The Staple of Virginia

Very soon Pocahontas again stood before the chancel of the little chapel, now as a bride. It was a charming day in April, 1613. Her father's consent to her marriage had been easily obtained, and he had sent his brother Opachisco to give away his daughter according to the Christian ritual, for he would not trust himself with the English at Jamestown. Over the "fair, broad windows" hung festoons of evergreens bedecked with wild flowers, with the waxen leaves and scarlet berries of the holly. The communion table was covered with a "fair white linen cloth," and bore bread from the wheat fields around Jamestown, and wine from the luscious grapes from the adjacent woods. All the people at Jamestown were spectators of the nuptials. There were Sir Thomas Gates, and Master Sparks who had been co-embassador with Rolfe to the court of Powhatan. Young George Percy and Henry Spilman were there; and near them, an earnest watcher of the ceremony, was the elder brother of Pocahontas, with her younger brother and many youths and maidens from the forest. There, too, was Mistress John Rolfe, Mrs. Easton and child, and Mistress Horton and grand-child with her late maid-servant, Elizabeth Parsons, who, on Christmas Eve previously, had married Thomas Powell. These were all the English women then in Virginia, and all returned to Europe.

When all things were in readiness, the bride and groom entered the chapel. Pocahontas was dressed in a simple tunic of white muslin from the looms of Dacca. Her arms were bare even to her shoulders; and hanging loosely to her feet was a robe of rich stuff presented to her by Sir Thomas Dale, and fancifully embroidered by herself and her maidens. A gaudy fillet encircled her head, and held the gay plumage of birds and a veil of gauze, while her wrists and ankles were adorned with the simple jewelry of the native workshops. Rolfe was attired in the gay clothing of an English cavalier of that period, and upon his thigh he wore the short sword of a gentleman of distinction in society. He was a noble specimen of manly beauty and dignity in form and carriage, and she of womanly modesty and lovely simplicity. Upon the chancel steps, where no railing interfered, the good Whittaker stood in sacerdotal robes, and, with impressive voice, pronounced the marriage ritual of the Anglican Church, there first planted on the American continent. The governor, sitting on his right on a richly-carved chair of state, with his ever-attendant halberdiers with helmets, at his back, heartily said Amen! at the conclusion of the ceremony.

So were wedded the Rose of England and the Totem or Indian symbol of nationality, giving promise of a friendly union of races in Virginia. It brought present peace, and Powhatan was ever afterward the fast friend of the English. Rolfe and his spouse "lived civilly and lovingly together" until the departure of Governor Sir Thomas Dale for England in 1616, whither they, with several others of the settlement and all the English women there, accompanied him. There the "Lady Rebecca" received great attentions from the court and all below it. The Lord Bishop of London entertained her with "festival and pomp," and at court she was treated with the ceremonious respect due to the daughter of monarch. The silly bigot on the British throne was angry because one of his subjects had dared to marry a lady of royal blood; and Captain Smith, for fear of the royal displeasure, would not allow her to call him "father" as she desired to do. Her simple, tender heart was grieved because of his seeming want of affection for her. The king, in his absurd dreams of the royal prerogative, imagined that Rolfe or his descendants might lay claim to the crown of Virginia, in behalf of his royal wife! And it was considered in council whether he had not committed treason!

Pocahontas remained in England about a year; and when she was about to embark for America with her husband and son, and Tomocome, her father's chief councillor, she sickened and died at Gravesend in June, 1617, when she was not quite twenty-two years of age. She left a son, Thomas Rolfe, who became a distinguished man in Virginia, and whose descendants have been numbered among the honorable citizens of that commonwealth.

Prosperity was now the destiny of the settlements in Virginia, although the prime element of a permanent state-the family-was yet wanting. Because of this want, the settlers continually indulged in dreams of returning home-to England. Dale, who had ruled with wisdom as well as energy, discouraged this feeling, and by engaging them in the cultivation of the tobacco plant, somewhat allayed it. His successors encouraged its production, and in spite of the silly efforts of King James to prevent its use in England, by forbidding its cultivation in the British islands, its growth and exportation to the mother country soon became the staple and very profitable business of the planters in Virginia. Its culture became a mania. The streets of Jamestown were planted with it, and food-producing products were so neglected, that while great cargoes of tobacco were preparing for England, the necessaries of life were wanting. It became the currency of the country, the money value of a pound of tobacco being fixed at about sixty-six cents.