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Valley Virginian: December 25, 1867 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Our Christmas Greeting
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper extends a Christmas greeting to its readers.

Full Text of Article:

We extend to our numerous subscribers and friends the compliments of the season and cordially wish them a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.

Though our sky is still darkened by angry clouds the light that beams from the Northern and Western horizons shows that these clouds are drifting off, and gives abundant promise that this long day of travail and sorrow shall give place to a morrow of rest and joy. The Christmas and New Year of 1867 furnish to us more cheerful reflections than did those of 1866, and with well filled store houses and cheering prospects we are sure that the people of the Great Valley of Virginia can heartily enjoy the festivities of this cheering season. Let none be forgotten in the circle of joy, let him that hath abundance give to him that lacketh. So that all may be in the proper frame to be joyous and thankful at the return of this ever welcome time of holiday.

Destitution in the South
(Column 01)

Summary: This selection from the Norfolk Journal describes widespread poverty throughout the South. The Freedmen are especially impoverished, which can lead to crime, the article asserts.

Full Text of Article:

The Norfolk Journal, in speaking of the destitution in the south, says truly:

The rigors of winter are upon us and the pinchings of want, heretofore so generally unfelt throughout our land, are more or less experienced by almost every class.

There are very few families whose worldly condition has not undergone a sad and unaccustomed change. From comparative affluence and ease many have been reduced to the necessity of struggling against the physical forces opposed to them, and are learning that dire lesson of accommodating themselves to circumstances and the altered condition of things. The transition from comparative plenty to a state bordering closely on the confines of want is a severe ordeal. Distress may be said, in its various degrees, to be universal.

A large portion of the negro population will be sufferers. Many of them in their miserable hovels no doubt miss the big log fires to which they were accustomed in their snug and comfortable plantation cabins, and do not receive that kind and gratuitous care in sickness which was bestowed upon them when they were regarded as of the family.

Pinching want drives them to commit depredations, which, in a state of servitude, were rare because necessity did not force them to pilfer.

Fences stand but little chance in this inclement season, and share the fate of unpenned as well as penned hogs, and the hen-rosts. Instead of having made some provision for winter, they have lost much time and spent much of their earnings in following upon the heels of political emissaries who have deluded them into taking a false position in reference to their former masters, against whom they have arrayed themselves in political hostility. They must remember that the Freedmen's Bureau cannot last forever, and that they, like the white man, in order to escape want and misery, must obey the law common to both, and devote themselves to labor and industry.

Marriages
(Column 04)

Summary: Capt C. Davis and Miss Elizabeth J. Scott, both of New Hope, were married on December 7th by the Rev. J. J. Eagle.
(Names in announcement: Capt. C. Davis, Elizabeth J. Scott, Rev. J. J. Eagle)

Marriages
(Column 04)

Summary: Mr. George W. Lackey and Miss Willie M. Burruss were married on December 11th at Variety Springs by the Rev. George B. Taylor.
(Names in announcement: George W. Lackey, Willie M. Burruss, Rev. George B. Taylor)

Marriages
(Column 04)

Summary: Mr. William T. Crawford and Miss Elizabeth J. Williams were married at Variety Springs on December 11th by the Rev. George B. Taylor.
(Names in announcement: William T. Crawford, Elizabeth J. Williams, Rev. George B. Taylor)

Marriages
(Column 04)

Summary: Mr. Seymore Harsha, of Grant County, West Virginia, and Miss Jennie E. M. McFall, of Augusta County, were married at Parnassus on December 5th by A. A. P. Neal.
(Names in announcement: Seymore Harsha, Jennie E. M. McFall, A. A. P. Neal)

Marriages
(Column 04)

Summary: Mr. Isaac Newton Vines and Miss Narcissus V. Hite, both of Augusta, were married near Greenville on December 12th by the Rev. W. A. McDonald.
(Names in announcement: Isaac Newton Vines, Narcissus V. Hite, Rev. W. A. McDonald)

Marriages
(Column 04)

Summary: Mr. James R. Yates and Miss Nannie Steele, both of Augusta, were married at the residence of the bride near Greenville on December 10th by the Rev. William Pinkerton.
(Names in announcement: James R. Yates, Nannie Steele, Rev. William Pinkerton)