Red Lodge daily news combined with Carbon County news., 1934-05-23

luc Only PROMISING clue Nullt
found was the sign zero" blazed on
a tree. Since these letters were
part of a code agreed upon by the
~colonists three years before, the
rescue party hoped that their
friends had gone to Croatan, home
of the friendly Manteo, who had
promised sanctuary In emergency +;
but the captain, pleading bad
weather and lack of supplies, forced
the party to sail away before the
clue could be investigated.
What had been the colonists' fate?
The blazed sign was all that was
ever found of the Lost Colonies ex.
cepr hasty marks of departure,
burned chests, rusty iron nipple
ments, household effects and books.
Whatever the fate Of the col
onists, either they or their early
successors left their Elizabethan
dialects, manners, customs, and fea-
lures in this American byway.
AS the little mail boat hobs along
toward Roanoke island, the travel
eler's thoughts turn from the story
of Virginia Dare and the first col
onlsts to another historic drama OF
the Banks. In 1912, just across the
channel from Roanoke island, on
the ocean sand splits Of Mays Head,
the pilot boat Patriot, carrying The
odosia Burr Aston, daughter of
Aaron Burr and wife of Governor
Aston OF South Carolina, ended Its
last voyage. After the tragic col
lapse OF her fathers career and the
loss Of her little son, the only hope
of the Burr family, Mrs. Aston was
In the depths of despair. She set
sail from Georgetown, S. c.. to join
her lonely father, and disappeared
~foreyerl
Life on the Island.
A bit of life on Roanoke is re-
vealed by a recent visitor, a WON
an doctor.
An old midwife and nurse, the
widow OF a life service man, was
to care for an aged woman In her
ancient cottage by the sound, where
she lived alone. Her name was
mis-" Bashi-the Mis-" an U.s.
land designation for mistress, and
"Bashi," she said. "a Bible name
after Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah
but they call me Bashi."
Surnames on the island do not
denote the individual, for the fam
lies In a hamlet are usually all
members Of one or two clans.
In a worn slab-wood rocker In
which the old woman had rocked
her six children the doctor rested
after dinner and listened to her
tale Of a remarkable life history.
What she learned entities Mis-
Bashi to a place In the annals OF
medical history. The old nurse be
longed to the islands remnant. Her
blood, her sterling character, and
her beautiful, broad dialect were
heritages of the old Devonshire
castaway. she was comedy and
agile, her visage n of strength and
thought
OF only FIVE weeks "schoolin','
she had never learned to read, but
had been taught to work indoors
and out and to spin. AT sixteen
"out' (old) she married and al
twenty-one 'out," In a far life serv.
Ice station hamlet, she undertook
her first obstetrlcal case.
doctor, / knew nothin' of 1t; but
Mehaley read me a doctor book, and
the moon was comm to full, so the
baby would be thrifty. One born In
the dark of the moon Is not"
WIS 1dSfN f*ufsiNMs
On her little plantation, In pine
woods by the sound, though wild.
owed later. she cared for a psychi
atric mother, raised her own brood
and her mothers and her brothers
children, cared for cows. pigs, anc
gardens. Then for As years she
minlstered to all the sick OF the re
gion, a local doctor coming only
at rare intervals.
Her sand pony Napoleon carried
her In q two-wheeled cart through
woods and sand and water, In gale
or sunshine to her patients. Otter
afoot she swung with her Viking
stride down beaches or through the
woods. She was smart, exact, ant
knowing, though she signed BY
mark, and she was known as q
"couthy" (capable) woman. Hei
dignity Of bearing and courtesy wert
exquisite. Thus she fell into the
role that nature cast for her.
Months later the doctor realized
how the personality of this islant
woman, linked with a touch O.
science, prevented morbid. result,
from household conditions. Sh,
established her own art of medicin,