DREAMS OF THE FUTURE
On hearing this, the question came into my mind as to whether
Nathaniel and I could be called apprentices, inasmuch as we were
only houseboys, according to the name Captain Smith gave us.
Master Hunt declared that being apprentices to care for the family,
was of as much service as if we were learned in the trade of making
tar, clapboards, or of building ships, and he assured me that if
peradventure he was living when we had been in this land of Virginia
seven years, it should be his duty to see to it that we were given
our fifty acres of land apiece.
Thus understanding that we might ourselves in turn one day become
planters, Nathaniel and I had much to say, one with the other,
concerning what should be done in the future. We decided that
when the time came for us to have the land set off to our own use,
we would strive that the two lots of fifty acres each be in one
piece. Then would we set about raising tobacco, as the Indian girl
Pocahontas taught us, and who can say that we might not come to be
of some consequence, even as are Captain Smith and Master Hunt, in
this new world.
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