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diff --git a/44100-0.txt b/44100-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a1b9974 --- /dev/null +++ b/44100-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3907 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44100 *** + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + + + + RUTH OF BOSTON + + A STORY OF THE MASSACHUSETTS BAY COLONY + + + 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, and +even those who have already taken up the study of history, the _home +life_ of the colonists with whom they meet in their books. To this end +every effort has been made to avoid anything savoring of romance, and +to deal only with facts, so far as that is possible, while describing +the daily life of those people who conquered the wilderness whether +for conscience sake or for gain. + +That the stories may appeal more directly to the children, they are +told from the viewpoint of a child, and purport to have been related +by a child. Should any criticism be made regarding the seeming neglect +to mention important historical facts, the answer would be that these +books are not sent out as histories,--although it is believed that +they will awaken a desire to learn more of the building of the +nation,--and only such incidents as would be particularly noted by a +child are used. + +Surely it is entertaining as well as instructive for young people to +read of the toil and privations in the homes of those who came into a +new world to build up a country for themselves, and such homely facts +are not to be found in the real histories of our land. + + JAMES OTIS. + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + A PROPER BEGINNING 9 + + ON THE BROAD OCEAN 11 + + MAKING READY FOR BATTLE 13 + + THE REST OF THE VOYAGE 15 + + THE FIRST VIEW OF AMERICA 17 + + THE TOWN OF SALEM 19 + + OTHER VILLAGES 21 + + VISITING SALEM 22 + + MAKING COMPARISONS 25 + + AN INDIAN GUEST AND OTHER VISITORS 27 + + A CHRISTENING AND A DINNER 30 + + DECIDING UPON A HOME 33 + + A SAD LOSS 35 + + REJOICING TURNED INTO MOURNING 36 + + THANKSGIVING DAY IN JULY 38 + + LEAVING SALEM FOR CHARLESTOWN 39 + + OUR NEIGHBORS 40 + + GETTING SETTLED 42 + + THE GREAT SICKNESS 44 + + MOVING THE TOWN 46 + + MASTER GRAVES PROHIBITS SWIMMING 48 + + ANNA FOSTER'S PARTY 49 + + THE TOWN OF BOSTON 51 + + GUARDING AGAINST FIRES 53 + + OUR OWN NEW HOME 54 + + THE FASHION OF THE DAY 56 + + MY OWN WARDROBE 59 + + MASTER JOHNSON'S DEATH 60 + + MANY NEW KINDS OF FOOD 61 + + THE SUPPLY OF FOOD 64 + + THE SAILING OF THE "LYON" 66 + + THE FAMINE 67 + + THE SEARCH FOR FOOD 69 + + THE STARVATION TIME 70 + + A DAY TO BE REMEMBERED 73 + + THE COMING OF THE "LYON" 74 + + ANOTHER THANKSGIVING DAY 75 + + A DEFENSE FOR THE TOWN 78 + + THE PROBLEM OF SERVANTS 79 + + CHICKATABUT 80 + + BUILDING A SHIP 82 + + HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES 84 + + HOW THE WORK IS DIVIDED 86 + + LAUNCHING THE SHIP 88 + + MASTER WINTHROP'S MISHAP 90 + + NEW ARRIVALS 92 + + ANOTHER FAMINE 94 + + FINE CLOTHING FORBIDDEN 96 + + OUR FIRST CHURCH 97 + + A TROUBLESOME PERSON 100 + + THE VILLAGE OF MERRY MOUNT 101 + + PUNISHING THOMAS MORTON 102 + + PHILIP RATCLIFF'S CRIME 105 + + IN THE PILLORY 107 + + STEALING FROM THE INDIANS 108 + + THE PASSING OF NEW LAWS 110 + + MASTER PORMONT'S SCHOOL 112 + + SCHOOL DISCIPLINE 114 + + OTHER TOOLS OF TORTURE 116 + + DIFFICULT LESSONS 118 + + OTHER SCHOOLS 119 + + RAISING FLAX 121 + + PREPARING FLAX 123 + + SPINNING, BLEACHING, AND WEAVING FLAX 125 + + WHAT WE GIRLS DO AT HOME 127 + + MAKING SOAP 129 + + SOAP FROM BAYBERRIES 132 + + GOOSE-PICKING 133 + + A CHANGE OF GOVERNORS 135 + + THE FLIGHT OF ROGER WILLIAMS 136 + + SIR HARRY VANE 138 + + MAKING SUGAR 140 + + A "SUGARING DINNER" 143 + + TRAINING DAY 146 + + SHOOTING FOR A PRIZE 149 + + LECTURE DAY 151 + + PUNISHMENT FOR EVIL-DOERS 152 + + THE MURDER OF JOHN OLDHAM 154 + + SAVAGES ON THE WAR-PATH 156 + + PEQUOT INDIANS 158 + + + + +RUTH OF BOSTON + + + + +A PROPER BEGINNING + + + [Illustration] + +Truly it seems a great undertaking to journey from London into the +land of America, yet I have done so, and because of there being very +few girls only twelve years of age who are likely to make such a +voyage, it seems to me well if I set down those things which I saw and +did that might be interesting to myself in the future, when I shall +have grown to be an old lady, if God permits, or to any other who may +come upon this diary. + +Of course I must first set down who I am, in case strangers should +some day chance to find this book, and, growing interested in it--for +who can say that I may not be able to tell a story which shall be +entertaining, because of there being in it much which the people of +England have never seen--give me credit for having written a diary +without a proper beginning. + +You must know, then, that my name is Ruth. In the year of our Lord, +1630, when, as I have said, I was but twelve years of age, my father +joined that company led by Master John Winthrop, whose intent it was +to go into America to spread the gospel, and there also build up a +town wherein should live only those who were one with them in the +worship of God. + +This company was made up of four classes of people. First there were +those who paid a sum of money for their passage to America, and, +because of having done so, were to be given a certain number of acres +of land in the New World. + +In the second class were those who, not having enough money to pay the +full price for their passage, agreed to perform a sufficient amount of +work, after arriving in America, to make up for the same. + +In the third class were those called indentured servants, which is +much the same as if I said apprentices. + +The fourth and last class had in it those people who were to work for +wages, at whatsoever trade or calling they were best fitted. + +It needs not that I should say more by way of a beginning, for surely +all the people in England, if they do not know it now, will soon come +to understand why we, together with those who have gone before us, +and the companies that are to come after, have journeyed into +America. + + + + +ON THE BROAD OCEAN + + +It was decided that my parents, and, of course, myself, should sail in +the same ship with Master Winthrop, and the name of that vessel was +the _Arabella_, she having been so called in honor of Lady Arabella +Johnson, who journeyed with us. + +My mother was sadly grieved because of Mistress Winthrop's deciding +not to go on the voyage with her husband, but to join him in the New +World later, and this decision was a disappointment to very many of +the company. I am in doubt as to whether the Lady Arabella would have +gone with us on this ship, had she not believed Mistress Winthrop also +was to go. + +It was on the twenty-second day of March, in that year which I have +previously set down, that, having already journeyed from London to +Southampton, we went aboard the _Arabella_, counting that the voyage +would be begun without delay, and yet, because of unfriendly winds and +cruel storms, our ship, with three others of the company, lay at +anchor until the eighth day of April. + +Then it was, after the captain of the ship had shot off three guns as +a farewell, that we sailed out on the broad ocean, where we were +tossed by the waves and buffeted by the winds for nine long, dreary +weeks. + + [Illustration] + +Had it not been for Master Winthrop's discourses day after day, we +should have been more gloomy than we were; but with such a devout man +to remind us of the mercy and goodness of God, it would have been +little short of a sin had we repined because of not being carried more +speedily to that land where was to be our home. + +There was one day during the voyage, when it seemed verily as if the +Lord was not minded we should journey away from England. + +We had not been out from the port many days, when on a certain morning +eight ships were seen behind us, coming up as if counting to learn +what we were like; and then it was that all the men of the company +believed these were Spanish vessels bent on taking us prisoners, for, +as you know, at that time England was at war with Spain. + +It was most fearsome to all the children, but very much so to Susan, a +girl very nearly my own age, with whom I made friends after coming +aboard, and myself. + + + + +MAKING READY FOR BATTLE + + +When Susan and I saw the men taking down the hammocks from that +portion of the vessel which was called the gun deck, loading the +cannon, and bringing out the powder-chests, truly were we alarmed. + + [Illustration] + +Standing clasped in each other's arms, unheeded by our elders, all of +whom were in a painful state of anxiety or fear, we watched intently +all that forenoon the ships which we believed belonged to the enemy. + +Then I heard one of the sailors say that the Spaniards were surely +gaining on us, and the captain of the vessel, as well as Master +Winthrop and my father, must have believed it true, for all +preparations were made for a battle. + +The small cabins, leading from the great one, were torn down that +cannon might be used without hindrance, and the bedding, and all +things that were likely to take fire, were thrown overboard. The boats +were launched into the sea and towed alongside the ship so that when +the worst came we might fly in them, and then that which was most +fearsome of all, the women and children were sent down into the very +middle of the vessel, where they might not be in danger when the +Spaniards began to send iron balls among us, as it seemed certain they +soon would. + +While we were huddled together in the darkness, many weeping, some +moaning, and a few women, among whom was my mother, silent in the +agony of grief, Master Winthrop came down to pray with us, greatly to +our comforting, after which, so I have been told since, he went up +among the men where he performed the same office. + +It was not until an hour after noon that our people discovered that +those ships which we believed to be Spanish, were English vessels, +from which we had nothing to fear. + +Then word was sent down to us in that dark place that we might come up +above, and once in the sunlight again, we found all the passengers +rejoicing and making merry over the fears which had so lately beset +them. + +How bright the sun looked to Susan and me as we stood near the rail +of our ship, gazing at the vessels which only a few hours before were +a fearsome sight, but now seemed so friendly! It was as if we had been +very near to death, and were suddenly come into a place of safety. + + + + +THE REST OF THE VOYAGE + + +From that time until St. George's Day, which you all know is the +twenty-third of April, nothing happened deserving of being set down +here. Then it was, however, that during the forenoon the captain moved +our sails so that the ship would remain idle upon the waters, which is +what sailors call "heaving to," and the captains of the other vessels, +together with Master Pynchon and many more gentlemen, came on board +for a feast. + +Lady Arabella and the gentlewomen of our company had dinner in the +great cabin, while the gentlemen partook of their good cheer in the +roundhouse, as the sailors call it, which is a sort of cabin on the +hindermost part of the quarter-deck. + +By four o'clock in the afternoon the feast was at an end; the +gentlemen who had come to visit us went on board their own ships, and +again were the vessels headed for that country of America in which we +counted to spend the remainder of our lives. + +Susan and I were much together during this voyage, for neither of us +made very friendly with the other children, and I do not remember that +anything of import happened until we were come, so the captain said, +near to the New World. + +It is not needed I should set down that again and again were there +furious storms, when it seemed certain our ship would be sunk, for +there was so much of such disagreeable weather during the nine weeks +of voyaging, that if I were to make a record of each unpleasant day, +this diary would be filled with little else. + + [Illustration] + +I have set down, however, that on the seventh day of June, which was +Monday, we had come, so Master Winthrop said, off "the Banks," where +was good fishing to be found; but why this particular spot on the +ocean should be called the Banks, neither Susan nor I could +understand. The waves were much like those we had seen from day to +day; but yet, in some way, the captain knew that we had come to the +place where it would be possible to take fish in great numbers, and so +we did. + +It is not seemly a young girl should set down the fact, with much of +satisfaction, that she enjoyed unduly the food before her, and yet I +must confess that those fish tasted most delicious after we had been +feeding upon pickled pork, or pickled beef, with never anything fresh +to take from one's mouth the flavor of salt. + +It was a feast, as Susan and I looked at the matter, far exceeding +that which we had on St. George's Day, and surely more enjoyable to +us, for what can be better pleasing to the mouth than a slice of fresh +codfish, fried until it is so brown as to be almost beautiful, after +one has had nothing save that which is pickled? + + + + +THE FIRST VIEW OF AMERICA + + +Five days later, which is the same as if I said on the twelfth day of +June, early in the morning, when Susan and I came on deck, we saw +spread out before us the land, and it needed not we should ask if this +was the America where we were to live, for all the people roundabout +us were talking excitedly of the skill which had been displayed by the +master of the _Arabella_, in thus bringing us directly to the place +where we had counted on coming. + +It can well be fancied that Susan and I overhung the rail as the ship +sailed nearer and nearer to the land, watching intently everything +before us; yet seeing, much to our surprise, little more than would +have been seen had we come upon the coast of England. + +I had foolishly believed that even the shores of this New World would +be unlike anything to be found elsewhere, and yet they were much the +same. The rocks rising high above the waters, with the waves beating +against