river and found on its banks the resting-place he sought, calling it "Providence" in token of the Divine care.

He had been obliged to mortgage his house in Salem, had lost his spring planting by his removal from Seekonk, and was very poor. “Day and night, at home and abroad, on the land and water, at the hoe and at the oar," he labored for bread. Yet he reserved to himself no lands, no rights more than he granted to the poorest stranger, though they were his own, he says, " as much as the coat on his back," having been obtained by purchase from the Indians. Afterward, when the land on what is now Main street was divided into the "Providence plantations," Williams received about two hundred dollars.

Three years after his settlement in Providence, having doubts about any other than immersion being the proper mode of baptism, he organized the first Baptist church in America, first being immersed himself by Mr. Holman, one of his lay members, and afterward immersing Holman and ten others; but a few months later he withdrew from the church altogether, holding that the true apostolic church had ceased to exist on earth. Is it any wonder, in view of his life-long troubles with the existing churches? Here was founded the first government, since Christianity ascended the throne of the Cæsars (says Judge Story), to acknowledge the right of conscience; the model on which the American Republic was to be built, proclaiming to all that government should have dominion only in civil things. To this region came the persecuted for conscience' sake to find a refuge and a shelter; here came the Quakers from the storm of persecution in the Bay colonies; here, too, came Coddington, Clark, and Mrs. Hutchinson to find in Acquidneck the "Isle of Peace."

Among all these discordant elements Roger Williams was the peacemaker. It was he who obtained Acquidneck for the followers of Mrs. Hutchinson; it was he who spent days and nights in peril of his life to avert Indian troubles, again and again making peace when all New England was ripe for war, acting as mediator even among the Indians themselves; at one time for three days and nights in constant danger of their glistening knives, breaking up the conspiracy of the Narragansetts and Pequots against Massachusetts-this for those whose cruel act had driven him into exile. So important were his services that a proposition was made in Boston to revoke his sentence of banishment. Of his Massachusetts persecutors he says, "I did ever upon my soul honor and love them, even when their judgment led them to afflict me," and in all his writings there is not one word of blame for them. Owing to continued disputes among the colonists, increasing Indian troubles, and the fact that Massachusetts,

Plymouth, and Connecticut had formed a union for the common defense, leaving Providence and Rhode Island "out in the cold," it was thought best to unite them under a common government, and Williams was sent to England to obtain a charter. His time on the voyage was occupied in preparing his Key to the Languages of America, for which he had been fourteen years collecting material. This was published soon after his arrival in England.

His mission was a complete success. The guest of Sir Harry Vane who had been banished from the Bay colonies with Mrs. Hutchinson, and had risen to place and power under the Protectorate, Williams had no difficulty in obtaining the charter desired. Bearing a letter of remonstrance and recommendation from the home government he landed at Boston, was allowed to depart unmolested, and was received at Providence with great rejoicing and an escort of fourteen canoes.

It would seem that from this time peace should have come to him, but there seemed to be no peace: continued dissensions, never-ceasing Indian troubles, treachery on the part of Coddington by which the charter was invalidated, made another appeal to England necessary, and Williams and Clark were sent to the mother country as agents to adjust the troubles. Williams was again the guest of Sir Harry Vane, and the intimate friend of Cromwell and Milton, who were kindred spirits. During the two weary years of waiting for the adjustment of the colonial difficulties he utilized his proficiency in the Hebrew, Greek, Latin, French, and Dutch languages by teaching them conversationally, Milton himself being one of his scholars.

After his return he was elected president of the colony, and the word Hope was added to the anchor on the Rhode Island flag. But peace was not yet. Quaker troubles, Indian wars, colonial quarrels, nearly crushed the brave spirit which till the end of his long career made unceasing efforts for peace. "His patience," said Governor Winthrop, "was often tried but never conquered." Yet, "ring the bells low, and burn the lights. faintly," for at his trading post in Kingston Roger Williams was licensed to sell liquor! True, it was only to the Indians, which makes a difference. Still, "pity 'tis 'tis true," that he who had brought so much of good to his red brethren should have had any share in putting to their lips the white man's curse, the Indian's "fire water."

A prolific writer, Roger Williams excelled in controversial ability. Lash of muscle he did not allow for his opponents, but lash of tongue and pen he could and did wield with vigor. His controversial spirit is seen in the quaint titles of his books; such as George Fox Digged out of his Bur

rows and The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience. The latter being replied to by Mr. Cotton in The Bloody Tenet of Persecution for the Cause of Conscience, Washed and made White in the Blood of the Lamb. The undaunted Williams retaliated with The Bloody Tenet of Persecution made yet More Bloody by Mr. Cotton's Endeavor to wash it white in the Blood of the Lamb. We see him, too, an old man in the seventies, rowing an open boat from Providence, in the dead of winter, to engage in a controversy with George Fox in the old Quaker meeting-house in Newport.

