106.  Trying to make silk; the queen’s American dress.—­The settlers hoped to be able to get large quantities of silk to send to England, because the mulberry-tree grows wild in Georgia, and its leaves are the favorite food of the silkworm.[8] At first it seemed as if the plan would be successful, and General Oglethorpe took over some Georgia silk as a present to the queen of England.  She had a handsome dress made of it for her birthday; it was the first American silk dress ever worn by an English queen.  But after a while it was found that silk could not be produced in Georgia as well as it could in Italy and France, and so in time cotton came to be raised instead.

[Footnote 8:  Silkworm:  a kind of caterpillar which spins a fine, soft thread of which silk is made.]

107.  Keeping out the Spaniards; Georgia powder at Bunker Hill; General Oglethorpe in his old age.—­The people of Georgia did a good work in keeping out the Spaniards, who were trying to get possession of the part of the country north of Florida.  Later, like the settlers in North Carolina and South Carolina, they did their part in helping to make America independent of the rule of the king of England.  When the war of the Revolution began, the king had a lot of powder stored in Savannah.  The people broke into the building, rolled out the kegs, and carried them off.  Part of the powder they kept for themselves, and part they seem to have sent to Massachusetts; so that it is quite likely that the men who fought at Bunker Hill may have loaded their guns with some of the powder given them by their friends in Savannah.  In that case the king got it back, but in a somewhat different way from what he expected.

General Oglethorpe spent the last of his life in England.  He lived to a very great age.  Up to the last he had eyes as bright and keen as a boy’s.  After the Revolution was over, the king made a treaty or agreement, by which he promised to let the United States of America live in peace.  General Oglethorpe was able to read that treaty without spectacles.  He had lived to see the colony of Georgia which he had settled become a free and independent state.

108.  Summary.—­In 1733 General James Oglethorpe brought over a number of emigrants from England, and settled Savannah, Georgia.  Georgia was the thirteenth English colony; it was the last one established in this country.  General Oglethorpe lived to see it become one of the United States of America.

At the beginning of 1733 how many English colonies were there in America?  Who was General Oglethorpe?  What did he do?  Why was the new settlement called Georgia?  Tell what happened to a friend of General Oglethorpe’s.  What did he wish to do for the poor debtors?  What is said about the settlement of Savannah?  What about the German emigrants and Ebenezer?  What about raising silk?  What good work did the people of Georgia do?  What about Georgia powder in the Revolution?  What is said of General Oglethorpe in old age?