Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1856-01-29

i lAdt bfedtheG IN beauty from ncr lace,
And to her kneeing action gave
power soothe and still subdue,
/ Until, though humble a slave,
| To more than queenly sway she grew.
WILLIAM G. SIMNs.
The Emperor yielded to tie maid, and the
captive set free.
Two years after that event, Pocahontas again
became an angel of deliyerance She hastened
! to jamestown during dark and stormy night
informed the English of conspiracy 10 exter-
inmate them, and was back to her couch before
dawn. Smith was grateful, and the whole Eng
/ hsh colony regarded her their deliverer. But
gratitude is often plant of feeble root and the
eanker of selfishness viii destroy it altogether
/ Smith went to England the morals of all the
colonists became depraved and ArgalI, a rough
half-piratical navigator unmindful of her char
acter, bribed a savage, by the promise OF cop
per kettle, to betray Pocahontas into his hands,
to be kept as a hostage while compelling Pow
hatan to make restitution for injuries inflicted.
The emperor loved his daughter tenderly
agreed to the terms of ransom gladly, and prom
ised unbroken friendship for the English
Pocahontas was now free to return to her for
est home. But other bonds, more holy than
those Of Argall, detained her. While in the
custody of the rude buccaneer, a mutual attach
mcnt had budded and blossomed between her
and John Folfe, and the fruit was happy mar
riage--" another knot to bind the peace" with
Powhatan much stronger.
April, in the Virginia peninsula, where the
English settlers first built city, IS of the
loveliest months in the year. Then winter Las
{ ro1 70 +ba 10 cf
America; the trees are robed in gay and fra
grant blossoms; the robin, the blue-bird, and
the eriole, just giving the first opening pre-
ludes TO the summer concerts in the woods, and
wild flowers laughing merrily in every
hedge, and upon the green banks of every
stream.
1t day in charming April, in 1913, when
Rolfe and Pocahontas stood at the marriage
altar in the and pretty chapel at James
town, where, not long before, the bride had re-
ceived Christian baptism and was named the
lady Rebecca. The sun had marched half way
up toward the meridian, when a goodly COM
pany had assembled beneath the temple rooof
The pleasant odor of the pews of cedar COM
mingled with the fragrance of the wild flowers
which decl1ed the festoons of evergreens and
sprays that hung over the fair, broad windows"
and the commandment tablets above the chan
eel. Over the pulpit Of black walnut hung gar
lands Of white flowers, with the waxen leaves
and scarlet berries of the holly. The-eommun
ion table was covered with fair white linen, and
bore bread from the wheat fields of jamestown,
and wine from its luscious grapes. The font,
" hewn hollow between, like canoe" sparkled
with water, as TIE morning when the gentle
princess uttered her baptismal VOWS.
OF all that company assembled in the broad
space betwe, the chancel and the pews, the
bride and groom We're the central figures in fact
and significance Pocahontas was dressed in
simple tunic of white muslin, from the looms of
Dacea Her arms were bare even to the shoul-
ders .eand hanging loosely towards her feet was
a robe of rich stuff presented by Sir Thomas
Dale and fancifully embroidered by herself and
her maidens. a gaudy fllet encircled her head,
and held the plumage of birds and a veil Of
gauze, while her limbs We're adorned with the
simple jewelry of the native workshops Rolfe
was attired in the gay clothing of an English
cavalier of that period, and upon his thigh he
wore the short sword of a gentleman of distine
tion In society He was the personifeation of
{ VI
womanlv modesty and lovely simplicity; and,
as they came and stood before the man of God,
I History dipped her pen in the indestructible
4 fountain of truth, and recorded prophecy of
mighty empires in the New World. Upon the
/ chancel steps, where no railing interfered, the
good Whitaker stood in his sacerdotal robes,
and with impressive voice pronounced the mar
riage ritual of the Liturgy of the Anglican
Church, then first planted on the Western Con-
tinent On his right, in richly carved chair
of state, brought from England, sat the Cover
nor. with his eyer-attendant halberdiers, with
brazen helmets, at his back.
There were yet but few women in the colony,
and these, soon after this memorable event, re-
turned to native England. The ninety young
women, pure and uncoTupted," whom the wise
Sandys caused TO be sent to Virginia as wives
for the planters, did not arrive for seven years
later All then at jamestown We're at the mar
.riage. The letters of the time have transmitted
10 MS the names of some of them. Mistress John
Rolfe. with her child, doubtless of the family
of the bridegroom , Mistress Easton and child
and Mistress Horton and grandchild, with hel
maid-servant Elizabeth Parsons, who. on q
Christmas eve before, had married Thomas
Powell, were vet in Virginia. Among the noted
men then present was Sir Thomas Gates, a brave
soldier in many wars, and brave an adven-
turer among the Atlantic perils as any who eVel
trusted to the ribs of oak of the ships OF Ole
England And Master Sparkes, who had beer
teo-en,baszador with Rolfe to the court OF Pow
shatan, stood near the old soldier, with youne
Henry Spilman at his side. There, too, was th'
vourr George Percy, brother OF the powerful
Dake of Northumberland whose conduct wa
aIwavs as noble as his blood: and near him, al
earnest spectator Of the scene, was the eide
brofber of Pocahontas, but not the destined sue
eessor to the throne Of bis father There, toe