Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1877-04-03
For the Spectator.
Charlottesville and University Of Va

We called few hours in the town Of
Charlottesville not long since. In the
ancient village we saw some symptoms
of Rip Van Wrinkles stirring slightly,
as though wakening up.
There were mutterings of discomfort
mo, that is too mild--indignation at
the late bank failure, and two Rich
mond friends with us, stroked their
boards and said complacentIy there had
been no failures in their city, except
some little savings bank affair, in which
there was a triiing loss, whilst Char
lottesville had two and your town one.
Some of the cases mentioned in Char
lottesville are Of great cruelty, to wit
OF the widow of most worthy Pres
byterian minister, late of this county.
who had So, 600 i'm the Flanagan CON
Germ, and at the time of the deposit, if I
understood it, was given some sort of
stock as guarantee, it may be, of the
safety of her money-aN of which she
lost, and then made to pay per cent.
on this stock. She depositeda few hun
r1red in the Goodwin and lost that. A
Mr.. We, an acquaintance of mine,
put in So, 000-he lost all. might fill a
smart space of such details.
Seated at the hotel CRATE, the land
lord said some Cincinnati fire-safe man,
shrewd one, hearing of the affiiction
of these people, hied away there, and
in one day. a short time since, sold six
or eight safes. "En i'll wind" &c., is
suggested,
Having an hour or two we strolled up
to the University, and walked around
the building just put under Mansard
roof, of three stories and goodly size,
fl,o II sol,
contents, of the generous. nGnaeless,
Rochester man of II. Y. We regretted
we did not have q pencil-(your type
man and your readers smile compla-
Gently, and say ''dat vas n)-else
we would have given you the names, in
their order, Of the eminent naturalists,
botanists, and savans, whose labors will
be illustrated by the rich treasures of
the museum. Among the long and en-
inent roll are Cuvier, Button, Audu-
bon, De Chailleu. Agazzis, Leibig,
Dana, Darwin, Huxley, &C., and of the
life like representations Of the heads Of
animals carved in the most artistic
manner on the lintels, that may not be
the proper name for the handsome light
colored sandstone from Ohio-Berlin,
perhaps-that is used, brought by way
of Huntington, and, hard-bye, elegant
stone on the Kanawha, of same or q
better kind, showing Virginia is rich
in the raw material, but not shrewd in
bringing it to the front. Pardon this
depression. but | must say this house
ought to have been built of Virginia
material, all things being equal. Well
there is the head of the lion, the bear, the
fox, the elk, deer. zebra, the kangaroo, the
gorilla, the rhinoceros, the hippopota-
mus, and sea lion that if you had ev-
er looked at one of those unique and
rare animals as he emerges from his wa
terry lair, Chamber on the rocks near San
Francisco, you would declare the artist
took him for his model. But time and
space. aud your patience forbid me
dwelling on the description. Shaking
the hand presently of the venerable Ii
brarian, who is descending from the 50
mile post of the journey of life in such
service, and making the enquiry when
the building would be finished, replied it
was hoped to have it finished and filled
with its rich contents by next Com
mencement. And directing his CONVEX
sation to one of The Professors, who
had accompanied me, said, Ibid you
know, Mr. H., that it is rumored the
same defects of flue exist in this build
ing tEat caused the loss of the White
Sulphur hotel?" NO." he replied, Il
did not, but if such was the fact, it
ought at once to be looked into" 1 re-
marked that / had heard one of the
contractors for the brick work in the
w. S. s. hotel had said the fues there
were too close to the floors.
mention this whole matter now, for
the purpose of it's publicity, because
should this generous donation to Vir-
ginia, the South, and the United States,
be lost by such shameful carelessness,
those concerned need not expect
FORGIVENESS.