The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1870-03-03
j 1retter from the Country.

FORK, FLUVAGSA, February ~, 1871.
Having Just returned from protracted
wnnderings in the counties of Essex, King
and Queen, King william, Caroline, and
Spotsy1yania, We feel fully warranted In
the assertion that our people are rapidly
renouncing their adherence to old political
tenets and social habits, and are learning
with surprising aptitude to adapt their
action to the changed conditions imposed by
the great revolution. Politically, they do
not, of course, ignore what they once con-
ceived to be right and proper, but as far 20
past positions may be considered In the
light of controlling incentives, they are
practically repounced. Whilst strictly con-
forming their action to the demands OF the
new era at the dictate Of necessity or
policy, they did not at all {as some people
in Richmond did) 60 into ecstacies over tho
admission Of the State into the Union. Oh
no, they simply regarded the event Of re-
storation with that grim satisfaction which
man feels who has Just been awarded his
long-deferred dues. They would, however,
fain hope that the event may tend to alle-
viate the depression which, for the past few
years, has rested like on incubus on the in
dustrial interests Of the country.
In the capacity of farmers, too, we mo-
tice that they are beginning to suit their
management to the requirements OF econ.
omy, and retrcnchment, which their altered
and straitened circumstances make neces.
sary. Proofs of this are he'd in the in
creased use of oil sorts of labor-ssving ma
chimes, and also in o more general recogni-
ton of the fact that the largest results oh.
tainable from the smallest area is the end
to be aimed at in farming. With this view
many have sold, and others are anxious to
sell, their necessarily idle acres for tho i'm
provement of smaller reservations. Within
a compass of fifteen miles around Frsde.
ricksburg it is estimated that Northerners
have already purchased one-fourth Of the
land, and still they come with the ready
money, which enables them to secure great
bargains. Wish the tide of land-buyers
would make this way, for there are thou,
sands Of acres lying along the James and
Rivanna rivers which necessity Will compel
the owners to put in market.
In our journeyings we were also struck
with the admirable pluck Of the ladies, who
are really ahead of the men in their grace
full adaptation to the hard exigencies Of the
times. We saw rare and radiant beauties,
reared in ease and affluence, make elegant
transitions from the piano to the cooking
stove, or to the dairy, or to the performance
of other domestic duties; some even went
to the wood-pile, and lugged in great heaps
of wood for the parlor fire, in the presence
of their horny-handed beaux (no reflection
on us, for the noble creatures would not
allow u guest to perform such drudgeries).
And it was also apparent that the perform
ance of these unwonted services did not
make the pretty ones less pretty, nor the
ugly ones more ugly. So strongly i'm
pressed were we with this fact that we now
lully endorse the sentiment, that under
any and al circumstances
"Aflling Of beauty Is JOY forever"
| PICKET.