Page:Historic towns of the southern states (1900).djvu/348

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man. There was no chance for the rich to monopolize the country. The landshark was unknown. Government bounty was prompt and liberal in encouraging silk culture, and the seal of the colony contains the altruistic motto, descriptive of the unselfish product of the silkworm, Non sibi, sed aliis. The very land which Hernando De Soto and his rapacious Spaniards had just ravished in their search for gold was now claimed by these Christian socialists, who started the first work of "benevolent assimilation" on this continent.

Eight years after the colony had been founded, a visitor to Savannah described the progress made in a very clear way. Savannah was then a mile and a quarter in circumference, situated upon a steep bluff forty-five feet above the river. The houses were built of wood, Mr. Oglethorpe's being no finer than those of forty other freeholders. Residences were good distances apart. To-day, Savannah is one of the most closely constructed cities in the United States. Few houses have gardens, and some of the streets present long rows of tenements in maddening monotony. The squares designed by Oglethorpe for market-*places and assembly grounds are now good