The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-29

soil
When the small remnants Of Lees army
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia wa
PROSTATE.
-Four years of VIII had stripped her hei
labor was metemouhased into an incubus
her institutions were overthrown; her debts
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values were annihi ated; her
energies were Iaralyzed; her very existence
Z was suspended.
THIS was tventytEree years ago. During
large part of this period the problem Of
existence, the paramount question OF simple
| being engrossed all her powers. Misunder-
stood and Stunned by all without, threat
ened and burdencd by many within. sh had
10 devote all her facilities 20 the imperative
demand Of the hour the preservation Of her
being a. o state and people
At last she stands upright again in the
vicor Of renewed strength, in the JOY Of re-
stored health, in the fall power Of sovereign
state and the pride Of hale and prosperous
people.
As such her Capital city, her beautiful
Richmond on the James now sets her
house u order, prepares her feasts, sets out
he- wares and stretching on. her hands unto
he sister cities, says 70 them
! CONE ND SEE NE
Richmond. the Capital of Virginia. il the
| Queen ofthe South cnthroned upon her tree
clad hills. and crowned with the diadem OF
beauty and health
Situated on the elevated plateau at the
Falls ofJames River once the Powhatan, she
stards at the gateway between the upands
Of The Redmond and the lowlands Of the
Tdcwa:er. The breath Of the mountain
fans her brow, the tides Of the Ocean wash
her feet.
Old William BYRD Of Westoyer, whose
historic mansion not msny miles fellow is
one Of the landmarks Of the continent, and
one Of the heirlooms OF American history
gentleman Of Virginia. member Of the King
Councii. Representative of the Colony, Bur
CESS of lis Coun Y. was entrusted to run the
much Questioned line between Virginia and
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupied,
living awake one nigh, in the juniper recesses
of the Dismal Swamp, came TO him thoughts /
of his home. and with them one of those in |
SEPARATIONS which may be the whisper OF |
pasi angel, and may be the emanation OF
genius. He would found a city, nay he |
would found two. one shout he 81 the ATe /
poma,tox. but the other should be on a yet |
fairer spot on queeaiier riyer, his own
majestic james.
He knew the spo, for it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skillfui en-
gineerthan he had drawn the plaza diyiner
architect ha! laid the foundations.
1t was already city and wan'ed but the
buildings and the people. These must in
evtably come in time. Indeed that most
rash bat most brilliant and farseeing young
man who had been ono, his fathers neigh
Dor, had chosen the spot with his rare Wis
dom and had there plantation or quarter,
and when the Indians had come down and
killed his oyerseer and cattle. had he not
clanored for revenge until he had started a
revolution which came deuced rcar up citing
His Maiesiy's Government. and played the
devil generally. II would be the chief city
in Virgl ia. the largest in the Southern
colonies if not on the continent, if the peo-
pie would bu, recognize its advantages and
build it up. What spot it was!
An elevated plateau right at the falls of
the river, above malaria and ague, with
4, e,o e, -. as, I |
cool in summer, and incompatible climate
and purest water from unpoprlated ,
springs. view Of the foamng ,
waters, CHANGING and dashing over
immense bouders for nearly two miles, ,
made landscape whose beauty was I'M ,
rivaled as aplace ofresidence for a beauty-loy-
ing people, this side of the oak clad reaches of
the Thames The river front was easily &C ,
cessible, and evenly d stributed and at tie
same time SO immense that il would grind =
the grain Of continent, ard run the factor
les of q nation. Behind il was the rich Pied
mont running up = the Blue Ridgs and yet
further back behind the azure mountains an
region which stretches TO the
French territory, louisiana Before It was
the
HEAD or DEEP WATER NAVIGATION I
with its diurnal tides which c)u'd float any II
vessel that His Majestys marine could send a
across the seas.
How could il be others Use than city?
Thus must have thought Colonel VIM. {
Byrd lying under the stars reading the future L
With prophetic vision, for on the completion
IF his mission, he laid out the streets and L
squares of city, on the spot at the Falls ).
If the James and the head Of deep water
which had haunted his dreams IN that then ,
ar distant ,hore of the Dismal Swamp, and "
Is there was no place this side the sea whose a
beauty WAS comparable, he named it after 4
hat inc mparable spot upon the loved and
winding Thames.
FIcfIMoYD.
This wa in 1887 and from that day to the y
resent. Richmond has been the Gem City Of >
he South. =
Fer beauty, for salubrity, for convenience, "
or all the charms and advantages which can I
make 4 home delightful, or place of bust Il
ess desirable Richmond stands supreme. q