a small
volume of letters written by a girl of two centuries ago, which
disproves this, and it is worthy of perusal and applause because of what
she accomplished for what was then the province of South Carolina, while
she was still in her teens.

Lieutenant-Colonel Lucas, an officer in the English army stationed at
the West Indian island of Antigua, left the island in 1638 for South
Carolina, taking with him his delicate wife, in search of a climate
which would be of benefit to her, and with them went their two
daughters, Polly and Eliza, who up to that time had been in London with
a family friend, Mrs. Boddicott, being educated, only returning to the
island for their vacations. Their brothers, Tom and George, were also in
London at school, where they remained while Colonel and Mrs. Lucas with
the two girls went to the new locality. So delighted with it was the
Colonel that he at once bought land, laid out plantations and was hoping
to settle down and begin experiments in planting crops in the strange
soil and climate, when war broke out between England and Spain and the
Colonel received orders to hasten back to his West Indian post, leaving
his family alone in their new home. Mrs. Lucas was entirely too frail to
burden with plantation cares, so in his hurried leave-taking the Colonel
entrusted all his affairs to Eliza, in whose practical common sense and
business ability he seems to have placed implicit reliance, and the
trust was well merited.

Eliza was only sixteen years old then, but she seems to have assumed the
unusual amount of responsibility so unexpectedly thrust upon her with
calm assurance that she could carry it, and we find her general manager
of the home and the plantation when the series of letters begin which
gives such a vivid glimpse of life at that time, and also some idea of
the character of the girl on whose slender shoulders rested such a heavy
burden.

First, let us look for a moment at the background to our picture. The
Lucas plantation was on the Wappoo, a salt creek connecting the Ashley
river with another creek and separated from the ocean only by two long
sandy islands. Although that part of the country was very flat, it was
extremely pretty, and being on a salt creek, sheltered from the north
winds, the climate was very mild. Trees grew to a great size, land was
very fertile, all growth hardy and luxuriant, and it was no wonder that
even in his short stay Colonel Lucas had become deeply