| | 1 | Author: | Southall, James P. C. (James Powell Cocke), b. 1871. | Add | | | Title: | In the days of my youth when I was a student in the University
of Virginia, 1888-1893.  | | | | Published: | 2000 | | | | Subjects: | University of Virginia Library, Text collection | UVA-LIB-Text | | | | Description: | ALMOST MY EARLIEST RECOLLECTION OF RICHMOND, WHERE I grew up, is the scene of a vast concourse of people assembled
in Capitol Square between the Washington Monument and the
Governor's Mansion, to witness the unveiling of the statue of
Stonewall Jackson, and to listen to Dr. Hoge's eloquent oration
which was a chief part of the ceremony on that impressive
occasion. That was in 1875 when I was four years old; yet
somehow I was certainly there that day in the midst of the
throng, and while I remember the spectacle almost as vividly as
if I had seen it yesterday, I cannot recall whether I was with my
mother and father or simply with my dear old mammy, Malvina.
In those days of my early boyhood, Richmond on the James,
outwardly, not yet inwardly recovered from the ugly scars of the
Civil War, was an historic and picturesque old residential town
that stretched or sprawled several miles from Church Hill — the
site of St. John's Church where Patrick Henry a century ago had
shouted "Give me liberty, or give me death! "— westward as far as
Hollywood Cemetery, where
... sleep the brave who sink to rest
By all their country's wishes blest.
The port of Rocketts at the foot of Church Hill and just below the Falls of
James River was the head of
tidewater, as far up the big river as a steamer could come; so if you had a mind
to go to Norfolk by the sea
about a hundred miles away, you might get on board a side-wheeler, somewhat
ironically called the Ariel,
which used to leave the wharf at Rocketts early in the morning and was lucky if
it got to Norfolk by bedtime
that evening. How ever, if you were in a hurry, you had another alternative and
could go by train, changing
cars in Petersburg; although, even then it was doubtful whether you would reach
Norfolk ahead of the Ariel,
for in the days of my youth trains in Virginia were almost invariably long
behind time. Time was not so
precious then as it is now, and the truth is it usually did not matter much when
you reached your destination. | | | Similar Items: | Find |
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