The day book. [volume] (Norfolk, Va.) 1857-1867, 1866-08-24
The Enchanted Land.


their princely halls the sound Of the gittern
was no longer heard; the voice of the minstrel
and the tones of his harp were mute the
notes of the choristers in the castle chapel
were not heard at evensong, and the priest at
the altar intoned no blessing ON the people
Butupon entering the castle, appalling was
the sight the gay young gallant's fingers
seemed just about to strike the strings to his
listening ladye-love; the minstrers mouth
was open, and he seemed rapt in his own d-
vine musings, as his hand stretched out to wake
music from his golden harp in the chapel
-g2rs appeared to have just concluded
eyes raised to heaven, looked like statue of
Devotion. All was spell-bound in hall and
turret and chapel, and so remained for
thousand years, till the great magician
awaked them to life
Like this castle, Virginia was an enchanted
land. Throughout her noble territory her
people were asleep. With such natural adj
vahtages as are youchsafed to no other part
of the earth, all seemed spell-bound, as by the
enchanter's wand
With soil of surprising richness, she has
never produced the twentieth part of what
she should produce, and with unmeasured
power of manufacturing, the sound of spindle
and tilt-hammer has been hardly anywhere
heard within her borders AS far as the de-
veopment of the natural wealth buried in
her soil is concerned, We have done but little
since Captain JOHN SMITH, two hundred and
sixty years ago. landed on our shores.
Strange that the land of mind has done no
more for herself than she has. She has en-
lightened and Iiberazed the whole continent;
she has astonshed mankind by her orators,
her statesmen and her warriors; but her ma
terial development has been retarded and
large part of her territory has not yet been
cleared of its primeval forest The land Of
PATRICK HENRY Of JEFFERSON, Of NASH
INGToN and Of r. f. LEE is vet spellbound
Where is the power that shall wake her
up after her long sleep? Who shalt teach
her who once saved the nation to save hor-
self? Covered with glory and renown, the
wondrous old Commonwealth has been also
covered with poverty. For many necessares
of life she has depended upon the North and
upon foreign nations. and with the most
boundless resources, she has imported every
thing from abroad, -+ e.
1t is to be hoped that she will not sleep
forever, and that her trance is about to end
We trust that the frightful scourge of war has
already awakened her dormant energies, and
that, urged on by her necessity, she will now
put forth her powers,
War is a stern teacher, but its lessons often
do good, and many are the examples where
they have regeneratcd nations 1t is a we'll
known fact, that though it is attended by
pestilence, famine. and desoation, Yet almost
all the Improvements of our race can be traced
to great political commissions The period Of
greatest excellence in the arts, and of the most
useful discoveries in science, either comedies
with revolutions, or is immediately suisse
quent to them The minds Of men seem to
be sharpened by the intense agitation of So
ciety and their energies are stirred up by the
poverty which is the result of war.
We believe that We already see signs of the
change which Virginia is undergoing. Grip
pied and poverty-stricken as we arc, there are
at this day more evidences of energy than
have ever been shown in Virginia. People are
beginning to pursue lines of business which
they never before attempted, and their minds
are taking directions that our fqyeiathers
would have never imagined possible to their
= -rs
I1era - -u0o4 to .rvtliy ia this strange
awakening of Virginia, and there is much
also to be dreaded While we verify believe
that the genius of the Old Commonwealth
will outshine that of all other people in the
new tracks which her altered condti MS will
force it to cnt for itself, we have to dread
that the noble ErginaD of the past may be-
come myth "a being Of whom our descend
ants may read in novels, bat shall rarely
meet with in actual life
Yet we trust that our fears may, after all
be but the ill-founded apprehensions of chill
dren VINO are heetlesSly aiafnltu lof theif
native land, and that as the commissions and
constant wars Of ages have not been able to
extingush the old Roman courage in the
breasts of Italians, and as recent events have
shown that the old Latin patriotism and
honor are unchanged by all the social lorna
does which have swept over Italy. 50 we hope
that future ages will prove the Hrgiuans
to be the same great and noble people
that fought and bed under GEoReE WASH
1EeroN aud RoBERT E. LEE and that still