Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1868-08-28
An observing visitor at that delightful


resort, the Augusta Springs, in recent let
ter to the Examiner and Enquirer, pays the
handsome compliment to the sturdy sons
of cold Augusta" and the Valley, who, not
"waiting for something to turn up" have
pulled off their coats and turned it up. Such
notices Of the patent worth of our people,
affords us exceeding pleasure, coming as it
does from disinterested sojourner in our
midst, and that our people may enjoy the
same pleasure, as we'll as s'see themselves
as others see them" VIC publish the extract
below:
eff any young Virginian Of proud ances-
trail name and vigorous thews and sinews
wishes to find out chow Teller is to farm
without niggers," let him come up here and
look at the lands of the Augusta farmers.
They have long since solved the problem
which is, and will ever be insoluble to those
who, sitting upon stump with an umbrella
over their heads, ''overlook" lazy negro
driving rawboned and much CALLED mule
to small one-horse pillow. Here the white
man has taken off his coat, given dignity to
manual labor by his daily tolls, and sur
rounded himself with multitude of COM
forts. Here, the well directed labors Of a
superior race have made, in a land not half
as much favored as tidewater Virginia, a
Goshen in abundance. Here the Virginian
feels that labor is the great first duty Of man
and he scorns to impose it upon an inferior
race. And in what portion of the old Com
monwealth can be found nobler race of men
than in "the Valley" where every honest
man labors in his appropriate vocation ?
Where can we find more intelligence, frank
ness, truthfulness, piety, valor and genius
than amid these green hills, where every
inch Of land is cultivated in the most perfect
manner.
From these small, compactfand we'll man
! aged farms thousands of soldiers, brave and
determined as those who followed Cromwell :,
marched with Stonewall Jackson, worship
ped God in good old orthodox style, and
kept their powder dry and their rifles in per,
feet order. What a splendid harvest of re-
nown did these hardy young farmers reap
from amid the tares and brambles of civil
war And in times of peace host of able
statesmen, profound jurists, gifted orators,
and eloquent divines have issued from the
plain, substantial farms Of this great Valley
to win the respect and admiration of the
State and nation. Virginia can never achieve
her mission, and can never rid herself of the
blight and scourge Of the slavery labor Of a
lazy and inferior race until, like the men Of
the Valley, they learn the dignity which be-
longs to labor The splendid health, ma
tural grace, manly forms, well-bred self
possession Of the men of the Valley, proves
that labor leaves no stain, nor mark of infer
iority. Nowhere have seen finer race Of
men and women than in Augusta, where the
owners Of the farm perform all the agricul-
tural labor. [ have walked over many of
the farms in this neighborhood, and although
their productiveness is greater than those of
tidewater Virginia, they are not at all super
ior to them IN natural fertility. The real
difference consists in the superiority of intel
| ligent white labor to negro labor.
Industry has made these people superior
| to the calamities which now menace the less
favored regions, where the negro is relied
upon to do the work Of superior race. Ithas
made the Valley the refuge Of thousands
| from the South as well as the North, and
has secured it future of prosperity the
magni6cence of which cannot be exaggerat-
! ed" 4 CO.. 4 aa - -.