rounded by filth and all that was unlovely, yet the windows of the soul were bright, clear and pure.

It was too late to save the parents; but, by promising to transport the maid to the new colony, her freedom was given her. Three days later, Charles Montreville and his wife breathed their last, and their benefactor had them buried in the same grave.

To the English government, Oglethorpe proposed to plant a colony of these unfortunate prisoners for debt in the unoccupied country below Savannah. His colleagues readily assented, and, in his report to the House of Commons, he laid his scheme for the colony before that body. The plan had the advantage of securing a promising domain to the British crown, which otherwise might fall to the Spaniards in Florida. The colony would also relieve the South Carolinians from danger, besides taking from prisons and placing in homes a large class of worthy British subjects. The king and parliament favored the project. American colonization had already proved fruitful to the English government. An appropriation was made for the object, and, on the 9th of June, 1732, the king granted a charter for founding the colony of Georgia; the name being given as a compliment to King George II., the reigning monarch of Great Britain.

Twenty-one "noblemen and gentlemen' were entrusted with the management of the new settlement, who were constituted "Trustees for settling and establishing the colony of Georgia." One of these trustees was Oglethorpe. To them was given the powers of legislation for the colony for the space of twenty-one years, at the expiration of which time, a permanent government was to be established by the king, or his successor or successors, in accordance with British law and usage.

The great philanthropist, who had managed and planned this scheme for the benefit of the unfortunates of his realm, tendered his services to accompany emigrants and assist them in making their first settlement. Never did any project more completely commend itself to the hearts of the British people. Donations from all ranks and classes were freely given to assist the emigrants in planting comfortable homes in the wilderness. A generous gift was made by the Bank of England, and the House of Commons, from time to time, voted money, amounting in the aggregate, in the course of two years, to one hundred and sixty thousand. dollars. The trustees chose Lord Viscount Percival as president, and a code of regulations for the colony, with agreements and stipulations, was speedily prepared. Everything being in readiness, thirty-five families amounting to one hundred

and twenty emigrants, men, women and childrensailed from Gravesend for Georgia in the ship Anne, of two hundred tons burden, on the 6th of November, 1732. Oglethorpe, who was commissioned as the first governor, went with them, and the Rev. Mr. Shubert, of the Church of England, also accompanied them as their spiritual guide. The trustees of the colony, in the hope of growing silk in Georgia, sent with these emigrants a dozen Piedemontese silk-workers.

Noah Stevens, who had indirectly been drawn into the plans of the colonists of Georgia, became so deeply interested in the scheme that he forgot his lofty ideas of graduating at Oxford, and determined to accompany them. His long line of noble ancestors had been colonists, and he inherited. some of their spirit and fire. Writing to his father of his determination, he received a letter giving assent, and when the good ship Anne sailed from Gravesend for the southern shores of North America, he was one of the passengers.

The heart of the young American had been touched with all he had seen in London. The iron fetters of the debtor prisons had entered his very soul, and he shuddered when he thought of them. As the vessel bounded over the waves, he felt constrained to say:

แ America is the home of free.

There are no

prisons for debt there; but the grand old forests, plains and mountains breathe freedom."

He was destined to live to see the day when this beloved land was to become an asylum for the oppressed of all lands.

As he turned from the receding shore, his eyes fell upon a shy little maid, who had come on the deck to cast a last glance at the land which, despite its oppression, she regarded as her home. The face was quite familiar, yet he knew not where he had seen it. She was about to retire, when he asked:

"Little maid, what is your name?"

She paused, as if frightened, and turned her dark eyes timidly toward him, as she answered:

"It seems I have seen you before; but I cannot recall the time or place."

The great dark eyes drooped, until the long, silken lashes fell on the pale emaciated cheeks. She was plainly but neatly dressed; but the haggard expression of her face precluded any idea of beauty. The child, for she was scarcely more, timidly shrunk from his view and was about to retire from the deck, when he went quite close to her and asked:

Where?"

"In the prison.

"Yes, I saw many maids at the prison, perhaps yourself among them. Are your parents aboard?" Then the great, dark eyes grew dim with tears, as she answered:

My parents are in heaven."

"They perished?" asked Noah, somewhat startled.

"Yes, you were there."

"I-I remember now.

ville, are you not?"

She nodded.

You are Anne Montre

"I have not forgotten you, poor little maid. The sad lesson taught me there will be remembered to my dying day."

66

Heaven will reward the good people who came in answer to their prayers," she answered, while the tears silently coursed down her thin cheeks.

"Have you a home in the family of some of these good people?"

“Mr. George Saturfield has adopted me.”

Noah made inquiry about Mr. Saturfield and learned that he was a poor, but worthy man with a wife, who, having no children, adopted Anne. Having assured himself that the little maid who had excited his interest would have an excellent home, he dismissed her for the time being from his mind.