Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1903-01-18
Annual AU1iOGRAP As,
TIE ALTON LADY DESCRIBES AL
BUNS OF PAST AND PRESENT.
SOME QUAINT VERSES USED.

Also a Few Rita of Modern Advice.
Which Though Good, are Never
Fo1lo,Yed-The Pathetic Side of
This Custom: "A.
ALTON VA, January l7.-tsnecian,-
Autograph albums, new scrap books and
COCA resolutions constitute an annual
trinity on the altar Of ones patience.
It is only In Arcadia that life is not
marred by the autograph fiend, it is only
In Paradise that they have no scrap
books tor the. mutilation OF ones choic-
est selections and it is only beyond the
bourne" that people cease to make new
resolutions because from thence no one
ever returns to show how badly they have
been kept.
The autograph albums Of young folks,
donated as Now Years gifts for this 1eo3-
differ from the. old-tilne albums packed
cWay with musty books, or slowed back
upon the top Of. some ancient bookcase.
THE oLD-TIAIE ONES.
These relics of q sentimental past are
square in form and usually dark 2red-sin
color with wreath Of leaves and ber-
ries tied with a gilt. loye-sknot on the
cover and the Inscriptions are IN verses
more or less varied as to length and fer
vor. But somehow there fingers about
the old album a sweet mist OF love and
sincerity wanting in the smart modern
autograph book with Its Russian leather
and embossed lids and its perpendicular
handwriting.
From the old book flows tender vein
Of sympathy; clearly and distinctly, the
writer seems to stand before you. as
you turn the yellow pages, Vaguely
you wonder where they ell are-these
people. some Of whom you have heard
mother or Aunt Jane speak OF, but the
most of whom are strangers only as YOU
know them here by these long forgotten
Impressions OF their thougntA
Destiny has carried them hither and
thitller, but you feel that you would like
to know Whereabouts in the wide, wide
world as you read;
Remember me when this you see,
Though many miles apart we be-
One girlish soul. in the zeal Of - love
repeats:
Forget thee, forget theA.
O., not if I know 1t,
While memory is'left ms
Thus sayeth the poet.
But forget.ful1less came: no trace has
she yet lives-across the vista of forty
years to remember her grlhood's friend.
A PAGE FOR MOIsTENED EYES.
Here is q page that you. look upon with
moistened eyes. This writer YOU know
we'll as one closely interviewer with all the
affections of your young life,
The hand that pe:lned these lines writes
no more save upon the tablet OF mem
DRY.
ii ~ 49,
work-a-day life are more pathetic than
this little worn, old album. This New
Years book will not in days to come so
wildly recall the tenderness OF human ma
ture. Except for a terse line here and
there its horizontal pages might be huge.
visiting cards, coldly stamped with the,
formalIty ofsa name. You make good
wishes in prose and you proselNs write
narrow little .naxims in It that no one
heeds.
s Advice is a good thing to giyeEin an au-
tograph album, and it is about the only
place where advice is pleasantly re-
ceiyed.
beginning. of-:each New Yesr-I am
largely prone TO indulge in good counsel,
when my rustic young friends, the SJen-
MES and johniaies and Lizzies Of the
neighboriaood bring in their new auto,
graph editions.
For a gay young beauty write:
Don't have too many strings TO your
bow" and straightway I hear that my
lady has three callers Of an evening and
is Setting her cap" for the new clerk
at the x roads store An esteemed
young friend once asked my counsel as
to his future. and my ninable pen In
scribed:
Speak the truth, be honest. be temper
ate, and keep out of debt {. 3
IS Forthwith he dips into politics on the
wrong side, and runs off to- paint the
nearest. town red, while the .told man
sells two COWS and a mule to foo the
bills.
My favorite axiom .'To be happy in the
parlor, practice economy in the kitchen. =
us received in respectful silence.
.'He1p mother is no more fortunate
Mother still cooks and milks and makes
the preserves and pickles while Ma.
ME keeps the parlor and the organ from
lrustlng. Modern philosophy would have
written:
Have a. coed time; keep your harris
white, and marry the first foolish young
man who. comes along
An ancient spinster whom advised
some years ago to renounce the frivolities
.of youth
May and December
Cannot mats--renember''
afterva rtls married her young overseer.
49, THE TAf,IfE or ruAD1nAr=ls