them, made up a picture such as we had before us even while we +lay at anchor off Cowes. The trees were like unto the trees in our own +land, and the grass was of no different color. Save that all this +before us was a wilderness, we might have been off the coast of +Cornwall. + +I have said it was all the same, and yet because of the fears and the +anxieties regarding the future, was it different. + +This was the land to which we had come for the making of a new home; +the place where our parents had pledged themselves to spread the +gospel as the Lord would have it spread. + +We knew, because of what had been written by our friends who had +journeyed to this new world before us that here we were to find brown +savages, many of whom, like wild beasts, would thirst to shed our +blood. Here also could we expect to see fierce animals, such as might +not be met with elsewhere in the world; and, in the way of blessings, +we should meet those friends of ours who, for conscience sake and for +the will to do God's bidding, had come to prepare the land that it +should be more friendly toward us. + + + + +THE TOWN OF SALEM + + +I had not yet been able to discover any of the dwellings which marked +the town of Naumkeag, or Salem, when all the cannon on board our +vessel were set off with a great noise. Then, as we came around a +point of land, there appeared before our eyes a goodly ship lying at +anchor, and beyond her the town that was--much to my disappointment, +for I had fancied something grander--made up of a few log houses which +seemed rather to be quarters for servants than dwellings for +gentlemen's families, although we had been told that the habitations +would be rude indeed. + + [Illustration] + +A boat was put into the water from our ship, and as the sailors rowed +toward the vessel which was at anchor, I heard my father say to my +mother that they were going in quest of Master William Pierce, a +London friend of ours. + +As we watched, I asked that question which had come often in my mind +during the voyage, which was, why this new town that Master Endicott +had built should have two names. + +Mother told me that the Indians had called the place Naumkeag, and so +also did those men who first settled here; but when some of our people +came, and gathered around them several from the Plymouth Colony, +together with a number of planters who had built themselves homes +along the shore, it was decided to name the new town Salem, which +means peace, for here it was they hoped to gain that peace which +should be on this earth like unto the peace we read of in the Book, +which passeth all understanding. + +And now before I set down that which we saw, and while you are +picturing our company on the deck of the _Arabella_ looking shoreward, +impatient to set their feet once more on the earth, let me tell you +what I had heard, since we left England; regarding this town of peace, +and those of our people, or of other faiths, who settled here two +years or more ago. + + + + +OTHER VILLAGES + + +Master Endicott, who was of our faith, had come to these shores in +March of the year 1628, with a company of thirty or forty people, and, +finding other men living at the head of this harbor which the +_Arabella_ had entered after her long voyage, decided to build his +home at this place. + +In the next year, Master Higginson, coming over with six vessels in +which were eighteen women, twenty-six children, and three hundred men, +joined the little colony. These last brought with them one hundred and +forty head of cattle, and forty goats. + +However, only two hundred of this last company remained at Salem, the +others having chosen to build for themselves a new town, which they +called Charlestown, on that large body of water which is set down on +the maps as Massachusetts Bay. + +In addition to these two villages, it was said that there were five or +six houses at the place called Nantasket; that one Master Samuel +Maverick was living on Noddles Island, and one Master William +Blackstone on the Shawmut Peninsula. + +I have set this down to the end that those who read it may understand +we were not come into a wild country, in which lived none but savages, +and I must also add that not so many miles away was the town of +Plymouth, where had been living, during ten years, a company of +Englishmen who had worked bravely to make for themselves a home. + +And now since I am done with explaining, and since the boat which put +out from our vessel and which I left you watching, has come back from +that other ship, bringing Master William Pierce, let me tell you what +we did on the first day in this new world. + + + + +VISITING SALEM + + + [Illustration] + +The gentlemen and ladies of our company were invited on shore to a +feast of deer meat, while the servant women and maids were allowed to +land on the other side of the harbor, where they feasted themselves on +wild strawberries, which were exceeding large and sweet. + +It would be untrue for me to say that deer meat made into a huge pie +is not inviting, because of my having enjoyed it greatly, and yet I +could not give so much attention to the dainty as I would have done at +almost any other time, so intent was I upon seeing this village +concerning which Master Endicott had written so many words of praise. + +Had Susan and I come upon it within an hour after leaving the city of +London, it would have looked exceedingly poor and mean; but now, when +we were on the land after a voyage of nine long weeks, verily it +seemed like a wondrous pleasant place in which to live. + +More than an hundred dwellings, so my father said, had been built. +Some were of logs laid one on top of the other in a clumsy fashion, +with the places where windows of glass should have been, covered with +oiled paper, and doors that were so cumbersome and heavy it was a real +task for Susan and me to open and close them, but yet they had a +homely look. + +Then there were what might be called sheds, made of logs, or the bark +of trees, and, in two cases, dwellings of branches laid up loosely as +a child would build a toy camp. + +It was as if each man had built according to his inclination and +willingness to labor, the more thrifty having log dwellings, and the +indolent ones rude huts. + +Even Susan and I could understand that whosoever had decided upon the +places where these homes should be built, had in mind the making of a +large town; for paths, like unto streets, led here and there, while +all around grew trees, not thickly, to be sure, but yet in such +abundance as to show that all this had lately been a wilderness. + + [Illustration] + +Even in these streets had been left the stumps of trees after the +trunks were removed, which served to give an untidy look to the whole, +making it seem as if one were in a place where had been built shelters +only for a little time, and which would shortly be abandoned. + +The welcome which was given us, however, was even warmer than we would +have received at home in England, and little wonder that these +gentlefolk whom we had known there, should be overjoyed to see us +here. + +Both Susan and I came to understand, not many months afterward, how +great can be the pleasure one has at seeing old friends whom he had +feared never to meet again in this world. + +It was a veritable feast which these good people of Salem set before +us, and yet so strange was the cookery, that I am minded to describe +later some of the dishes at risk of dwelling overly long upon matters +of no importance. + + + + +MAKING COMPARISONS + + +Master Winthrop said, when we were going on board the ship again, that +although it was nothing but peas, pudding, and fish, quite coarse as +compared with what we would have had at home in England, save as to +the venison pie, it all seemed sweet and wholesome to him. + +When the day was come to an end, we went into the ship once more, for +there were not spare beds enough in all the town to serve for half our +party, and you may be very certain that once we were gathered again in +the great cabin, all talked eagerly concerning what had been done; at +least our parents did, for it would have been unseemly in us children +to interrupt while our elders were talking. + +Mother was not well satisfied with the houses, believing it would be +possible to make dwellings more like those we left behind; but father +bade her have patience, saying that a shelter from the weather was +the first matter to be thought of, and that the pleasing of the eye +could well come later, after we had more with which to work. + + [Illustration] + +She, thinking as was I at the moment, of the floor in the house where +we ate the venison pie, declared stoutly that there would be no more +of labor in laying down planks, at least in the living-room, than in +beating the earth hard, as it seemingly had been where we visited. + +Then, laughingly, he bade her rest content, nor set her mind so +strongly upon the vanities of this world, saying that if God permitted +him to raise a roof, so that his wife and child might be sheltered +from the sun and from the rain, he would be satisfied, even though +the legs of his table stood upon the bare earth. + +It was this conversation between my parents that caused the other +women to talk of how they would have a home built, until Lady Arabella +put an end to what was almost wrangling,--for each insisted that her +plan for a dwelling in this New World was the best,--by saying that +whatsoever God willed we should have, and that it would be more than +we deserved. + + + + +AN INDIAN GUEST AND OTHER VISITORS + + +Both Susan and I had gazed about us eagerly when we went on shore, +hoping to see a savage. We were not bent on meeting him near at hand, +where he might do us a mischief; but had the desire that a brown man +might go past at a distance, and we were grievously disappointed at +coming aboard the ship again without having seen one. + +Therefore it is that you can well fancy how surprised and delighted we +were next morning when, on going on deck just after breakfast to have +another look at this new town, whom should we see walking to and fro +on the quarter-deck with Master Winthrop, as if he had been one of the +first gentlemen of the land, but a real Indian! + +There were the feathers, of which we had heard, encircling his head +and ending in a long train behind. His skin was brown, or, perhaps, +more the color of dulled copper. He wore a mantle of fur, with the +skin tanned soft as cloth, and that which father said was deer hide +cunningly treated until it was like to flannel, had been fashioned +into a garment which answered in the stead of a doublet. + + [Illustration] + +I cannot describe his appearance better than by saying it would not +have surprised me, had I been told that one of our own people had +painted and dressed himself in this fanciful fashion to take part in +some revel, for truly, save in regard to the color of his skin, he was +not unlike the gentlemen who were on the ship. + +As Susan and I learned later, he was the king, or chief man, among +those Indians who called themselves Agawams. Father said he was the +sagamore, which, as I understand it, means that he was at the head of +his people, and his name was Masconomo. + +A very kindly savage was he, and in no wise bloodthirsty looking as I +had expected. He was a friend of Master Endicott as well as of all +those who lived with him in this town of Salem, and had come to +welcome our people to the new world, which, as it seemed to both Susan +and me, was very thoughtful in one who was nothing less than a +heathen. + +The Indian sagamore stayed on board the ship all day, and our company, +together with the people of Salem, were as careful to make him welcome +as if he had been King James himself. + +The reason for this, as father afterward explained to me, was because +of its being of great importance that we make friends with the +savages, else the time might come when they would set about taking our +lives, being in far greater numbers than the white men. + +Neither Susan nor I could believe that there was any danger that these +people with brown skins would ever want to do us harm. Surely they +must be pleased, we thought, at knowing we were willing to live among +them, and, besides, if all the savages were as mild looking as this +Masconomo, they would never be wicked enough to commit the awful crime +of murder. + +In the evening, after the Indian went ashore, the good people of Salem +came on board in great numbers, and, seeing that it was a time when he +might do good to their souls, Master Winthrop gathered us on deck, +where he talked in a godly strain not less than an hour and a half. + + [Illustration] + +It was indeed wicked of Susan to say that she would have been better +pleased had we been allowed to chat with the people concerning this +new land, rather than listen to Master Winthrop, who, so mother says, +is a most gifted preacher even though that is not his calling, yet way +down in the bottom of my heart I felt much as did Susan, although, +fortunately, I was not tempted to give words to the thought. + + + + +A CHRISTENING AND A DINNER + + +When another day came, we girls had a most delightful time, for there +was to be a baby baptized in the house of logs where are held the +meetings, and Mistress White, one of the gentlefolks who came here +with the company of Master Higginson, was to give a dinner because of +her young son's having lived to be christened. + +To both these festivals Susan and I were bidden, and it surprised me +not a little to see so much of gaiety in this New World, where I had +supposed every one went around in fear and trembling lest the savages +should come to take their lives. + + [Illustration] + +The christening was attended to first, as a matter of course, and, +because of his having so lately arrived from England, Master Winthrop +was called upon to speak to the people, which he did at great length. +Although the baby, in stiff dress and mittens of linen, with his cap +of cotton wadded thickly with wool, must have been very uncomfortable +on account of the heat, he made but little outcry during all this +ceremony, or even when Master Higginson prayed a very long time. + +We were not above two hours in the meetinghouse, and