Show carried the gospel brave new englanders bore the word into wilderness of south carolina special correspondence overgrown with moss and rank weeds and overhung ith lve oaks bearing the spanish moss tic of the south atlantic coast the ruins of a church and a fort mark the spot where the first missionary enter prise undertaken by new england outside her own borders was located the ruins are in the cou nty of dor chester S so named for the small company of churchmen who sailed from boston dec 3 1695 and founded a colony in the wilderness near charleston how the little body of lealou mas people went from the north sailed up the ashley river and hewed their homes out of the unbroken tor est beset continually by tears of tarn ine and the indians forms an exceed angly interesting chapter in the his tory of the country william pratt was the son of thorn as pratt of weymouth mass in 1680 he married ellabeth baker of dor chester and about the middle of april 1690 became a member of the church there when five years later an ex lon was organized to carry the gospel to south carolina mr pratt it and took a prominent part until a few years ago at beat joshua crane of bridgewater had a diary which was kept by william pratt and a curious combination ot almanac and notebook it is two hun dred years old it is stall in a good state ot preservation and has afforded the material for a biography of its ear ly owner A teacher joseph lord was chosen pastor of the m on dec the 3 1695 we the church that was gathered in order to carry ye gospel ordinances ordin ancis to south carolina says the author at this time some of us went in a long bote to go on bord the brigantine friendship of boston in new england in order to our passing to carolina but missing ye vessel at first we by reason of ye strength of the wind could not come with here again but constrained to endure ye cold 3 or 4 hours before we get at any land til at length we got to dorchester neck and from there returned to boston in safety not aas ly discouraged it may well be imagined of what sort of stuff these old fellows were made when they floundered around in boston harbor in an open boat for four hours in midwinter and never once lost their ardor they waited two days and then made another attempt the brigantine brigant lne had returned to get her belated passengers and they set iff in a strong gale on one sunday off the virginia coast they ered a tempest and for several days t seemed hat south carolina would bave to get along without the sturdy they pulled through all J ight though and accounted for their ate conduct through the storm by the efficacy of two days of fasting and ira er of the voyage from that point the deader tells in his notebook with some quaint spelling which may be translated on monday and so forward ye ind often shifted yet not so often as to hinder our going on in our desired course though we could not go with so much speed as wa desired thurs day morning being ye day of ye month we came in sight of the land of carolina but were by a disappoint ment prevented from getting in that day but the next day we got in through divine goodness being the day of december when we came to ye town our ves sel fired three guns and the people to welcome us to land fired about nine guns which was more than the usual and when we came to ancor being in tower of dorchester church bid us welcome to south carolina and invited many of us ashore to their houses I 1 was among the rest kindly entertained that night made way into favor mr william pratt and his party staid in charleston that week and part 0 the following week and had a good deal of trouble in supplanting in the favor of the mowrer of the land they i desired another party who had come with the same purpose william says with very pardonable pride yet they could not obtain it for as soon as we came the lady and the other of the neighbors did more highly esteem us than the others the charleston people treated the newcomer from the massachusetts bai colony with the utmost consideration and helped them materially to found their little church and state not far from the first church found ed by the men under the leadership ot elder pratt and built by the same sturdy class of men was built the st james goose creek meeting house this church erected during the in cum bency of rev francis le jan in 1 is still in a fine state of preserve pre serva alon this ts built of brick and cherub atac At fc heads adorn the windows the royal arms ot the king of england are still over the chancel and it was the presence of these insignia that saved the churia from destruction at the time of the war of the colonies every year services are built at this church and pilgrims travel from aar to pres ent white men have long since ceased to live in that section of the count which has been given over to forests with a negro cabin here and there hewed out of the loneliness the massachusetts men selected a spot on the ashey aher which runs into the ocean Justl south of charles ton the place was a howling ider ness twenty miles from the dwelling of any white people they called the place dorchester and built a church after the model of the new england churches 1 little of settlement left A few dilapidated dwellings remain and of the brick church only the tow er is now standing the woodwork la all decayed ats floors and windows shown but destroyed of their outline by the bricks having fallen away the semi tropical vegetation covers every thing and immense trees have goose creek meeting house up around the place where the proud congregation oce bowed their heads along with the places of worship ol 01 the settlers there was ot course a tort the old tort at dorchester served as a protection against the indians is on the bank of the ash ley the reason for building in such a lo pation on a sluggish and not too healthful stream was the facility of travel to and from charleston and the easier avoidance of attacks from th ind ans As far back as can be learned the churchmen had not so much trouble with the indians as thear fellows la the north elder pratt made friends ath several who gave him some very strange recipes for ci ring the sick some of these are quoted here for a great cough or cold that beads to consumption take yolk ot an egg and some lowder of brimstone and put to it and take it in the morn ing or honey and brimstone and ater that the yolk of a newland egg and some good wine mixed together to stop bleeding take some nip and hold it in the left hand and put some to the hollow of the left foot and lay some nip in the when nothing else would do to s op the excessive bleeding at the nose the powder of a dried toad mix ed with beeswax put to the hose hath stopped it the toad for haste was dried in the oven but it should be bung up by the leg alive until it Is dead and dry it Is interesting to observe that elder pratt owned two slaves when he died in 1699 he gave a bond to capt hit of charleston to pay tor a legro woman five and twenty the tombstone of the elder Is now it anding in a cemetery at easton |