o Belle Isle--the
place where the mortal remains of Francis Marion now repose--while the
latter settled at a place called Pond Bluff in the Parish of St. John.*
This place he continued to hold during life. It is still pointed out to
the traveller as Marion's plantation, and is the more remarkable, as it
lies within cannon shot of the battle ground of Eutaw, which his valor
and conduct contributed to render so justly famous in the history of his
native state. During this long period of repose--the interval between
his shipwreck, and removal to Pond Bluff,--we are only left to
conjecture his employments. Beyond his agricultural labors, we may
suppose that his chief tasks were the cultivation of his mind, by close
application to those studies which, in the condition of the country,
sparsely settled, and without teachers, were usually very inadequately
urged. It does not appear that his acquisitions in this respect were
more valuable than could be afforded at the present day by the simplest
grammar-school of the country. Here again we may trace the resemblance
between his career and that of Washington. Equally denied the advantages
of education, they equally drew from the great mother-sources of
nature. Thrown upon their own thoughts, taught by observation and
experience--the same results of character,--firmness, temperance, good
sense, sagacious foresight, and deliberate prudence--became conspicuous
in the conduct and career of both. In the fortunes of neither--in the
several tasks allotted to them,--in their various situations,--did their
deficiencies of education appear to qualify their successes, or diminish
the respect and admiration of those around them,--a singular fact, as
indicative equally of the modesty, the good sense, and the superior
intrinsic worth of both of these distinguished persons. In the case
of Marion, his want of education neither lessened his energies, his
confidence in himself, nor baffled any of his natural endowments. On the
contrary, it left his talents free to their natural direction. These, it
is probable, were never of a kind to derive, or to need, many advantages
from a very superior or scientific education. His mind was rather
practical than subtile--his genius prompted him to action, rather than
to study,--and the condition and necessities of the country, calling for
the former rather than the latter character, readily reconciled him to a
deficiency the importance of which he did not feel.