then went to the +home of Mistress White, getting there just as she came down from the +loft with her young son in her arms. + +Mother was quite shocked because of the baby's having nothing in his +hands, and while she is not given to placing undue weight in beliefs +which savor of heathenism, declares that she never knew any good to +come of taking a child up or down in the house without having first +placed silver or gold between his fingers. + +Of course it is not so venturesome to bring a child down stairs +empty-handed; but to take him back for the first time without +something of value in his little fist, is the same as saying that he +will never rise in the world to the gathering of wealth. + +The dinner was much enjoyed by both Susan and me, even though the +baby, who seemed to be frightened because of seeing so many strange +faces, cried a goodly part of the time. + +We had wild turkey roasted, and it was as pleasing a morsel as ever I +put in my mouth. Then there was a huge pie of deer meat, with baked +and fried fish in abundance, and lobsters so large that there was not +a trencher bowl on the board big enough to hold a whole one. We had +whitpot, yokhegg, suquatash, and many other Indian dishes, the making +of which shall be explained as soon as I have learned the methods. + +It was a most enjoyable feast, and the good people of Salem were so +friendly that when we went on board ship that night, Susan and I were +emboldened to say to my father, that we should be rejoiced when the +time arrived for our company to build houses. + + + + +DECIDING UPON A HOME + + + [Illustration] + +Then we learned for the first time that it had not been the plan of +our people to settle in this pleasant place. It was not to the mind of +Governor Winthrop, nor yet in accord with the belief of our people in +England, that all of us who were to form what would be known as the +Massachusetts Bay Colony, should build our homes in one spot. + +Therefore it was that our people, meaning the elders among the men, +set off through the forest to search for a spot where should be made a +new town, and we children were allowed to roam around the village of +Salem at will, many of us, among whom were Susan and I, often +spending the night in the houses of those people who were so well off +in this world's goods as to have more than one bed. + +Lady Arabella Johnson and her husband had gone on shore to live the +second day after we arrived, for my lady was far from well when she +left England, and the voyage across the ocean had not been of benefit +to her. + +Our fathers were not absent above three days in the search for a place +to make our homes, and then Sarah and I were told that it had been +decided we should live at Charlestown, where, as I have already told +you, a year before our coming, Master Endicott had sent a company of +fifty to build houses. + +It pleased me to know that we were not going directly into the +wilderness, as both Susan and I had feared; but that we should be able +to find shelter with the people who had already settled there, until +our own houses could be built. + +It appeared that all the men of our company were not of Governor +Winthrop's opinion, regarding the place for a home. Some of them, +discontented with the town of Charles, went further afoot, deciding to +settle on the banks of a river called the Mystic, while yet others +crossed over that point of land opposite where we were to live, and +found a pleasing place which they had already named Rocksbury. + + + + +A SAD LOSS + + +Susan and I believed, on the night our fathers came back from their +journey, that we would set off in the ship to this village of +Charlestown without delay, and so we might have done but for my Lady +Arabella, who was taken suddenly worse of her sickness; therefore it +was decided to wait until she had gained her health. + +But alas! the poor lady had come to this New World only to die, and it +was a sad time indeed for Susan and me when the word was brought +aboard ship that she had gone out from among us forever. + +We had learned during the voyage to love her very dearly, and it +seemed even more of a blow for God to take her from us in this +wilderness, than if she had been at her home in England. + +Although it is not right for me to say so, because, of course, our +fathers know best, yet would my heart have been less sore if some word +of farewell could have been said when we laid my Lady Arabella in the +grave amid the thicket of fir trees. + +Mother says, that she is but repeating the words of Governor Winthrop, +that it is wrong to say prayers over the dead, or to utter words of +grief or faith. Therefore it was in silence we followed my lady in the +coffin made by the ship's carpenter, up the gentle slope to the +thicket of firs, the bell of the _Arabella_ tolling all the while; and +in silence we stood, while the body was being covered with earth, +little thinking how soon should we be doing a like service for another +who had come to aid in building up a new nation. + +On the day after we left my Lady Arabella on the hillside, the ship +_Talbot_, which was one of the vessels that should have sailed in +company with the _Arabella_, arrived at Salem, and the grief which +filled our hearts for the dead, was lightened somewhat by the joy in +greeting the living who were come to join us. + + [Illustration] + + + + +REJOICING TURNED INTO MOURNING + + +Governor Winthrop was among those who seemingly had most cause for +rejoicing, because of his son Henry's having arrived on the _Talbot_, +bringing news of his mother and of the remainder of the family. + +Good Master Winthrop had so much of business to look after on this +day, that he could not spend many moments in talking with his son, and +mayhap he will never cease to regret that he did not give his first +attention to the boy, for, during the afternoon, while his father was +engaged with public affairs, Henry was moved by curiosity to visit +some Indian wigwams which could be seen a long distance along the +coast. + + [Illustration] + +Not being of the mind to walk so far, he cast about for a boat of some +kind, and, seeing a canoe across the creek, plunged into the water to +swim over that he might get it. + +Susan and I were watching the brave young man when he sprang so boldly +and confidently into the water, never dreaming that harm might come to +him, and yet before he was one quarter way across the creek, he +suddenly flung up his arms with a stifled cry. Then he sank from our +sight, to be seen no more alive. + +He had been seized with a cramp, while swimming most-like because of +having gone into the cold water heated, so my father said, for the day +was very warm; but however that may be, eight and forty hours later we +walked, a mournful procession, up the hill, even as we had done behind +the earthly clay of Lady Arabella, while the bells of the ships in the +harbor tolled most dismally. + +Verily Governor Winthrop's strength is in the Lord, as my mother said, +for although his heart must have been near to bursting with grief, no +one saw a sign of sorrow on his face, so set and stern, as he stood +there listening to the clods of earth that were thrown upon the box in +which lay the body of his son. + +Susan, who is overly given to superstition, I am afraid, declared that +it was an ill omen for us to have two die when we had but just come +into the new country, and when I told her that it was wicked to place +one's faith in signs, she reminded me that I found fault because of +Mistress White's baby's being taken out of the room for the first time +with neither gold nor silver in his hands. + + + + +THANKSGIVING DAY IN JULY + + +The ship _Success_, which was also of our fleet, having been left +behind when we sailed from England, came into the harbor on the sixth +of July, and then it was, although our hearts were bowed down with +grief because of the death of Lady Arabella and the drowning of Henry +Winthrop, that our people decided we should hold a service of +thanksgiving to God because of His having permitted all our company to +arrive in safety. + +Word was sent to the people of Charlestown, and to those few men in +the settlement which is called Dorchester, that they might join with +us in the service of praise, and many came to Salem to hear the +preaching of Master Endicott, Master Higginson, and Governor Winthrop. + + [Illustration] + + + + +LEAVING SALEM FOR CHARLESTOWN + + +Four days later, which is the same as if I said on the twelfth of +July, the fleet of ships sailed out of Salem harbor with those of our +people on board who could not bear the fatigue of walking, to go up to +the new village of Charlestown. + +Before night was come, we were at anchor off that place where we +believed the remainder of our days on this earth would be spent. + +Because of the labor performed by those men whom Master Endicott had +sent to this place a year before, there were five or six log houses +which could be used by some of our people, and the governor's +dwelling, which of course would be the most lofty in the town, was +partially set up; yet the greater number of us did not go on shore +immediately to live. + +Governor Winthrop remained on board the _Arabella_, as did my parents +and Susan's, and now because there is little of interest to set down +regarding the building of the village, am I minded to tell that which +I heard our fathers talking about evening after evening, as we sat in +the great cabin when the day's work was done. + +To you who have never gone into the wilderness to make a home, the +anxiety which people in our condition felt concerning their neighbors +cannot be understood. To us, if all we heard regarding what the +savages might do against us was true, it was of the greatest +importance we should know who were settled near at hand, if it so came +that we were driven out from our town. + + + + +OUR NEIGHBORS + + +Now you must know that many years before, which is much the same as if +I had said in the year of our Lord, 1620, a number of English people +who had been living in Holland because of their consciences not +permitting them to worship God in a manner according to the Church of +England, came over to this country, and built a town which was called +Plymouth. + + [Illustration] + +This town was not far by water from our settlement; indeed, one might +have sailed there in a shallop, if he were so minded, and, in case the +wind served well, perform the voyage between daylight and sunset. + +It was, as I have said, settled ten years before we came to this new +world, and the inhabitants now numbered about three hundred. There +were sixty-eight dwelling houses, a fort well built with wood, earth +and stone, and a fair watch tower. Entirely around the town was a +stout palisade, by which I mean a fence made of logs that stand eight +or ten feet above the surface, and placed so closely together that an +enemy may not make his way between them, and in all respects was it a +goodly village, so my father declared. + +Near the mouth of the Neponset river Sir Christopher Gardner, who was +not one of our friends in a religious way, had settled with a small +company, and farther down the coast, many miles away, it was said were +three other villages; but none among them could outshine Salem, either +in numbers of people, or in dwellings. + +When we were on the shore in Charlestown, looking straight out over +the water toward the nearest land, we could see, not above two miles +away, three hills which were standing close to each other, and Master +Thomas Graves, who had taken charge of the people that first settled +in the town of Charles, had named the place Trimountain; but the +Indians called it Shawmut. There only one white man was living and his +name was Master William Blackstone, as I have already told you. + +It seemed to me a fairer land, because of the hills and dales, than +was our settlement, and yet it would not have been seemly for me to +say so much, after our fathers and mothers had decided this was the +place where we were to live. + + + + +GETTING SETTLED + + +The days which followed our coming to Charlestown were busy ones, even +to us women folks, for there was much to be done in taking the +belongings ashore, or in helping our neighbors to set to rights their +new dwellings. + + [Illustration] + +The Great House, in which Governor Winthrop would live, was finished +first, and into this were moved as many of our people as it would +hold. + +Then again, there were others who, not content with staying on the +_Arabella_ after having remained on board of her so long, put up huts +like unto the wigwams made by the Indians, which, while the weather +continued to be so warm, served fairly well as places in which to +live. + +If I said that we made shift to get lodgings on shore in whatsoever +manner came most convenient for the moment, I should only be stating +the truth, for some indeed were lodged in an exceeding odd and +interesting fashion. + +Susan's father, going back some little distance from the Great House, +cut away the trees in such a manner as to leave four standing in the +form of a square, and from one to another of these he nailed small +logs, topped with a piece of sail cloth that had been brought on shore +from the _Talbot_, finishing the sides with branches of trees, sticks, +and even two of his wife's best bed quilts. Into this queer home Susan +went with her mother, while my parents were content to use one of the +rooms in the Great House until father could build for us a dwelling of +logs. + + [Illustration] + + + + +THE GREAT SICKNESS + + +It seemed much as if Susan was in the right, when she said that the +deaths of Lady Arabella and Henry Winthrop were ill omens, because no +sooner had all our people landed from the ships, or come up through +the forest from Salem, than a great sickness raged among us. + +Many had been ill during the voyage with what Master Higginson called +scurvy, which is a disease that attacks people who have lived long on +salted food, and again many others took to their beds with a sickness +caused by the lack of pure, fresh water. + +Our fathers had but just begun to build up this new town when it was +as if the hand of God had been laid heavily upon us, for, so it