The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-05-12

this protective work. There is also pro- ject to induce the government to acquire the entire island and make of it na- tional reserve, thus commemorating the first English settlement" At present the island is cultivated by a private owner as a tobacco farm, although some five acres, immediately about the church ruins, are owned by the incorporated As- sociation for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities. The approaching Jamestown exposition, to be held near Norfolk in 1907, will attract wide public attention to i this somewhat neglected landmark of earliest English civilization in America.
 Of more vivid interest Is a pilgrimage to Williamsburg the immediate success sor to Jamestown. Williamsburg is on the line of railway between Richmond and Old Point Comfort, and is therefore of comparatively easy access. The ancient town preserves many relics of its origin. It's main highway, Duke of Gloucester street, Is exactly one mile long, as orig inally surveyed. At one end of this street is William and Mary college, at the other is the site of the colonial capitol, where met the house of burgesses, the beginning of it's Atlantic parliamentary government; where Patrick Henry delivered, not his utterance of give me liberty or give me death," spoken later at Richmond but in 1765 his speech denounclng the stamp acr, in which he warned George III that Caesar had his Brutus, and where, in 1776, the colonial convention declared for independence.
 The side streets of Williamsburg, cross- ing Duke of Gloucester street, are laid out in angles at first confusing. until it is explained that they were planned to form the two letters w and M in honor of William and Mary. The main building of the college, erected in 1889, was burn ed three times; but as 1t was restored with the original brick walls 1t lays claim to be the oldest collegiate structure in America. It's library Is rich with anti quities, both of books and oil paintings. | Flanking this structure Is a building. erected in 1723, for an Indian school. This building was actually used for the teach- ing and conversion of aborigines until 1790. There is an interesting parallel between this building and the original structure at Harvard college, winch was dedicated to the same purpose, although the Harvard catalogue preserves the name of but one 1 Indian graduate of its earliest school
 
 Nor must we forget the Bruton Parish church. This was the direct successor to the first church at Jamestown Here Washington worshiped in 17S1 Here Martha Custis worshiped, and in the yard are the graves of her two children by her first husband. To Williamsburg came Washington when he courted the widow Custs, and hereabout are the scenes of Thackerays 'Virginians." In this church are the communion service of l the Jamestown church of which l have spoken while there stands the original baptismal font, brought also from James, town. It is possible that Pocahontas was baptized at this font
 Nor must we forget to pay tribute to the church bell, cast in 1761, which still swings in the tower relic almost as precious as the famous Liberty Bell in Philadelphia. Then, on the college green is the statue of Lord Botetourt, last royal governor of Virginia. erected by the colonial legislature and preserved through many chapters f vieissitudes of war; and there is the old Wythe house, where i lived Chancellor George wythe. who taught law to both Thomas Jefferson i and John Marshall and where Washing ton stopped on his march toward York town. There, too, the old powder maga- zine, from which Lord Dunmore re- ceived the ammunition in 171, thereby precipitating the adherence of Virginia to 1 the revolutions; and there, also, is the Tucker house, which tradition asserts | stands on the sit. oI the first theatre in America, built in TIC.
 \ All these data deserve to be collateo and placed in a book of ready reference. At present they are told to the casual pilgrim by the ready and hospitable | townspeople. Jamestown and Williams burg are shrines. No American can visit ] them without a new feeling that his | youthful country has a past, thrilling to | the ina gination, if not so heavy with age 1 as the relics of English history that car | ry one back into the dimmest of years before Caesars eagles crossed the chan