The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-05-19
AaDay an KichRaond.
From travelling correspondent Of the Boston
Advertiser. 8
EfcuMoNp, VA, Aprii 2S.


RrcHMoNp, Va, April IS, 1870.
The traveller might pass more than one
day la Richmond without having pressed
upon his notice the fact that this was few
years ago the capital of great rebellion
and that the work Of reconstruction mere y
barely coinpleted--so far iHcompletc IN
deed that two rival mayors contend ior tne
mastery. These municipal actioas maze
no appearance upon the surface ., 81 I a.
there were no dispute about who should
control the force. To be sure the national
fiao still waves over the JEFF. Davis mansion
where it was planted little more than i've
wears ago, and single pacing sentinel indi-
Gates the continued existence there OF
United States military headquarters. But
the camp Of the troops is some distance OUT
of town, Hardly a soldier on furiough
is TO be seen about the streets,
washington for several days, and seems not,
to be seriously missed. TO be sure, the
portraits chiefly exposed IN the shop Win,
iows are those Of Lee and Stonewall Jack
son (not one Of Jefferson Davis to be SEEM,
but they appear to remain there more from
inertia than from any active admiration:
and there is none of the Haunting OF rebel
gray and Confederate buttons, none of the
visible nursing Of an old wrath, which SO
tuTuss itsSh upon VIC stSnb ia htSh'
two or three years ago. The worst Of the
gaps left by the great fire of 1865 have been
hlled by new buildings better than the
old, though still scores Of ugly scars in
the shape Of almost untouched ruins,
especially in the region given TO store
houses along the river, remain to feli the
terrible story Of that April day. The COM
plant is general of duh, sluggish busi-
ness; but it is made in that easy way
Characteristic of the southernor, as ifregret
were mixed with relief at the respite from
work which it afforded. There is no longer
the abundance of negroes iounglng about
years after freedom left them stranded OH
their own unframed energies. The black
people appear to be busily at Work--not, to
he sure, with the Yankee hurry, but as
busily as anybody is in this lazy climate;
and of the groups lounging about the
squares and street-corners more than two
thirds are white young men, graduates OF
the bar and the billiard-room. The news
papers manifest no evident interest in poll
tics, but discuss railroad projects for the
development of Virginia with as much
warmth us we in Massachusetts, bring to
the debates over Hartford and Erie. And
finally, Republican convention has been
held here within day or two, in all the
proceedings of which might be traced Il
great advance In sense and good taste over
the similar deliberations of q few years ago,
in which no crazy demands for contiscation
and revenge were heard, and in which the
most agreeable moderation prevailed
throughout.
For the rest, the town Is as pleasant as
ever in its bright spring dress, with the
foliage of a Boston June, and the street
costumes of even a later period in the
northern summer. The ladies dress for the
shopping excursion or the afternoon pro-
menade with all the brlliancy of a ttshiona-
bic watering-place, and the eye is constantly
assailed with new and bizarre combinations
of colors. The Washington Monument i'll
Capitol Square is completed by he..addition
of the statutes of Lewis, the pioneer, Chief
Justice Marshall, and Nelson, the tinancier
Of young Virginia, and the smaller emble-
matte figures illustrating half-a-dozen eraS in
the history of the State, all executed by Ro-
gers in accordance with CrawfOrd's original
design; and the people pass daily to and fro |
by the grandest work Of art in the United |
States, educated, unconsciously perhaps, |
by its presence, but unappreciative of its
real value because they have never seen |
how much worse American art may do, rs
illustrated at every turn in Washington, III |
New York, and in Boston. The theatres |
are not open, but there seems to be no
neeQ OIL Gnem Wnen every IeSiucHt anu So |
journer may sit by his window and observe |
the most picturesque, the most humorous
spectacle in the acts and words Of the light
hearted African. / have seen nothing more |
delightful in its way than the eXuberance |
Of a-black nursery-maid, a grown woman Of
twenty or twenty-five, who in a sudden |
impulse Of juvenile JOY, borne on the soft |
south wind, borrowed the gaily-adorned
hoop of one of her little charges and drove
it swiftly, with elephantine steps, about the |
smooth walks Of the square. s.Wait for me,
Sally; wait for me !" shouted the children
US their protector vanished in the distance
but Sally had discovered most tempting
steep hill, down which it must be delicious
to canter after hoop. Z" Wait for me,
Sally !" came the frantic little cry, fainter
and fainter but the nurse only paused on
the brow of the hill to adjust her toy, and
to shout Pm JUS gwine to roll it down |
yere. Ye can ketch up" And off she went !
mt pace which made oyertaking her L !
hopeless task for short limbs. Probably |
Sally had no hoop to roll in her own girl |
hood, and so childish was her enjoyment of
the play that could not find it in my heart |
to think harshly Of her for her neglect any |
more than could OF the mocking-birds, |
which hang Gagged at every window, and fill