was +said, not more than one out of every five of our people was able to +perform any work whatsoever. + +Those were long, dismal, dreadful days, when at each time of rising in +the morning we learned that this friend or that neighbor had gone out +from among us, and it seemed to Susan and me as if there were a +constant succession of funerals, with not even the tolling of bells to +mark the passage of a body from its poor home to its last resting +place on earth, for by this time the ships had gone out of the harbor. + +The graves on the side of the hill increased tenfold faster than did +the dwellings, and all of us, even the children, felt that our only +recourse now was to pray God that He would remove the curse, for of a +verity did it seem as if one had been placed upon us. + +Again and again did I hear men and women who had ever been devout and +regular in their attendance upon the preaching, ask if we had not +offended the Lord by breaking off from the English church, or if we +might not have committed some sin in thus abandoning the land of our +birth, thinking to ourselves that we would build up a new nation in +the world. + +Therefore it was that even Susan and I felt a certain relief of mind, +when Governor Winthrop set the thirtieth day of July as a day of +fasting and of prayer; and in order that all the English people who +had come into this portion of the New World might unite with us in +begging God to remove the calamity from our midst, word was sent even +as far as Plymouth, asking that every one meet on that day with words +of devout petition. + + + + +MOVING THE TOWN + + +I have no doubt, because of mother's having said so again and again, +that the good Lord heard our fervent entreaties, although the sickness +was not removed from among us for near to six weeks. + + [Illustration] + +Then it was that Master William Blackstone came across from +Trimountain, and told Governor Winthrop it was his belief we should do +more toward aiding ourselves than simply praying. He advised, because +of there being plenty of good water in Trimountain, that we forsake +this village of Charlestown, and go across to the opposite shore. + +I might set down many words, repeating what I heard our fathers say +concerning the wisdom of such a move, and yet this story which I am +telling would not be improved thereby, for the day finally came when +it was decided that, even at the cost of building new dwellings, we +should take all our belongings across the water to the cove, back of +which was a small hill, and, yet further behind, a circle of +mountains. + +The cove would make an agreeable harbor for our boats; the hill +straight behind it would serve as a location for a fort, while here +and there were pleasant streams, or gushing springs, whereas in +Charlestown we had only the water of the river, or from the marsh. + +That I may not weary you by much explaining, it is best I say that on +the seventeenth of September, when the sun had risen, we gathered at +the Great House to pray that God would bless us in this which was much +the same as our second undertaking, for without delay, and before +night had come, we were to go across the bay and make for ourselves +other homes. + +And now lest it seem as if I were telling the same story twice, I will +not set down anything concerning the building of this second village, +because of that which we did in Trimountain being the same as had +been done in Charlestown. + +The Great House was taken apart and carried across the water, as were +also the dwellings of logs, and while this was being done, the women +and children stayed in Charlestown, where Master Thomas Graves had +made, what seemed to Susan and me, odd rules and regulations. + + + + +MASTER GRAVES PROHIBITS SWIMMING + + +He had been placed in command of the settlement by Master Endicott, +and among his first acts was the appointment of tithing men, one of +whose duties it was to prevent the boys from swimming in the water, as +some lads of our company speedily learned when they would have enjoyed +such sport. + +They were arrested straightway, and but for the fact of being +strangers, who were not acquainted with the rules of the settlement, +would have been fined three shillings each. + +Susan and I had no desire to spend our time swimming, even had it been +seemly for girls so to do; but during very warm days it would have +pleased us much to go down into the water, properly clad, in order to +take a bath. Therefore did we believe Master Graves had done that +which was almost cruel, and it surprised us no little when, later, +our own fathers passed the same law. + + + + +ANNA FOSTER'S PARTY + + +There were good friends of ours in England who believed that we had +come into a wilderness where was to be found naught save savages and +furious beasts, and it would have surprised them greatly, I believe, +if they could have known how much of entertainment could already be +found. + + [Illustration] + +It was while we were waiting in Charlestown for the homes in +Trimountain to be built, that Anna Foster, whose father is one of the +tithing-men, invited all of us young girls who had come under Governor +Winthrop's charge, to spend an evening with her, and we had much +pleasure in playing hunt the whistle and thread the needle. + +Anna was dressed in a yellow coat with black bib and apron, and she +had black feathers on her head. She wore both garnet and jet beads, +with a locket, and no less than four rings. There was a black collar +around her neck, black mitts on her hands, and a striped tucker and +ruffles. Her shoes were of silk, and one would have said that she was +dressed for some evening entertainment in London. + +Neither Susan nor I wore our best, because of the candles here being +made from a kind of tallow stewed out of bayberry plums, which give +forth much smoke, and mother was afraid this would soil our clothing. +We were also told that because of there not being candles enough, some +parts of the house would be lighted with candle-wood, which last is +taken from the pitch pine tree, and fastened to the walls with nails. +This wood gives forth a fairly good light; but there drops from it so +much of a black, greasy substance, that whosoever by accident should +stand beneath these flames would be in danger of receiving a most +disagreeable shower. + +This entertainment was not the only one which was made for our +pleasure while we remained in Charlestown; but because of the sickness +everywhere around, very little in the way of merrymaking was indulged +in, and it seemed almost a sin for us to be thus light-hearted while +so many were in sore distress. + + + + +THE TOWN OF BOSTON + + +The first thing which was done by the governor and his advisors, after +we had moved from Charlestown, was to change the name of Trimountain +to that of Boston. + +As you must remember, Boston in England was near to the home of +Captain John Smith, who explored so much of this New World and planted +in Jamestown a prosperous settlement. It was also in Boston that the +Lady Arabella, and the preacher, John Cotton, who had promised to come +here to us, had lived; therefore did it seem as if such were the +proper name for a town which we hoped would one day, God willing, grow +to be a city. + +It is true our new village is built in a rocky place, where are many +hollows and swamps, and it is almost an island, because the neck of +land which leads from it to the main shore, is so narrow that very +often does the tide wash completely over it; but yet, after that time +of suffering in Charlestown, it seems to us a goodly spot. + +Our dwellings, except the Great House, are made of logs, and the roofs +thatched with dried marsh-grass, or with the bark of trees. That each +man shall have so much of this thatching as he may need, the governor +and chief men of the village have set aside a certain portion of the +salt marsh nearby, where any one may go to reap that which is needed +for his own dwelling; but no more. + + [Illustration] + +In time to come, so father says, we shall have chimneys built of brick +or stone, for when our settlement is older grown some of the people +will, in order to gain a livelihood, set about making bricks, and +already has Governor Winthrop sent out men to search for limestone so +we may get mortar. But until that time shall come, we have on the +outside of our houses what are called chimneys, which are made of logs +plastered with clay, or of woven reeds besmeared both as to the +outside and the inside with mud, until they are five or six inches +thick. + + + + +GUARDING AGAINST FIRES + + +It needs not for me to say that these chimneys are most unsafe, for +during our first winter in this new town of Boston, hardly a week +passed but that one or another caught fire; and among the first laws +which our people passed was one providing for the appointment of +firewardens, who should have the right, and be obliged, to visit every +kitchen, looking up into the chimneys to see if peradventure the +plastering of clay had been burned away. + +Because of the number of these fires, and the likelihood that they +would continue to visit us frequently, another law was made, obliging +every man who owned a dwelling of logs to keep a ladder standing +nearby, so that it might be easy to get at the thatched roof if the +flames fastened upon it; and, as soon as might be, iron hooks with +large handles were made to be hung on the outside of the buildings, +for the purpose of tearing off the thatch when it was burning. + +It has also been decided that when we have a church, as we count on +within a year, a goodly supply of ladders and buckets shall be kept +therein for the use of the entire town, and then, when a fire springs +out, our people will know where to go for tools with which to fight +against it. + + + + +OUR OWN NEW HOME + + +It must not be supposed that because of our dwellings being unsightly +on the outside, they are rough within, for such is not the case. Many +of the settlers, as did father, brought over glass for the windows, +therefore we are not forced to put up with oiled paper, as are a great +many people living in this New World. + +It was partly the dampness inside our homes, so Governor Winthrop +believed, which caused the sickness in Charlestown, and therefore it +was that my father insisted we should have a floor of wood, instead of +striving to get along with bare ground which had been beaten hard. Our +floor is made of planks, roughly hewn, it is true, but nevertheless it +serves to keep our feet from the ground. We have on the door real iron +hinges, instead of leather, or the skins of animals, as we saw in +Salem. + +Save for the roughness of the floor and the walls, the inside of my +father's house is much the same as we had in England, for he, like all +of Governor Winthrop's company who were able to do so, brought over +the furnishings of the old home, and while some of the things look +sadly out of place here, they provide us with a certain comfort which +would have passed unheeded in the other country, because there we were +not much better off in this world's goods than were our neighbors. + + [Illustration] + +Here, when I see a table made only of rough boards spread upon +trestles, I can get much pleasure out of the knowledge that we brought +with us those tables which we had been using in England, and, when our +dinner is spread, save for the difference in the food, I can well +fancy myself in the old home. We have our ware of pewter and of +copper, and our trencher bowls are of the best that can be hewn from +maple knots. + +In order that the walls and crevices, filled with moss and plastered +over with clay, may not offend the eye, mother has put up all the +hangings which she brought with her, and these, with some skins my +father bought at Salem, hide entirely that which is so unsightly in +other dwellings. + +Contrasting our home with many which we saw in Salem, or in +Charlestown, I am come to believe my lines are truly cast in pleasant +places, and I strive to be thankful to God for having given me the +father which I have. + + + + +THE FASHION OF THE DAY + + +I am afraid it may be almost sinful for me so to set my mind upon the +garments which one wears, and yet I cannot but contrast my father with +some of the common men in the village. + +The ruff which he wears around his neck is always well starched, +clean, and stands out in beautiful proportions. On his low, peaked +shoes, mother ever has fixed rosettes, or knots made of ribbon. His +doublet, which is gathered around the waist with a silken belt, is +slashed on the sleeves to show the snowy linen beneath. His trunk +hose, meaning those which reach from his waist to his knees, are of +the finest wool. His stockings, when he is dressed to meet with the +Council, are of silk, while his mandilion, or cloak, is always of silk +or velvet. + + [Illustration] + +Perhaps one may think such attire hardly befitting a wild place like +this, yet I know of nothing which serves to set off a man's figure, +making him seem of importance in the world, better than that he be +clad with due regard to the fashion of the day. Master Winthrop would +not present the gentlemanly appearance which he does if he wore, as do +the common people here, a band, or a flat collar with cord and +tassels, breeches of leather, and a leather girdle around his waist. +If he had, as do they, heavy shoes with heels of wood, or if his +clothing were fastened together with hooks and eyes, instead of silken +points, and if his hat were of leather, would we be pleased to call +him Governor? + +My mother often says that it is unseemly in a child like me to speak +of the clothing worn by gentlemen, and yet I have noticed often and +again, that she is as careful of my father's attire when he goes out +of doors as she was at home in England, where all gentlemen were +dressed becomingly. + +Verily one need not go abroad in tatters, or oddities, simply because +of having come into this New World, where much of work is required, +and he who cares for his personal appearance, to my way of thinking, +is to be given due credit. + +Surely so the Massachusetts Bay Company thought, for they furnished to +every man who came from England to settle here, save it be those