s, jealously guarding the truth, have
striven to banish all traditions which seemed colored by fancy or even
freighted with a moral lesson. These exiled traditions, bearing the
seed-germs of truth, cannot die, but, like wandering spirits, float
down the centuries enveloped in the mists of superstition, until
finally, embodied in romance or song, they assume a permanent form
called legend and become the heritage of a people. Legends are the
satellites of history because they have their origin in the same
events, and the history of all countries is interspersed with them.

The legend of The White Doe is probably the oldest and possibly the
least known of all the legends which relate to the history of the
United States. It is a genuine American legend, and the facts from
which it had its origin form the first chapter in the history of
English colonization in North America. Those facts are found in the
repeated attempts of Sir Walter Raleigh to establish an English colony
in the New World. The Spaniards were in Florida, the French were in
Nova Scotia, but England had gained no possessions in North America
when Raleigh began his efforts. This fact assumes more importance when
we remember that civilization has made the greatest progress in those
parts of America where the English became dominant. In South America,
dominated by the Spaniards, civilization has made no strides, while in
the United States a new nation has arisen whose ultimate destiny none
may limit or foretell. As the gates of a new century open and disclose
almost unlimited fields for human progress, this new nation, with an
enthusiasm and courage born of success, has taken her place to lead in
the eternal forward search for better opportunities and higher life
for the human race. All this grand destiny, all this ripening
opportunity, like a harvest from a few seeds, is traced back, event
after event, to the early struggles of those who braved the dangers of
sea and forest in the attempts to colonize America. Those pioneer
efforts, so generously promoted by Sir Walter Raleigh, though only
partially successful, were the stepping-stones which later led to the
better-known settlement of Jamestown, in Virginia. A brief _resume_ of
those stepping-stones will make them familiar to all.

In 1584 Queen Elizabeth made a grant to Raleigh for all the land from
Nova Scotia to Florida, which was called Virginia, in honor of the
Virgin Queen, as Elizabeth was called.

The