“ROGER WILLIAMS STEERED HIS LITTLE SHIP OF STATE TO A SAFE HARBOR BY THE COMPASS OF AN ENLIGHTENED CONSCIENCE.”--_STRAUS._ ROGER WILLIAMS CHAPTER I OUT OF THE SHADOWS Tucked away in the northeastern corner of the United States is the tiny state of Rhode Island. “Little Rhody” she is often affectionately called, although her full name is “State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.” Such an overwhelming title for such a small body! Yet not only in length of name, but in the number of her capital cities, has Rhode Island led her sister states. Up to the year 1900 she boasted two capitals, while every other state in the Union was contented with one. From the beginning, Rhode Island has made up in interesting history what she has lacked in size. Much of this history is hinted at in the names found within her borders. Take the name Providence, for example. It sounds as if it had a story back of it--as, indeed, it has. Other quaint and suggestive names are found in the streets of the capital--Benefit, Benevolent and Friendship--and in the islands in Narragansett Bay--Prudence, Patience, Hope. Rhode Island’s story is largely that of Roger Williams, yet he was too great a man to belong to one bit of the country alone. He is one of the finest characters in United States history, though people were long in finding it out. Even to-day we do not always remember the noble services he rendered our country. Men who do spectacular things have many biographers, while quiet lives often remain unrecorded. We are apt to forget that it may take as much bravery to stand abuse and loss of friends as to face the cannon’s mouth, that even more courage is required to fight for disagreeable truths than to win battles. So while Roger Williams never did anything to startle the world, he will remain one of the great moral soldiers of all time. Lacking appreciation in the day in which he lived, he deserves the honor of our own age. It is time he came into his own. The lives of most famous men begin with a fixed date. Stories of family and boyhood follow, with perhaps a clear description of the great man himself. In this respect, Roger Williams’ life is different from the others. We have not the faintest idea what he looked like--whether he was tall or short, stout or thin, dark or light, had blue eyes or brown. No true portrait of him has ever been discovered. The artists who have attempted to give us his likeness in bronze or marble or on canvas have had to idealize him.