Elbert Hubbard

“ The helplessness of the little guest made an appeal to Wahceta, and she guarded her charge with jealous eyes, and a love that she had never manifested for her own children. Manteno looked on and shrugged his shoulders in half token of fear, for a white doe was a thing to be feared, since [Pg 22] the superstition was that it was sent by the Great Spirit as a warning.
Hunters to this day are familiar with the occasional appearance of a white deer—an albino—one of Nature's sports, like the proverbial black sheep, to be found in every flock of white ones. ”

“ As for the colonists, their days were few and evil. Dissensions and feuds arose, as they naturally would. John White was deposed as Governor, and when he resisted he was killed.
The idea of going to work, tilling the soil, and building a permanent settlement was not in the hearts of those people. They expected to find gold and silver and [Pg 18] fountains of youth. They felt they were marooned, robbed and stranded. The Indians, at first fearful, were now jealous of these white intruders. The quarrel came and the Indians fell upon the colonists and killed every one. ”

“ So he sought her out, and that which began in a quarrel soon evolved into something else. There were meetings by moonlight, notes passed, glances given, hand-clasps in the dark, and all of those absurd, foolish, irrelevant and unnecessary things that lovers do. ”

“ She was leading and half-dragging something—was it a dog or a wolf? Wahceta sprang forward to take the child in her arms. "Get behind, mother, and push," said little White Doe. "It's a white doe and I've held it all night for fear it would get away! Push hard, mother, dear, and we will get it in the teepee and tie it with green withes, and it will become gentle, and bring us all good luck." ”

“ Good Queen Bess—who was not so very good—fanned the ambitions of Sir Walter and flattered his abilities. And of course any man born in a lowly station, or high, would have been immensely complimented by the gentle love-taps, and sighs, vain or otherwise, not to mention the glimmering glances of the alleged Virgin Queen. ”

“ Wahceta was growing old, and as her [Pg 28] sight was becoming dim White Doe would lead her about through the forest and care for her as Wahceta once cared for White Doe.
The work of looking after Manteno's tent drifted by degrees into the hands of White Doe. Her industry, her thrift, her intelligence set her apart.
The Indian is like a white man in this: he allows work and responsibility to drift into the hands of those who can manage them. White Doe set about to build stone houses to replace the bark teepees. ”

“ Wahceta passed away and her form was wrapped in its winding-sheet of deerskins and bark and placed high in the forks of a tree-top, awaiting the pleasure of the Great Spirit.
Manteno also died. And the people did not choose another chief—they looked to White Doe for counsel and guidance. She was their "medicine-man," in case of sickness or accident, and in health their counselor and Queen. Indians from other towns and distant came to her. She cured the sick and healed the lame.
She lived alone in a stone hut, guarded by a wolf and a bear that she had brought [Pg 30] up from their babyhood. ”

“ And so the expedition sailed away for the New World; and Sir Walter Raleigh in the secret of his room beat his head in anguish 'gainst the wall and called aloud for death to come and relieve him of his pain. And thus did Queen Elizabeth dispose of her rival, and punish with fantastic hate and jealousy the man she loved.
John White, Eleanor and Ananias Dare, [Pg 16] with the motley group of unskilled men and women, were duly landed in the forest on Roanoke Island. Battle with the elements requires judgment, skill, experience, and these were things that our poor colonists did not possess. ”

“ These braves she set to work down in the bottom-lands. It is said that no other [Pg 31] person was ever able to set the male Indian to work. But for her the braves built stone houses, planted gardens, and laid stepping-stones across the fords, so that she could walk across dry-shod. The nuggets of silver that they brought her from the mountains she fashioned into an exquisite arrow of silver, sharper at the point than the sharpest flint. For days and weeks and months she worked making the silver arrow.
"What is it for?" the Indians asked. ”