Page:The Homes of the New World- Vol. I.djvu/378

 the sun rose in its splendour, they sang “how beautiful is creation; how glorious the Creator!” When the wind was adverse they put up prayers,—when it changed, thanksgivings. When they sailed smoothly with a favouring gale, they made holy covenants like Jacob of old; when the storm raged so that not a sail could be set, they lifted up their voices in prayer and sang amid the storm, for “to love the Lord Jesus gave great consolation.”

Thus arrived they at the shore of the New World. Oglethorpe met them at Charleston and bade them welcome; and five days afterwards the far wayfarers pitched their tents near Savannah. Their place of residence was to be yet farther up the country. Oglethorpe provided them with horses, and accompanied them through the wilderness, through forest and morass. By the aid of Indian guides and blazed trees, they proceeded onward till they had found a suitable spot for their settlement: it was on the banks of a little stream, and they called it Ebenezer. There they built their dwellings, and there they resolved to erect a column in token of the providence of God, which had brought them safely to the ends of the earth.

The same year was the town of Augusta founded, which became a favourite place of resort for the Indian traders. The fame of Oglethorpe extended through the wilderness, and in May came the chiefs of the eight tribes of the Muskhogees to make an alliance with him. Long King, the tall, old chief of the Oconas, was the spokesman for the eight.

“The Great Spirit which dwells everywhere around us,” said he, “and who gave breath to all men, has sent the Englishmen to instruct us.” He then bade them welcome to the country south of the Savannah, as well as to the cultivation of such lands as their people had not used; and in token of the sincerity of his words, he laid eight bundles of buckskins at the feet of Oglethorpe.