building of the Institute with the marks of injuries, wantonly perpetrated by the federal invaders, still visible on its walls.
Here, surrounded by old friends, and free to work at the pursuits which were most congenial to him, Maury passed the last four years of his life with his wife and family. At last he had found a haven of rest; but his busy and untiring brain continued to be as active as ever in devising schemes for the good of his country, as is evident from the following letter:—
| Virginia Military Institute, | |
| My dear Frank,[1] | Lexington, June 13th, 1867. |
Here we are in our new home, busy fixing up; and things begin to know their places. So we also begin to have a home-feeling. People are very kind, the country is beautiful, the views and the scenery lovely, and both climate and air such that exercise is enjoyment. How I wish I had you and Miss Louisa here with us! Nannie and her two children are now on their way to us—by sea—from New York. Dick has gone to West Virginia. Brave is polishing off at the Institute.
The seat of Empire is fast settling down in the NorthWest States. They already give the Presidents, and will soon dictate the foreign policy of the country. They must have a better way to the sea. They have been taught to believe—erroneously—that the best way lies through Canada and the St. Lawrence. It does not; it lies through Virginia.
You will appreciate my feeling upon this subject, when I remind you that grain is sent round Cape Horn from California, and delivered at the ports along the Atlantic seaboard at ten cents the bushel cheaper than it can now be sent from Iowa and other North-West States; that the people throughout these States—and they are the grain-growing States—know that, with a good highway to the Atlantic seaboard, the value of their grain would be enhanced ten, twenty, even thirty cents the bushel; and they think
- ↑ Dr. Tremlett.
