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FRONT AND REAR VIEWS OF THE VIRGINIAARMORY, RICHMOND .
The armory, which was completed in1805, was garrisoned during the war hy acompany known as the State Guard. Thebuilding was destroyed in the tire that fol-lowed the evacuation in April, 1865.
tlie president-elect came up-on the stand, there was analmost painful hush in thecrowd. All seemed to feelthe gravity of the trust ourchosen leader was assuming.When he kissed the book ashout went up; but there was no elation visible as the people slowly dis-persed. And it was thought ominous afterward, when the story was repeated,that, as Mrs. Davis, who had a Virginia negro for coachman, was driven tothe inauguration, she observed the carriage went at a snail’s pace and wasescorted by four negro men in black clothes, wearing white cotton gloves andwalking solemnly, two on either side of the equipage; she asked the coach-man what such a spectacle could mean, and was answered, “Well, ma’am,you tole me to arrange everything as it should be; and this is the way wedo in Richmon’ at funerals and sich-like.” Mrs. Davis promptly ordered theoutwalkers away, and with them departed all the pomp and circumstance theoccasion admitted of. In the mind of a negro, everything of dignified cere-monial is always associated with a funeral.
About March 1st martial law was proclaimed in Richmond , and a freshinflux of refugees from Norfolk claimed shelter there. When the springopened, as the spring does open in Richmond , with a sudden glory of greenleaves, magnolia blooms, and flowers among the grass, our spirits rose afterthe depression of the latter months. If only to shake off the atmosphere ofdoubts and fears engendered by the long winter of disaster and uncertainty,the coming activity of arms was welcome! Personally speaking, there wasvast improvement in our situation, since we had been fortunate enough to find
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