The native Virginian. [volume] (Orange Court House, Va.) 1867-187?, 1868-06-26
lFRox OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.
College Commencement
Lr11soros. June 18th. 1868.

tFRox OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.
Washingten College Commencement,
LEXINGTON, june 18th, 1868.
Something more than idle curiosit
drew your correspondent here and de
tanned him SO long away from his hom
and his duty. The desire to meet an,
mingle with men whose names make S,
great part OF our grand Southern his
tory, to rckindle the bright emotions O
college life, to renew the acquaintanc,
offriends made long ago and endearet
by pleasant associations, to see tho
glowing beauty of our virginian mai
dcns, to look upon the noblest of living
presences and to muse over the grass.
grown tomb of the mightiest of OUT
dead-ali these combined to bring and te
keep me here. AS the cares and duties
ofmature years increase, 1t is not like
ly that / shall again have the opportu.
nifty to iinger SO long in Lexington, and
this must be my apology to your read
ers for neglecting my tasks editorial.
Need it be said that my stay here has
been most pleasant? Col. O'FERRALI.,
agallant soldier, diverted by the fortune
OF war from legal pursuits into the less
attractive path Of the hotel-keeper, has
made me quite at home in his excellent
house, and dinners, breakfasts and sup
pcrs at private houses in town and
country have filled the gap, if any
these were, in the Coloncrs hospital-
ties. Under his management, the Lex
Nkton Hotel has been metamorphoscd
30 that you would hardly recognise it,
and were he sustained as he should be
by the citizens aud the presiding off,
GERS of the great Institutions here, his
cxertions would be appropriately re-
warded. 1t is certainly to the interest
ofevery property holder and every one
connected with the College and Insti-
tute that Lexington should have ho-
tel, which, if itself, would attract the
parents and friends of the students and
cadets, say nothing of strangers, and
keep them here, not only during Com
mencement week but for months during
the summer. This would easily be done
were the present proprietor supported
and-encouraged as he so we'll deserves,
and dwell upon it because 1t is q mat
ter of prime Importance both to the
town and its great schools.
The people here, against whom /
should be the last to say aught In de-
traction, are--to phrase it mildly-very
curious in one thing. Ihave 1t from un-
doubted authority, that, drawn hithcr
by the fame ofGen. LEE and other emf |
nent men who have clustered around |
him, quite number of Southerners, all |
of high social standing and many Of
them wealthy, have endcavored to pur-
chase property in and around Licking
ton with the view of settling and max
Ing it their home for life. But after
their arrival, after stay of weeks and
months, and after the best efforts O.
th-ir resident friends, with Gen. LEE at
the head of the list, they have been
forced to go away and TO fix their habi-
tation in other parts of the State.
One lady, who was thus repealed from
Lexington, has made her home in Or
ange, not far from the county scat, and
another, choosing Stanton as her place
Of residence, has been the means of
bringing to that most thriving town In
an accession OF at least fifty of
the best Southern people, with a pros
pect of doubling the number in the fu-
turc. All of these would, doubtless.
have settled in Lexington If proper in
iucements had been held out to their
pioneer. The policy of repulsion-per- {
laps the term is too strong--is one which /
10 locality in Virginia can afford to in
iuige in, and the example of Licking '
on serves to poin. moral to the land t
FOLDERS in all parts of the State, too a
many OF whom would rather have S
he ready money and dangerous soci- d
tyl of the. vilest Radical than, by a "
lttlo liberality, to surround himself (,
pith tho very cream of the Southern n
population. Do not infer from this
hattie landowners in and around Lex b
1gton prefer Yankees to Southerners
Or neighbors. Not at all. TAeir idea
GEMS to be one ofperfect contentment I
18th things as they are, and an unwil-
to have any more neighbors of n
ny kind. Their lands are good, they =,
&c doing well--why should they be -
owded? "
or the Commencement exercises. -
hieh have passed of SO happily and ~ y,
hich citizens and strangers have en- !.
yed so much, cannot speak at length. -,
wo features attracted my particular -,
First, the number of stran- 49,
RS who gathered here from such dis ~
Mt parts of the county, and, second A.,
2 excellent behavior of the students. A..
re is New York merchant, who has ~,
me hlther, as he says, 'on pilgrim ,
c" to see Gen. LEE and the tomb of
ckson. He has no relative in the -
lege or the Institute. Yonder is a
ing lawyer from New Jersey, who F,
4. Il