Mary of Plymouth: A Story of the Pilgrim Settlement Read online

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  MARY OF PLYMOUTH

  A STORY OF THE PILGRIM SETTLEMENT

  BY JAMES OTIS

  NEW YORK -:- CINCINNATI -:- CHICAGO AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY

  COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY JAMES OTIS KALER

  ENTERED AT STATIONERS' HALL, LONDON

  FOREWORD

  The purpose of this series of stories is to show the children, andeven those who have already taken up the study of history, the _homelife_ of the colonists with whom they meet in their books. To this endevery effort has been made to avoid anything savoring of romance, andto deal only with facts, so far as that is possible, while describingthe daily life of those people who conquered the wilderness whether forconscience sake or for gain.

  That the stories may appeal more directly to the children, they aretold from the viewpoint of a child, and purport to have been relatedby a child. Should any criticism be made regarding the seeming neglectto mention important historical facts, the answer would be that thesebooks are not sent out as histories,--although it is believed that theywill awaken a desire to learn more of the building of the nation,--andonly such incidents as would be particularly noted by a child are used.

  Surely it is entertaining as well as instructive for young people toread of the toil and privations in the homes of those who came into anew world to build up a country for themselves, and such homely factsare not to be found in the real histories of our land.

  JAMES OTIS.

  CONTENTS

  PAGE Why This Story Was Written 9 The Leaking "Speedwell" 10 Searching for a Home 13 After the Storm 15 Wash Day 16 Finding the Corn 17 Attacked by the Savages 20 Building Houses 22 Miles Standish 24 The Sick People 26 The New Home 27 Master White and the Wolf 29 The Inside of the House 30 A Chimney Without Bricks 32 Building the Fire 33 Master Bradford's Chimney 34 Scarcity of Food 36 A Timely Gift 38 The First Savage Visitor 39 Squanto's Story 41 Living in the Wilderness 42 The Friendly Indians 44 Grinding the Corn 46 A Visit From Massasoit 47 Massasoit's Promise 50 Massasoit's Visit Returned 52 The Big House Burned 53 The "Mayflower" Leaves Port 54 Setting the Table 56 What and How We Eat 58 Table Rules 60 When the Pilgrim Goes Abroad 62 Making a Dugout 63 Governor Carver's Death 65 William Bradford Chosen Governor 67 Farming in Plymouth 68 Ways of Cooking Indian Corn 70 The Wedding 72 Making Maple Sugar 73 Decorating the Inside of the House 74 Trapping Wolves and Bagging Pigeons 76 Elder Brewster 77 The Visit to Massasoit 79 Keeping the Sabbath Holy 80 Making Clapboards 81 Cooking Pumpkins 82 A New Oven 83 Making Spoons and Dishes 84 The Fort and Meeting-House 86 The Harvest Festival 89 How to Play Stoolball 91 On Christmas Day 93 When the "Fortune" Arrived 94 Possibility of Another Famine 96 On Short Allowance 98 A Threatening Message 99 Pine Knots and Candles 101 Tallow from Bushes 102 Wicks for the Candles 103 Dipping the Candles 105 When James Runs Away 106 Evil-Minded Indians 109 Long Hours of Preaching 110 John Alden's Tubs 112 English Visitors 113 Visiting the Neighbors 115 Why More Fish Are Not Taken 116 How Wampum is Made 118 Ministering to Massasoit 119 The Plot Thwarted 121 The Captain's Indian 122 Ballots of Corn 123 Arrival of the "Ann" 123 The "Little James" Comes to Port 125 The New Meeting-House 125 The Church Service 127 The Tithingmen 129 Master Winslow Brings Home Cows 130 A Real Oven 131 Butter and Cheese 132 The Settlement at Wessagussett 133 The Village of Merrymount 135 The First School 136 Too Much Smoke 138 School Comforts 139 How the Children Were Punished 140 New Villages 142 Clothing for the Salem Company 146 Preparing Food For the Journey 147 Before Sailing for Salem 148 Beginning the Journey 150 The Arrival at Salem 153 Sight-Seeing in Salem 154 Back to Plymouth 155

  MARY OF PLYMOUTH

  WHY THIS STORY WAS WRITTEN

  My name is Mary, and I am setting down all these things about ourpeople here in this new world, hoping some day to send to my dearfriend, Hannah, who lives in Scrooby, England, what may really come tobe a story, even though the writer of it is only sixteen years old,having lived in Plymouth since the day our company landed from the_Mayflower_ in 1620, more than eleven years ago.

