1849

"Pocahontas." [Rusk, Texas] Rusk Pioneer 15 August 1849: 1. Reprinted from the Tennessee Organ. In this short, short story, it's moments before Pocahontas marries Rolfe, and her bower-ladies -- Widow Forrest and Anne Laydon -- are dressing the bride. It's an emotional time, a time for bridal jitters. The Widow thinks of her dead husband. Pocahontas, "covering her face with her hands, preserved for a long time a fearful and impressive silence." For a moment -- remembering her free childhood, her status as a princess, her simple pleasures -- she repents that love has changed her forest nature. But, then, remembering what she did for Smith and her love for Rolfe, "she awoke from the long trance of the past, and with a loud cry of joy threw herself into [Rolfe's] outstretched arms."
[short story]