SIR WALTER RALEIGH.
Sir Walter Raleigh was a brave English knight, the friend of Sir Philip
Sidney, and like him renowned for his chivalry. The story is told that
when he was a young man he happened one day to be standing on a street
down which Queen Elizabeth was passing, and as she came to a crossing
that was very muddy, Raleigh stepped to her side and taking off his
cloak laid it down for her to walk upon. This act of courtesy was the
first thing that made the queen notice him, and she immediately took him
into her favor and helped him all she could, and her kindness was well
bestowed, for Raleigh was always the courteous, noble-minded gentleman,
ready to do any one a kindness, rich or poor, high or low, and to serve
his friends and his country as far as was in his power. For a long time
after the visit of the Cabots, Englishmen thought very little about the
New World, but at length one or two voyages were made there, and after
this people began to think that perhaps it would be a good thing to try
to make settlements there.
Raleigh was among the first Englishmen who formed plans for the
settlement of America, and as he was a great favorite of the queen, he
had very little trouble in carrying his plans out. He was also very
rich, and after obtaining permission from Queen Elizabeth to settle
North America, he sent out two vessels under command of Amidas and
Barlow. The ships reached the coast of Carolina in the month of July,
1584, and took possession of the country in the name of the queen. The
land seemed to the voyagers like a glimpse of Paradise. They spoke with
delight of the "sweete-smelling timber trees," and the abundance of
grapes, and of the shady bowers which echoed to the music of wild birds,
and of the gentle manners of the natives who seemed to live "after the
manner of the golden age." They spent some weeks there trading with the
natives, but did not try to make a settlement, and then returned to
England, taking with them a cargo of furs and woods.
The queen was delighted to hear that the new country was so rich and
beautiful as these sailors described it to be, and said that because it
was discovered while she was queen her reign would be forever famous;
the name given to the country was Virginia, in honor to the queen, who
was unmarried. The sailors said that Virginia had a good soil and fine
climate, and that the Indians were very kind and friendly. Raleigh was
delighted to hear this, and immediately sent out another expedition
which was to settle on Roanoke Island. But when the settlers arrived
there they found that the Indians were not so friendly as at first; they
got into a great deal of trouble with them, and as they had been getting
all their food from the Indians they came very near starving. Instead of
planting corn and grain they spent their time in searching for gold and
silver mines, and just as they were about to give up in despair, a
vessel stopped there on its way to England and the captain took them
all back home again.
But Raleigh was not discouraged; he sent out another company, two years
afterwards (1587), under John White. This company also settled on
Roanoke Island and laid the foundations of the "City of Raleigh." And
here, on this wild American island, where a few years before many brave
Englishmen had been killed by the savage Indians, where there were only
rough log-houses to live in, and where fierce wild animals roamed
through the gloomy forests, was born one day a little baby girl. She was
the granddaughter of Captain John White, the governor of the colony.
This little girl was the first child born in America of English parents,
and she was named "Virginia Dare." Some time after White had to go back
to England for provisions; he was away three years, and when he returned
to Roanoke every trace of the colony had disappeared. And to this day no
one knows what ever became of the colonists, and of little Virginia
Dare. It is supposed that they might have been carried away by the
Indians and spent their lives as captives, but no one knows whether
Virginia Dare grew up as an Indian maiden, far away from her friends and
not knowing that she was the child of white parents, or whether, with
all the rest of the colony, she perished by the hands of the Indians.
All we know is that, more than three hundred years ago this little
English maiden came to live a while on the Island of Roanoke, and that
then she vanished as utterly as do the rain drops that fall into the
sea, and only her name is remembered.