The herald and news. [volume] (Newberry S.C.) 1903-1937, 1907-05-24

trance" passed up the broad river
that lay before them, and debarked
on little peninsula thirty miles from
its mouth. The first land that greet
ed them in the broad harbor, they
called Point Comfort; the river they
named James, in honor Of their King,
and the little peninsula furnished
them a haven after the tempestuous
voyage of ever three months they
christened jamestown. Before reach
ing the point Of debalkation tradition
says tho foremost ship bearing the
commander Of the exposition, touch
ed at point Of land jutting out into
the roads at the mouth of the James,,
and the commander went ashore there
and offered prayers to God for the
safe ending of their voyage. This
was the first news Of Captain New
port that tradition or history gives
and the beautiful city that has
sprung up like magic on that histor-
ic site today bears the name, Newport
News. 1t was nj Jamestown, how
ever, that the little band of colonists
established themselves and there
planted the first permanent English
settlement in the Western world. To
this feeble undertaking in the wild
"rncss. to these one hundred pioneers
America today owes her prceslcss
heritage.
For years the colonists struggled
on against heavy odds. The Indians
amongst whom they found them
selves were brave, strong and hostile,
and Powhatan, their great chief,
lost no time in displaying all these at
tributes to the intruders. For a gen.
GRAFTON they were harassed by these
savages and to the horrors Of Indian
warfare were added pestilence and
famine. Standing out in bold relief
from the little band that was
brought over in the Newport expedi-
ton was one man, strong, brave, in
ured to hardship, a soldier of for
tune, Captain John Smith. It was
his indomitable spirit that rallied the
colonists more than once when des-
pair had seized upon them; upon
him more than any other the fate of
the colonists rested and their ulti-
mate success devolved. Succeeding
expeditions from England brought
other colonists and in 1919 their
number was $500, but disease and
Indian treachcry had reduced the
number in 1922 to 1000 souls. Final
ly shiploads Of respectable young
women were brought to provide the
was to be the first Governor of the
colonists with wives and eventually
come Sir George Yeardly, who
onists find in this strange land-Po-
cahontas, daughter of the great chief
Powhatan. Not only did she save the
leader Of the colony from the axe of
her father, but she continued to be-
friend them. and the peace which was
established with her marriage to
John Rolfe continued mbroken until
her death in England in 1917. To
The beautiful Indian girl and the
EngliShman who married her the 'col-
oniSts owed much, for it was Rolfe
! who introduced what the colony need
ed most-a substantial industry
! and the cultivation of tobacco was
destined to be the wealth Of the col
onv, and the chief industry of the
future great state. The timber church
! in which the coloniSts offered their
! first prayers, which was the scene Of
the marriage Of Rolfe and Pocahon-
tas. was also the meeting place of the
first representative assembly ever gath
cred in the Western world, the initial
step in political liberty, the founda-
tion stone of the republic In 1639
a brick church was built and the
Wondering. moSs-grown tower of
this structure is all that remains to
posterity Of the first permanent Eng
h>h settlement in America. Fire and
flood harasscd the colonists in the
low country long after this, and fin
ally. in 1903. the settlement was
abandoned and the colonists moved
to williamsburg
Yesterday, within sight Of the first
landing Of those pioneers. and little
more than a score Of miles from the
! ruipS nc tho E,-eI .otIox..l W.