SEEKING BETTER FORTUNE.
On peace and rest my mind was bent,
And fool I was I married;
But never honest man's intent
As cursedly miscarried.
--BURNS.
In Virginia's colonial days, no man was better known than John Smith
Stevens. His father was one of the original founders of Jamestown and,
it was said, had felled the first tree to build the city. John Smith was
his first born, and was named in honor of Captain John Smith, a
personal friend.
John Smith Stevens was born about the year 1625, the same year that
Governor Wyat defeated the Indians. He was four years of age when John
Harvey became colonial governor in 1629, and a year later, 1630, Sir
George Calvert came to Jamestown on his way to colonize Maryland under
the charter of Lord Baltimore. He was old enough to remember the stormy
days in the assembly, when, on the "28th of April, 1635, Sir John Harvey
thrust out of his government, and Captain John West acts as Governer
till the king's pleasure is known." He never knew exactly why Sir John
Harvey was thrust out; but he heard some one say he was interfering with
the liberties of the people.
He knew that the king replaced him, however. Then the people said that
all Virginia was divided into eight _Shires_: James City, Henrico,
Charles City, Elizabeth City, Warwick River, Warrosquoyake, Charles
River, and Accawmacke, and that a lieutenant was appointed over each to
protect them against the Indians. John Stevens remembered when William
Claybourne, the famous rebel of colonial Virginia, tried to urge the
people, against the will of the king, to drive the colonists out of
Maryland, which they claimed as a part of their domain.
Claybourne established a colony at Kent Island, from whence a burgess
was sent. Leonard Calvert was governor of Maryland, and a
misunderstanding arose between him and Claybourne on Kent Island.
Claybourne must go, for the island was part of Maryland, although the
right of his lordship's patent was yet undetermined in England.
Claybourne resisted. He declared that he was on Virginia territory by
the king's patent, and was the owner of Kent Island, and that he meant
to stay there. He would also sail to and fro in his trading ship, the
_Longtail_, to traffic with the Indians. If he were attacked he would
defend himself. He soon had an opportunity to make good his boasts.
Leonard Calvert seized the _Longtail_, and Claybourne sent a swift
pinnace with fourteen fighting men to recapture her. This was in the
year 1634, when John Stevens was nine years of age; but the affair was
the talk of the time, and consequently was indelibly stamped on his
young mind. Two Maryland pinnaces went to meet Claybourne, and a
desperate fight occurred on the Potomac River. A volley of musket-balls
was poured into Claybourne's pinnace, and three of his men fell dead.
Calvert captured the pinnace; but Claybourne escaped. He was driven from
Kent Island and escaped to Virginia; but Sir John Harvey refused to
surrender him, and John Stevens saw the rebel when he embarked for
England, where he made a strong fight before the throne for Kent Island.
Although he seemed for a while about to triumph, the lords commissioners
of plantations finally decided against his claims, thus dispelling the
rosy dreams of Claybourne.
In 1642, there came to Virginia as governor of the colony Sir William
Berkeley, then almost forty years of age, when John Stevens was only
seventeen. Berkeley was a man of charming manners, proverbially polite,
and he delighted the Virginians, who had a weakness for courtliness. He
belonged to an ancient English family, and believed in monarchy as a
devotee believes in his saint, "and he brought to the little capital at
Jamestown all the graces, amenities, and well-bred ways which at that
time were characteristic of the cavaliers. He was a cavalier of the
cavaliers, taking the word to signify an adherent of monarchy and the
established church," and thoroughly hated anything resembling
republicanism. For his king and church, this smiling gentleman, with his
easy and friendly air, was going to fight like a tiger or a ruffian.
Under his glove of velvet was a hand of iron, which would fall
inexorably alike on the New England Puritans and the followers of Bacon.
With the courage of his convictions, he was ready to deal out banishment
for the dissenters; shot and the halter for rebels. He lived on his
estate of about a thousand acres at Greenspring, not far from Jamestown.
"Here he had plate, servants, carriages, seventy horses, fifteen hundred
apple trees, besides apricots, peaches, pears, quinces and mellicottons.
When, in the stormy times, the poor cavaliers flocked to Virginia to
find a place of refuge, he entertained them after a royal fashion in
this Greenspring Manor house. As to the Virginians, they were always
welcome, so that they did not belong to the independents, haters of the
church and king."
From the very first, John Stevens did not like Governor Berkeley and in
a short time learned that he was a tyrant. Berkeley issued his
proclamation against the Puritan pastors, prohibiting their teaching or
preaching publicly or privately.
