The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1881-11-02
RICHMOND REVISITED.

n
] A hundred thousand soldiers had spent
four long, weary years in the effort to get
into Richmond, during which time they
had sadly heaped Virginia soil over an
other hundred thousand OF their com
radcs, slain by bullet and disease. Every
square mile for leagues around had been
made sacred soil " indeed by the blood
OF brave men who had barred their
/ bOsOmS TO tornadoes OF lead and siroccos
OF iron because OF their love for the
Union and the dear old flag. As our train
draws nearer the city we look out upon
4 historic fields so fun OF "reminiscences OF
/ brave deeds, heroic endurance, and events
which will live long after we are forgotten,
/ that a sense OF thrilling awe settles gradu-
/ ally down upon us, while the ghosts Of the
mOmentous past are stirred again and chase
each other wildly through our minds.
| 1t seemed incredible that we were again
upon those very fields, wearing the same
I blue uniform; yet bound upon peaceful
mission 10 that same city. Twelve OF us
i had come from Yorktown, pending the
/ Governors arrival. TO see this American
/ home, sitting upon her seven hills, which
/ had been the centre OF nations interest
during long, bloody war. The city was full
I to OVerflOwing. Attic largest hotel all they
could offer Us were the sleeping-rOomS OF
! the cOlored servants way up under the
caves, savory not only OF Africa, but Of
certain other enliving incidents with which
most old soldiers have become more or less
familiar. We declined Boniface's hoSpi-
tality, and looked further with no better
results. In the hotel lobby We met num-
Der OF "old-timers," one Of whom had
been Colonel OF the -th Virginia. The
Colonel told Us in eloquent terms how
"he went into the wah, Sar, with
eight hundred men," how he came
ont, sab, with one hundred and
ten men, and you might overpower 'em,
you might kill 'em, you might even lick
'cm, sab, but by Joyc, sab, you couldn't
dcmOrdlize 'em-nO, mo-, sab, than you
kin demOraliZe gentleman, san, Ill q
matta' Of hOna'; they wa seasoned, sab,
through and through" But the Colonel
was man OF sense. He believes now
that this is a nation and not a cOniedera-
ton, that the sentiment OF the civilized
world is against slavery, and that 1t had
10 20; that il was great thing that Viz
ginia escaped being the northern border OF
a slave COniederacy, where slave property
would have been practically worthless;
and. moreover, that while he hatee the Re-
publican party like - for trying 90 put
the black man over the white, yet the great
est thing that was ever done by any party
i'm any country was the preservation OF the
American Union. He thanked God for that
every day, but he should fight the Aforesaid
party all the same.
Midnight found us still without place
to lay our heads, when one Of our party
accidentally met the gentlemanly general
agent for Virginia and North Carolina OF
the Singer Sewing-Machine Company, who
took pity on us, introduced us to his land
lady, and installed us in one OF Richmond
best boarding-hOuscs. where five OF us had
beds and the rest slept on cots brought
down into the handsome parlor. 1t
would be more than mean not TO eX-
press our lively sense OF the marked
hospitality received from the courteous and
mtiring lady who managed this Well-kept
house. How deeply our reception told
upon the susceptible minds OF three OF our
Young Bachelors Club may be inferred
from the fact that persuasion, entreaty, AZ
gument, and admOnitiOns OF duty alike
failed to draw these young gentlemen from
the manifold attractions OF that mansion,
and we were obliged to return 10 York
town without them.
We next visited tObacco-factory, where
the whole process Of tObaccO-manufacture
was explained and demonstrated by the
hospitable proprietOrs. On one floor was
most picturesque sight. Long wooden
tables ran across the room, piled with
cured tobacco in the leaf; and here, some
stripping, others twisting, some weighing,
and All busy as bees, were rows upon rows
Of black men and women, boys and girls.
They were typical southern darkies, too,
dressed in the mongrel costume Of the
tribe, but happy, ioyial, and industrious.
4 southern darky always brightens up ut
the sight OF a blue uniform, and when our
party had all filed into the little cleared
space al the side OF the room one bright
yellow boy in the centre struck up,
"what Kline ob slippers do dc angels wear?"
and the entire force struck in with the re-
frain. They repeat the line over and over
AGAIN. and then do likewise with the an
sWcr-
"H-o-l-y slippersl"