Bedford inquirer. [volume] (Bedford, Pa.) 1857-1884, 1867-02-08


John Smith, aud his connection with the ear
ly history of our country.
Emerging from. the dslightfpl region Of ro-
nance and fiction, Capt John Smith is one Of
the first personages whose adventures charm
the mind Of the school boy, when he comes
to the solid and substantial ground of Amer
lean history. Coming to our shores more
than one hundred years after their discovery,
he yet seems to belong to a more distantpe
riod than ColumBuss because we read his sto-
~ through DINNER and more doubtful
medium just as 1t requires an effort to reas
sure ourselves that the bright and clearly de-
fined period of. the Peloponnesian War, was
more remote than that Of the Crusades
Though sharing in the hardshipa and trials
/ Of the first colonists of a new world, his ad-
ventures associate him ia the mind with the
paiadins, who accompanied Richard to the
! Holy Laud. Having exhausted the field of
adventure in the old world, he cane to gath
( er fresh Iaurels among the sayages peopling
the forests of the new. Reading his own
! account Of brilliant exploits, the mind be-
comes peculiarly receptive forany adventure,
no matter how marvellous and bis rescue by
the queenly daughter Of Powhatan, while
charming US with its romance, excites no
suspicion Of its truth. His periIous escapes
in Egypt, in Picardy, in France, his combats
with the Turks in Styria, could only be
crowned by a marvellous adventure in Amer
lea; aud many a school boy instead of doubt
ing, flung away his satchel and rushed into
the world to tread like path of glory.
Across a gulf Of two centuries and half,
teeming with mighty events that have chan
ged the face of the continent, the historian
has begun TO disturb the faith which reppses
so confdingly in the story Of Capt. Smith and
Pocahontas. This romantic event which has
been accepted with such credulity by all the
old chroniclers, is now subjected for the first
time to. the seyerest tests. In our very Hmi
ted space, we can no more than mention
/ briefly the grounds upon which the doubts
| rest, aud leave it to the reader to pursue the
/ interesting subject if he wishes, in the review
which heads this notice In J60s, the year
following the capture of Captain Smith, not
! far from the Chickahorniny river, he publish
| ed IN London, what he called 'Tue Rela-
ton. In this Relation there is not one
word about Pocahontas. In 1924 after Po-
cahontas had married Roife, and had visited
England, where Smith saw her, Capt. Smith
Published in London another work called the
General History, where the story of Po-
cahontas FIRST makes its appearance. In the
story published in 1908 he speaks of the ex-
/ ceediug good treatment he received from the
sayages. In 1921, he speaks of his cruel
treatment, and Of being guarded by thirty or
( forty tall fellows, when in 1908 it only requi-
red eight or ten. We prefer the narrative Of
1908. Ina Discourse ofYirgiuia'' by Capt
Edgar Maria Wingfeld, the first President Of
the Jamestown Colony, recently Published,
the capture Of Capt. Smith is mentioned, bet
there is not the slightest allusion made to
/ Pocahontas. Since Capt. Wingfeld must
| have received his account from Smith him
self it Is certain he would have mentioned
Pocahontas, if he had heard Of her, HIS
narrative agrees with Smiths ''True Rela-
ton Of 1905 Was the story Of his rescue
/ By Pocahontas then, an after.thought, a
mere 6gment, Of our her0's brain
In the Light thrown upon the Pocohontas af-
fair some of the earlier adventures Of Capt.
1 Smith wear the air Of fiction. In his auto
/ biography" which has such On irrisistable
I charm for the school boy, he tells us some
marvellous stories. At the siege Of some
town, Lord Tarbisha, for the diversion of the
/ ladies, challenged any Christian Knight tC
single combat. The honor Of meeting him
was decided by lot, and fell upon Smith who
cut of the head of The Turk in the presence
Of the ladies, 4 friend Of the slain now
challenged Smith, who decapitated him, an,
not until Capt. Smith had borne of the h,at
of q third Turk, did the enemy acknowledg,
his superior prowess. Captured at length
Su1ith was sold to 4 pasha who made him
present to his beautiful mistress. The lady
( tof course) fell in love with him, and not &c
provoke the jealousy Of her lord, sent him e
her brother, in distant province. The broth
ct was nos long II -discoYeEing how affairs
stood. Smith vas stripped and beaten, ans
( sent 10 work in the fields One day his mas
ter approached BIN while at work, and Smitl
watching his oppSrunity, slew him, and fed
After wandering in the desert, he reacLe,
Masoovy, travelled through Russia aud re
turned to his native land in time to join thr
Virginia adventnrers. Whether his narrativ
1 be true or not, this hero Of fChistendom is him
setfnow sadly in need OF a champion to res
cue his memory from the clouds suspicio
which are beginning z to enveloP it.
The romantic story Of Pocahoutas has beer
rsad with more delight than any in our histo
ry, replete as tits with thrilling incidents.
has been made the subject Of dramatic repre-
sentatiou from its first appearance to tn
present day We remember It's presentation
a good many years ago, along with SOM
rocky mountain bears, catamounts and
woolly horse, under canvass. in front Of tn
ssRising Sun oae Of our neighbors repre-
senting Pocahontas, aud another brandishiu
| Powhatan,s war club, to the Infinite auust
ment Of the large boys and the terror Of tbs
small ones.
psg- The National Publishing Company
507, Minor street, Philadelphia, have
press and win soon publish work BY Hon
/ Alexander H. Stephens, entitled, "a His,or
Of the Late War between the States s--Fracin