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y members trying to throw dust therein; while country visitors--having screwed their courage up to the desperate point of being presented--always dropped Mr. Davis' hand as if its not over-cordial grasp burned them. But the "levees" on the whole, if odd exhibitions, were at least useful in letting the "dear public" have a little glimpse of the inner workings of the great machine of government. And they proved, even more than the social evenings, the ease of right with which Varina Howell Davis wore her title of "the first lady in the land." The men of Richmond have spoken for themselves. They wrote the history of their class when they came forward--one and all, to sacrifice ease--affluence--life for the cause they felt to be just. There were some, as I shall hereafter endeavor to show, who were dwellers with them, but were not of them. These did nothing and gave nothing willingly for a cause in which they saw only a speculation. This is not the place to speak of such. They belong not to the goodly company of those who--whatever their weaknesses, or even their errors--proclaimed themselves honest men and chivalric gentlemen. The young men of the whole South are off-hand and impulsive; either naturally careless in pecuniary matters, or made so by habit. Sowing wild oats is an almost universal piece of farming; and the crop is as luxuriant in the mountains of Virginia as in the overflowed lands of Louisiana. Perhaps in Richmond they were not now seen from the most advantageous point of view. They were generally young planters from the country, reckless, jovial and prone to the lighter dissipations; or the young business and professional men, who rebounded from the routine of their former lives into a little extra rapidity. One and all--for the eyes they sought would not have looked upon them else--they had gone into the army; had fought and wrought well; and now with little to do, boon companionship and any amount of petting, they were paying for it. The constant strain of excitement produced much dissipation certainly--but it seldom took the reprehensible form of rowdyism and debauch. Some men drank deeply--at dinners, at balls and at bar-rooms; some gambled, as Virginians always had gambled--gaily, recklessly and for ruinous stakes. But find them where you would, there was about the men a careless pervading _bonhomie_ and a natural high tone resistlessly attractive, yet speaking them worthy descendants of the "Go
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