John Smith Stevens participated in the Indian war in 1644, and saw
Opechancanough, at this time almost a hundred years of age, captured and
brought to Jamestown, where he requested his captors to hold open his
eyes, that he might see and upbraid Sir William Berkeley for making a
public exhibition of him. A short hour afterward the aged chieftain was
treacherously wounded by his guard.
In the year 1648, John Stevens married Dorothe Collier, the daughter of
a clergyman of the church of England. This naturally united him to the
cavalier or church party, while his mother, brother and sister were
Puritans. Sometimes John thought he had the best wife living, at others
he was almost persuaded that she was intolerable. She was a beautiful
brunette, with great dark eyes which smiled when the sky was fair, but
in which appeared the lustre of a tigress when enraged. Love in its full
strength and beauty seldom dwells in the heart of both husband and wife
through all the vicissitudes of life. It was so in John's case. When the
honeymoon waned and practical existence began, the wife became
ambitious for a more showy manner of life and more pleasures than the
husband could afford. He was prosperous; but his wife's extravagance, in
which he indulged her at first, kept him poor. Poverty became a burden
and marriage a mockery. He who had been insanely in love, and who was
unable to live out of her presence, proved an indifferent husband before
the honeymoon was over. Why? John had thought his wife an angel, and
marriage had shattered his idol. His ideal woman had fallen so far below
his expectations that disappointment drove him to indifference. His wife
thought herself his superior, and John, to her, was more a convenience
than a husband.
Gradually Dorothe grew indifferent toward her husband's mother and young
sister, who idolized him, and though they bore her no thought of ill,
she came to despise them. John's mother saw that her son's wife was
ruining him by her extravagance, yet she dared not interpose as it would
make the rupture complete. Dorothe was a haughty cavalier and despised
all Puritans and, most of all, her husband's mother; but the cavaliers
were in trouble. King Charles was tried, condemned and beheaded in 1649,
and a protectorate (Oliver Cromwell) ruled over England a few months
after the execution of the king. John Stevens' wife gave birth to a son
who was named Robert for his wife's father.
Though England was a commonwealth, Virginia remained loyal to the
wandering prince, who slept in oaks and had more adventures than any
other man of his day. Berkeley, it is said, even invited him to come and
rule over Virginia, assuring him of his support; but Parliament took
notice of the saucy colony and, in 1650, ordered a fleet to conquer it.
The fleet did not reach Jamestown until 1652, when, after a little
fluster, Sir William Berkeley retired to Greenspring, and the government
was turned over to the roundheads, who chose Richard Bennet, Esquire, to
be governor of the colony for one year. On the day of Bennet's
inauguration, John Steven's second child, a daughter, whom he named
Rebecca, was born. These two links of love made his wife more dear to
him. At times she was pleasant; but usually she studied to thwart his
will. She was humbled with the cavaliers and hated the Puritans. Ann
Linkon, an old woman given to gossiping, incurred the displeasure of
Dorothe Stevens, because she gossiped about her extravagance. She had
her arrested, condemned and ducked as we have seen. There was no open
rupture between Dorothe and her husband's relatives. She still greeted
them with half-smiles; but those half-smiles were cold and uncongenial,
and there seemed to be a settled purpose on her part as well as theirs
to dislike each other. To no one did Dorothe express this dislike save
to her husband, and to him she never lost an opportunity for doing so.
In 1654, Claybourne, who was in possession of Kent Island, was
threatened by the Catholics from Maryland, and John Stevens, with his
friend Hugh Price and half a dozen more, went to aid in the defence of
the island. They camped at the mouth of the Severn, in the vicinity of
the present city of Annapolis, where they were joined by Claybourne and
a body of three hundred men.
On the 25th of March, 1654, Stone sailed with a force down the river,
landed and attacked Claybourne. At early dawn the sleeping Puritans were
awakened by the boom of cannon and volleys of muskets. They arose,
formed their lines of battle and poured a tremendous fire upon the
enemy. The Marylanders landed and tried to storm their fort; but after
an hour retreated, leaving twenty killed and twice as many wounded on
the field. Claybourne had conquered and, for a brief space of time, was
to hold sway over the Severn and Kent Island.
John Stevens returned to his home to find that his wife's extravagance
had impoverished his estates and almost brought him to beggary. He had
remonstrated with her without avail. She wrecked her husband's fortune
for a few weeks of vain show.
"Were you more prudent, Dorothe," said John, "we could soon live at
ease. I have fine estates and earn money sufficient to make us
comfortable for life and leave a competency for our children."
"Peace, man! Do you disdain to labor for your wife and children? Do not
other men support their families, and why not you, pray?"
"But other men have helpmates in their wives."
