Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/136

Rh dark Ashley River a la Elaine in a canoe hollowed from a great cypress and manned by six or eight negroes, all singing in time to the swing of their silent paddles. It appears there was always good cheer awaiting the guest at the memorable houses along the Ashley River. After the feast, the men lingered over their wine and the women gossiped in the drawing-room until the riddles began to play. Then the men left their cups, and with laughter, bows and elaborate compliments invited their partners to the dance. Such were the good social times in which Eliza Lucas took part. But, although she enjoyed them and entered into them with spirit, she did not dwell much upon them; she was engaged with more serious matters. She was also very much worried by the dangers of the West Indian campaign, in which her father was engaged, and longed for the war to end. "I wish all the men were as great cowards as myself," she wrote, "it would then make them more peaceably inclined." Among all the friends she made in the Colony, there was one to whom she could turn for earnest talk, good counsel and fatherly advice. This was Colonel Charles Pinckney. He and Mrs. Pinckney had done much to help the young girl in her early struggle to establish plantations, and at Mrs. Pinckney's death we find Eliza Lucas writing sadly of her personal loss in the event. The story is told that Mrs. Pinckney had once said that rather than have her favorite young friend Eliza Lucas lost to Carolina, she would herself be willing to step down and let her take her place. She probably never imagined that fate would take her so thoroughly at her word. But so it happened. Some time after her death John Lucas sent his son George to Carolina, to bring Mrs. Lucas and the girls back to Antigua to meet him. But Eliza was not destined to make that voyage, and it was her old friend Colonel Pinckney who prevented her departure. He was then speaker of the House of the Colonial Assembly, a distinguished lawyer and wealthy planter, and a