Richard of Jamestown

Richard of Jamestown

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Richard of Jamestown, by James Otis
#2 in our series by James Otis
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Title: Richard of Jamestown A Story of the Virginia Colony
Author: James Otis
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7465] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 4, 2003]
Edition: 10

Language: English
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK RICHARD
OF JAMESTOWN ***

Produced by Martin Robb

RICHARD OF JAMESTOWN by James Otis.

FOREWORD
The purpose of this series of stories is to show the children, and even
those who have already taken up the study of history, the home life of
the colonists with whom they meet in their books. To this end every
effort has been made to avoid anything savoring of romance, and to
deal only with facts, so far as that is possible, while describing the daily
life of those people who conquered the wilderness whether for
conscience sake or for gain.
That the stories may appeal more directly to the children, they are told
from the viewpoint of a child, and purport to have been related by a
child. Should any criticism be made regarding the seeming neglect to
mention important historical facts, the answer would be that these
books are not sent out as histories--although it is believed that they will
awaken a desire to learn more of the building of the nation--and only
such incidents as would be particularly noted by a child are used.
Surely it is entertaining as well as instructive for young people to read
of the toil and privations in the homes of those who came into a new
world to build up a country for themselves, and such homely facts are
not to be found in the real histories of our land.
JAMES OTIS.

WHO I AM
Yes, my name is Richard Mutton. Sounds rather queer, doesn't it? The
lads in London town used to vex me sorely by calling, "Baa, baa, black
sheep," whenever I passed them, and yet he who will may find the

name Richard Mutton written in the list of those who were sent to
Virginia, in the new world, by the London Company, on the nineteenth
day of December, in the year of Our Lord, 1606.
Whosoever may chance to read what I am here setting down, will,
perhaps, ask how it happened that a lad only ten years of age was
allowed to sail for that new world in company with such a band of
adventurous men as headed the enterprise.
Therefore it is that I must tell a certain portion of the story of my life,
for the better understanding of how I came to be in this fair, wild,
savage beset land of Virginia.
Yet I was not the only boy who sailed in the Susan Constant, as you
may see by turning to the list of names, which is under the care, even to
this day, of the London Company, for there you will find written in
clerkly hand the names Samuel Collier, Nathaniel Peacock, James
Brumfield, and Richard Mutton. Nathaniel Peacock has declared more
than once that my name comes last in the company at the very end of
all, because I was not a full grown mutton; but only large enough to be
called a sheep's tail, and therefore should be hung on behind, as is
shown by the list.
The reason of my being in this country of Virginia at so young an age,
is directly concerned with that brave soldier and wondrous adventurer,
Captain John Smith, of whom I make no doubt the people in this new
world, when the land has been covered with towns and villages, will
come to know right well, for of a truth he is a wonderful man. In the
sixth month of Grace, 1606, I Was living as