Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/67

44 of Leonard Calvert, and there are others who believe that she was his sweetheart. But at any rate an atmosphere of doubt and mystery still lingers about the names of Margaret Brent and Leonard Calvert and their old-time relationship.

It was in the year 1634, that Leonard Calvert came to America bringing over three hundred colonists, some twenty of them men of wealth and position. These three hundred English colonists sailed into wide Chesapeake Bay and up that broad river, the Potomac, till they reached the place where a little river joins the waters of the larger, and there they founded their city, calling both city and river Saint Mary's.

Four years after the coming of Leonard Calvert, Margaret Brent arrived in the city of Saint Mary's. It was in November, that Mistress Margaret first saw Maryland, then brilliant in the beauty of Indian Summer. The orioles were still singing in the forests, the red wild flowers were blooming in the crevices of the rocks and the trees still kept their foliage of red and gold, and the English woman is said to have remarked that the air of her new home was "Like the breath of Heaven;" that she had entered "Paradise."

Margaret, with her brothers and sisters, seem always to have had a prominent part in the affairs of the colony. Immediately after their arrival they took up land in the town and on Kent Island built themselves a Manor House and carried on a prosperous business. Margaret became as wise as her brothers or even wiser in the intricacy of the English law. We hear of her registering cattle marks, buying and selling property and signing herself "Attorney for My Brother." The early records of the American Colony afford rare glimpses of Mistress Margaret Brent as a person of influence and power. She was indeed a woman of pronounced courage and executive ability. She knew people and was able to manage them and their affairs with remarkable tact. Moreover, although she was