop
beneath the coverts of the forest.
LATEST Of the winged families are the
! blackbrds, who skip after the lettering
| cow, watchful for the crickets that her
slow steps start to danger Most In weird
keeping with the quiet scene are the
crows that cav aloft in companies and
hang high over the farmers shocks Of
corn or fly about the carcass OF some
slaughtered sheep lying ragged upon the
hillside.
The September wind whistles over
thick-set stubble fields with whispers Of
| plenty. For is not autumn the manhood
OF the year-the ripest of the seasons?
! The summer is dead. but we have en-
] tered upon the loveliest, most bewitching
most enjoyable time Of the year Our
woods will soon put their glory coats on
and the mist Of Indian summer will fall
upon us ike a bridal veil on the face Of
fair nature, but as yet joy abounds
September weddings are blessings that
rarely matorialze. In town they have
become so rare it is really almost an
event 10 have one TO put on record among
| the society happenings. and in the dearth
OF other news one feels genuinely CRATE
full 10 the bride who didn't wait till mid
autumn TO don her orange blossoms One
such of interest 70 friends here was the
marriage last Wednesday evening Of Miss
Bessie l.. Hicks. OF Arundel county, Md,
TO Mr.. George Agnew. Of Baltimore. Nd,
and another on Tuesday evening, at the
residence of Mr.. and Mrs. Clay Dawson,
at Stoneleigh, Va, between Miss Lily
Dawson and Mr.. Orlando Clark Of
Mitchels, Va.
Nearer home was the marriage Of Mrs.
Bette T. Wright of Avon, and Mr.. Ed
ward r. Dawson, of Alton, on Thursday
afternoon, by the Rev. Hartwell Haw
th~rn.
A wedding that will call together all
the fashionable set about Lower Rock
fish will take place early in October.
SO much for the brides past and to
come. and now for the rest of the world,
which ls-WeH, seeking lesllhg-pIace
before the city season is well on. Quite
a few Of its units annually choose beauti-
IL Alton and it's glories for a months
soiourn, on their way home from the
Springs" Later these will be met by
husbands and fathers up for the fall
hunts.
Miss Amy Shepherd Of Fishersville, is
visiting Mrs Charles Fox, Of Oman.
The protracted meetings which were
held at Hebron Baptist church last week
Ia ,r.iI he