From Norfolk.
a trip to Richmond — attentions bestowed upon soldiers to Manassas and Gordonsville — a Grand Ball at Craney Island — death of on old Citizen — the Hampton soldiers, &c.[special correspondence of the Dispatch.]
[The subjoined letter should have reached us earlier; but, from some disarrangement, we were deprived of our Norfolk correspondence for several days last week.] Norfolk, November 7, 1861.
Your correspondent, on a recent flying trip through the Confederate capital and up to the magnificent hill country of our State, was pleased with much that be saw, and some descriptive statements could be given that might prove interesting to the numerous readers of the Dispatch; but, to particularize with regard to some matters that came under observation.
might be considered injudicious and imprudent.
Almost everybody knows now about the stir, bustle and active business operations going on in Richmond; of its numerous, well-managed, capacious and crowded hotels; of its beautiful houses of worship; its splendid display of fashion, and its thousands of fair and lovely daughters; its picturesque scenery — its ‘"river of beauty,"’ dashing, tumbling, and playing at its pastimes among the rocks, telling with herculean strength among stupendous machinery — mills, iron works, factories, that might be envied by the proprietors and capitalists of Sheffield or any other great manufacturing emporium.
Richmond is indeed much to be admired for the enlarged views of many of its wealthy men and the noble spirit of enterprise that is perceptible to the most casual observer.
Any one who desires to hear a great fuss generally, and to be well waked up, should take ride in the train that passes through Gordonsville, and on towards Manassas, &c. Arriving at the said village of Gordonsville, at about 12 o'clock M., the sonorous bells and stentorian whistles of half-a-dozen locomotives, the rumbling of the different trains, and the jargon of a thousand voices, are sufficient to rouse up the dullest and sleepiest man to be found in all fogyism.
But the hubbub is soon over; the long and heavily loaded trains lumber and whiz away toward the mountains, and to the frontier, and Gordonsville is as quiet as the most nervous invalid could desire.
All along the line of railroad there are instances of whole souled generosity, a princely liberality and hospitality, and a most praiseworthy concern for the sick and the needy soldiers fighting for liberty.
To particularize would be improper and seem invidious.--Houses are thrown open to the soldiers; airy apartments and downy beds are freely offered for their comfort; soft hands eagerly administer to their wants; delicacies are plentifully provided; the wounded and the suffering are carefully attended by day and night, until health and vigor return, when the gallant and grateful soldier is sent on his way, with blessings on his head, and prayers for his success and safety.
I might alidade to the generous efforts, labors, and attentions of Magruder, Haxall, Newman, Dr. J. L. Jones, and others in old Orange, where the sacred remains of Madisot unpose peacefully at Monticello, that lonely and charming retreat; but time and space eye. disufficient, and those high-toned and great hearted men desire no fulsome words of practice.
The storm that commenced yesterday morning increased to a heavy gale, and during the greater part of last night the wind blew with greater violence from Northeast and changing to Northwest before morning It is hoped that we shall hear of more disasters to the Federal ships on the coast of the Carolinas.
The weather to-day is clear and reasonable.
Notwithstanding the gale a number of ladies and gentlemen went down in steamers last evening to Craney Island to attend the ball to which I alluded in my last letter.
Maj. Gen. Huger and other prominent officers were present on the occasion, and the gay affair passed off in fine style.
On account of the blow the steamers did not return until 9 o'clock this morning.
On the island and at other places along the river, the tents fared badly, considerable effort being requisite to prevent them from being blown away.
Capt. John Overstreet, one of the oldest and most respected farmers of Princess Anne county, died on Saturday at a very advanced age. He was born when the country was disturbed by the roar of the American Revolution, and having lived during the period that marked the splendid career and rapid progress of the States, his earthly pilgrimage was closed amid the struggles of another great revolution, when the sky is again darkened by the smoke of battle, and the deep booming of great guns is heard along the beautiful shores of Lynnhaven, where he lived, and far down towards the
"Great Ocean!
strongest of creation's sons--
Unconquerable, unreported, untired,
That roils his wild, profound, eternal bees,
in nature's anthem,"
Much concern and sympathy is felt here for the Hampton people, who have lost so severely and suffered so greatly during the present war. The soldiers are poorly clad; the aged men and women are sorely pressed by privation and want; the children are without shoes and thinly clad; fair ladies of refinement and superior accomplishments are subjected to inconvenience, and even poverty and deep distress — their pleasant dwellings having fed the greedy flames — their homes a desolate waste — the flowers they loved and cultured plucked by impious vandal hands, or withered and destroyed — the bright hopes of life blasted, and the gay dreams of future disappointed, by the realization of dark days of sadness and sorrow.
They who are able will not be heedless of the cry of distress that comes up from the people of the once hospitable town of Hampton.
Food, and clothing, and money, too, they must have.
The great Southern heart already throbs with deep emotion for them.
The wall of mothers and daughters for gallant sons and brothers lost in battle, deepened by loss and deprivation, will be heard, and a generous response there will be,. No time should be lost.
The wintry winds are already high and piercing, and the needed relief must not be much longer delayed.
The information received of the landing of the Lincoln troops at Port Royal causes but little surprise in this city; and the general impression is that they will be badly handled by the indignant and warlike inhabitants of the South, whose soil they desecrate; that they will soon be compelled to surrender or be routed and scattered by the enraged freemen whom they are vainly and arrogantly attempting to subdue.
If the weak and ungraceful deceiver who has the name of President, and the money-making clique around him, and that pretend to admire him, knew the real sentiment of the South, they would probably pursue a very different course in regard to this war, and save a vast amount of treasure and many valuable lives.