 

  If Hannah ever really sees this as I have written it, she will, I know,be amused; for it is set down on pieces of birch bark and some leavescut from the book of accounts which Edward Winslow brought with himfrom the old home.

  Hannah will ask why I did not use fair, white paper, and, if I amstanding by when she does so, I shall tell her that fair, white paperis far too precious in this new world of ours to be
used for thepleasure of children.

  In the last ship which came from England were large packages of whitepaper for the settlers at Salem, who came over to this wild land eightyears after we landed, and when I asked my father to buy for me threesheets that I might make a little book, he told me the price wouldbe more for the three sheets than he paid for the two deer skins withwhich to make me a winter coat.

 

  Of course I put from my mind all hope of having paper to write on; butthese sheets of bark take very well the ink made from elderberrieswhich mother and I brewed the second winter after our new home wasbuilt. The pen is a quill taken from the wing of a wild goose shot byCaptain Standish.

  THE LEAKING "SPEEDWELL"

  Hannah's father must have told her how much of trouble we had ingetting here, for when the first vessel in which we set sail, namedthe _Speedwell_, put back to Plymouth in England because of leaking sobadly, her master could not have failed to tell the people of Scroobyhow all the hundred and two of us, men, women and children, werecrowded into the _Mayflower_.

 

  From the sixth day of September until the eleventh day of November,which is over sixty long dreary days, we were on the ocean, and thenour vessel was come into what Captain John Smith had named Cape CodBay.

  Mother believed, as did the other women, and even we children, that wewould go on shore as soon as the _Mayflower_ had come near to the land;but before many hours were passed, after the anchor had been droppedinto the sea, even the youngest of us knew that it could not be.

  We were weary with having been on board the vessel so long, and hadmade ourselves believe that as soon as we were arrived in the newworld, food in plenty, with good, comfortable homes, would be ours.

 

  Master Brewster, as well as the other men, said that houses must bebuilt before we could leave the ship, and it was only needed we shouldgo on deck and look about us, to know why this was so. Everywhere,except on the water, were snow and trees. It was a real forest as faras I could see in either direction, and everywhere the cold, white snowwas piled in drifts, or blowing like feathers when the wind was high.

  So deeply was the land covered that we, who watched the men when theywent ashore for the first time to seek out some place whereon to makea village, thought that they had fallen into a hole while stepping offthe rocks, because we lost sight of them so soon. Instead of its beingan accident, however, we could see that they were floundering in thesnow, Master Bradford, whose legs are the shortest, being nearly lostto view.

  We waited as patiently as possible for them to come back, though Imust confess that Sarah, a girl of about my own age who came aboard the_Mayflower_ at Plymouth when we put back because of the _Speedwell's_leaking so badly, and I could not keep in check our eagerness to hearfrom those people in Virginia, who it was said were living in comfort.

  Not for many days did we come to realize that the settlers in Virginiawere far, very far away from where we were to land, and to see them weshould be forced to take another long voyage in a ship. We had comeamidst the snow and the savage Indians, instead of among people fromEngland, as had been planned when we set out on the journey.

  SEARCHING FOR A HOME

  Father was wet, cold, weary, and almost discouraged when he came onboard the vessel after that first day on shore. The men had found noplace which looked as if it might be a good spot for our village.Father said that he was not the only member of the company who hadbegun to believe it would have been better had we stayed in Leyden, orin any other place where we would have been allowed to worship God inour own way, rather than thus have ventured into a wild forest wherewere fierce animals, and, perhaps, yet more cruel savages.

  On that very night, soon after our fathers were on board again, agreat storm came up. The vessel tumbled about as if she had been on thebroad ocean, and when we heard the men throwing out more anchors, wechildren were afraid and cried, for Sarah's father said he believed the_Mayflower_ would be cast ashore and wrecked on the cruel rocks overwhich the waves were dashing themselves into foam.

 

  Some of the women were frightened, although my mother was not of thenumber, and it was only when Master Brewster came among us, prayingmost fervently, and saying that God would watch over us even as He hadon the mighty ocean, that the cries and sobs of fear were checked.Truly did I think, while Sarah and I hugged each other very hard sothat we might not be heard to cry, that this was a most wretched placein which to make a new home, and how I wished we had never left Leyden,or that we had gone back to Scrooby instead of coming here!

