The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-09-20

soil.
When the small remnants Of Lees army
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia wa
PROSTATE.
-Four years OF war had stripped her; he'
labor was metemophased into an incubus
her institutions we're overthrowni her deols
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values were annihiiated; her
energies were paralyzed; her very existence
was suspended.
This was twenty-three years ago. DURING
q large part Of this period the problem OF
existence, the paramount question OF simple
being engrossed all her powers. Mlsunder-
stood and Stunned by all without, threat
ened and burdened by many within, sh- mao
W devote all her facilities to the imperative
demand of the hour, the preservation oil her
being as a State and people
At last she stands upright again IN 'he
vigor of renewed strength, in the JOY Oh re-
stored health, in the full power of sovereign
state and the pride Of hale and prosperous
people. .u.;c,i
Az such her Capital City, her beautful
Richmond on the James now sets hel
house IN order, prepares her feasts, sets out
her wares and stretching out her hands unto
her sister cities, gays to them
"coME AND SEE NE
Richmond, the Capital Of Virginia j Tue
oneen ofthe South enthroned upon her Tree
clad hills. and crowned with the dadem Oh
beauty and health.
situated on the elevated plateau at the
Falls ofJames River once the Powhaian' sne
stands at the gateway between the upianus
Of the Piedmond and the lowlands oil 'le
Tidewater. The breath of the mountain
f,,s her brow, the tides Of the Ocean WASH
her feet. -
Old William Byrd Of Westover' whose
historic mansion not many miles telo" is
ono If the landmarks Of the continent ana
ono If the he,rlooms Of American history
oer,leman of Virginia. member Of the King
Council. Representative Of the Colony b,I-
oess 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 thougn's
of his home and with them one Of those IN
snirations which may be the whisper oil q
raising angel. and may be the emanation oi
genius. He would found a city, nay lie
wonld found,two; one should be on the Ap-
nomattox. but the other should be on yet
fairer spot on queenher river, his own
majestic james.
He knew the spot for it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skiiiiui en-
cineer than he had drawn the plan-a dViher
architect had laid the foundations.
It was already a city and wanted but the
buildings and the people. These must in
evitably come in time. Indeed that most
rash but most brilliant and farseeng young
man who had been once his fathers nelgh-
bor 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 oyerseer and cattle, had he not
clamored for revenge until he had started d
revolution which came deuced near upsetung
His Maiesty's Government and played the
devil generally. 1t would be the CHIEF CITY
in Virginia. the largest in the Southern
colonies if not on the continent, If the peo-
ple would but recognize its advantages and
build it up. Whata spot it was
An elevated plateau right at the falls OF
the river. above malaria and ague' with
the fresh air of the mountains, keeping II
cool in summer, and Incompatible climate
and purest water from unpopulated
springs; view Of the ioaming
waters, glancing and dashing over
immense boulders for nearly two miles
made landscape whose beauty was I'M
riyaled as a place ofresidence for a beauty-loV-
ing people, this side Of the oak clad reaches oil
the Thames. The river front was easily ac-
cessible, and evenly strbuted 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 itw the rich Pied
mont running up b the Blue Ridge and yet
further back behind the azure mountains an
unexplored region which stretches to the
French territory, Louisiana. Before it was
the
HEAD OF DEEP WATER NAVIGATION
with its diurnal tides which could float any
vessel that His Majesty's marine could send
across the seas.
How could il be otherwise than a city,
Thus must have thought Colonel VIM.
Byrd living under the stars reading the future
with prophetic vision, for on the completion
of his mission, he laid out the streets and
squares of a city, on the fair spot at the Falls
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 it after
that incompatible spot upon the loved and
winding Thames,
RICHMOND.
This was in 1877 and from that day to the
present, Richmond has been the Gem City OF
the South.
For beauty. for salubrity, for convenience,