Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1882-11-09
9t|istellaueoms Reading,
POCAHONTAS.

| -
POCAHONTAS.
From her first meeting with Smith she be-
came edvotedly attached to the English, ane
| rendered the settlers many services. She OF
ten secured supplies for them, and indeed
seems to have haunted the fort, utterly naked
as she was, after the manner Of little girl!
showed no modesty until they were twelve OF
thirteen wears 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 tc
make wheels of themselves by turning upon
their hands and feet, whereupon she would
follow them, wheeling 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 ell
chantments they should work her some harm.
When Richard Wyfin WAS sent from James
town to apprise the endangered Captain Smith,
envroned by foes among Powhatan's people,
of the death of hisasYuty,, MIR. -Scriyener, and
his ten companions, by drowning, POcahontas
and, by extraordinary bribes and maneuyres
brought him safely to Smith, after three days
travel in the midst of extreme peril. So, also,
when Ratcit1e was cut off with thirty men,
who saved the lad Spilman, who was then liv-
ing with POwhatan, and sent him to the PO-
tomacs. But the most touching story of all
precedes in order of time the other two. In
the same difficult adventure among Powhat-
ans people, in which Captain Smith was en-
gagged when Scrivener was drowned, the
treaclerous chief had arranged to surprise
Smith at supper, and cut off the whole party,
when Pocahontas, the dearest jewel and
i ,oc Ian n1i nf fhof nrly
night came through the irksome woods to
warn the captain of Powhatan's design. Cap
tain Smith offered to repay her kindness with
such trinkets as the heart of an Indian maiden
delights in but, with the tears running
down her cheeks, 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 by herself as she came"
In 1913 POcahontas was among the Potomac
Indians. Captain Argall, man OF much
shrewdneSs and executive force, but Infamous
for his dishonest practices, happened to be
trading in the river at that time He quickly
saw the advantage the English would gain in
negotiations with Powhatan for the return OF
the white prisoners held by him, if he could Sc
cure so valuable a hostage as the chiefs daugh-
ter. With copper kettle he bribed JapaZaWs,
the chief with whom she was staying, to entce
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 frOlicked as a child,
and whittier she had so often come as friend
with food, she was now carried as an enemy
and a prisoner. She had refused to enter the
town since the departure of Captain Smith.
This transaction, not very creditable to the
gratitude of the English, accomplished itspur-
pose in causing Powhatan to return the white
men held in slavery by him, with the least
useful of the stolen arms But he still con-
trived to evade some of the demands OF the
English, who therefore retained his daughter
until the affair took a new turn. John Rote,
who seems to have been widower, became
amored of POcahontas, now growing to Wo-
manhood, 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 Po-
cahontas 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 present of buckskins to his daugll-
ter and her husband. A free intermingling of
the two races took place, and Engishmen were
accustomed to hire Indians 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 Eng
land 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 lady Rebecca, as PO-
cahontas was called after her baptism, pro-
duced great sensation. She was received by
the king and many distinguished people, went
to see play, and, by help of her natural 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 it was seriously debated in the privy cOun-
Gil whether, by marrying the daughter OF a
foreign potentate without the kings consent,
Rolfe had not committed treason.
The climate of London, and perhaps, also
the uncongenal habits of civilization, affected
POcahOntas very unfavorably, and she was
taken to BrentfOrd, where Smith, then busy
with his preparations to sail for New Eng
land, 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 to be allve.
When, therefore, She saw the ''braYe' who
had been the object of her maidenly admira-
ton, 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, perhaps, Of incur
ring the king s displeasure. Pocahontas went
to Gravesend to take ship for her return to
America, much against her will, for she had
become weaned from her savage life and great
ly attached to the English. At Gravesend
she died of smallpox three years after her mar
riage, leaving one son, from whom some of
the most promising Virginia families trace
their descent.-Century.
THE FAMILY.