Copyright Secured.


Printed by
Whittet & Shepperson,
Richmond, Va.

My first thought was to print these reminiscencesin a newspaper. But our papers are unable to payfor contributions. It was not so in the former days.Well do I remember when the Dispatch cheerfullygave me its dollars, not merely for stories andsketches, but for trifles like the “Weekly Rekorduv amewsments,” which I then kept, and whichseemed to please our good people of Richmond, whowere then doing so well in business that they wereeasily pleased. And truly in those times they werea liberal, open-hearted set. So would they be nowwere they able.

Will we ever see good times and plenty of moneyagain? I think so. And yet often I get very blue,apprehending still greater business troubles, culminating[4]in I know not what of civil disaster. It istouching to me, going around, as I have had to do agreat deal of late, among our business men, to seetheir sad faces, and yet their evident anxiety in themidst of worries and cares, to help one who is evenworse off than themselves. We have good stockhere—men who would honor any city in the land,and who make up a community in which it is apleasure to live. Here and there you find one, two,or three close-fisted fellows, who dodge you for fearyou will ask them for something. That is to theircredit, for it shows that they have feeling and a senseof shame. And again you meet positive brutes, whoare not merely stingy and mean, but ill-manneredand under-bred to boot. But these serve as foils toset off their better brethren to more advantage; andI, for one, am not the man to abuse stingy people.They have one magnificent trait to counterpoisetheir littleness—they pay their debts, and pay thempromptly. So, take it all in all, Richmond is about[5]as good a place to live in as a man will find on thisglobe, as I have learned by playing book-canvasser,—anexcellent school for the study of men.

But shall we see better times? Why, yes, surely.They have begun already in Troy, N. Y., the paperssay. And I verily believe the railway, which is totake the place of the canal, will do more than allthings else to bring back work for all and moneyfor all of us in our fair city of Richmond. Let usat least hope so. And with that hope in view, Itrust that these reminiscences of an obsolescent modeof travel—which may have been delightful, but certainlywas not rapid—will give a few moments ofpleasure to the friends of the publishers and of thewriter.

G. W. B.

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