The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-04

| When the small refnndntS VI D~' "'"''
surrendered at Appomattox Virginia was
PROSTATE.
-Four years Of war had stripped her. her
labor was metemorphased into an 'ncuous
her institutions were overthrown; her deots
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values we're annihilated; 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 oil simple
being engrossed all her powers. Misunder-
stood and Stunned by all without, threat
eped and burdened by many within she mad
20 devote all her facilities TO the imperative
demand of the hour, the preservation oil her
being as a State and people.
Az last she stands upright again in the
v;vor 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. .o.,
As such her Capital City, her beautiful
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, says TO them
GONE AND SEE NE"
Richmond. the Capital Of Virginia. u the
Oueen 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 the Powhaian' she
stands at the gateway between the uplands
If the Piedmond and the lowlands OF the
Underwater. The breath Of the mountain
fans her brow, the tides Of the Ocean wash
her feet.
Old William Byrd of Westover' whose
historic mansion not many miles Below Is
one Of the landmarks Of the continent ana
one of the heirlooms Of American history
gentleman of Virginia. member Of the Kings
Council Representative of the Colony, Bur
cess Of his County, was entrusted to 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 10 him Thoughts
If his home. and with them one Of those IN
snirations which may be the whisper oil
pas.irg angel, and may be the emanaton OF
genius. He would found city nay be
wonld found,.wo 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 it. There Nature
herself had laid the site-a more skiiiiui en-
gineer than he had drawn the plan-a OWNER
architect had laid the foundations.
II was already city and wanted but the
buildings and the people. These must in
ev;tablv come in time. Indeed that most
rash but most brilliant and iarseeing young
man who had been once his fathers neigh
Dor. 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 he not
clsmored for revenge until he bad started a
revolution which came deuced near up et'lng
His Maiestys Government, and played the
devil generally. 1t would be the chef 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 it up. What spot il 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
rivaled as place ofresidence fora bear'y-lov-
ing people. this side of the oak clad reaches OF
the Thames. The river front was easily ac-
cessible. and evenly distributed and at the
same time so immense that II would gnnd
the grain of a continent, and run the factor
les of 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 II was
the
HEAD or DEEP WAFER NAVIGATION
with its diurnal tides which could iloat any
vessel that His Maiesty'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 and
squares of city, on the fairspot 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 II 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,
for all the charms and advantages which can
make a home delightful. or place of busi-
ness desirable Richmond stands supreme.
Since il was founded the most momentous