Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1882-10-25
The True Romance of Pocahontas.

lue 1Tue aomance OF PocahontaS.
From her first meeting with Smith she be-
came devotedy attached to the English, and
rendered the settlers many services She
often secured supplies for them, and indeed
seems to have haunted the fort, utterly
naked as she was, after the manner of little
girls among her people, who worcno clothes
and showed no modesty until they were
twelve or thirteen years Of age, at which
time they put on deerskin apron, and were
very careful not to be seen without it. The
agile little barbarian would persuade the
English lads to make wheels of themselves
by turning upon their hands and feet
whereupon she would follow them, wheel
ing as they did, all through the fort.
Her real name was Matoax; but, by order
of Powhatan, this was carefully concealed
from the whites, lest by their supernatural
harm. When Richard Wytlin was sent
from jamestown to apprisc the endangered
Captain Smith, environed by foes among
Powhatan's people, Of the death Of his dep
uty, Mr.. Scrivener, and his ten companions,
by drowning, Pocahontas hid him, misdirect-
ed those who sought him, and by extraor-
dinary bribes and maneuvers, brought him
safely to Smith, after three days travel in
the midst OF extreme peril. So, also, when
Ratcliflc was cut off with 80 men, she saved
the lad Spilman, who was then living with
Powhatan, and sent him to the Potomacs.
But the most touching story of all precedes
in order of ftime the other two. In the same
difficult adventure among PoWatan people,
in which Captain Smith was engaged when
Scrivener was drowned the treacherous
chief had arranged to surprise Smith at sup
per, and cut of the whole party, when Po-
cahontas, the dearest jewel and daughter
of the aged chief, Sin that dark night came
through the irksome woods" to warn the
captain of Powatan's design. Captain Smith
offered to repay her kindness with such trim
kets as the heart of an Indian maiden de-
lights in; "but, with the tears running down
her checks, she said she burst not be seen
to have any, for, if Powhatan should know it
she were but dead; and so she ran away bv
herself as she came"
In 1913 Pocahontas was among the Poto-
mac Indians. Captain Argall, man of
much shrewdness and executive force but
infamous for his dishonest practices hap
pened to be trading in the river at the time.
He quickly saw the advantage the English
would gain in negotiations with Powhatan
for the return of the white prisoners held by
him, II he could secure so valuable hostage
as the chiefs daughter. With copper
kettle he bribed Japazaws, the chief with
whom she was staying, to cntce her on
board the vessel, where he detained her,
much to the sorrow of the daughter OF the
wilderness, whose life hitherto had been as
free as that of the wild creatures of the
woods. TO jamestown, where she had frol-
licked as child, and whittier she had so Of
ten come as Il friend with food, she was now
carried as an enemy and Il prisoner She
had refused to enter the town since the de-
parture ofCaptain Smith.
This transaction, not very crcditable to
the gratitude of the English, accomplished
its purpose in causing Powhatan to return
the white men held in slavery by him, with
the least useful of the stolen arms. But he
still contrivcd to cvade some of the demands
Of the English, who therefore retained his
daughter until the affair took q new turn.
John Rolfe. who seems to have been wild
over became enarmored Of Pocahontas,
now growing to womanhood, and wrote a
formal letter to Sir Thomas Dale, proposing
to convert her to Christianity and marry
her, which pleased the governor, as tending
to promote peace with the Indians and was
likewise acceptable to Powhatan. The
chief sent an old uncle of Pocahontas and
two of her brothers to witness the marriage.
This marriage brought about peace during
| the life of Powhatan, who, on one occasion
at least, sent u present of buckskins to his
daughter and her husband. A free inter
mingling of the two races took place, and
Englishmen were accustomed to hire In
dians to live in their houses and hunt for
them. This amity lasted eight years.
In 1916, more than two years after their
marriage. Rolfe and Pocahontas went to
England with Sir Thomas Dale. Powhatan
sent some Indians with his daughter, one
of whom was commissioned to count the
number of the English. The arrival of the
Lady Rebccca, as Pocahontas was called
after her baptism, produced great SEN
sation. She was received by the king and
many distinguished people, went to see
play, and, by help of her naturally
quick wit, bore herself very well. But it
became necessary to desist from calling her the
wife of John Rolfe, for the king was very Jealous
and 1t was seriously debated in the privy council
whether, by marrying the daughter of q foreign
potentate without the kings consent, Rolfe had not
committed treason.
The climate of London, and perhaps also the
uncongenial habits of civilization, affected Poca-
| hontas very unfavorably, and she was taken to
Brentford, where Smith, then busy with his pre-
| paratons to sail for New England visited her.
In the successful efforts of Rolfe and others to win
her to the Christian faith and to marriage, they
had not scrupled to deceive her, by telling her
that Captain Smith was dead, probably because
they knew she would not marry another white
man while she believed that great warrior alive
| When, therefore. she saw the brave who had
been the object of her maidenly admiration, she
turned her face away and refused to speak for the
| space of two or three hours. When she did, it was
to claim the privilege Of calling him father which
Smith granted only after importantly afraid, per-
haps ofincuring the kings displeasure. Pocahontas
went to Gravcscnd to take ship for her return to
America, much against her will, for she had be-
come weaned from her savage life and greatly at
tached to the English. At Gravesend she died of
smallpox three years after her marriage leaving
one son, from whom some of the most prominent
Virginia families trace their dcscent.-Norember
I