who +could afford such things for themselves, four pairs of shoes and the +same number of stockings; four shirts; two suits of doublet, and hose +of leather lined with oiled skin; a woolen suit, lined with leather, +together with four bands and two handkerchiefs, a green cotton +waistcoat, two pairs of gloves, a leather belt, a woolen cap and two +red knit caps, a mandilion lined with cotton, and also an extra pair +of breeches. Of course such an outfit was for the common people, not +the gentlefolk. + + [Illustration] + +In our company, the boys are clothed exactly as are their fathers, and +many of them present a most attractive appearance, although my mother +would not think it proper for me to say so, much less to put it down +in writing. + + + + +MY OWN WARDROBE + + +It surely cannot be wrong for me to think of that which I wear, for if +the good Lord has given me a comely body, why shall I not array it +properly? Or if it be wrong, why did my father buy for me those +things, a list of which I am here setting down, not from vanity, but +simply to show how kind were my parents? + +I had a cap ruffle and a tucker, the lace of which cost five shillings +a yard; eight pairs of white kid gloves, with two pairs of colored +gloves, two pairs of worsted hose and three pairs of thread, a pair +of laced silk shoes, and a pair of morocco shoes, not to speak of four +pairs of plain Spanish shoes, or two pairs made of calf-skin for every +day use; a hoop coat and a mask to wear when the wind blows too +roughly, and a fan for use when the sun is hot. Susan had two +necklaces, one of garnet and one of jet; but I had only garnets. Then +I have a girdle with a buckle of silver; a mantle and coat of +lutestring; a piece of calico to be made up when mother has time; four +yards of ribbon for knots or bows, and one and one-half yards of best +cambric. All these were bought especially for me when we left home, +and surely it can be no sin that I take pride in them. + + + + +MASTER JOHNSON'S DEATH + + +It was shortly after coming to this town of Boston that we heard of +the death of Master Johnson, Lady Arabella's husband. A friendly man +was he, ever ready with a kindly word for us children, and we would +have mourned his loss much more, but for knowing that it pleased him +right well to go out of this world of sorrow, that he might join his +wife in God's country. + +Susan and I had hoped we should hear of no more deaths among those we +cared for, after having come into this last place of abode, and the +news of Master Johnson's taking away caused her superstitious fears to +break out anew; but I reminded her that we were in God's keeping, +whatsoever might befall, and that for us to look forward into the +morrow, searching for evil, was the same as an injustice to our Maker, +who would do toward us whatsoever seemed good in His sight. + +As I look back now upon the time when our town of Boston first came +into being, I can understand how well it is for us that we may not +read the future. Had we at that time, when the winter was coming on, +known how much of sorrow and of suffering was in store for us, before +the earth would be freed from its bonds of ice, then I believe of a +verity we must have given up in despair. + +However, it is not for me to look ahead even in this poor attempt at +setting down what we did in the new land. Rather let me go back to our +home life, and tell somewhat concerning the odd dishes which were +frequently set on our table. + + + + +MANY NEW KINDS OF FOOD + + +There is little need for me to say that we had lobsters in abundance, +and of such enormous size that one was put to it to lift them. I have +heard it said that twenty-pound weight was not unusual, and whosoever +might could catch, in traps made for the purpose, all the lobsters he +would. + + [Illustration] + +As for other fish, I can not set down on one page of this paper, the +many kinds with which the housewife might provide herself for a +trifling sum of money. We often had eels roasted, fried, or boiled, +because of father's being very fond of them, and mother sometimes +stuffed them with nutmegs and cloves, making a dish which was not to +my liking, for it was hot to the tongue. + +Some of the good wives in Salem had shown my mother how to prepare +nassaump, which those who first came to Salem learned from the Indians +how to make: It is nothing but corn beaten into small pieces, and +boiled until soft, after which it is eaten hot, or cold, with milk or +butter. + +Nookick is to my mind more of a dainty than a substantial food, and +yet father declares that on a very small quantity of it, say three +great spoonfuls a day, a man may travel or work without loss of +strength. It is made by parching the Indian corn in hot ashes, and +then beating it to a powder. Save for the flavor lent to it by the +roasting, I can see no difference between nookick, and the meal made +from the ground corn. + +Mother makes whitpot of oat meal, milk, sugar and spice, which is much +to my taste, although father declares it is not unlike oatmeal +porridge such as is eaten in some parts of England; but it hardly +seems to me possible, because of one's not putting sugar and spice +into porridge. + +We often have bread made of pumpkins boiled soft, and mixed with the +meal from Indian corn, and this father much prefers to the bread of +rye with the meal of corn; but the manner of cooking pumpkins most to +my liking, is to cut them into small pieces, when they are ripe, and +stew during one whole day upon a gentle fire, adding fresh bits of +pumpkin as the mass softens. If this be steamed enough, it will look +much like unto baked apples, and, dressed with a little vinegar and +ginger, is to me a most tempting rarity. But we do not often have it +upon the table because of so much labor being needed to prepare it. + +Yokhegg is a pudding of which I am exceedingly fond, and yet it is +made of meal from the same Indian corn that supplies the people +hereabout with so much of their food. It is boiled in milk and +chocolate, sweetened to suit one's taste after being put on the table, +and while to English people, who are not accustomed to all the uses +which we make of this wheat, it may not sound especially inviting, it +most truly is a toothsome dainty. + + [Illustration] + +The cost of setting one's table here is not great as compared with +that in England, for we may get a quart of milk by paying a penny, or +a dozen fat pigeons, in the season, for three pence, while father has +more than once bought wild turkeys, to the weight of thirty pounds, +for two shillings, and wild geese are worth but eight pence. + + + + +THE SUPPLY OF FOOD + + +The season had come when, if we had been in England, the people would +have been gathering the harvest; but here we had none, having come so +late in the year that there was no time to plant, and, consequently, +we had no crops. + +I had never before realized how necessary it is for people that the +earth shall yield in abundance; but I came to know it now right well +through hearing father, as he talked with mother regarding the fears +which the chief men of the colony had concerning the supply of food. + +Of course, girls such as Susan and I would not have been likely to +learn anything of the kind, save that matters had come to such a pass +as made the situation serious, in which case it was no more than +natural we should hear our parents talking about it. + +It seems, from what I learned, that a portion of the provisions +brought from England were spoiled during the voyage, and also, that +many of our people had taken with them no more than enough to sustain +life for a month or two, believing that in this New World food of all +kinds would be found in abundance. + +Then again, many had bartered provisions, which they should have kept +for the winter use, with the Indians in exchange for beaver skins, +thinking thereby to make much money. So general had this traffic +become, that early in September the Governor gave strict orders +against it, and it was also ordered that no person in the town be +allowed to carry out therefrom anything eatable. + +But yet the store of food grew smaller and smaller, for there were +many mouths to feed, and it seemed as if we children were more often +hungry because of knowing that there was little to be had. + +Susan reminded me of what she was pleased to call the "omen," when it +was as if the first of our duties in the New World had been to bury +two members of the company, and as the days wore on I began really to +believe it a sin to harbor such thoughts. + +As it had been in Charlestown, so did it come to be here in Boston, +when the rains of autumn set in. + +Many of the dwellings had not been built with due regard to sheltering +those who were to live therein, and because of the dampness--although +mother says it was owing quite as well to the homesickness and gloom +which came upon us when the leaves in the forest turned brown, and +yellow, and golden in token of the dying year--the people sickened. + +However it was, much of sickness prevailed among us in Boston, until +the time came when my father and mother, to both of whom God had +allowed good health, were absent from home day after day, nursing +those of our neighbors who were unable to aid themselves. + + [Illustration] + + + + +THE SAILING OF THE "LYON" + + +It seemed at this time as if the Lord had set His face against the +rearing of a nation in this new land, which he had given to the brown +men for their homes, and Susan and I were not the only ones who came +to believe we were offending Him in some way by thus having come here. + +Then Governor Winthrop caused it to be known throughout the town that +he had hired Captain Pierce, of the ship _Lyon_, which was then in +Salem Harbor, to go with all haste to the nearest town in England, +there to get for us as much of food as could be bought. + +This news cheered the people somewhat, for now was the season when the +winds blew strong, and it was believed the ship would have speedy +passage. Indeed, some of the women declared she must return before the +middle of October, and said so much concerning such possibility, that +in time they came to believe it true. Therefore, when the month of +October had nearly passed, their disappointment was great, and they +were more despondent than at first. + + + + +THE FAMINE + + + [Illustration] + +Each day saw the store of provisions in the town grow smaller. Every +family husbanded that which could be eaten, with greatest care, +putting no more on the table than was absolutely necessary for a +single meal, and those things which we had considered dainties, were +no longer prepared. + +Then came the Angel of Death, and man after man, woman after woman, +laid themselves down to die, not from being starved, but, so Governor +Winthrop declared, from having sickened through scurvy, which had come +upon them during the voyage, after which, falling into discontent and +giving way to home-sickness, they no longer struggled to live. + +Before October had come to an end, food was so scarce in Boston that +the poorer people had nothing save acorns, clams, and mussels to eat. +During the summer it had seemed as if the sea were actually filled +with fish, and yet now, when every boat that could be found in the +town and nearby had been sent out, it was difficult for our men to +take even fifty pounds weight in a day. + +As Susan said, even the fish forsook us, as the clams and mussels +would have done had they legs or fins. + +The fowls of the forest also appeared to have departed, and by +November the most any family could boast of was meal boiled in salt +and water. In more happy days I would have turned up my nose at such +food, and yet now it was like unto some sweet morsel, for so scanty +had our store become that my mother would cook for each meal no more +than half as much as we could have eaten. + +I have heard father say that for a bushel of flour which had been +brought from England, he paid in those dark days fourteen shillings, +and there was so little of it even at such price, that mother saved +what store we had that it might be made into gruel, or something +dainty, which the sick could keep upon their stomachs. + + + + +THE SEARCH FOR FOOD + + +Then it was that our pinnace was made ready for a voyage, and with +five of the strongest men on board, was sent along the coast to trade +with those Indians who called themselves Narragansetts, taking with +them everything in the way of trinkets which was in the general store, +or could be gathered up from among the housewives. + + [Illustration] + +Great was our rejoicing, five days later, when the men came back, +bringing with them an hundred bushels of Indian corn. This seemed like +a large amount of food, and yet, so many were the mouths to be fed +from it, it was, so father said, scarce enough to hold life in our +bodies three days, if so be it had been divided equally among all. + +Father told us that three men, who were of the poorer people, had +walked all the way from Boston town to Plymouth; but even there, where +a harvest had been gathered, they could get no more than one +half-bushel of meal made from Indian corn. + +It was a time of famine such as I pray God we may never know again. In +my home, until these dreary days, there had been no scarcity of food, +and yet again and again did I save a crust of rye bread, thinking it a +dainty to be nibbled upon slowly so that I might have longer the +pleasure of eating. + + + + +THE STARVATION TIME + + +It was as if the ship _Lyon_, on whose return a few weeks before we +had counted so hopefully, was gone, never to come back. + +Even the children watched the direction of the winds, saying on this +day that it was a favoring one if the _Lyon_ were on her course for +Boston, and on the morrow mourning because of the breeze being +against her. + +Yet she came not, nor did we hear aught concerning her, or any other +from the world beyond us. + +We were alone in what was much the same as a wilderness, and all those +around upon whom we had counted to aid us in time of distress were in +nearly the same dismal straits as were we. + +Even the Indians declared that they were hard pressed for something to +eat, and more than once did they