Stories of Our Country

erica. In the year 1585 a ship-load of men were sent out by Sir Walter Raleigh, in part to found a colony and in part to search for gold. They landed on Roanoke Island, in Albemarle Sound, on the coast of North Carolina. But they proved to be a faint-hearted people, for the next year they all returned home. In 1587 Sir Walter sent another expedition to the same point, and the foundation of a city was laid. When search was made for the settlers a year later they could not be found, and to this day their fate is unknown, but it is supposed that they were murdered by the Indians. Some eighteen years later a more successful enterprise was formed, and the first permanent settlement was effected. . 2. "On December 19, 1606,three small vessels glide down the river Thames, spreading their sails for a voyage across the Atlantic. There are two hundred and five persons on board the vessel. They are leaving England to found a state in a wilderness thousands of miles away. Of the party, four are carpenters, twelve laborers, and forty- eight gentlemen, who look upon labor as a degrading occupation. One of the gentlemen is Captain John Smith, who is not thirty years of age, but who has had an adventurous life. He was born only a short distance from where Dr. Wycliffe lived, in 1576. 3. " When he was a school-boy he had such a longing to be a sailor that he sold his books and satchel to get money enough to go to sea; but just then his father died, and left him a good de...