The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1860-05-14

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MONDAY MORNING. ........MA IA, 1850.
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The :. Great Rhtascerss."
"The memory a other daya" says Oss'AN,
or sho>vnr wrote the songs hat 90 BY his
mama = n ,1he the nustc Of CARRIL, sweet
and mournfni 10 the SOUL" The visit OF DAN
RvcR the other day, carries Us back, irrssasu.
hlv To the wear 1891, when, for the flrst time,
The rre.t Rhtnoceros, the Unicorn Of the Scrip
lures. some say, frat pail his respects to this
fsvorsd Metropolis. A very slight incident 10
sutuacieut TO awaken The memory Of the past.
lit nay be . sound
tone Of musc-Summer' . eve-or Sprung
A aower-she wind--the Ocean,
The re.aprearance OF the distinguished stran.
ger from Africa, carries a. back twenty mine
years Mt single leap. to the time when his IL
lustrious predecessor first made his bow to the
public Of this untNrrined Metropolis Of the An
cient Dominion. We stand, as It were, on the
brink Of the huge gulf OF years-that was be-
tween -freighted with thewrecks Of . thousand
aspirations never to be attained. thousand
hopes never to BE- fulfilled, a thousand day
dreams never to be accomplished-and nx our
ewes upon the Richmondof 81. Alas! how many
forms then In the full sigor Of life do we now
hehold bent with years, and within q short step
Of their everlasting rest. How many others do
ne see in that distant perspective, whom we
shall Aes no more on earth! Where are
the playmates Of our boyhood-the COM
panions Of our youth-the friends of our
riper years. Gone down to the clod Of the
yalley-vanished like the last years snow
upon the tops Of the Allegany-scattered like
autumn leaves when they fly before the
breath Of the whirlwind. The Temperance
Of the rhinoceros brings them before as In a
panorama, and we live over all the scenes OF
that happy day, when the blood OF youth
bounded exultingly in our veins, and we took
NO thought of the morrow what 1t might
bring forth. For, let the youth of man have
been what it n ay-let it have been overcast by
sorrow or beset by difficulties from its COM
mencement to its termination in middle age
though there may not have been single day
to which he can, in after years, recur with
pleasure-still, there is something in the
bounding spirits and quick blood OF that Pc
Rod of life which would tempt the larger por-
ton of mankind to take it back once more,
with all its encumbrances, had they the power
.Ne'sr tell me of slories serenely adjoining,
The close of our da., the calm eve Of our night,
Give me hack the wild freshness oil Morning,
Her clouds, and her tears, are worth Evenings
best raw
The Richm ond of 1850 is, indeed, very diff
ferent affair from the Richmond of 1881. We
had no railroads then. Their place was sup
piled by the stage coaches of the great Land
Admiral, PORTER, which Numbered through
the Streets in all direc tons, rousing the drow-
sy passenger who bad booked himself at the
Admiralty office, kept in a room Of the Union
Hotel, and sundry innocent citizens BESIDES
who dreaded the sound of the coachman's
horn in the small hours of the night, As
though their houses had been situated in
Jericho, aud their walls were in danger Of
tumbling about their ears at the sound there
of. There were no telegraphs. The impa-
tisnt public had to wait for "the latest intel
ligence" until it had been frozen and thawed
In It's long passage from Washington, during
the winter months, or had been sweated into
premature age, as it lay '"snugly concocted"
in the grim and dusky looking mail-bags Of
the day. LYNCH's ofee-House was still an
existing fact, and not pleasant remembrance
1.-THE late unfortunate Eagle had not yet
been burned, and the Bell that never rang
still gave its name to The hospitable man sion
where all the world understood that board,
lodging and horse-feed could be had for the
money. Lager beer had never been dreamed
OF, as among the possible elements of civili-
zation, to be furnished by our Teutonic fellow
citizens but those who had u weakness for
oysters and no positive antipathy to the fluid
which is sometimes used to wash them down
and keep them quiet, were well aware that
HuTsON BRETT hung out nearly opposite the
Eagle, and Major EARLY square lower
down. Gentlemen Of more delicate taste who
preferred venison and canvas backs, with
champagne or Rhenish to give zest to the
feast, knew where to look for BECKY GLOVER.
We had no First Regiment then, and no Ar
mory Band but Capt. BIGGRR's Blues, and
Capt. RICHARDSON'S Artillery, and Capt
HARRIsON's Light Dragons, with LoMAx
and RUFrIN for band musicians, and old DICK
GAINES for trumpeter, made noise enough
every fourth Of July to satisfy the ambition
of the most exacting patriot. Such was the
state of the Metropolis when the 'Great
Rhinoceros," heralded by the tongue of Ru-
NOR for days before his arrival, made his first
appearance-not on any stage-but on the
terra frma of this goodly city.
Great was expectation, and greatly was it
satisfied Crowds attended the levee of the
distinguished stranger. His manners were far
less refined than those of his successor. Far
from dancing himself, he was very apt to make
anybody dance that came within his reach :;
that is to say, if he did not deprive them OF
the wish and capacity to dance for the rest of
their lives. His attendants apologized for his
rudauess and want of polish, by ing that
it was the nature of the beast" 1t was lust
as impossible, they asserted, to civilize him, as
1t was to make him sprout a couple of horns.
and as the single horn was the distinctive
mark of his corpus, so nature utterly un.
tameable was the characteristic of his dispo
sition. And thus our old friend passed through
life without ever having attained that pitch of
reflnement in which his successor so properly
rejoices. He was kept chained, in fact, like q
truculent savage, and such, we own with
shame, he was. 1t was said he could whip
half dozen lions just as easily rs in modern
times we have seen the Benicia Boy take the
cOuceit out of the toothless old varmint that
goes by the name on the other side Of the wa
ter. He became the topic of conversation in
ali Richmond circles. The rhinoceros wss
every thing, and everything was the rhinoce-
ros. Did 1t become necessary to express ex-
traordinary strength in man or beast, "he is
as strong as q rhinoceros," was the compare
son. Extraordinary homeliness was described
by tho same figure. "He Tor she) is as ugly
~ the rhinOceros," was verdict Of condem-
nation as strong as 1t could he made. A coun-
TRUMAN coming into town and wishing tn