  AFTER THE STORM

  It was Saturday when our vessel first came to anchor, and the stormheld furious until Monday morning, when the snow was piled up higherthan before, and many of the smaller trees were hidden from sight; butyet our fathers went on shore when the sun shone once more, while thesailors made ready to launch the big boat which they call the shallop.It had been tied down on the deck of the _Mayflower_, taking up somuch space that, because of her, we children could not move aroundcomfortably on deck even when the weather permitted.

  Some of the upper timbers had been broken by the waves during thestorms which came upon us while we were on the ocean, and it was saidthat much in the way of mending must be done before she could be madeseaworthy. Therefore, owing to the need of room in which to work,the sailors took her ashore where it could be done with somewhat ofcomfort.

  You must know that a shallop is a large boat, much larger than the onebelonging to our ship, which is called a longboat. To my mind a shallopis like unto a vessel such as the _Speedwell_, except that it is muchsmaller, capable of holding no more than twenty-five or thirty people.It has one mast, a sail, and oars, and, as father has told me, any onemight safely make a long voyage in such a craft.

  WASH DAY

  Captain Standish led the company of men, among which was my father,into the forest to search for a place in which to make our new home,and when we lost sight of them among the trees, it seemed as if we weremore alone than before.

 

  Sarah and I could not stay on deck to watch the men while they worked,because the cold was too severe, therefore we went into the cabinwhere were other children huddled around the stove, and there tried toimagine what our homes would be like in such a desolate place.

  While the sailors worked on the shallop, many of the women went onshore to wash clothes near the fire which had been built by the men,and a most dismal time they had, as we children heard when they cameback at night. They were forced to melt snow in Master Brewster'sbig iron pot, and when the hot water had been poured into the tub, itspeedily began to freeze. Mother said that the clothes were but littleimproved by having been washed in such a manner.

  Next morning the cold was so bitter that the women and children did notventure much out on the deck of the vessel, save when one or anotherran up to see if those who had set off to find a place for our newhome were returning. The sailors continued work on the shallop duringtwo days, and each time on coming back to the _Mayflower_ for food orshelter, brought a load of wood in their boat so that we might havefuel in plenty for our fires on the ship.

  FINDING THE CORN

  Not until Friday evening did our fathers come back; no one of all theparty of seventeen was missing, although it seemed to me they had beenin great danger.

  Before they had gone on their journey more than a mile from the_Mayflower_, they saw five savages and a dog coming toward them, andhastened forward to learn what they might about this new world. TheIndians ran among the trees as soon as they saw our people, and theyran so swiftly it was impossible to overtake them.

 

  After making chase without coming upon the savages, Captain Standishled the way along the shore until next day they came upon what lookedas if an Indian village had once been in that place, for the landhad been dug over much as though to raise crops, and there were whatappeared to be many graves. On opening one of these piles of sand,there were found two baskets full of
what one of the sailors said wasIndian corn; but another declared it was Turkish wheat, while CaptainStandish believed it should be called Guinny wheat. It had been leftnear the graves, for these savages believe that even after people aredead, they need food.

  Later, when we had become acquainted with Samoset and Squanto, we cameto know that on the spot which had been chosen for our home, there hadbeen a large Indian village. Four years before we of the _Mayflower_came, a terrible sickness had attacked the settlement of savages, andmore than two hundred died. Those who were alive and able to walk,deserted the place to go many miles into the forest away from the sea,and, except for the graves which our people found, every trace of thetown was wiped out, the savages believing that only by the destructionof everything connected with the settlement, could the evil spirit ofthe mysterious sickness be cast out.

  Our men were very glad to find this wheat, and as soon as they hadbrought it aboard the vessel, the women set about boiling some, forthat seemed to be the only way in which it could be eaten, since it ishard, almost like flint. Neither Sarah nor I, hungry though we were,felt like eating what had been left for dead people; but we did tasteof it, and found it very good, even though it had not been cooked quiteenough.

  It was not long, however, before we found out how to prepare it, andmany a time since then has it saved us from starving, but of that Iwill tell you later.

  ATTACKED BY THE SAVAGES

  On the sixth of December, the shallop having been made ready for sea,the men started away to search once more for a place in which to buildhomes, and on the very next day, while they were sleeping in the forestin a hut that had been built of dead tree trunks and bushes, they wereset upon by savages, who shot arrows among them.