The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-01-09

onlsts, hlling his pulpit After being thus
eulned, the colonists were regaled with
four fat hogs, eight turkeys besides fowls,
English beef, and other provisions. a hogs
head of punch, a hogshead of beer. and
large quantity of wine" 1t is gratifying
TO learn from the old chronicle that "all
was disposed in SO regular manner that
no person was drunk nor any disorder hap
pened"
Embarking on the 10th of February in
schooner OF seventy tons and five periau-
gers, and encountering on the way storm
ana Venison, they landed in the afternoon
OF the ian at what is now Savannah. and
as the red rays of the setting sun shone
upon their eager faces and Gods peace fell
upon their tried and weary souls. to the
music OF her rustling pines and the MUIR
muring of her noble streams, Georgia was
started upon her glorious career.
Here was a scene lacking none of the
clements of historic dignity, and the i'm
agination declines to forego the opportu-
nifty TO dwell upon 1t for a moment The
tirst suggestions of spring were in the air
-that hght caressing air we know so well,
which tempts nature 70 look abroad in ex-
pectancy to the Time. so near at hand
when tree and flower will fill all the world
win the glory of their resurrection.
Inc centuries had looked down upon
the stately pines which filled the
view at every hand, and here at last was
one whose mission was to carve through
Velopment. How great must have been his
thoughts! A soldier of recognized distinc-
ton; courtier skilled in all the graces
OF polite society; at ease in tent and ball
room; the companion OF the witty and the
learned; taking hardships as a gentleman
might, not from necessity, but from choice
and duty-as he stood on the banks of the
Savannah and sent his keen glance into
the west, did he see the liGht-hearted war
rior standing a Eugene's side and holding
wit lie .vfeef f~II, A.,
ancient enemy of the Christian world TN
til the Danube ran red with Turkish blood?
Dld he see the palaces he had left. and
hear the merry laugh of comfort and the
keen words of wit? Or from the midst of
these children of want and children of ma
ture which surrounded him. did his fancy
soar over forest and stream and noun tain
until at length it caught the sparkle of
the far, Paclfic-the limit of the state he
had come to build? Or did 1t farther go
in time and from prophetic nights see oak
and pine pass like thought and In their
stead the stately structures of a busy
mart along whose ways in constant
stream poured the rich treasures OF the
field and mine and forest and on whose
placid waters moved the. craft of all the
powers of earth? When he lay down to
rest that night beneath the shelter of the
solemn pines, he must have known that
men would hold that day in everlasting
memory.
The whole story of the colonization of
Georgia reads like a special providence of
God. To the most friendless of all people
the forgotten debtors of England-had
suddenly come veritable sunburst of be-
neVolence. They had reached America in
safety, and now in their new home the
Indian-against whose depredations upon
the colony of Carolina they were expect
ed to be the guard-received them with
friendship and generosity I'M
paralleled in the history of the
two races. We cannot too
strongly insist upon the gratitude we owe
TO Tomochchi for the part he played in
this and every other crisis of the colony
After that of Ogiethorpe. his is easily the
noblest figure in our early history. He
was a broad liberal minded gentleman;
true to every promise, brave in every emer-
gency, and with a dignity of speech and
bearing and look which made him fit to
be the historic companion of the founder.
| His sense of right and duty had made him
an exile from his people, and yet, even
as Mico of the Yamacraws, who had cast
their fortunes with him, he commanded
the respect of the tribe which had ban
ished him. At the conference held be-
tween Oglethorpe and the chiefs of the
Lower Creek Indians for the purpose of
settling by treaty the boundaries of the
colony, the king of the Oconas, which had
been Tomochichi's tribe, said of him that
he was good man and had been a great
warrior, and that it was for his wisdom
and courage that the banished men had
! chosen him TO be their king. 1t was his
influence which brought about the treaty
and his constant, cheerful courage never
wavered in the most perilous moments
There is but scant material for romance
in the early days of the colony. The out
| look was eminently practical and en-
braced such prosaic occupation as che
building of houses, the filling of the soil
and the construction of the machinery of
The divided into
wards, In each ward four tythings, and in
each tything ten houses. freeholder
| of a tything had his town lot 60x90 feet,
garden lot of five acres, and farm lot
! of forty-four acres and a fraction. The
| land descended in what was known TO the
| common law as tail-male, that Is, in default
of male issue it reverted to the trustees.
Beyond the town four villages made a
ward, which depended upon ward in the
! town. The squares, which we are accus-
toned to regard as pleasure grounds
were designed as places of refuge in time
of war for the families and cattle of the
inhabitants of these villages, in which
they were at liberty to en-
camp = the Villagers Tes9rtns to-
| the square upon which their
ward depended. They were further de-
signed for public structures-the silk fila
tlIre was located in Reynolds Square and
| the market is now in Ellis Square. With
| in the memory of many of us the engine
| houses OF the nre COnlpduSS-Ht6io olS
| well as white-were located in the squares.
1t is interesting to note that it was upon
the historic fact of their original use that
| the Supreme Court based its decision per-
hitting the street car line to be built
through them
The political system was simplicity IT.
self. Over all were the trustees, with
Oglethorpe as their commissioner. There
were three baliffs, having judicial powers.
a recorder and registrar term court,
with civil and criminal jurisdiction, and
grand and petit juries, presided over by
the baiiffs, sat every six weeks. Each
ward had its constable under whom were
four tything men, and there was public
storekeeper. AS the wards and tythings
bore, and still bear, the names of the trus-
tees so the streets were for the most part
named for the generous Carolinians who
gave freely of provisions and manual as
sistance i'm the infancy of the colony. I
find in somi-official document the town
referred to in a rather undgnifed manner
as New Windsor. alias Savannah" This
latter designation, in all probability, was
taken from the English name of the river
MI conference.-the fT1r