The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1888-10-02

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 overthrown; her debts
and burdens were increased; her property
and taxable values were annihilated; her
energies were paralyzed; her very existence
was suspended.
This was twenty-three years ago. During
A large part of TINS period the problem OF
existence, the paramount question Of simple
being engrossed all her powers. Misunder-
stood and Stunned by all without, threat
ened and burdened by many within, shell had
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 OF re-
stored health, in thefull power Of sovereign
State and the pride Of hale and prosperous
people.
As such her Capital City, her beautiful
Richmond on the james now sets her
house IN order, prepares her feasts' sets ou'
her wares and stretching out her hands unto
her sister cities, says 10 them
GONE AND SEE ME-"
Richmond, the Capital of Virginia IS the
Oneen 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 ofJsmes River once the Powhatan' she
stands at the gateway between the upiands
Of the Piedmond 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 Westover, whose
historic mansion not many miles below is
one If the landmarks Of the continent, and
one of the heirlOoms Of American history /
gentleman of Virginia, member Of the King S |
Council Representative Of the Colony, Bur |
CESS Of his County, was entrusted to run the
much questioned line between Virginia ana
her sister North Carolina. Thus occupied /
living awake one night in the juniper recesses
Of the Dismal Swamp, came TO him Thoughts
of his home and with them one of those in |
spirations which may be the whisper oil
passirg angel. and may be the emanauon OF
genius. He would found city, nay be
would found'two; one should be on the APP /
ponattox. but the other should be on a 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 skilliul en-
gineerthan he had drawn the plaza OWNER
architect had laid the foundations.
1t was already city and wanted but the
buildings and the people. These must IN
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
clamored for revenge until he had started
revolution which came deuced near up citing
His Majesty'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-
pie would but recognize It's advantages ana
build it up. What spot it wasl
An elevated plateau right at the falls of
the river. above malaria and ague, with
the fresh air Of the mountains, keeping IL
cool in summer, and Incompatible climate
and punest water from unpopuia'ed
springs; view of the foaming
waters, glancing and dashlng over
immense boulders for nearly two miles
made a Landscape whose beauty was I'M
rivaled as place ofresidence fora beauty-iov-
ing people. this side of the oak clad reaches OF
the Thames. The river front was easily &C
cessible, and evenly distributed and at the
same time so immense that it would grind
the grain of continent and run the factor
les of nation. Behind il was the rich Pied
mont running up to the Blue Ridge and yet
further back behind the azure mountains an
unexpored region which stretches to the
French territory, Louisiana. Before 1t 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 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 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 1t 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 salubrity, for convenience,
for all the charms and advantages which can
make homie delightful, or place Of bust
ness desirable Richmond stands supreme.
Since il was founded the most momentous
events of the nation have clustered around II;