My judgments were never appealed from, and if they had been, they would have stuck like wax, as I gave my decisions on the principles of common justice and honesty between man and man, and relied not on law learning; for I have never read a page in a law book in my life. DAVID CROCKETT _David Crockett born, 1786_ August Eighteenth Like a mist of the sea at morn it comes, Gliding among the fisher-homes-- The vision of a woman fair; And every eye beholds her there Above the topmost dune, With fluttering robe and streaming hair, Seaward gazing in dumb despair, Like one who begs of the waves a boon. BENJAMIN SLEDD (_The Wraith of Roanoke_) _Virginia Dare, the first child born in America of English parentage, 1587_ August Nineteenth ... Hast thou perchance repented, Saracen Sun? Wilt warm the world with peace and love-desire? Or wilt thou, ere this very day be done, Blaze Saladin still, with unforgiving fire? SIDNEY LANIER (_A Sunrise Song_) August Twentieth "Well," says Uncle Remus, "de 'oman make 'umble 'pology ter de boy, but howsomever he can't keep from rubbin' hisse'f in de naberhood er de coat tails, whar she spank 'im. I bin livin' 'round here a mighty long time, but I ain't never see no polergy what wuz poultice er plaster nuff to swage er swellin' or kore a bruise. Now you jes keep dat in min' en git sorry fo' you hurt anybody." JOEL CHANDLER HARRIS August Twenty-First The radicals and negroes had, in the summer of 1867, refused to "co-operate" with the representative white citizens in restoring political and social order. The election of delegates to the constitutional convention was held in October, 1867. About 94,000 negroes voted. The radical majority included five foreign born, twenty-five negroes, twenty-eight Northerners, and fourteen Virginians. Never before in the history of the State had negroes sat in a law-making body. The former political leaders were absent. The State had been revolutionized. JOHN PRESTON MCCONNELL (_Reconstruction in Virginia_) August Twenty-Second The moon has climbed her starry dome, That taper gleams no more: Delicious visions wait me home, Delicious dreams of yore. Old waves of thought voluptuous swell, And rainbows spread amid the spell Arcades of love and light. Oh! what were slumber's drowsy kiss, To golden visions such as this, Through all the wakeful night? JOSEPH SALYARDS (_Idothea; Idyll III_) August Twenty-Third EVOLUTION Out of the dark a shadow, Then, a spark; Out of the cloud a silence, Then, a lark; Out of the heart a rapture, Then, a pain; Out of the dead, cold ashes, Life again. JOHN B. TABB August Twenty-Fourth