Perched among its hills, and defended by nature’s fortifications, Lynchburg had seen little of the immediate horrors of war. Her sons had gone down to death, but her fields had not been ravaged, her barns had not been burned, her children had not been often startled by the cry of the Yankees at the gates. Men had consequently escaped, to some degree, the impoverishing effects of the rebellion. Business seemed quite brisk; the farmers of the surrounding country were prosperous, and lands were not largely offered for sale. As our train approached the city, I fell into conversation with a citizen. He rather guessed this little town was in no fix for starving. Niggers might suffer, and doubtless would, if they grew too saucy (pronounced “sassy;”) but the people were all right. “Half a million of specie in that little town, sah, when the wah ended. What do you think of that for a little rookery among the mountains, sah?” I suggested that very few tobacco fields were to be seen along the road. “Plenty of tobacco stored, sah. Didn’t raise much last year, because there wa’nt many men at home to manage, but there’s plenty more tobacco hid away in this country than people ever dreamed of. Gold will bring it out, sah.” “Greenbacks,” it seemed, did not yet have the same magnetic power. Men who had been declaring for four years that the United States Government was overthrown, could not at once convince themselves that its money was good. Whoever wanted to trade with the Virginians in the rural districts, must prepare himself with gold. The town was swarming with representatives of Northern capitalists, looking for investments. Baltimoreans were also found frequently among them. The most went further South, over the Virginia and Tennessee road; but a few had ideas about the mineral resources of these mountains. Many seemed to think it necessary to adopt the coddling policy in their talk with the Virginians. “My policy for settling up these questions,” said a Yankee, “would be to banish all the leaders, and tell the rest that they had been soundly whipped, and, now, the best thing they could do would be to go to work and repair their ruined fortunes.” “But how could you punish those equally deserving of punishment at the North, who were just as guilty in bringing on the war?” The questioner was, not a pardoned Rebel, but a speculative Northerner. * * * * * “The Lynchburg Post-office is in a church. The Government, it seems, was not willing to pay the rent demanded for the building formerly used for postal purposes, and the rent on churches was not exorbitant. A route agent, whiling away his time while his mail was made up, told how he had taken the oath, and so become an employee of the Government again.