For an epicure no better place could have been desired. And this reminds me of a retired army officer--an epicure of the first water--we often met there, whose sole occupation was visiting his friends, and only subjects of conversation the best viands and the best manner of cooking them! When asked whether he remembered certain agreeable people at a certain place, he would reply: "Yes, I dined there ten years ago, and the turkey was very badly cooked--not quite done enough!" The turkey evidently having made a more lasting impression than the people. This gentleman lost an eye at the battle of Chapultepec, having been among the first of our gallant men who scaled the walls. But a young girl of his acquaintance always said she knew it was not bravery so much as "curiosity" which led him to "go peeping over the walls, first man!" This was a heartless speech, but everybody repeated it and laughed, for the Colonel _was_ a man of considerable "curiosity!" Like all old homes, Oaklands had its bright as well as its sorrowful days--its weddings and its funerals. Many yet remember the gay wedding of one there whose charms brought suitors by the score, and won hearts by the dozen. The brilliant career of this young lady, her conquests and wonderful fascinations, behold, are they not all written upon the hearts and memories of divers rejected suitors who still survive? And apropos of weddings. An old fashioned Virginia wedding was an event to be remembered. The preparations usually commenced several weeks before, with saving eggs, butter, chickens, &c., after which ensued the liveliest egg-beating; butter-creaming; raisin-stoning; sugar-pounding; cake-icing; salad-chopping; cocoanut-grating; lemon squeezing; egg-frothing; wafer-making; pastry-baking; jelly-straining; paper-cutting; silver-cleaning; floor-rubbing; dress making; hair-curling; lace-washing; ruffle-crimping; tarletan-smoothing; guests-arriving; servants-running; trunk-moving; girls laughing! Imagine all this going on simultaneously several successive days and nights, and you have an idea of "preparations" for an old fashioned Virginia wedding. The guests generally arrived in private carriages a day or two before, and stayed often a week after the affair, being accompanied by quite an army of negro servants, who enjoyed the festivities as much as their masters and mistresses. A great many years ago, after such a wedding as I describe, a dark shadow fell upon Oaklands.