come in twos or in threes to beg from +us who were starving, something that could be eaten. + +Susan and I, as we sat clasped in each other's arms hungry, and pining +for the home over-seas which we had left, came to fancy that the +famine which held possession of the land was like unto some terrible +monster who hung above us as a cloud, settling slowly but surely day +after day, until the hour would come when his terrible fangs would be +securely fastened upon us. + +During the month of January the deaths through scurvy, if that indeed +were the cause, grew less; but all believed that in the stead of being +removed by disease, our people were slowly perishing from starvation. + +All the food in Boston was brought together, and portioned out, so +that no one, whether he had of money, or was penniless, should suffer +more than another. And yet again and again in the night have I been +awakened by the gnawing of hunger in my stomach. + + [Illustration] + +With the beginning of January, Governor Winthrop appointed a day on +which we should all fast and pray, as if indeed we had been doing +other than fasting throughout the long, dreary winter. On this day +every man, woman, and child in Boston town was to spend his or her +time in praying to the Lord to deliver us from our affliction. + +We no longer hoped for the coming of the _Lyon_. Surely she must have +been destroyed by the tempest, otherwise had we seen her before this, +for nearly five months had gone by since she left Salem Harbor. + + + + +A DAY TO BE REMEMBERED + + +It was on the fifth day of February, which is the same as if I had +said Saturday, and the fast was to be kept on the next Thursday. Susan +had come to my home on Friday night to sleep in my bed with me, so +that we might have such poor comfort as could be found in each other's +company when we were nigh to starving. + +She had awakened before the day dawned on this Saturday morning, which +will be remembered by me so long as the Lord permits that I live, and +moaned in distress because of the desire for food, until I opened my +eyes, fretting because of not being allowed to sleep yet longer, for +while I slumbered the pangs of hunger were not known. + +Seeing me awake, Susan began to speak of the fast day on the following +Thursday, saying that if we had no food whatsoever during the +twenty-four hours, at a time when we were so near to starvation, +surely would we die, and she was going back to what she called the +omens, which came to us shortly after we arrived, when we were +startled by a loud shouting in the street next beyond, where could be +had a view of the sea. + + + + +THE COMING OF THE "LYON" + + +Dimly, like one in a dream, for there was no thought in my mind this +might be a signal that our time of trial was come to an end, I +wondered how it was that any in this famine-stricken Boston of ours +could raise their voices as if in joy, until I heard father cry out +from the living-room below: + +"The _Lyon_ has arrived! The _Lyon_ has arrived!" + + [Illustration] + +It might be that I could give you, by the aid simply of words, some +faint idea of how we suffered during the time of starvation, of +sickness, and of death; but it is impossible for me to set down that +which shall picture the heartfelt rejoicings and fervent thanksgiving +that were ours at thus knowing we were soon to have enough with which +to drive death from our doors. + +It was a time of the wildest excitement. I hardly know what Susan and +I did or said on that day, save that we dressed hurriedly, running +down to the very shore of the cove, finding there nearly every person +in Boston, and stood with the water lapping our feet as we watched the +oncoming of the ship which was bringing relief. + +Never before had I thought a vessel could be beautiful; but I have not +seen a fairer sight than was the _Lyon_ on that morning, and before +night came, our stomachs, which had been crying out in distress +because of lack of food, were groaning through being overly well +filled. + +The time of famine had passed, at least for this season, and it was as +if the sick began to gain new life, and health, and strength, simply +through knowing that we were no longer in such dire straits. + + + + +ANOTHER THANKSGIVING DAY + + +Governor Winthrop gave voice to his relief and pleasure by ordering, +even before the _Lyon_ had come to anchor, that the fast which had +been appointed for the next Thursday should be a day of thanksgiving +instead, and so we made it, with prayers all the more fervent because +of our stomachs being well filled, and the fear of dying by starvation +being put behind us. + +The ship was loaded with such things as wheat, peas, oatmeal, pickled +beef and pork, cheese and butter, and, with what my mother declared +was of the greatest value, lemon juice, which is said to be a remedy +for those who are suffering with scurvy. + +It was not allowed that those who had money should buy plentifully of +this cargo; but it was paid for by the town authorities, and divided +equally among us all. + +When the day for thanksgiving came, my mother allowed me to have an +unusually hearty breakfast, for, she said, there was so much for which +to be thankful, and so many who would be present to give thanks, that +no one could say when we might be able to have dinner. + +It was well she was thus thoughtful, for one of the preachers who came +over with us, Master Wilson, preached, while Governor Winthrop treated +us to a lecture, and Master Phillips was so blessed with the spirit +that he prayed a full hour. + +Susan and I feared we would have yet more preaching, for on the ship +_Lyon_ had come a young man whom my father said was gifted, and +Susan's father believed he would make his influence felt among us. It +was Master Roger Williams, and I am ashamed to say that I sat in fear +and trembling lest Governor Winthrop should call upon him for a +sermon, after we had already had much the same as two; but, +fortunately, so it seemed to me, Master Williams did not raise his +voice during the service. + +It was near to night before we were done with giving thanks, and then +at each home was held a feast. + + [Illustration] + +During Governor Winthrop's lecture on this thanksgiving day, he urged +that all the people, children as well as grown folks, should take this +time of famine as a lesson, reminding us that it would not be a long +while before we could hope to reap a harvest, and in the meantime +there was very much of labor to be performed. + +He declared that even with the cargo of the _Lyon_, we had not enough +to satisfy our wants until crops could be gathered; but it was certain +other ships would come to Boston during the summer, with more stores. +Yet because of its being possible we might come to a time of +suffering again, so must we be careful that not the smallest grain of +wheat be wasted. + + + + +A DEFENSE FOR THE TOWN + + +When the spring had come, and before it was time to put seed into the +ground, our fathers set about building a defense for the town. + +If you remember, I have already set down that this new village of ours +was on a point, connected with the main coast only by a very narrow +strip of land. Now to defend our town from an attack by enemies, save +they should come by water, it was only necessary the defence be built +on this narrow neck, or strip, and so it was built. + + [Illustration] + +From one side to the other, extending even down into the water, was a +palisade, or fence, of heavy logs, in the middle of which stood a gate +to give entrance, and the law was that it should be shut at sunset, +not to be opened again until day had dawned. + + + + +THE PROBLEM OF SERVANTS + + +Since coming here we have seen so many Indians as to become acquainted +with them, which is to say, that we no longer look upon them as +savages, and have no fear to stand in the road when they pass. But +those whom Susan and I had seen, up to the day when Chickatabut, the +chief man of the Massachusetts tribe, came, were only common people, +and such servants as are employed here in the town, for you must know +that more than one family has a Narragansett Indian, or, mayhap, a +Nipmuck, to work in the house. + + [Illustration] + +Mother says that she would rather do all the work of the house alone, +than have one of the brown women to help her, for they are not cleanly +to look upon, but as for myself, I think I could stand the sight of +one of them, especially when it comes to soap making, of which I will +tell you later. + +Of course there are times when housewives must have some one to aid +them, and those girls or women among us who would go out to work in +the house are not many in numbers, therefore one must put up with the +Indians, which is unpleasant, or take those who are known as +indentured servants, meaning the people who have agreed with the +Massachusetts Bay Company to work for so many years, in order to pay +for their passage over from England. + +As for these last people, mother will not have them in the house, +because of being afraid that we may not get one of good morals. +Therefore in our home mother and I do all that is needed, rather than +have around us people of whom we know nothing. + + + + +CHICKATABUT + + +It was not regarding the Indians, or free willers, as indentured +servants are called, that I intended to write when I began. That which +I counted to say was, that when the spring had come, after the arrival +of the _Lyon_, and we were free for the time being from fears of a +famine, the Indian by the name of Chickatabut came to see Governor +Winthrop, having been invited to the end that he might sell us, who +are here in Boston, this piece of land on which we are building our +town. + +You must know that he is quite the most important savage roundabout +here, and father believes, as does Governor Winthrop, that if he sells +us the land, it will be a lawful bargain, because of his standing, as +I have said, at the head of all these brown people nearabout. + +Now it so chanced that he was the first savage of note I had seen, and +really he was something grand to look upon. He had feathers on his +head, like unto a crown, and from this drooped a long trail of +feathers reaching to the ground, while his leggings and doublet of +tanned deer skin were covered with beads, worked in fanciful patterns, +together with the claws of beasts. His arrows were carried across his +back, in a covering embroidered with the quills of the porcupine +painted in various colors, and he held his bow in his hand. + + [Illustration] + +I cannot set down as I would, exactly how he was dressed, because, +having come upon him suddenly while on my way to Susan's house, of +being startled by so much of adornment that I was like to have run +away. + +He came, as I have said, to visit Governor Winthrop, and father +declares that he sat at the table as a white man would have done, save +that instead of using the knife and spoon, he took up food with his +fingers. Mother thinks that the Governor must have been relieved +indeed when his guest departed, for no one insists so strictly upon +proper table manners as does Master Winthrop. + +It must have been that Chickatabut was pleased with his visit, for two +or three days after having gone back to his people, he sent the +Governor as much Indian corn as would fill a hogshead, and, in return +for the gift, Master Winthrop presented him with a suit of clothing +made in English fashion by a tailor. + +Father says that now indeed do we own all the land this side of the +neck, for Master Blackstone, who had a farm here, as I have already +said, sold it to our people before we moved over from Charlestown, and +now with Chickatabut's selling of the same, there should be no +question as to who has a lawful claim upon it. + + + + +BUILDING A SHIP + + +Although, in my own mind, there was never any doubt but that the land +was rightfully ours without consulting a savage about it, yet I +believe, from all I heard said, that our people felt better in mind +after this Indian chief had agreed to our staying here, for it seemed +as if he had no sooner made the bargain than work was pushed forward +more as it would have been done in England. + +As for instance, Governor Winthrop began building a vessel, and now, +if you please, we are to have a ship of our own, made in Boston, +launched in Boston, and to sail from Boston. + + [Illustration] + +When she is finished, and has sailed to Southampton or Liverpool, the +people there must begin to believe that we of the Massachusetts Bay +Colony are getting well on in the world if we can own fleets, for in +case one vessel can be built, there is no reason why we should not +have many, while there is so much of lumber everywhere around. + + + + +HOUSEHOLD CONVENIENCES + + +Do you know what a betty-lamp is? We have two in our house, which were +brought over by Captain Pierce of the _Lyon_, as a gift to my mother. + +You, who have more or less trouble with your rush lights, cannot fancy +how luxurious it is to have one of these betty-lamps, which costs in +care no more than is required to fill them with grease or oil. + +Fearing lest you may not know what these lamps are, which Susan's +mother says should be called brown-bettys, I will do my best to set +down here such a description as shall bring them before you. + +The two which we have are made of brass; but Captain Pierce says they +are also to be found of pewter or of iron. + +These are round, and very much the same shape as half an apple, save +that they have a nose an inch or two long, which sticks out from one +side. The body of the bowl is filled with tallow or grease, and the +wick, or a piece of twisted cloth, is threaded into the nose, with one +end hanging out to be lighted. + + [Illustration] + +Ours hang by chains from the ceiling, and the light which they give is +certainly equal to, if not stronger than, that of a wax candle; but +they are not so cleanly, because if the wick be ever so little too +long, the lamps send forth a great smoke. + +Father says he has seen a phoebe-lamp, which is much like our +betty-lamps, save that it has a small cup underneath the nose to catch +the dripping grease, and that I think would be a great improvement, if +indeed it is possible to improve