Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1921-03-15
LETTER FROM RICHMOND.

The Reviewer is out: new Maya
zine. to be published in Richmond
And on its front page Miss Mary
Johnston writes description that IS
half a rhapsody on the ancient City:
am sorry, for she steals my fire, and
makes it lightning. | had wanted to
write of Richmond myself. To carry
to my beloved Valley message from
the heart of the dear south, to say:
The South still lives, the rare old
mellow vintage quaffed in the day OF
yore, there's little of it left, here on
the James.
NY opinion of the manhood of the
South was that, alas, we had grown
mercantile. Some one had said, "A
dress suit, julep, vox ct praeterla
nihil."
Letters and arts follow commercial
prosperity, as Commerce follows the
Flag. But in the last analysis, it is
the ideal that must lead. So though
devoted to State and National adj
vancement, the City of the Seven
Hills like ancient Rome, is the ex-
preston regnant of an enthroned
Idea.
Proud of her birth, proud of her
history, proud of the achievements of
her sons, she is more than all, proud
of her pride. The grace and grac-
iousness of the true Richmonder
never carries him beyond the mark.
He will be kind but not intimate,
courteous, but never ELUSIVE. He
will never lose his head. But some
of as being the children of flame, lose
l
in the dear and beautiful Confed-
eracy. In her battered battle, flags,
her torn and dingy uniforms, the last
remnant Of her once great armies,
the dominant women of past gene
ration, wearing their universal black
with delicate sweetness, and a grac-
ious, outworn dignity.
It does seem to me, when | go
from monument to monument from
Jefferson to Stonewall Jackson
Stuart, Mosby, Spottiswood, Wash
ington, Marshall, Randolph, Fairfax,
and so many "bred and born" in our
Valley deriving from it portion, or
all of their glory, that Richmond is
the true capital of the little State of
jefferson. Nevertheless, / have de-
clined to send them our curious and
historic relics, meaning to have a
Museum of our own. How about St.
Georges Chapel, restored and made
| freproof?
| Read in the February 2 Century
"Quaint Old Richmond" the wonder
full old houses, the red brick, soften
ed by age, the history in stained
glass, at st. Paul's. My mother
Ispent her youth in Richmond; my
father was a member of st. Paul's.
From Richmond, he drew perhaps,
the inspiration to write an epic-lyric,
of the conquered, but most lovely
Land we love. His friend, John R.
Thompson kept alive the Southern
Lit. Messenger and here dwelt the
Igreatest American singer, Edgar Poe
Though | did live to hear. Richmond
man call Poe, albeit genius, shift
less ne'er do well.
| Battle Abbey" just opening
loves its inception to the generous
lgift of Broadway Rouss, our fellow
citizen. There on the walls, painted
by foreign artist, are Lee and Jack
lson, Stuart and F'itz Lee. From
tsombre to brilliant, even dazzling
Icolouring, the gamut is run of War
| 1t is calling of the dead to life, and
iall its strange, appalling beauty
Yet the beauty surpasses the tragedy
Perhaps had the painter been our
own, and the time, ere Time had
taken in trust" and softened the old
sorrows, the convincing terror of
War would outweigh its glory, as it
most intensely does, and always
must.
| Wit and chivalry relight them
selves, as the genial Captain Lamb
directs US from room to room: saving
"As Lamb says" to preface his kind
ly courtesies. And out of this
Shrine, into the windy, cloud-piled
March and April light of a mellow
Southern day, we pass and realize
the beatitude of climate hard to be
described.
Every grace of peace and prosper,
lty lives here, every promise of the
future, every tender, touching mem
DRY. For this, with its vivid con-
trasts its shabbiness, its Injuries, this
is the living Idea, the Richmond of
the Mind.
r