Norwich bulletin., 1918-01-04
PRIZE ESSAY BY,
 ROBERT GALE MOVES
Took First Place in State Contest Held
 Y by Colonial Danes.

hObEhi tzAi-E fNO Y E9 | Took First Place in State Contest Held ' by Colonial Danes.
 One of the interesting features of ! the January meeting of Faith Trum- bull chapter, D. A. R., on "Wednesday 1 was the reading by Miss Ethel Sevin of the prize essay written by Robert l Gale Moves on The Influence of Wo-
 man in the Colonies. This essay won the first prize. offered by the Connecti- cut State Society of Colonial Danes. The essay which was read by MT. Moves at his graduation at the N. F. A.. is as follows: The study Of the lives of noble wo- men and the share they have had in history is always an inspiring one. It is doubly so when one studies closely the lives of those women who lived for the making and the betterment of his own native land. Much he finds ot the noble, pure, and good, of worthy example, of loTable personality. Then | he realives how much honor is given to perpetuate the names of his fore- fathers, and yet how little history has given to the noble women who bore an equal share of their joys and sorrows, | their burdens, and their hardships. We see the women of those stormy days | of dissent, revolt, and separation, lstruggling bravely alongside the men against common foe and hardships of l the wilderness--a noble struggle for a noble cause.
 Undoubtedly the most arduous and difficult task was that of founding the colonies. The severe, though excef-
 lent training gained thereby, gave
 man and woman alike courage and | ability in developing those colonies
 In the early history of the very first 1 colony at Jamestown no one played a I greater part than the Indian maiden f--Pocahontas. The pretty story of her rescue of the founder, John Smith, is known to every American. Like . | wise it is well known that only by | the help of small band of noble wo- men was this same colony saved from ruin. The story of the homeless col : | ony; the desire of the lonely men for companions and the purchase of the I beautiful young wives from England for, one hundred and twenty pounds Of
 tobacco is delightful.
 In the colony at Plymouth we find the ideal type of woman as helpmate and companion. Here the romantic lis so mingled with the historic that at first, one seems lost in maze oz
 tangled fact and fiction. But one should remember that this very spirit
 of romance was the outgrowth of
 true, unselfish lives. Here are the
 immortal names of frail Rose Stand
 ish, the pride of the stern Captain
 Mary Chiffon, and Priscilla, who caus-
 ed John such amaZement and tempo.
 rary discontinue by her famous leap
 year proposa-hardly becoming. one l in 2 maiden-yet most pleasing withal
 As an example of the frontier wo
 man of those trying days-courageou l elf-reliant, and resourceful-the name of Hannah Duston will live forever il the annals of our country. She, wher taken into captivity by the Indians ir : the pillage of Haverhill, killed every one of her captors, and, fighting to tht !, last, yet remaining as it has been sait Il essentially Tonlanly,'' effected l1ei
 escape. Another, though very differ. ent type of woman was Mrs. ThoInai Hooker, who with great fortitude am
 courage aided in the settlement o
 Hartford, Connecticut She, Zoo il !, to walk, was borne through the beau l tlful woods of the Cor,reCticut valle, 5 on litter. What spiritual help sr, g gave her husband in his difficult tasl T of founding new settlement nor E than repaid for the physical aid sh [ was unable to give. One sees thi kind of wennan throughout the earl years of our history-the firm, gentl ! spirits unable to help in any materia I degree. doing no really definite work e tyet strengthening and sustaining tn 4 men by their constant encouragement ,. This was such wonan's share in tn = founding of our country. De Tocque e vile appreciated the characteristics c s American women when he said, If 5. were asked to what the singular pros . perity and growing strength of tn American people ought mainly to b T tattributed, I should reply-to the su
 periority of their women"
 Such superior woman was foun '- at Saybreol colony, occupying a mos
 kunique position, Lady Fenwick, wifi ,tf of the man who established the col i ony-ColoneI F'enwick-was the onl :, woman of gentle birth among the Sc: n tiers. The poor woman wore her lii d away in voluntary exile, hoping an
 praying in vain for the arrival ( v ships which never came, bringing lord 7 and ladies from England to the colon! if Many were the women such as sh ,e whose crowning love persuaded thel " to give up the joys of a social life 2 ', home and follow their husbands to tf ic new world for the sake of principle
 Probably the woman who had tn n greatest share in the founding and de al velopment of any one colony was Mar +o garet Brent of Maryland. She stand ysi as the most vigorous and active fore ,- in the early history of that colony. T sr liner has been assigned the title of eth i, first American suffragette." colonis .s1 advocate of woman's rights. She act r~ nally went before the assembly an
 demanded representation and the vot,
 Although she failed, there is seen on .vI of the first moves in the transitio y period between the old and the ne, T woman. Such upheavals and disturb Id ances as had occurred in the middl of seventeenth century could but giv l. rise to new social conditions. For i'm a mediately we find wonan's conditio changing. Those days were the be e, ginning of the modern idea of woman
 tpositiop and rights. Such daring WIG of linen as. Margaret Brent and Ann rs Hutchinson developed this. growth 'n idea in rapid strides by their courage re ous,S if indiscreet actions Anne Hutch e, inson was the strongest and abiest re all the Colonial women. She is tf
 most famous woman of that perio