The Palatka news and advertiser. [volume] (Palatka, Fla.) 1908-19??, 1916-08-11

Pocahontas, who, by saving Smiths
head from the club GU and the set
Element at jamestown from massacre
had won the gratitude of the colony
the admiration of all England and, in
cidentally, the love of a fine gentle
man, lived after her marriage to the
| latter, on her estate, Varina, near the
early settlement at Henrico, in which
the University of Henrico had been
founded and then summarily erased
from the face of the earth by the TOM
ahawk and fire of the aborigins in
1922.
Mrs. Rolfe, or "The Lady Rebecca,
as Pocahontas was called in England,
became the maternal founder of some
Of the most renowned families of Vir-
ginia, including the very distinguish
ed Randolphs and the Bollings, from
whom is descended the first lady Of
the land, Mrs. Woodrow Wilson. Va
rina was one of the many great prop
critics owned by the Randolphs.
Numerous plantations and splcn-
did homes established by leading Vir-
ginians all up and down the river,
above and below Richmond, north
bank and south, remained in the fam
lilies of their founders, by inheritance,
from one generation to another down
to the beginning Of the war between
the states. The consequent stability
of social life produced succession
Of right living men and women whose
like it is feared, will not again ap
pear. Rebecca Rolfe was among the
first of long line of Virginia gen
tlewomen of type that has passed
with the times to which they gave q
peculiar interest.
Each lady of that vanished day held
queenly sway in loved ancestral sur
roundings. In dignified state she
visited neighboring families of conse-
quence, or went for a season to Will
liamsburg, the gay colonial capital,
situated on the tongue of land be-
tween the James and the York Riv-
ers, since known to fame as "the Pc
ninsula."
In her social progresses she rode
in a velvet-lined coach drawn fly four
or six blooded horses-not one too
many for the mud holes to be pulled
through in those brave times. Her
negro coachman in cloth coat and
brass buttons, who could be trusted
to drive her hundred miles in safe
ty, through love and respect rather
than fear, skillfully handled the lines
while liveried footmen swung jaunt-
lily to the carriage straps behind, |
ready to spring to the ground, open
the door, and let down the folding
steps at the will of the mistress
AS to her wholesome life at home,
Thomas Nelson Page has covered the
case in asserting that "The system
of living in the South made the do
nestle virtues as common as light |
and air" Housewifely thrift and |
executive ability of high order
made the home of the Southern wo-
man who was true to the type, an
Eden for all who partook of her hos
pitality. Good cheer, order and |
beauty prevailed from the entrance
hall, impressive with it's array of
portraits, to the clean and |
ample kitchen and servants quar-
tiers. The we'll filled smokehouse,
the poultry yard astir with fowls,
the pantry supply of jelly, pickle,
cordial, Bounce" and preserves, the
cellar stocked with the choicest vim
tages of the old world, and the gar
den growing with every herb, vege-
table and flower known to the new,
were results of the industry of the
lady bountiful of We olden time.
And, withal, the "swept and garn-
ished" guest rooms, as rarely unoc-
cupied as vacuums occur in nature,
were dainty with lavendar scented |
linens, waXed floors, and polished .
One of the oldest homes on the
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