Historic Gardens of Virginia 



"What care we though life be short, 

 We'll dream a fine dream, and think a fine thought. 

 We'd grow fine feathers, sing fine songs, too, 

 If we lived in a garden as the cardinals do." 



A certain romantic incident is a matter of history at Brandon. 

 There hangs closely tied in one of the chandeliers in the drawing- 

 room, a small gold wedding ring. 



Each generation seems to have known and reverenced the ring; 

 but no one knows when or why it was hung there. Whether some 

 bride had cast it off because of the secret love in her heart for 

 another, or whether it was the dying request of some dear old 

 grandmother, who wished to leave the sign of her happy union in 

 the room where she was married, is still a mystery at Brandon. 



Every old place has at least one particular ghost; and here it 

 may be the bride who returns to guard her wedding ring and 

 wish a blessing on her descendants. We'll call her the patron saint 

 of brides; and I feel sure that this little saint draped in the silver- 

 white robes of moonlight, with a wedding veil of mist, still fre- 

 quents some of the enchanted paths in the garden at Brandon. 



Caroline Coleman Duke. 



138 



