Living or dead they did.
He was talking about the things that make a country a country, and a man a man. And he began with the simple things that everybody’s known and felt-the freshness of a fine morning when you’re young, and the taste of food when you’re hungry, and the new day that’s every day when you’re a child. He took them up and he turned them in his hands. They were good things for any man. But without freedom, they sickened. And when he talked of those en-slaved, and the sorrows of slavery, his voice got like a big bell. He talked of the early days of America and the men who had made those days. It wasn’t a spread-eagle speech, but he made you see it. He admitted all the wrong that had ever been done. But he showed how, out of the wrong and the right, the suffering and the starvations, something new had come. And everybody had played a part in it, even the traitors.
Stephen Vincent Benet, The Devil and Daniel Webster
And what would they think, if given a week alive in our time, today? The wonders…the mental health of the inhabitants…the choices they, us make. My guess is that a week would be six and a half days too long.
That’s such a vivid illustration. I’d love to have a copy.
Jamestown’s death numbers were even worse. Mostly due to starvation. There was some cannibalism. Except for one or two the leaders were nobility and didn’t know how to lead; didn’t have a clue about fish/ shellfish in the rivers, or edible foods in the wild. Initially the site was a low spot so swamp fever prevalent. Native relationships went sour.