LESSON LVII
PICTURES FROM AMERICAN HISTORY
On the southern bank of the James River in Virginia stand the ruins of an old church. Its crumbling tower and broken arch are almost hidden by the tangled vines which cover it. Within the walls of the church-yard may be found a few ancient tombstones overgrown with ivy and long grass.
This is all that remains of the first English settlement in
America,—the colony of Jamestown, Virginia.
This first permanent English settlement in the New World was made in the year 1607, more than a hundred years after the discovery of America by Columbus. Some attempts to colonize had been made by the English before this time. The most important of these was undertaken by the famous but unfortunate Sir Walter Raleigh.
Raleigh obtained from Queen Elizabeth a grant of a vast territory, to be called Virginia, in honor of Elizabeth, the "virgin queen." It extended from the Hudson River to the boundary of what is now Georgia.
In attempting to colonize Virginia, Raleigh spent a large fortune. But his colonies never prospered. The settlers returned home disgusted with the hardships of the wilderness. In 1589 Raleigh sold his rights to a stock company.
Nevertheless the enterprise which proved too difficult for Raleigh was carried out during Raleigh's lifetime, under the leadership of the famous John Smith.
The idea of colonizing Virginia had been growing wonderfully. In 1606 a company of "noblemen, gentlemen, and merchants," called the London Company, obtained from King James the First a charter for "planting and ruling" South Virginia.
The company had gathered together a band of men willing to try their fortunes in Virginia, and they were just about to embark when Smith reached London. To Smith's bold and roving disposition the idea of a New World was irresistible, and he joined the colonists.
In the last month of the year 1606, the party—in all, one hundred and five men—set sail in a little fleet of three vessels commanded by Captain Newport.
On the 23d of May, 1607, after a weary and distressing voyage, the Virginia colonists landed. They commenced the settlement of Jamestown. When the king's sealed instructions were opened, and the names of the seven directors were made known, it was found that John Smith was to be one of the seven. Through the jealousy of Wingfield, who was chosen president, he was not allowed to take his place in the council.
But this did not prevent his being the ablest man among them, and the colonists were soon glad to turn to him for guidance. For now their condition was most deplorable. They were surrounded by hostile Indians; the provisions they had brought from England were soon consumed; and the diseases caused by the hot, moist climate in a short time reduced their number by one-half.
Besides, the colonists were a troublesome class to deal with. Many of them were broken-down "gentlemen," who despised hard work. A very few were farmers or mechanics or persons fitted for the life they sought.
Day by day Smith made his influence more and more felt. He soon became the head of the colony. He put in force the good old rule that he who would not work should not eat.
Many strange adventures are told about John Smith during the two years he remained in Virginia. He left the colony in the autumn of 1609 on account of a severe wound which he received, and which obliged him to return to England to be cured.
The colonists, having lost the guidance of this resourceful man, were soon reduced to great want; still they held out and later on became a flourishing colony.