The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1866-08-18
IOrrtsTONutIIVUU OF kIV rH's
Letter from EIuvanna County.

Dear Editor,-It has been mooted ques-
ton for some time with the dcnizens Of
this vicinity as to which secular newspa-
per is best adapted to the wants of the
country people. 1t is needless TO say that
all the respectable papers Of your city have
their advocates, and | intend no dispar-
agcment to any when / say that our yco-
many have pretty generally decided that
the Richmond Dispatch is the paper for us.
1t contains Just about as much politics as
we can relish and digest these hard times,
besides furnishing general news upon all
the leading topics of the day. And then
it savors so much of veracity in all its
statements that it commends itself to us
plain people largely on this account. We
live away out in the country, and don't
want to hear any news except what Is
t,7ic, as it takes so long for it to be cor
rectcd that falSehood does all the damage
il is capable of doing before it can be ar
rested. We can but mark the improve
mcnt in this respect, as well as the dignity
which now characterizcs your paper, as
compared with the Dispatch in the earlier
period of its history, when it was regarded
as budget of big tales and the synonymc
of fiction. But, Mr.. Editor, it was not my
object to indulge in hattery either Of your
self or paper, but simply to give small
sketch of the rays and means Of the down.
troddcn people of the old State of Flu.
In the first place, the bell'm days
through which we have passed, and the
sutfcrings we arc still enduring, may have
made us q wiser, but | fear exceed
ngly if they have made us tcttu, peo-
pie. Indeed, there seems to have been
a complete metamorphosis wrought in
the natures of many of our good people.
Some who were once remarkable for
their suariter IN m0do seem to have
had an amount of acidity infused into their
natures almost wholly ineXplicablc on any
other ground than that they had been sub
sisting on crab-applcs during the war and
they are now more distinguished for their
crdJJedaeSs than anything else. 1t seems
to me, in fact, sir, that nearly everything
is more fretful, and pccvish, and snarly,
and S1ueamiSh, than they used to be every
thing seems to be out Of gear, disguised
and discomfuddled. Especially is this the
case with the farmer, who is really and lite
rally the beau ideal, the fac Simile, ard sy-
nonyme of Father Grumble. The king OF
cToahtIS, eNciy thiHS SoSo "i'AS Win iiihi
nowadays; the weather is never exactly
right; to-day it is too dry, tomorrow too
wet; then it is too cold, now too hot; too
windy or too still; too cloudy or too mud
dy. And then the freedmen give him so
much trouble they won't work; instead
of trying to do as much as they can, they
seem to try to do as little as they can
they steal his chickens, ride his mules at
night, break their contract, and leave in
the very busiest season; and, withal, he
comes to the conclusion that the free-negro-
labor system is very poor affair, and that
hickory tea affords the greatest stimulus to
his native indolent nature.
Laying all jokes aside, sir, old Flu is in
right tight place; just now we are suffer-
ing the effects of drought which has lasted
six weeks, and has well-nigh proved fatal
to .he upland corn crop. The crop of
wheat was very meagre, not sufficient to
furnish seed and flour to the farmer. The
tobacco crop, upon which we rely as our
money crop, is very unpromising, and it is
getting TO be practical question as to how
we shall live next year. AGRICOLA.