Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1874-08-27
Children's Repartmemt.
fOriginal.]
ROGER WILLIAMS.

Amongst the earl ly settlers of Massachu
setts, was preacher by the name of Roge,
Williams. The puritans were a good peo
pie; but they had some strange notions
They thought in matters of religion, that
they were absolutely right, and every one
that thought differently was wrong. They
tried every way to make all they met say
that the puritan creed and practice was right
whether they believed it right or not. They
went so far as to make profession of relig.
ion necessary to citizenship. They had been
cruelty prosecuted in Eug land, and they in
turn commenced system of persecution in
America. Several persons were by them &C.
cused of practicing witchcraft and dragged
before the civil officers and put to DEATH
Roger Williams seems to have been in ad.
vance of his age, at least he was in advance of
many of his puritan brethren. He had more
liberal notions, and was opposed to the prac'
tice of forcing men to subscribe to all that was
contained in the puritan creed and practice.
This liberality, however, brought down upon
him the vengeance Of his brethren. They
determined to send him off; but when the
young preacher found that banishment from
the colony awaited him, he exiled himself
He left his brethren and went into what is
now called the State of Rhode Island The
Indians treated him kindly because he treated
them kindly. He exercised a powerful in
huence over these wild men of the forest
On several occasions he prevented them, by
gentle persuasion, from externlinating the
on dark night, in the midst of snow and
sleet storm to an Indian war.councl, for no
other purpose than to persuade them not to
combine together for the utter destruction Of
those who had but recently forced him to
leave them. He must have had a good heart
No man would expose his life to the dangers
that Roger Williams did to save his fanatical
enemies, if he were not good man.
The place where this man and his few fol-
lowers settled, he called Providence, in com
memoration Of the kind care and merciful
providence which God bestowed upon him.
1t was not long before many persons left Bos'
ton and Salem and joined Williams. The
Providence colony grew and hourished.
The Punishment of Williams from Massa.
chusetts was very much like the selling Of
Joseph into Egypt. Had it not been done,
America would not be to-day what it is. In
Netherlands, during the reign of Charles V,
$4,000 persons were put to death in various
ways OH account of their religious belief. In
England, under the Bloody Mary and her
successors, many were cruelty prosecuted
The puritans, although they had fled from
persecution, commenced the system in Amer
lea. Roger Williams revolutionizcd the no.
tions of the age respecting religious liberty
After his Punishment, Roger Williams be,
come Baptist. This sect was held in utter
detestation by the puritans. But young
Williams was now out of their clutches.
In process of time Roger Williams grew
old and died There is a curious story told
about his grave. Some years ago it was de-
termined to erect suitable monument to the
memory of this great and good man. The
graves Of himself and wife were opened The
shape of the coftins could be traced by the
black appearance Of the earth. In the graves
were found some rusty hinges and nails, a
knot of wood and lock of braided hair.
Every thing else had disappeared. The body
| p,.slo, or pI,,Io Island ho1 ,phnl "
returned to dust.
Near by the graves grew an apple tree.
From this tree two main roots pushed their
way down into the ground. The larger of
these descended to the spot where the head OF
Roger Williams had lain. 1t then took a
horizontal direction, following the direction
of his body until it came to the hips, and then
it forked, one prong taking the direction Of
one leg, and the other prong the direction of
the other leg. One of these prongs made a
slight crook at the knee, which is said to have
made the whole present, in very striking
manner, the general shape of a human skele-
ton. If this be true, and we have no good
reason to doubt its truthfulness, Roger Will
lams not only saved his enemies from the
vengeance of the Red men during his life,
but ted their children and grandchildren
after death on apples.
QUEER FRtENDs.-Toby was big OK.
He had grown too old to work so he used to
stay all the time in the barnyard, and had a
stall under shed in the warm corner.
Peep was poor motherless chicken, with
not enough feathers on to keep the cold of:
He had to hunt up his own victuals, for no.
body thought of feeding him; so he used to
peck meal in Toby's feed-box, and Toby never
refused to let him.
Sometimes Peep sat on Toby's horn; and
when it grew colder, he roasted on Toby's
broad, warm back. When Toby got sleepy
in the daytime, he would low for Peep to
come and sit on his horn while he took a nap.
By and by little brown pig, seeing how
happy Toby and Peep were together, left all
his knsfok, and went to live in the shed with
them. Piopy slept in the straw close by To-