RICHMOND SCENES IN ’62.
T HE first winter of the war was spent by our family in Richmond, wherewe found lodgings in a dismal rookery familiarly clubbed by its newoccupants “ The Castle of Otranto.” It was the old-time Clifton Hotel, honey-combed by subterranean passages, and crowded to its limits with refugees likeourselves from country homes within or near the enemy’s lines—or “ ’fugees,”as we were all called. For want of any common sitting-room, we took pos-session of what had been a doctor’s office, a few steps distant down the hillystreet, fitting it up to the best of our ability; and there we received ourfriends, passing many merry hours. In rainy weather we reached it by anunderground passage-way from the hotel, an alley through the catacombs;and many a dignitary of camp or state will recall those “ Clifton ” evenings.Already the pinch of war was felt in the commissariat; and we had recourseoccasionally to a contribution supper, or “Dutch treat,” when the guestsbrought brandied peaches, boxes of sardines, French prunes, and bags of bis-cuit, while the hosts contributed only a roast turkey or a ham, with knivesand forks. Democratic feasts those were, where major-generals and “ highprivates ” met on an equal footing. The hospitable old town was crowded
with the families of officers andmembers of the G-overnment. Onehouse was made to do the workof several, many of the wealthycitizens generously giving up theirsuperfluous space to receive thenew-comers. The only publicevent of note was the inaugura-tion of Mr. Davis as Presidentof the “ Permanent Government ”of the Confederate States, whichwe viewed by the courtesy of Mr.John R. Thompson, the State Li-brarian, from one of the windowsof the Capitol, where, while wait-ing for the exercises to begin, weread “Harper’s Weekly” and otherNorthern papers, the latest perunderground express. That 22dof February was a day of pouringrain, and the concourse of um-brellas in the square beneath ushad the effect of an immensethe old clifton hotel. mushroom-bed. As the bishop and
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