The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-08-25
bo,tles CT modern warfare was fought on her

Il
soil.
When the small remnants Of Lees army
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia was
PROSTATE.
-Four years OF war had stripped her. her
labor was metemorphased into an incubus !;
her institutions were oyertbrown; 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. Dnilhg
a large part of this period the problem OF
existence. the paramount question OF simple
being engrossed AL her powers. Misunder-
stood and Stunned By all without, threat
ened and burdencd By many within 81 had
10 devote all her facilities to the imperative
demand of the hour, the preservation 81 her
being as a State and PEOPLE.
At last she stands upright again u 'he
vigor of renewed strength, in the JOY OF re-
stored health, in the full power Of sovereign
state and the pride Of hale and prosperous
people.
As such her Capital City, her beau'i'nl
Richmond on the James now sets her
house IN order, prepares her feasts' sets out
her wares and stretching on, her hands un'o
her sister cities, saysto them
GONE and SEE NE.
Richmond, the Capital of Virginia j. the
Oneen ofthe South enthroned upon her tree
clad hills. and crowned with the diadem oil
beauty and health.
Situated on the elevated plateau al inc
1ous lanes River once tn Powhatan, she
stands at the gateway between the up'ahu'
of the Piedmond and the lowlands o. Vhe
1sdowa,er The breath of the mountain
e,,s her brow. the tides Of the Ocean wash
her lect.
O,d william Byrd Of Wcstoyer, whose
historic mansion not many miles i"o" y
one If the landmarks OF the continent anu
ono If the be'rlooms Of American history
gentleman ofVirsinia, member OF the Ming
Council, Representative Of the colony bui-
oess Of his COun Y, was entrusted TO run 'le
r,,cb Questioned line between Virginia ana
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupie''
living awake one night in tn, juniper recesSls
the Dismal Swamp, came nm thoobhS
of his home. and with them one OF tho'e III
qnira.ions which may be the whisper OF
pasi q angel, and may be the emanau'h oil
genius He would found a city, nay ne
would found two; one shout be on the Ap'
pomattox. but the other should be on yet
fairer spot on queeniier river, hiS own
majestic James.
He knew the spot for it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skliilui en-
glneer than he had drawn the pian-s ui''nof
architect had laid the foundations.
Il was already city and wanted but the
buildings and the people. These must III
evitablv come in time. Indeed that most
rash bu. most brilliant and iarseeing 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 oyerseer and cattle. had he not
for revenge until he had started
revolution which came deuced near upsetthg
His Maiesty's Government, and played me
devil generally. II would be the chief city
IN Virginia, the largest in the Southern
colonies if not on the continent, if the peo- |
pie would bat recognize its advantages ana
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 foaming
waters, CHANGING and dashing over
immense bou.ders for nearly two miles,
made landscape whose beauty was I'M
riyaled as place of residence for beauty-lov-
ing people. this side of the oak clad reaches OF
the Thames. The river front was easily &C
cessible, and evenly stributed 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 sire ches 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 Majestys 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 and
squares of 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
tina. Incompatible spot upon the loved and
winding Thames,
HICHMCND.
This was in 1857 and from that day to the
present. Richmond has been the Gem City of
the South.
FIR beautv for salubrity for CONVEX fence