upon so useful an article of +household furniture as this. + +Speaking of our betty-lamps reminds me that Susan's mother had sent +over to her in the _Lyon_, a set of cob irons, which are something +after the fashion of andirons, or fire-dogs, save that they are also +intended to hold the spit and the dripping pan. She had also a pair of +"creepers," which are small andirons, and which she sometimes used +with the cob irons. + + [Illustration] + +The andirons which we brought from England are much too fine to be +used in this fireplace, which is filled with pothooks, trammels, +hakes, and other cooking utensils. + +They were a wedding present to my mother, and are in what we call +"sets of three," meaning that on each side of the fireplace are three +andirons; one to hold the heavy logs that are at the bottom of the +fire; another raised still higher to bear the weight of the smaller +sticks, and a third for much the same purpose as the second; or, +perhaps, to make up more of an ornament, for they are of iron and +brass, and are exceeding beautiful to look upon. + +I have used the words trammels and hakes, but it is possible that you +may not know their meaning, and so I will add by way of explanation +that though they are both hooks upon which we may hang pots and +kettles, the trammel is so constructed that it may be lengthened or +shortened, being made of two parts. + + + + +HOW THE WORK IS DIVIDED + + +There is no good reason why I should make any attempt at setting down +here all that was done by our people in the way of planting, in order +that we might have such a harvest in the fall as would put far from us +the fear of another famine. + +It should be easy for you to fancy how we are employed here in this +new town. Some of the men are working at the palisade, or barricade on +the Neck; others are in the field planting and hoeing, while yet +another company is in the shipyard on the Mystic River. + +Ten or twelve of the people are constantly fishing, or hunting, to add +to the food supply, while those servingmen or laborers who are not +skilled at other work are cutting trees into fuel, and otherwise +clearing the land that it may be tilled another year. + + [Illustration] + +The women and children are no less busy, and it is easy for you to +guess what their duties are. These log houses, while not requiring as +much care as if they were mansions, need very much in the way of +woman's work. + +Lest the shiftless ones, who have no pride in the appearance of the +town, or are too lazy to do other than what may be absolutely +necessary, should allow the dirt to gather round about the outside of +the houses, a law has been made obliging each person to keep free from +dirt or filth of any kind, all the land surrounding his dwelling for a +distance of fifty paces, whether in the street or garden, and it is +upon us children that this last work falls. + +Save for the babies, and those who are abed with sickness, there are +no idle ones in Boston, and well indeed it should be so, for it surely +is true that "Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." +If we were not busily engaged during all the waking hours, then would +we have opportunity to grow homesick, for much as we are growing to +like this New World, there will come now and then thoughts of the +homes we left in England, and one's heart falls sad at realizing that, +perhaps, never again will we see those whom we left behind when the +_Arabella_ sailed out of Southampton. + + + + +LAUNCHING THE SHIP + + +It is not well that I let my mind go back into the past. I should +think only of the future, and of what we are doing here in Boston, the +most important of which just now is the launching of our ship. + +She is what sailors call "bark rigged," which is the same as saying +that she has three masts; but yet not as much of rigging as a ship. + +Her name, painted on the stern, is _Blessing of the Bay_, and there is +hardly any need for me to say that every man, woman, and child in the +town stood near at hand to see her as she slipped down the well +greased ways into the river, where she rode as gracefully as a swan. + +I have already said that when the _Lyon_ came in, at the time of the +famine, she appeared the most beautiful vessel I had ever seen, and +next to her comes the _Blessing of the Bay_. As Governor Winthrop said +in the short lecture he gave us before launching, she was Boston made, +of Boston timber, and would be sailed by Boston sailors, so that when +she goes out across the ocean, people shall know that there are +Englishmen far overseas who are striving, with God's help, to make a +country which shall one day stand equal with the England we have left +forever. + + [Illustration] + +It is while speaking of the launching that I am reminded of a very +comical mishap to Master Winthrop, and I may set it down without +disrespect to him, for he is pleased to join in the mirth whenever it +is spoken of as something to cause laughter. + + + + +MASTER WINTHROP'S MISHAP + + +It seems that the wolves had been worrying some of the goats that +Master Winthrop brought over to this country with him, and on a +certain day, after supper, he went out with his gun in the hope of +killing a few of the ravenous beasts. + +He had not traveled more than half a mile from home when night came +on, and, turning about to go back, as was prudent, for it is not safe +that one man shall be alone in the forest after dark, because of the +wild animals, he mistook his path, wandering directly away from the +river, instead of toward it. + +I myself have heard him say that he must have walked a full hour, and +was growing exceeding uncomfortable in mind, when he came to an Indian +hut that was built of branches of trees and of skins, so that it +formed a fairly comfortable dwelling, and was of sufficient strength +to resist the efforts of any one to enter, save through the door. + +There was no person inside this hut or wigwam; the door was +unfastened, and the Governor, understanding that he must have some +shelter during the night, else was he in danger of being devoured by +wild beasts, entered as if it were his own dwelling. + +With his flint and steel he built a fire, and by its light, saw, piled +up in one corner of the place, mats such as the savages use to sleep +upon. Having taken a mouthful of snakeweed, which is said to be of +great benefit in quieting one's nerves, and prayed to God for safe +keeping during the night, he lay down. + +Before much time had passed, and certainly while his eyes were yet +wide open, it began to rain, and some of the water finding its way +through the carelessly thatched roof, disturbed his rest, so that it +was impossible to sleep. + +He spent the night singing psalms, gathering such wood as he could +handily come at from the outside, to keep the fire going, and pacing +to and fro in the narrow space, until near to daylight, when an Indian +squaw came that way. + + [Illustration] + +The Governor, hearing her voice as she cried out to whosoever owned +the hut and was evidently a friend of hers, barred the door as best he +might, while she stood on the outside beating it with her hands, and +calling aloud in the Indian language, first in friendly terms, and +then angrily; but yet he made no reply. + +The door held firm against her efforts until day came, when the +Governor walked out of the hut, not dreaming the woman would make an +attack upon him, but straightway he was forced to take to his heels, +or, as he laughingly declared, she would have clawed out his eyes. + +Although we children knew nothing whatsoever concerning it, the chief +men of the town had been greatly alarmed because of the Governor's +disappearance, and during the whole of the night no less than twenty +had walked to and fro in the forest hunting for him; but by an unkind +chance never going in the direction of this hut. When Master Winthrop +made his appearance, it had just been decided that a hue and cry +should be raised, and all the men in Boston be called to aid in the +search. + + + + +NEW ARRIVALS + + +It was during this summer, when Captain Pierce brought the _Lyon_ to +us for the third time, that Mistress Winthrop, the Governor's wife +came over. + +John Eliot, the preacher, was also one of the passengers, and they had +even a longer voyage than had we in the _Arabella_. + +The _Lyon_ left Southampton about the middle of August, and did not +arrive here until the fourth of November, when she came to anchor off +Nantasket. + +Then indeed did we have a week of rejoicing, sharing in the Governor's +gladness that his family was with him once more. All those who could +get boats to convey them, went down off Nantasket, and when Mistress +Winthrop stepped ashore at the foot of our cove, she was honored by +volleys from all the firearms in the town. + + [Illustration] + +During three days that followed, it was as if the people believed +Master Winthrop and his loved ones were in danger of starvation, for, +from the highest to the lowest in the town, each brought some gift of +food, such as fat hogs, goats, deer meat, geese, partridges,--in +fact, anything that could be eaten, save clams, fish, and lobsters, of +which we had already more than plenty enough to dull one's appetite +for such eating. + +Those who read what I have here set down, may charge me with speaking +overly much concerning what we had to eat, and yet I question whether +any of our company who passed through the famine of the year of 1630, +and the pinching times of 1631 and 1632, could do otherwise than dwell +upon our store of food. + + + + +ANOTHER FAMINE + + + [Illustration] + +Now, if you please, I will set down at once that which is in my mind +concerning it, so that I need not weary you by repeating. This first +year of harvest was a fairly plentiful one, and would have sufficed +for all our wants during the coming winter, had it not been that other +people were joining us by every ship, nearly all of whom were poorly +provided for, having left England in the belief that we were dwelling +amid plenty. + +Therefore it was, that to feed these new comers as well as ourselves, +we were frequently hard pressed for what was actually needed to save +ourselves the pangs of hunger. + +It is true that during this summer of 1631 many cattle were sent from +England; but so many died during the voyage, that those which lived +seemed extremely precious, because from them were we counting on our +future herds. People who had spent their money in England buying +twenty cows, but succeeded in bringing to Boston only four, could not +afford to kill them for the sake of meat, more especially since the +very life of our colony depended upon their increase. + +We had famine in the first year; we were cramped for food during the +second year, yet consoled ourselves with the thought that when another +season had come, there would be so much seed put into the ground that +there could be no question of lack of whatever might be needed. + +But the summer of our third year in Boston was cold and wet; the crop +of corn failed almost entirely, and again were we forced to seek our +food from the sea, or to dig for clams; but even this last was +extremely difficult, owing to the exceedingly cold winter of that +season. + +The Charles river was frozen from shore to shore, and it was as if +the snow fell almost every day, until the drifts were piled so high +roundabout our town that, save in the very center of the village, we +could not move about. + +Another famine was staring us in the face when the winter came to an +end, and we knew that unless help should reach us from the outside, we +could not add to our stores until another harvest time. + +Then it was that we realized the value of having neighbors, and truly +these were neighbors indeed, who, at Jamestown in the New World, had +such store of food, as would allow them to lade a ship wholly with +corn, sending her, through God's direction, to that port where the +supply was most needed. + +Lest I weary you with too many words regarding our hunger, I will set +it down thus briefly, that, except at rare intervals, we were pinched +for food during the first five years we lived in Boston, and not until +that time had passed were we free from further fear of famine. + + + + +FINE CLOTHING FORBIDDEN + + +And yet we did not spend all our time complaining one to another lest +on the morrow we should be hungry, and in proof of this I am minded to +set down here that which I have copied from the law made in our town +four years after we came across from Charlestown: + + "That no person, either man or woman, shall hereafter make + or buy any apparel, either woolen, or silk, or linen with + any lace on it, silver, gold, or thread, under the penalty + of forfeiture of said cloths. Also that no person, either + man or woman, shall make or buy any slashed cloths, other + than one slash in each sleeve, and another in the back; + also all cut-works, embroideries, or needle-work, + capbands, and rails are forbidden hereafter to be made and + worn under the aforesaid penalty; also all gold and silver + girdles, hatbands, belts, ruffs, beaver hats are + prohibited to be bought and worn hereafter." + +Mother says it is because of our people having given themselves up to +vanity that the Lord laid His hand heavily upon us by cutting off the +harvest, and yet it seems to me, although I question not that which +she has said, that the good God would never punish all our people for +the sin which a few committed. + +Yet, perhaps, there were more than a few who committed the sin, else +why should it have been that our wise men felt it necessary to forbid +fanciful dress, as they did in this law which I have set down? + + + + +OUR FIRST CHURCH + + +Not until the second year after Boston was settled, did we have a +building devoted entirely to the worship of God. Then was built of +logs, neatly hewn and set together with much care, so that both the +outside and the inside were smooth and fair to look upon, that which +we called our church. + +The sides did not stand as tall as some of our dwellings; but the roof +was much higher and sharper, so that inside it looked to be very +large. There were four windows in each side, and all of them contained +glass, if you