The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-19
battles of modern warfare was fought on her

| battles OF modern warfare was ioubn' "'' NV
soil
| When the small remnants of Lees army
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia was
PROSTATE.
-Four wears of wsr had stripped her; her
labor was metemorphased into an incubus
her institutions we're oyerthrown; her debts
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values were annihi ated; her
energies were paralyzed her very existence
was suspended.
This was twenty-three 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 burdened by many within, sh had
TO devote all her facilities to the imperative
demand of the hour, the preservation OF Der
being as a State and people.
Al last she stands upright again in the
yieor of renewed strength, in the JOY Of re-
stored health, in the full power Of a sovereign
State and the pride Of hale and prosperous
people. ..s,,
Az such her Capital City, her beautiful
Richmond on the james now sets ner
house IN order, prepares her feasts, sets out
her wares and stretching out her hands unto
her sister cities Gays to them
s'coME AND SEE ME-"
Richmond, the Capital OF Virginia y INC
Oueen oftbe South enthroned upon her tree
clad hills, and crowned with the diadem Vi
beauty and health.
situated on the elevated plateau at the
Falls of james River once the Powhatsn' sne
stands at the gateway between the upIanos
If the Piedmond and the Iowlands oil the
T;dewater. The breath OF the mountain
fans her brow, the tides Of the ocean WASH
her feet.
Old William Byrd Of Westover, whose
h;s,or;c mansion not many miles below is
one of the landmarks Of the continent, ana
ono of the he;rlooms of American history
gentleman of Virginia, member of the King IS
Corncil Representative Of the Colony, Bur
pess of his County. was entrusted TO run the
much questioned line between Virginia anu
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupied
living awake one night in the juniper recesses
Of the Dismal Swamp, came to him thoughts
Of his home. and with them one OF those IN
sp;rations which may be the whisper oil q
pas.irg angel, and may be the emanation Oh
genius. He would found city, nay ne
would foundltwo; one should be on the APP
pomattox, but the other should De on yet
fairer spot on = queenlier river his Own
majestic james.
He knew the spot for it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skliilul en-
p;neer than he had drawn the plan-a diviner
architect had laid the foundations.
1t was already city and wanted but the
buildings and the people. These must IN
eyitably come IN time. Indeed mat mos'
rash but most brilliant and farseeing young
man who had been once 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 ana
killed his overseer and cattle, had he not
clamored for revenge until he had started
revolution which came deuced near upsettiDg
His Maiesty's Government, and played the
devil generally. 1t would be the chief city
in Virginia, the largest in the Southern
colonies if nooon the continent, II the peo-
ple would but recognize its advantages and
build it up. Whats spot it wasl
An elevated plateau right at the falls OF
the river. above malaria and ague' with
the fresh air Of the mountains, keeping IL
cool in summer and Incompatible climate
and purest water from appropriated
springs; view of the ioaming
waters, glancing and dashing over
immense boulders for nearly two miles,
made a landscape whose beauty was IN
riyaled as place ofresidence for beauty-loY-
ing people, this side ofthe oak clad reaches oil
tbeThames. The river front was easily ac-
cessible. and evenly distributed and at the
same time so immense that it would grind
the grain of a continent, and run the factor
les of a nation. Behind it was the rich Pied
mont running up to the Blue Ridge and YET
further back behind the azure mountains an
unexplored region which stretches TO the
French territory, Louisiana. Before 1t was
the
HEAD OF DEEP WATER NAVIGATION
with it's diurnal tides which could float any
vessel That His Msjesty's marine could send
Across the seas.
How could it be otherwise than city,
Thus must have thought Colonel VIM
Byrd lying under the stars reading the future
with prophetic vision, for on the completion
of his mission, he laid out the streets ana
SQUARES of city, on the fairs spot at the rails
of the James and the head Of deep water
which had haunted his dreams IN that then
far distant shore of the Dismal Swamp, and
as there was no place this side the sea whose
beauty was comparable, he named 1t after
that Incompatible spot upon the loved ana
winding Thames,
RICHMOND.
This was in 1877 and from that day to the
nresent Richmond has been the Gem City OF
the South.
For beauty, for salubrity, for convenience,