The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-23

PROSTATE.
-Four years Of wsr had stripped her he
labor was metemorphased into an incubus
lher institutions we're overthrown; her debt
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values were annihi'ated hel
energies We're paraly2ed her very existence
2 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. Misundcr-
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 her
being as a State and people.
At last she stands upright again IN the
vigor of renewed strength, in the joy Of Tt
stored health, in The fall power Of sovereign
State and the pride of hale aud prosperous
people.
As such her Capital City, her beautiful
Richmond on the James now sets her
house in order, prepares her feasts, sets cut
her wares and stretching out her hands unto
her sister cities, says 10 them
CONE AND sEE MI"
| Richmond the Capital of Virginia j. Tie
Queen ofthe South enthroned 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 ths Powhatan, she
stands at the gateway between the uplands
of the Piedmond and the lowlands Of the
Tidewater. The breath of the mountain
fa:ls her brow, the tides Of the Ocean Vastt,
her feet.
Old William Byrd Of West6yer whose
historic mansion no, meny miles Glow is
one Of the landmarks Of the continent, and
one of the heEgooms Of American history,
gentleman & Virginia. member of the King /
CouneI, Representative Of the Colony, Bur !
gggss Of his Coun Y, was entrusted TO run the /
much questioned line between Virginia and |
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupied, |
lying awake one night in the Juniper reccsses
Of the Dismal Swamp, came to him thoughts
OF his home. and with them one Of those in
spirations which may be the whisper Of
pas,i G angel, and may be the emanaton OF
genius. He would found city, nay he
would found two; one shoult be TN the APP
pomattox, but the other should be on yet
fairer spot On a GueeGiicr river, his own
majestic james.
He knew the spot for it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skillful en-
gineer than he had drawn the pian-a diyneT
architect had laid the foundations. Il
1t was already city and wan'ed but the
and the people. These must in t
eyitably come IN time. Indeed that most
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 and @
killed his overseer and cattle, had he not
,lamored for revenge until he had started a
revolution which came deuced ear up: citing T.,
His Majesty's Government, and played the +,
devil generally. 1t would be the chief city 8
n Virgiiia, the largest in the Southern =.
colonies if not on the continent, if the peo- i
BE would but recognize its advantages and
1uild it up. What spot it wasl .
An elevated plateau right at the falls of
he river above malaria and ague. with Il
he fresh air Of the mountains, keeping it A
DOL in summer, and incompatible climate
md purest water from unpopuiated II
prings; view Of the foaming q
waters, glancing and dashng over II
immense bou.ders for nearly two miles, Il
made landscape whose beauty was I'M n
ivaled as a place of residence fora beauty-loy 4
ne people, this side of the osk clad caches of
he Thames. The river front was easily ac- Y
essible, and evenly d stributed and at the n
anne time so immense that ii would grind a,
he grain Of a continent, ard run the factor
es Of nation. Behind it was tie rich Pied
mont running up to the Blue Ridge and yet ~
urther back behind the azure mountains an =
Inexplored region which sire les TO the
french territory, Louisiana. Before il was
he
HEAD OF DEEP WATER NAVIGATION u
With its diurnal tides which could float any II
essel that His Majesty's marine could send al
cross the seas. p
How could it be otherN Use than city?
Thus must have thought Colonel Vim. u
Byrd lying under the stars reading the future to
Nth prophetic vision for on the completion
f his mission, he laid out the streets and :.
quares of city, on the fairspot at the Falls =,
f the James, and the head of deep water
which had haunted his dreams IN that then "
Ar distant hore of the Dismal Swamp, and "
s there was no place this side the sea whose az
eauty was comparable he named ii after II
hat inc mparable spot upon the loved and
finding Thames, ~
fICHMOyD. =,
This was in 1871 and from that day 10 the u
resent, Richmond has been the Gem City of b,
be South. VI
For beauty, for salubrity, for convenience, "
)r all the charms and advantages which can r
make home delightful, or place of bust "a
ess desirable Richmond stands supreme. u'
Since il was founded the most momentous >,
vents Of the nation have clustered around ii;