The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-11-13

soil
When the small remnants OF Lees army
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia was
PROSTATE.
Four wears Of wsr had stripped her; her
labor was metemorpbased into an incubus :
her institutions we're overthrown her deo's
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values were annihia'ed her
energies were paIalyzed her very existence
was suspended.
THIS was twenty-three years ago. during
a large part Of this period the problem oil
existence the paramount question OF simple
being engro.sed all her powers. Msunder-
stood and Stunned by all without, threat
eped and burdened by many within, she han
10 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
yigor of renewed strength, in the JOY oil re-
STORED health, in the full power Of a sovereign
State and the pride Of hale and prosperous
people. .;o,,
AS such her Capital City, her beauuiui
Richmond on the James now sets her
house IN order, prepares her feasts sets out
her wares and stretching out her hands unto
her sister cities, gays to them
"coMR AND SEE ME-
Richmond. the Capital Of Virginia IS the
Queen ofthe South enthroned upon her Tree
clad hills and crowned with the diadem oil
beauty and health.
Situated on the elevated plateau at the
Falls ofJamcs River once the Powhatan' she
stands at the gateway between the uplahds
of tho Piednond and the lowlands Of the
Tidewater. The breath of the mountain
fans her brow, the tides Of the ocean wash
her feet.
Old William Byrd Of Wes'oyer, whose
historic mansion not many miles teloW j.
ono If the landmarks Of the continent ana
one of the heirloom9 of American history
gentleman Of Virginia. member OF the hing
Council. Representative Of the Colony bur
eess Of his County, was entrusted 10 run the
much questioned line between Virginia and
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupied
living awake one night in the juniper recesses
of the Dismal Swamp came to him thoughS
&C his home. and with them one OF those IN
snirations which may be the whisper oil
noes;ro ANGEL. and NAV be the emanation OF
oenjus. lie would found city, nay ne
would found two one should be on the APP
nomattox but the other should be on yet
fairer spot on a queenlier river, his own
majestic James.
He knew the spot for II. There Nature
! herself had laid the site-a more skiiiiul en-
oneer than he had drawn the plan-a OWNER
architect had laid the foundations.
II was already a city and wanted. but the
buildings and the people. These must IN
ovitabIv come in time. Indeed that most
rash but most brilliant and farseeing young
man who had been once his fathers neigh
bor had chosen the spot with bis rare Wis
dom and had there plantation or quarter
and when the Indians had come down ana
killed his overseer and cattle, had ne not
clamored for revenge until he had started
revolution which came deuced near up;etting
His Maiestv'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 II the peo-
ple would but recognize its advantages and
build il up. What 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 u
cool in summer, and Incompatible climate
and purest water from unPopulated
spriugs: view Of the roaming
waters. glancing and dashing over
immense bonlders for nearly two miles,
made a Landscape whose beauty was I'M
riyaled as a place ofresidenoe fora beauiy-ioy-
ing people, this side Of the oak clad reaches OF
fbe Thames. The river front was easily ac-
cessible, and evenly slrlbuted ana al the
came time so immense that il would grind
the Grain of a continent, and run the factor
les of nation. Behind twas tic rich fled-
mont running up 70 the Blue Ridge and yet
further back behind the azure mountains an
unexplored region which stretches to the
Frencl. territory, Louisiana. Before it was
the .....o,.
HEAD OF DEP WATER NAVIGATION
with its diurnal tides which could float any
vessel that His Majcsty's marine could send
across the seas.
How could it be otherwise than city
Thus must have thought Colonel VIM
Byrd living under the stars reading the future
with prophetic vision, Cor on the completion
of his mission. he laid out the streets ana
squares of citi on the fairspot at the faiis
of the James, and fhe 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 tins side the sea whose
beauty was comparable, he named it after
that incompatible spot upon the loved and
winding Thames,
RICHMOND.
This was IN 1871 and from that day to the
present. Richmond has been the Gem City Of
the South.
For beauty, for salulrity, for convenience,
for all the charms and advantages which can
make a home delightful, OF place Of BUSH