Belington progressive. [volume] (Belington, W. Va.) 1912-1927, 1917-01-11

The following letter has been
received from H. B. England of
Valley giving a detailed descrip-
ton of a trip he had last fall to
Old Virginia:
During my visit to the city
Of Richmond, want to say
that | saw many marks of the
late war and by-gone days. At
ter reaching the city l took a
car for the State Fair; it was
grand; the cattle were fine !;
horses were fine; hogs and
sheep very fine. The Machine
ry exhibit was wonderful to be
hold. The foral hall was much
to look upon. The people that
gathered 'at this exhibit num-
bered from $4,000 to 10000 on
the day called Richmond Day"
And on this day we visited the
grounds, and ON our return and
after luncheon we went to the
Lyric theatre, where every
thing was up-to-date; the plays
and acting were "out of sight"
"The next day we took car
for Seven Pines, seven miles
out Of the city, which is of much
note, it being a national ceme-
terry; here are seen the battle
/ grounds, entertainments and
the graves of hundreds, of those
who lost their lives-instead of
it being graves it appears to be
one big grave. On our return
we visited the Capitol Square ;
it contains twelve acres and is
located n the centre Of the city,
where Lee, Jackson and many
of the Confederate soldiers were
mustered into service during
the Civil War. In the Capitol
Square are the Capitol building,
! Governors Mansion, State Lii
brary; Statues Of Henry Clay,
Gov. VIM. Smith, Gen. Stone
wall jackson and DR.. Hunter
MCGUIRE; also weather bureau
Kiosk, and ON old Bell house
which was used as headquarters
for the Military Guard. The
bell in the Tower was tolled for
James Monroe, Chief Justice
Marshall, and others; it was
used to strike the hours day
and night. Furthermore the
Capitol grounds is adorned by
Crawford's Equestrin statue of
George Washington; the cornor
stone of this monument was
laid February 1850, among
those who attended the ceremo-
ny were Zachary Taylor, Presi-
dent of the United States, John
Tyler, Ex-President, and Mil
ard Fillmore, Vice-President.
This monument was dedicated
in 1858: it is sixty feet in
height and cost 100000; it is
surrounded by six bronze sta
tues, namely: one east of Thos.
Jefferson, Patrick Henry, John
Marshall, Geo. Mason, General
Andrew Lewis and Thomas Mel
son. These men were all heroes
as their attitudes imply.
1--WE also visited the State
Library; it contains aobut
100000 volumes. Many of the
books are Of great value and
are not found in any other col
lection. Charts, maps of every
description and old newspapers
are to be found there ;one news
paper bears the date July 26,
1776 and contains the complete
Declaration of Independence.
In the basement is museum
of natural history, as well as
relics including the flag of the
Confederacy, which was flown
from the Capitol in the days of
the war, Patrick Henry's cane,
a Revolutionary Flag, the Pike
of John Brown, the Model Of
the first Reaper by Cyrus Nc
Cormick and the Model Of the
shop in which it was made.
"To see Richmond first, go to
the Capitol, located in the heart
of the city. This building was
designed by Thomas jefferson.
He was minister to France at
the time and became much i'm
pressed with the Greek style of
architecture; he drafted plan
after which the Capitol was
built, the model of which can
be seen in the State Museum.
The work on this building was
begun 1875 and completed
1892.
eve then started to st. John
i