Page:Economic History of Virginia Vol 2.djvu/459

 determined to conform to the wishes of the Company, but in a manner somewhat different from what was anticipated by the unknown Indian benefactor. Instead of deciding to use the money directly for the benefit of Indian children, they concluded to increase the amount by adding to it a large sum out of their own purse, and to employ the whole in establishing iron works in Virginia, the profits of which, ratably to the benefaction, were to be expended in instructing thirty Indian children in the doctrines of the Christian Church. Two purposes would be thus accomplished, one of which would promote the economic welfare of the colonists, and the other elevate the moral condition of the heathen. A letter was addressed to Yeardley, who was not only Governor of Virginia, but also Captain of Southampton Hundred, in which he was urged to show the utmost care and industry in setting the projected works on foot, as upon these works were fixed the &#8220;eyes of God, Angels, and men.&#8221; Captain Blewit was dispatched to the Colony to superintend the manufacture of iron, but, like so many others who went out to Virginia at this early period, he succumbed to disease soon after his arrival. This had the effect of obstructing the proposed industry for a time. He had been accompanied by eighty men. After the death of Blewit, Mr. John Berkeley, with twenty experienced iron workers, came to Virginia to reinforce the survivors of the original band. These additional workmen had been obtained by Berkeley on condition that the Company would assume the expense of transporting himself, his son and his three servants. The cost of sending over the workmen was also defrayed by that Corporation, and they