1885

Poole, W. F. "The Pocahontas Story." The Dial; a Semi-monthly Journal of Literary Criticism, Discussion, and Information 5.60 (April 1885): 318-22. Poole, eminent librarian and president of the American Historical Association, contributes to the debunking controversy while reviewing Cooke's book and magazine article of this year. Both quite negatively, but with a surprising twist. The Smith-Pocahontas rescue "is the only romantic incident in the dark and disgraceful record of early Virginia," but though it has been shown to be a myth, Virginians "perpetuate in fiction and art, as well as in sober history, this most precious incident." Smith's writings "in the main, were truthful" according to the (lax) standard of his day, in which everybody lied and expanded, "provided no one else was seriously injured." "The Pocahontas story was as innocuous as one of Mother Goose's legends," injured no one, and has been the occasion of Virginia pride. So, in effect, Poole says, instead of stretching to prove its truth as Cooke does, let's just accept that Smith's character was boastful and not "censure the gallant Captain for indulging in this harmless way his personal vanity, and conforming to a custom of his day."
[debunking]
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