This was the spark which ignited the hidden fires. Her black eyes
blazed, and her breast heaved. She upbraided him until he withdrew and,
mounting his horse, rode away. At night he returned to find his wife
silent and morose, and for nine days they scarcely spoke. This life was
trying to John.
After a few days she grew more amiable and expressed sympathy with her
husband in his financial straits.
"I am going to economize," she declared. "I will take no heed what I
shall eat, nor what I shall drink, nor wherewithal I shall be clothed."
Again for the thousandth time he took heart. After all, Dorothe might
become a helpmate. She was so beautiful and so cheerful in her
pleasanter moods that he thought her a treasure. When he took his baby
on his knee and felt her soft, warm cheek against his own, he realized
that life might be endurable even in adversity.
One evening, as they talked over his financial troubles, he said:
"Our family has a fortune in Florida."
At the name of fortune, Mrs. Stevens' head became erect, and she was all
attention like a war-horse at the blast of a trumpet.
"If you have a fortune there, why don't you go and get it?" she asked.
"We would, I trow, did we know we could have it for the going," he made
answer.
"And wherefore can you not?"
"St. Augustine is under the Spanish rule, and we know not that they will
permit an Englishman even to inherit property there. My grandfather was
a Spaniard and died possessed of valuable property."
"Can you not get it? Can you not get it?" she asked.
"I do not know."
"Try."
"We have thought to try it."
His brother was sent to Florida, but failed, though assured by the
lawyers that they might in time recover it.
There is no business so unprofitable as waiting for dead men's money.
Fortune flies at pursuit and smiles on the indifferent.
The prospects of John Stevens were certainly at a low ebb, and he found
his affairs daily growing worse. Large consignments of tobacco sent to
England remained unpaid for, and he stood in danger of losing all. He
thought of making a voyage to London for the purpose of looking after
his accounts. John Stevens had never been away from his family, save in
the short campaign on the Severn, and he dreaded to leave home. He loved
his children and, despite her faults, he loved his wife. As he held his
baby in his arms and listened to her gentle crowing and heard the merry
prattle of his boy at play, he asked himself if he should ever see those
children again, were he to go away.
John had three friends in whom he reposed great confidence. They were
Drummond, Lawerence, and Cheeseman. One evening he met them at the home
of Drummond and, relating his condition, asked:
"Knowing all as you do, what do you advise?"
"By all means, go to London," answered Drummond.
"Ought I to leave my wife and children?"
"Wherefore not?"
"If I perish on the voyage, they will be wholly unprovided for."
"Your father was a sailor."
"But his son is not."
"Yet methinks the son should inherit some of the father's courage."
John Stevens' cheek reddened at the delicate insinuation against his
courage, and he responded:
"Have I not, on more than one hard-fought field, established my claim to
courage?"
"True, yet why shrink from this voyage?"
"A soothsayer once predicted that dire calamities would overcome me,
were I ever to venture upon the sea."
At this Cheeseman and Drummond laughed and even the thoughtful Mr.
Lawerence smiled. Though soothsayers in those days were not generally
gainsaid, those four men at Drummond's house lived in advance of
their age.
"Go on your voyage and save the sum in jeopardy," was Drummond's advice.
"If your going will make sure the sum, hesitate not a single moment,"
interposed Cheeseman.
"How much is involved?" asked the thoughtful Mr. Lawrerence.
"Eight hundred pounds."
"Quite a sum."
"Verily, it is. The amount would at this day relieve all my
embarrassments; yet, if I go, I leave nothing behind, for my property is
gone, and my family is unprovided for."
"Secure the eight hundred pounds and provide for them."
With this advices in mind, he went home, and that same evening Hugh
Price, the young royalist, who lived with Sir William Berkeley at
Greenspring, called to see him, and once more the voyage to London was
discussed.
"By all means, go," Hugh advised. "It is your duty to go."
Mrs. Stevens was consulted and thought she should go also; she saw no
reason in his taking a pleasure voyage and leaving his wife at home; but
this was out of the question, for the baby was too young to endure the
voyage; besides, the cost of taking her would more than double the
expense. Then Mrs. Stevens, who thought only of a pleasant time, wanted
to know why she could not be sent in his stead. He explained that it was
a matter of business which a woman could not perform; but Mrs. Stevens
became unreasonable, declaring:
"You wish to go to London and pass your time in gay society."
"I do not," he answered.
"Verily, you do. You tire already of your wife; you would seek another."
"Dorothe, I would wed no other woman living," answered John, with a
sigh.
"They all say that; yet no sooner is the wife laid in the grave than
they are anxious to find one younger and more fair."
"Women do the same," John ventured to urge in defence of his sex.
"Not so often as the men."
Then Mrs. Stevens began a harangue on the evils of second marriages and
wound up by declaring they were compacts of the devil. John Stevens
returned to the original question of his going to London.
