. Richard of Jamestown ; a story of the Virginia colony . onderful man. In the sixth month of Grace, 1606, I was living asbest I might in that great city of London, which is asmuch a wilderness of houses, as this country is a wilder-ness of trees. My father was a soldier of fortune, which means thathe stood readv to do battle in behalf of whatsoever j nation he believed was in the right, or, perhaps, on the AN IDLE BOY ii side of those people who would pay him the most moneyfor risking his life. He had fought with the Dutch soldiers under com-mand of one Captain Miles Standish, an Englishmanof
. Richard of Jamestown ; a story of the Virginia colony . onderful man. In the sixth month of Grace, 1606, I was living asbest I might in that great city of London, which is asmuch a wilderness of houses, as this country is a wilder-ness of trees. My father was a soldier of fortune, which means thathe stood readv to do battle in behalf of whatsoever j nation he believed was in the right, or, perhaps, on the AN IDLE BOY ii side of those people who would pay him the most moneyfor risking his life. He had fought with the Dutch soldiers under com-mand of one Captain Miles Standish, an Englishmanof renown among men of arms, and had been killed. My mother died less than a week before the newswas brought that my father had been shot to then fully understanding how great a disaster itis to a young lad when he loses father or mother,and how yet more sad is his lot when he has lost bothparents, I made shift to live as best I might with a soreheart; but yet not so sore as if I had known the fullextent of the misfortune which had overtaken AN IDLE BOY At first it was an easy mat-ter for me to get food at thehome of this lad, or of that,among my acquaintances,sleeping wherever night over-took me; but, finally, whenmayhap three months hadgone by, my welcome wasworn threadbare, and I wastold by more than one, thata hulking lad of ten years 12 RICHARD OF JAMESTOWN should have more pride than to beg his way from doorto door. It is with shame I here set down the fact, that manyweeks passed before I came to understand, in ever soslight a degree, what a milksop I must be, thus eatingthe bread of idleness when I should have won the right,by labor, to a livelihood in this world. This last thought had just begun to take root inmy heart when Nathaniel Peacock, whose mother hadbeen a good friend of mine during a certain time afterI was made an orphan, and I, heard that a re-markably brave soldier was in the city of London,making ready to go into the new world, with the intent
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