Evening star., 1927-05-15
Churches Had Part
] In Colonial Story
of Important
Section.
Peace With Indians
Tobacco Industry
Is Conspicuous
Agricultural
Feature.
nv THOMAS II. HENRY.

tapestry embroidered with thread of
gold which is hung before the door
of Washington.
The history of the region lends
itself to such delineatiOn. There Is
little action and less anguish. Black
robed Iesuits bear the cross into
hospitahle and fruitful Wilderness
Peaceful red men, already in the pas
toral stage of human evolution, Sc
renev abjure their forest gods ana
kneel at Pentecost around a Christian
altar decorated with Woodland
flowers Brick manor houses hardly
distincuishahle from those of Enghsh
county knights are built with haw-
thorne hedges around them. Sheep
are grazing on broad. green lawns.
The forests are cleared away. To
hacco fields and corn fields stretch as
far as eye can see. Stately coacheS
bearing bewieged and ruftied gen
tlemen roll alon., the roads. Ships,
with white sails set, bear up the Po'
tomac and PatuXent, Hoop-sklrted
maidens practice on clavichords in or
nate drawing rooms. Relocated gal
Jants ride to the hounds. There Is
much uuaffing of brown ale after the
ladies' have retired.
The tapestry panorama rolls on
An army. picturesque with scarlet
hlouses, marches through the county
and burns the Capitol at Washing
ton. Fat colonels consume country
cheese and beer. Red-cheeked sub
aiterns osle plump farmers daughters
Soldiers break ranks and raid water
melon patches.
Comes the Civil War Across the
Potomac in Virginia men are lunSing
nj each other with bayonets. But
only rare wisps of smoke float over
the plantations of Prince Georges. 1t
retains all its pastoral charm ana
simplicity with the theater of war only
q few miles away.
Thus the tapestry panorama roils
on. The fat, reasonably contented
slaves are freed. They till tobacco
patches of their own The old fami'
lies continue in their manor houses
not quite so prosperous now. There
are frayed spots in the tapestry.
Scrub forests are springing up where
once were weedless fields. Ships no
longer are coming up the PatuXent.
But the fundamental tone of the PIC
t,lre does not change. The panorama
continues even up to the present, with
little of the jazz age entering into II.
There are the Washington suburbs,
of course They are growing very
rapidly. !. But these villages are
rather like patches cut out of the
tapestry than parts of it. They are
bits of the modern city. sticking their
heads under the fringes of the his
toric cuftain.'
Story of Mission.
Prince Georges County was con-
nuered by the cross. The story only
.,-ac 40 n light in the vel
lowed records of the Society of Jesus
at Rome-letters in Latin reporting
TO the general of the order the prog
ress of the missionaries.
The hero of the story is Rev. An
drew White, one of the chaplains OF
the group of Catholic colonists who
settled st. Afarys under the proprietor
ship of Lord Baltimore. Father White
is believed to have been the original
of Thackerays notable character. Mr..
Holt, in Henry Esmond.
Ii was he who established mis-
Eion among the friendly Piscataway
Indians on the PatuXent River near
the present Prince Georges village of
Piscataway. about 16 miles from
Washington. Here was located the
Indian village of Kittamaquindi, the
capital of King Maquacomen. The
chief, evidently an unusually inteiil-
gent and cultivated red man, wei.
coined the missionary, gave him a
home in his own palace wooden
hHt-but was somewhat chary of EN-.
bracing the new faith.
.Maquacomen had 40 conjurers who
attended to the bodies and souls Of
his people and had full faith in their
magic. Father White labored ear
nestly with him and finally succeeded.
hn af l1n fAI,In
tells how MaquacOmen was very sick
end growing worse. despite the most
vigorous efforts of the 40 medicine
men who called upon all the gods Of
The woodlands TO save him. AT this
juncture. Father White, a man with
considerabl bic medical training, "miXed
a certain powder OF known efficacy
with holy water" and administered it
to the ailing man. This was effective.
Maquacomen recovered and gratefully
embraced the new faith.
Having put aside his concubines.
reads the report, "he lives with one
wife that he may have leisure to pray
to God"
The next Pentecost the chief and his
wife were baptized at st. Marys. with
all the worthy colonists. even at this
early day contented and prosperous
landowners. slapping them on the
backs and congratula ting them. They
put on English clothes, cast the sa
cred stones out of their palace. hung
9. picture of the Virgin over their bed
and were chrstened Charles" and
"Mary"
Up to this time Piscataway had been
practically the white frontier. The
temper Of the Indians had been some
what questionable, and none cared to
venture among them except the Jes-
ults, who held life cheap il souls could
he redeemed by losing it. But the
work of conversion spread. Before
long the Jesuits reported 10 Rome,
"the King of the Anacostans" came to
the missionaries requesting baptism
for himself and all his people. Thus
the influence of the cross was spread
TO the territory now occupied by the
National Capital. Father White, by
the way. probably was the first white
mar IN this immediate vicinity.
Settlers from St. Marys spread up
the PatuXent and then westward from
that river to the Potomac. They lived
in peace with the Indians. The justice
and tolerance of the Calverts and their
agents in dealing with the red men
whom they found on their grants af
ford pleasant picture. in thorough
keeping with our pastoral tapestry, in
the settlement of the New World. else
where distinguished by SO much oi
cruelty and bad faith.
The good priest, one of the fines
characters in the early settlement oi
North America, labored long with the
Maryland rcd men. always raising hi;
voice in defense of the literal applica
ton of the Christian religion in 81
dealings with them. Every acre o.
and taken from them was paid fol
generously, according 10 their lights
Father White was sent back 10 Eng
and in irons after Claiborne's rebel
lion, ana remained in prison for many
Years Eventually he was released
10,