"My friends all declare that it is my duty to go," he said.
"Your friends! who are your friends?"
"Drummond."
"An ignorant Scotchman."
Drummond was far from being ignorant, yet he stood not in favor with
Mrs. Stevens.
"Mr. Lawerence advises it."
"He is a canting hypocrite."
"Mr. Edward Cheeseman also thinks it advisable."
"Verily, he is a scheming man, who will swindle you out of the eight
hundred pounds when you have secured it."
"Hugh Price agrees with them."
"Does he?" asked Mrs. Stevens.
"He does."
"I don't believe it."
Hugh Price was, in her estimation, the perfection of manhood. He was of
the same church, a thorough royalist and a close friend of Sir William
Berkeley the deposed governor.
"Dorothe, I said he recommended it. Pray do not doubt it."
The matter was settled next day when Hugh Price himself said to Mrs.
Stevens that it was best for her husband to go. She secretly resolved
that during her husband's absence she would enjoy herself.
"John," she said, "if you are going away to London to enjoy yourself,
you must leave with me two or three hundred pounds."
John Stevens interrupted her with a sarcastic laugh.
"Dorothe, had I two or three hundred pounds, I would not go."
"Verily, how do you expect me to pass the dreary interval of your
absence, if I have no luxuries."
"Luxuries in our poor country are uncommon, and what few we have are
expensive. Think not of luxuries, but rather of necessities. Husband the
little money I shall be able to leave you and be prepared against
adversity. I may never return."
"Wherefore not?" cried Mrs. Stevens. "Do you contemplate an elopement?
You were seen holding converse with Susan Colgate."
Mrs. Stevens had, among other weaknesses, enough of the "green-eyed
monster" to make herself miserable. Susan Colgate was a pretty maiden at
Jamestown, whose charms John Stevens had praised in his wife's presence.
He smiled at her interruption and, after assuring her that he had no
intention of eloping, said:
"The ship may sink; then you and these two little children will be
unprovided for. I beseech you, husband the little I leave."
"Have no fears, I shall care for them in some way; but I am not going to
forego anything in anticipation of disaster. Surely you will come back.
My great grief at the absence of my husband will rend my heart so sorely
that I must needs have some pleasure to drive away the sorrow and
perpetuate the bloom on these cheeks and the brightness in these
eyes for you."
Silly John Stevens yielded to his wife and consented to set apart for
luxuries some of the small amount he was to leave. Mrs. Stevens was born
to squander. Ann Linkon had said of her:
"She could cast from the window more than the good husband could throw
in at the door." But Ann was adjudged of slander, and ducked for
the charge.
John paid his mother a visit before departing. That sweet, gentle mother
greeted her unhappy son with, tears. It was seldom Dorothe permitted him
to visit her. His mother knew it and always assumed a cheerfulness she
was far from feeling. Ofttimes poor John had a hard struggle between
duty to his mother and fidelity to wife. It was a struggle in which no
earthly friend could aid him.
The day to sail came. At an early hour the vessel was to weigh anchor,
and just as the approaching day began to paint the eastern horizon an
orange hue, John rose and prepared to depart. All the town was quiet.
His children were sleeping, and he bent over them and pressed a kiss
upon the cheek of each, murmuring a faint:
"God bless you!"
"Shall I awake them?" his wife asked.
"No, no; the parting will be much easier if they sleep.
"Dear, I do so regret your going!" sobbed Mrs. Stevens, genuine tears
gathering in her eyes.
"Heaven grant, Dorothe, it may not be for long."
"I will go with you to the boat," she said, hurriedly dressing herself.
John's small effects had been carried aboard the evening before, so he
had only to go on board himself. As Mrs. Stevens buckled her shoes,
she repeated:
"I do so regret your going. I shall be so anxious about you and so
lonesome."
[Illustration: Once more he bent over the sleeping children.]
John heard her, but made no answer. He was standing with folded arms
gazing on his sleeping children. Moisture gathered in his eyes, and he
murmured a silent but fervent prayer to God to bless and spare them.
There came a knock at the door. It was a sailor come to tell him the
boat was waiting to carry him on board the ship, that the tide and wind
were fair and they only awaited his arrival to sail.
Once more he tenderly bent over the sleeping children and pressed a kiss
on the face of each. A tear fell on the chubby cheek of little Rebecca,
causing her to smile.
"Farewell, little darling!" and the father quitted his home and,
accompanied by his wife, hurried to the beach. Here was a short pause, a
last embrace, a fond adieu, and the husband left the weeping wife on the
strand, while he was rowed to the great ship which had already begun to
hoist anchor.