r
34
M a;" r Problems in ilm ~Tim" H is/Of}'
2. Indentured Servant Richard Frethorne
Laments His Condition in Virginia, 1623
Lo vi ng and kind fa ther and mother, my most humble duty remembered to you
hopin g in God of your good health, as r my self am at the making hereof, th is is
to let you und e rstand that I your Child am in a most heavy Case by reaso n of
the natu re of the Country is such that it Causeth much sickness, as the scurvy and
Susan Myra King sbury. ed .. The Records of the VrrglfIlQ Company vJ London, III (Washi ngton. D.C. :
U.S. Governm em Printing ornce. 1(33),550-55),556-557.
Richard Frethorn e ( 0 his mother and lather, March-April. 1623. in The Records of the Virgima Compan y,
ed. Susan M. Kingsbury, IV (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Priming Office, 1935 ),58-62
The SOlithern Colome,
IrI
British .'Im,Ti("
35
the bloody flux [dysentery] . and divers other disease s, which rnakcth the body
very poor , and Weak, and when we are sick there is nothin g to Comfort us; for
since I cam e out of the ship, 1 never ate any thing but peas and loblollie (thai is
water gr uel) as for dee r or veni son I never saw any since I came into this land,
there is indeed some fowl, bUI We are not allowed to go and ge t it, but must Work
hard bot h early and late for a mess of water gruel, and a mouthful of bread, and
beef. a mouthfu l of bread for a penny loaf must serve for 4 men which is most
pit iful if you did know as much as I, when peopl e cry out day, and night, Oh that
they were in England without the ir limbs and would not care to lose any limb to
be in England again. yea though they beg from door to door, for we live in fear
of the Enemy eve ry ho ur. yet we have had a Combat with them on the Sunday
before Shro vetide, and we took two alive, and make slaves of them . . . . [W]e are
fain to get other men to plant with us, and yet we are but 32 to fight against 3000
if they sho uld Come, and the nighe...