Mary Baldwin College - Bluestocking Yearbook (Staunton, VA)

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8 The Annual of Lord Delaware appeared at the very moment when the fleet with the few surviving colonists, was preparing to sail away. But now Jamestown colony had come to stay and in and out between the threads of history we find a tender, graceful romance woven. We furget the deeds of the noble Delaware and care not for the grim old soldier, Thomas Dale, while our hearts are beating truly to the old, old story , told by an Englishman to Powhatan ' s dearest daughter in the shad- ow of the forest trees. Many changes and reverses passed over the colony and cloudy days would come ; but year by year its borders spread ; the red-skinned savage moved their hunting grounds back toward the Blue Ridge mountains and other towns and settle- ments sprang up. It is to Jamestown, that old historic city, on whose sandy shores the river encroaches year by year and where the sea- breezes blow over the ruined church tower, that our affections turn, and to the narrow streets of Williamsburg and the old plantation homes that stand on the banks of the James and the York. Here it was that the good old times held high carnival and Virginia reached the period called the ' ' Golden. Cooke in his Virginia, states that probably the most fruitful cause of the sudden development of the first adven- turers into lords of society, was the Cavalier invasion after the execution of Charles I. This element was much modified by its blending with the staunch adherents of the Commonwealth, while Huguenot refugees infused a stream of rich, pure blood into Virginia society; as the result of this we have the Colonial character, combining the courtly grace and courtesy of the one with the courage, love of liberty, and determination of the other. Down on the tide-water, mirth ran high and on the old plantations, as well as in the royal capital, there were fes- tivities of every description. Toward the mountains and be- yond, the currents of Colonial life ran stiller and deeper and Scotch-Irish, born of Cavenanter blood, rose with the dawn, to hew down forests, build churches and school houses, while German-Lutherans toiled and struggled with many a homesick longing for the Faderland.

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The Afary iahhcin Sn iinar) ' . 7 fering from one another only from the fact that they are pre- sented under different circumstances. Manfred passes his life among the Alps, a lonely recluse. The magnificent scen- ery surrounding him inspires him and he seeks to drown his griefs in an intellectual life; thus the higher part of his nature is developed, and the superhuman glamour which overcasts him veils his person with awe and grandeur. Conrad and Lara give vent to their sorrows by daring exploits and brave deeds of warfare. Childe Harold roams the earth and seeks diversion from his woe by revelling in the grandeur of nature and in scenes sacred in history. Thus, all those who appreciate the greatness of Byron ' s poetry must realize sadly that the greatest creations of his genius were the ofifspring of sorrow. k. d. y. THE COLONIAL PERIOD IN VIRGINIA. Tons, the daughters of the Colonial Dames of the olden days , every page of Virginia history is dear, and though what we glean from her first years of hardship and trial comes to us through a mist blown about by the winds of old yeais yet even that is a cherished tradition. Now and then the veil of uncertainty lifts and we see an adventurous band sail over the sea in search of pearls and gold and land at Jamestown in 1607. Through all the chang- ing years of hope and doubt, failure and success, when faction and strife ran high and Indian treachery was always near, we see the rulers, from the wise and gallant Smith to the false and rebellious Ratcliflfe, ' not worth remembering but to his dishonor ' ' come and go, vainly tr3 ' ing to hold the reins of governmetit. Like a pall we see starvation settle down upon the colonists ; Indian cruelties lose their terrors, famine stares them in the face and the hearts of men turn to stone. They were in the last days of May, 1610, and day by day they strained their eyes to search the far horizon, then turned back, while despair pressed heavily But help was near, and

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The Miuy Baldwin Seiiiinarv. From various old histories, we learn that the society of the tide water was a mixed one. First along the river we find the long- shore men, a merry, roistering race, who lived by the fruits of their nets and seines ; then the merchants and small land-holders ; the planters who were lords of the land, and the church of England clergy. Rude log cabins had given place to mansions of baronial splendor and where once trackless forests stretched in wide expanse, smooth and luxuriant lawns sloped gently to the river, while here and there, the sward was dotted with some monumental oak or ancient forest king. Westover, Brandon, Rosewell, Shirley, Carter ' s Grove and others are not strange to us and ring many changes on the chords of memory. Their owners were men whom generations of gentle ancestry had not enfeebled, nor years of intercourse with refining influences, rendered effeminate. They ruled their estates like the pa- triarchs of old, were not forgetful to entertain strangers and were inclined to look on life with very optimistic views, when they gazed on their broad possessions and caught the glisten- ing of the sun on the white-sailed barges passing up and down the river. Each plantation was a feudal estate and en- tailed on the eldest son. In reality it was a little kingdom in itself, with its verdant meadows and luxuriant woodlands ; hosts of servants, both indented and slaves, obeyed the wills of their masters and shone with reflected glory. The Virginia planter has had many a gibe cast at his prejudices and pecu- liarities, but certain it is, that he managed to keep wrinkled care from his brow and old age crept upon him so slowly and and reluctantly that it came as a friend, not dimming the brightness of the eyes nor bending the uprightness of the form. Food was plentiful and everything was manufactured on the estate from the shoes which the slaves wore to their clothing and hats. Luxuries came from Europe, and rare and costly were the silks and jewels worn by the fair dames of colonial times, while their lords stored the larders with wines which had imprisoned in their depths the sparkle of Falernian sunshine or drunk in their sweetness on the slopes of southern France. The great iron gates were a fitting entrance to the manor-house with its tall, white pillars and wide, sunnj '