Such was Roger Williams, the apostle of religious liberty, the patron saint of Rhode Island, who shaped its history for more than forty years -a man of stern convictions, strong opinions, and sharp corners; "most hated where least known;" stern and unbending to his opponents, generous and genial to his friends, charitable and magnanimous to his enemies; a compound of bigotry and liberality, yet of pure and blameless life; his "sincerity the key to his character," his one idea the sanctity of conscience; its results seen in our "declaration of independence," our freedom from the union of church and state, our liberty to worship God; in his day a crank, an outcast, a tramp: now,

"With freedom's soil beneath our feet,

And freedom's banner streaming o'er us,"

a man whom thousands delight to honor; whose name is a synonym for the good, the brave, the true, the kind-hearted, the magnanimous; in whose honor we erect monuments and public buildings; name our societies, halls and churches, so that in more senses than one it may be said, as of Sir Christopher Wren in St. Paul's cathedral, "If you ask for his monument, look around you." His life story can never be told; its influence spreads in ever widening circles to the furthest limits of civilization, and stretches forward through the coming ages to all time.

H. E. Banning

NEWPORT, RHODE ISLAND

MINOR TOPICS

ANTIQUARIAN RICHES OF TENNESSEE

On the field where General Thomas fought one of the great battles of the civil war in the winter of 1864-65, five miles south of Nashville, along Brown's creek, is found the site of an old Indian metropolis and an immense aboriginal cemetery. Three thousand closely-laid stone graves are known to exist there, and a thousand have been discovered on an adjoining farm. These and smaller Indian cemeteries in the neighboring region establish the fact that the Indians had an ancient town at Nashville, with many surrounding villages and settlements. The antiquities found in the central cemetery are numerous and important.

Mr. Gates P. Thruston of the Tennessee Historical Society has made elaborate studies of the unique and remarkable objects found in these burial places, and has gathered several hundred in pictorial form, with detailed descriptions of them, into his recently published volume, which affords the reader nearly all the pleasure of a visit to an extensive museum. He says: "Six or seven hundred perfect specimens of well-burned pottery have been obtained, many of them unique in form, and so finely finished that they may be said to be semi-glazed. Nearly every familiar object, animate and inanimate, is represented in the forms of this ware. Animals, birds, and fish in great variety, the human figure in many attitudes, seashell forms, and grotesque and fanciful figures are all here, and many of the vessels have been colored and decorated with considerable artistic skill. There are cooking vessels, drinking cups, water jars, hanging vessels, sets of ware ornamented and plain, basins, bottles, vases, spoons, and, indeed, every variety of equipment for a well-stocked aboriginal cuisine. Many of the images and terra cotta heads doubtless show approximately types of the very faces and lineaments of the race buried beside them, evidently the ancient Indian aristocracy of the Cumberland valley. Doubtless these Nashville Indians were an advanced type, and considerably more civilized than their descendants. They had insignia of social organization and ceremonial, and were a rising people when the Iroquois of the north descended upon and scattered them. And besides, the Indian, devoted to his family or tribe, had in his social system a natural tendency to disintegration. Haughty, taciturn, impracticable, impatient of reproof, faithful friends, implacable enemies, they never seemed able to grasp the principle of order, submission, and union necessary to stability and enduring progress."

Among the most interesting objects found in the ancient cemeteries of Tennessee are those of shell. It seems there was an "age of shell." Drinking vessels in shell are very numerous, as also finely engraved gorgets and quaint shell spoons

of various types. Mr. Thruston observes that "the ancient tribes of Tennessee were evidently more refined in their manner of eating than some of their more savage neighbors outside of the mound districts. Their shell spoons were of very proper and limited size." The fine shell bowl-the spoon—is, in most instances, as light and delicately formed as modern china ware. Many beads and personal ornaments of shell have been found; also curious pins of shell, probably used for the hair. Sometimes these pins are very long, with heads shaped like common nails. One little shell bracelet has been taken from a grave, most ingeniously carved, which seems to indicate a somewhat advanced condition of society. The engraved shell gorgets are of still greater significance, ornamented as they are with circles or circular devices. Mr. Thruston says: "The civilization of Peru had declined from its best estate when the Spaniards first appeared, and trampled upon the power of the Incas; the Mayas had lapsed into barbarism, and their imposing structures of stone were in ruins when discovered; the Aztecs were less civilized than their predecessors the Toltecs; and the progressive race of moundbuilders, who once doubtless formed a strong tribal alliance or confederacy in the Mississippi valley and adjacent sections, had also probably reached the zenith and decline of their power when Columbus set sail upon his voyage of discovery; but unmistakable evidences of their more advanced state have already been found in many ancient centres of their population and progress."