The Norfolk post. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1865-1866, 1865-06-23

Office to replace it. They linger at each
corner and gaze down into the cellars,
| filled with debris, with anxious eyes, as
if they expected to see some miracle
performed and their stately edifices
rise suddenly from their graves, new
and beautiful and bright, purified by
| fire. And so they shall see them rise
but gazing wistfully into space will not
resurrect them: energy, industry,
money, will do the thing-these are all
powerful agents, and even fire cannot
daunt them when rightly directed.
This portion of the ruins alone, re
quires an entire day to walk through
and then the scene is so interesting
| that one wishes to return the next day
and go over the same ground. There is
something so fascinating in such scenes
that we seldom tire of gazing at, and
meditating upon them. At each visit
something new is seen, and although it
may be but a trifle, still it interests us,
and affords food for reflection, and there
| fore is redeemed from the odium of being
weary, flat, stale andunprofitable. When
night comes, we stand upon some lofty
eminence and gaze forth upon the
wreck of matter as the soft moon beams
down upon the scene of destruction, cast
| ing the shadows of the shadowy columns
across the intersecting streets, and Civ
ing the bleak walls and dreary CHM
neys whose hearths are fireless, and
where crickets no longer chirp their
merry music, nor the kettle SINNERS,
nor happy childhood prattles-a sepul-
chral and ghostlike semblance. All then
is still AS death among the ruins; even
| the winds are voiceless, and inhabitants
| they have none: for not even the bats
and owls have taken up their abodes
therein. The once happy throng that
filled them are no longer there-and
these places shall know many of them
no more forever Others will fill up the
void, and perhaps of race more ener-
getic, progressive and perseverinc. if not
better. Better men they could no, be
but perhaps may prove better and more
thrifty, in the walks of business. Vast
as these rdins re- I'D romantic rs is the
scene, we are nos, much fe.ft4g-1y yea ]
unprecedented long to enjoy thenoveltYs
of gazing at them. Already, the hands
of thousand busy workmen, the
former bondsmen, and now the bJae
land sinew of the South, are busy
preparing the way for rebuilding the
burn district; and with the aid of
la little capital HON dbload we snal,
soon see arise from this mass of corrnp-
ton new and beautiful and stately
blocks of brick stores, and warehouses,
and hotels, and dwellings, and banks,
and great marts of commerce and ex-
change. The magic labor of and eapiA
will cause the wide waste of ruin to dst -
pear, and in few short years, Cary and
Main streets will again be the boast of
the people of Richmond.
Singularly enough, here and there we
find a fine building ora lowly wooden
shanty in the burnt district that has es-
capped unscathed. The large granite
| building, formerly the Custom House and
| Post Office but now used as the Nation
al Bank of Virginia, magnificent and
tastefully erected structure, extending
from Main to Bank streets and immedi-
ately in front Of the Capitol, was scarce
ly injured, while the buildings allaround
it were totally destroyed. Then there
was the Exchange Bank, another fine
building, which stands amid heaps of
ruins only partially destroyed, the beau
tiiul front being uninjured. The En-
| qairer, Dispatch and Examiner Offices
| all fell victims to the flames, and were
completely destroyed. "Where now be
your jibes and jeers,,H when they were
wontto set one anotherby the ears-they
| fill common grave, and their ashes
commingle. Their types will trou-
| ble the world no moreno more urge
on fratricidal strife, or glory in their
country'sruin. Their lastrequiem to the
| COnfederacy was the song of the dying
swan. Fiery and fierce were their lives
fiery and fierce in the flames themselves
| had lit We're their deaths. Water could
not wash out the blood that had accumu-
lated on their hands. Fire alone could
cleanse them, and the trio came forth
juocta IN unO, completely purified and
| regenerated Those old worn, and bat
| tered metal characters will do 10
more harm-and even the splendid new
| types the Dispatch had brought from
| England scarce had reached their first
birthday ere the destroying angel gath
| cred them to himself, to renew his font
upon the fast-pubishing Book of Fate.
Rest, we quiet little fairies! once more
powerful than an army with banners
yearch- enchanters-ye ministers of good
| and evil rest. The good we have done
will live after you-the evil we viii
charitably place with you IN your cofitnsS
And, if types have souls, we will pray
that their good deeds only may come be-
| fore the Great Censor, when he makes
| up his final judgment.
But why this depression. Through
| all parts of the ruins negroes are daily
l IoIno ln ~ .