criticism, biography, history, and other forms of writing. The result of this literary endeavor is summed up in the words of Professor W. P. Trent: "Although he left behind little that is permanent, he did write half a dozen or more romances of colonial and Revolutionary Carolina that are interesting and valuble for the light they throw upon an important period of Southern history."]
SELECTION FROM "THE YEMASSEE"
The Attack on the Block House
[The incidents are supposed to take place in the region of Beaufort, South Carolina, in 1715, when the Yemassee Indians, who had been friendly to the English of South Carolina, joined with the Spaniards in making war upon them.
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| WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS |
The story opens with Captain Gabriel Harrison (who is really Governor Craven of South Carolina in disguise) learning of the plans of the Indians and endeavoring to succor the white people from the impending general massacre. Captain Harrison is particularly interested in saving his sweetheart, Bess Matthews, and her father, a Puritan preacher. He urges them either to go to Charleston or to go to the neighboring blockhouse for safety, but the preacher declines to do so, insisting that the Indians intend no mischief. Captain Harrison urges the other frontiersmen
