Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1890-08-05
Jeff Davis Library and Museum.


About a wear ago the suggestion was
made that Central Public School building,
popularly known as 1.-The White House OF
the Confederacy," should be torn down
and rebuilt the better to accommodate the
five or six hundred pupils who receive III
etruction there.
The proposition was Indignantly vetoed
by the Richmond and Virginia public.
The emphatic voice of the people was
that the building should stand; more than
that. that it should not be added to or
diminished by the hands of those who
might wish TO improve" it.
Out Of this discussion came the conclu-
zion that the City Council should provide
the children with a new and more
suitably arranged building. and turn
thiso over TO the Ladies' Hollywood Me-
mortal Association. or a corporation to be
formed by them. for use as public libra
nv and museum of Confederate relics.
Never was public sentiment more unanl-
nous and the judgment then formed, when
MIR. DAvIs's death was of but recent occur
renee, has been ratified and confirmed IN
the lapse of time.
Beneath that roof President JEFFERSON
DAVIS spent four eventful years. There
LIE and JACKSON met to consult him. From
the windows of his chamber across the
fields Of Henrico and Hanover the Presi-
dent saw the flashing of the guns In the
battles around Richmond. In the inter-
walls Of the fights, when he was not in the
saddle by the side of his faithful generals,
when brief respites of warfare permitted
his beloved men TO leave the trenches and
come to Richmond, the presidential levees
were crowded with chivalric sons and beau
tiful daughters Of the South
If the walls of that famous house could
mirror out of the heroic past the faces and
forms, and echo the voices of the hosts of
dear ones who trod its floors, we would
again be in the presence of some OF the
brightest lights of the Confederacy; some
of the best of those who made our short
lived republic the admiration Of the world.
In all this land, excepting Mt. Vernon
only. there is no house richer in historical
associations. Here they cluster in every
room aud branch from every brick and
timber, and it is our bounden duty not only
to preserve the building but to open it to
public view.
The obligation is so clear and pressing
that it need not be argued; indeed 1T was
long ago considered and decided.
The City Council is asked to allow the
house to be used as library and museum.
The legal difficulties have been removed,
or can be. and the two branches of our
municipal legislature ought TO take plea
sure in turning the property over to the
ladies.
This they will do but we wish to see it
done heartily and quickly.
Money, of course, will have to be raised
for new school building, but it is needed
anyhow. The Council can make grace
now Of what will be an imperious necessity
D little while hence.
When the children in June next with
their joyous shouts proclaim the ending of
the scholastic year the ladies should be
allowed TO enter into possession Of the
JyFf. DAVIS Mansion and dedicate 1t to
the instruction of the youth of our land
in the true history of the struggle of the
Southern States for independence.
Meanwhile they can busy themselves col
lecting books and relics and accommodating
funds with which to make the proposed
Institution worthy Of the illustrious name
it will bear and creditable to the city that
was the capital of the Confederate States.