Page:Columbus and other heroes of American discovery; (IA columbusotherher00bell).pdf/120

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PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND.

  • thusiastic young reformer, gave him a hint that he would do well to go to

Narragansett Bay in the South, that being without the jurisdiction of any English Company, while it was within reach of the Indians, whose love he had won by his championship of their cause. To the Bay, therefore, though it was now mid-winter, Roger directed his course, and, early in 1636, he found a refuge with the chief, Massasoit, whose life had been saved by the English nine years before, and who now gave his white brother some land on the Seekonk River, east of the modern Providence, where in the early spring the lonely hero built himself a home. He was soon joined by a few friends from Salem; and, having received a kindly hint from Governor Williams of Plymouth, that he would be less likely to be interfered with on the other side of the river, the site of his house being within the original grant to the Pilgrim Fathers, he removed with his companions to the Indian village of Mooshausick, to which he gave the name of Providence, in "gratitude to God's merciful providence to him in his distress, and also because