please. + + [Illustration] + +The pulpit, with a well fashioned sounding-board of odorous cedar +above it, stood at the end of the building farthest from the door, and +there were near about it eight pews made much after the same shape as +those in the church at home. In these sit the magistrates, the elders +and the deacons, with the men on one side, the women and girls on the +other, and the boys in one corner, where the tithing-men may keep them +in order. + +Back of these pews were benches sufficient in number to give seats to +all our people, and if it could have been that Master Winthrop and +those in authority believed we might worship God quite as well while +comfortable in body, so that we had a fireplace, it would have +delighted me much. + +It seems almost a sin to complain because of being cold while one is +praising God, and yet during this long, dreary winter when the earth +was piled high with snow, and the river imprisoned in ice, it was well +nigh impossible, after having remained in the same position two or +three hours, to prevent one's teeth from chattering so sharply that +the noise might disturb others. + +It seems to me that one could enjoy a sermon much better if one were +not wishing for the warmth of the fireplace at home. + +Many of our people have what is called a foot-stove to take with them +to meeting, and it seems to me a most comfortable arrangement; but +mother says that if our love of God be not strong enough to prevent +discomfort simply because of the frost, when such a man as Master +Wilson, or either of the preachers, or Governor Winthrop, is pleased +to deliver a sermon, then are we utterly lost. + + [Illustration] + +Susan declares that she _was_ lost the first winter we came here, when +her cheeks were frost-bitten during one of Master Winthrop's lectures, +which took no more than two hours in the speaking. + +These foot-stoves, which I wish most fervently my father would believe +we might be permitted to use, are square boxes made of iron, pierced +with many tiny holes, and having a handle by which they can be +carried. One of these, filled with live coals, will keep warm a very +long time, especially if it be covered with skins, and I envy Mistress +Winthrop and her daughter, even while knowing how great is the sin, +when they sit in the Governor's pew so comfortably warm that there is +no fear their teeth will, by chattering, cause unseemly disturbance. + + + + +A TROUBLESOME PERSON + + +There are certain matters concerning which I was minded not to speak, +because of their causing both Susan and me very much of sadness at the +time, and it has seemed as if I had set down little else except +trouble and suffering, whereas there was very much of the time when we +of Boston enjoyed our life in the New World. + +That some will not live as God would have them, we know only too well, +and we found one such among us during the second year after our +village was built. Thomas Morton was the person who gave the officers +of Boston no little trouble, and in order to tell understandingly the +story of what he did, I must go back to that time, two years before we +landed here, when the people of Plymouth had cause to complain against +this same man. + +From what I have heard father say, he had been a lawyer in the city of +London, and came over to Plymouth hoping to better his fortunes; but +because of not being a God-fearing man, the religious spirit of the +colonies was little to his liking. + + + + +THE VILLAGE OF MERRY MOUNT + + +Within five or six miles of where stands our village, had been, a few +years before, a settlement which one Captain Wollaston began, and, +tiring of the enterprise, went back to England, leaving there some few +of his followers, who were ungodly people. + +This Thomas Morton, believing himself held in too close restraint at +Plymouth, sought out these people at Wollaston, and became one of +them, to the shame and reproach of all godly-minded people in this New +World. He changed the name of the village to Merry Mount; was chosen +leader of the company there, and made of the place a perfect Sodom. + +It is said, so I have heard my father say, that they had no religious +services, save now and then, when in a spirit of wickedness this +Thomas Morton read from the prayer book. He increased the number of +his following by enticing the servants away from the good folks of +Plymouth. + +It gave much offence to them that such a village should be in the land +where they had come to set up the true worship of God, therefore +Captain Miles Standish, a soldier of Plymouth, went with a force of +men to Merry Mount, seized this Thomas Morton, and sent him to England +that he might answer for his crimes to the London Company. + + [Illustration] + + + + +PUNISHING THOMAS MORTON + + +What happened there my father does not know; but certain it is that +when the _Lyon_ came on her second voyage, she brought among her +passengers this same Thomas Morton, and from the moment he arrived +our people had trouble with him. + +He brought considerable property in the way of firearms, powder and +shot, and, without asking permission from the chief men of our town, +set about trading these goods with the Indians for furs, as he had +done at Merry Mount, which was not only a menace to all the white +people in this new country, because of furnishing the savages with +arms that might be used to kill us, but directly against the law which +forbade trafficking with the Indians. + +He must have been a wicked man indeed, for, not content with doing +that which our people had forbidden, he cheated the savages by selling +them black sand for powder, and demanding more of furs than was fair +and just for such goods as he gave them. + +Of course one may think that his crime against us was lessened when he +weighed out worthless sand, instead of powder that might be used to +our harm; but the chief men of Boston claimed that the savages must be +dealt with fairly, otherwise would they look upon us, who were willing +to trade honestly, as rogues and thieves. + +Therefore it was that our people seized this Thomas Morton, gave him +fair trial before the court, and sentenced him to four and twenty +hours in the bilboes, after which he was again to be sent as prisoner +to England. + +It may be that some do not know what bilboes are, and I can explain +because of having seen them while they were on Thomas Morton. + +A bilboe is a long bar of iron, on which are two heavy clamps, in +shape not unlike bracelets which ladies of quality wear upon their +arms, fastened by a ring to the bar in such manner that they may slide +back and forth. These clamps, or clasps, are placed upon the +prisoner's ankles, and pushed apart until his legs are stretched wide. +His hands are tied behind his back, and he is forced to sit upon the +ground, unable to give relief to his aching limbs, because of the +bar's being too weighty for him to move it. + + [Illustration] + +All of Thomas Morton's goods were seized to pay the charges of the +trial, and also to make good to the Indians what they had lost through +his knavishness. The house which he had built, and it was a fair one +made of heavy logs, was burned in the presence of the prisoner and the +court, as a sign that we of Boston would not countenance dishonest +tricks, even when they were played upon the savages. + + + + +PHILIP RATCLIFF'S CRIME + + +The punishment of Thomas Morton saddened Susan and myself sorely; but +not so much as when one Philip Ratcliff was punished. + +He was such a wicked man that he went around the town saying he +believed the devil was at the head of our church, and in every way +casting reproach upon religion, despite the fact of his having been +warned again and again that unless he put a bridle to his tongue, +punishment would speedily follow. + +He did not give heed to the warning, however, and after a time, which +was during the third summer of our being in this land, he was brought +before the court as one who had cast reproach upon God. For this he +was sentenced to be whipped, to have his ears cut off, to be fined +forty shillings, and afterward to be banished to England. + +Because of this man's being so very, very wicked, Susan and I believed +we should go to see him whipped, and gathered with the people at the +pillory, where he stood with his neck and arms clutched by the heavy +bars of wood; but when Samuel Morgan made ready the heavy whip, just +as the man's back was bared to receive the lashes, we turned away in +horror, not daring to look. + +Father said, when he came home in the evening, that Ratcliff bore the +whipping and the ear-cutting without a cry; but when it was over, he +threatened vengeance against us, after he should be set free in +England, and later we came to know what he meant by such threats. + + [Illustration] + +He went everywhere about in the old country, telling that the New +World was a hideous wilderness in which roamed the wildest savages +thirsting for the blood of white people; that the land was rocky and +barren, and not fit for farms, for no crops could be raised upon it; +that the weather was cold, and that the climate caused deathly +sickness. + +All this, father said, worked to our harm among those godly people who +were inclined to join us, for they feared to come into such a place, +not understanding that these things were lies which had been told out +of a spirit of revenge. + + + + +IN THE PILLORY + + +Another wicked person who had come to Boston was Henry Linn, who was +no sooner living among us than he wrote letters to England by every +vessel, full of slander against the churches, and of those who took +part in the government. + +He was forced to stand in the pillory from sunrise to sunset, and was +then sent back to England with the warning that if he ever returned, +worse punishment would follow. + +It has come to my mind that possibly some who read these words may not +have seen a pillory, for I am told that there are places in this world +where the people so fear God and love their neighbors that there is no +need they be punished, therefore will I set down as best I may, a +description of that instrument of shame that stands near to where +lives Master Wilson. + +First a platform of logs is made of such height that he who stands +upon it can be seen of all the people, and from the center of this +rises a stout log to the height of four feet or more. On the top of +the upright timber, and fastened immovable, is a puncheon plank on the +upper edge of which are cut three grooves, the middle one large enough +to contain a man's neck and the other two his wrists. Now a second +plank is fashioned to fit down over the first one, with other grooves +in it to match. + +Whosoever must be punished is forced to stand upon this platform with +his head and arms fastened securely in the holes of the planks, +exposed to the view of all the people during so long a time as the +sentence demands. + +In addition to being a most shameful punishment, it must be exceeding +painful, for one may not stand very long in the same position without +becoming cramped, and he who is in the pillory cannot move hands or +head. + + + + +STEALING FROM THE INDIANS + + +I grieve to say that there were some among our people who seemed to +believe there was nothing of crime that could be committed against a +savage, and Master Josias Plastow, whom we had ever looked upon as a +godly man, showed himself to be knavish where the brown people were +concerned. + +Chickatabut, the chief of the Massachusetts Indians, of whom I have +already spoken, brought proof to Boston that Master Plastow had stolen +three half-bushels of corn from some of his people, living near +Neponset, and on being charged with the offence by Governor Winthrop, +Master Plastow confessed that he had done so, claiming that it was not +stealing to take from the savages. + + [Illustration] + +The Governor and his assistants thought differently, though, for +Master Plastow was fined five pounds in money, and ordered to send six +half-bushels of corn to the Indians from whom he had stolen, after +which all people were forbidden to call him Master any more, but must +give him only the name of Josias. + +Captain Stone believed this sentence to be wrong, and openly called +the justice unseemly names. He was straightway summoned before the +court, and fined one hundred pounds in money for speaking +disrespectfully of one in authority. + +Nor was this the only case where fault was found with the punishment +inflicted upon Josias. Henry Lyon wrote a letter to a cousin of his in +Plymouth, another to a friend in Salem, and sent four to London, all +of which were filled with harsh words against the Governor of Boston, +and the manner in which justice was dealt out. He was given twelve +lashes on the bare back, and banished to England. + + + + +THE PASSING OF NEW LAWS + + +When we had been in this village two years, there was much vexation +because of the greater portion of the gold and silver money, which our +people had brought with them, having been sent back to England in +order to purchase goods there, and the result was that even those who +were well off in the things of this world, found themselves unable to +pay their debts. + +Therefore it was that the court ordered corn to be taken in the stead +of gold and silver, unless money, or beaver skins, were set down in +the writing as the method of payment agreed upon. + +At the same time another law was passed, part of which seemed to bear +heavily upon those who were homesick to the point of going back to +England, and yet may have offended the officers of the law in some +way. It was declared that no person should be allowed to depart out of +the town of Boston, either by sea or by land, or to buy goods out of +any vessel or of the Indians, without permission from the magistrates. + +I know it is not seemly for a girl to question that which her elders +have done, and yet there were many times when it seemed to me as if +such a law worked injury to us of Boston. + +I might not have given so much heed to matters which do not concern +girls, but for the fact that Susan's father had crossed the Neck on +his way in search of wild animals, and having come some four miles +into the forest, he met an Indian who had on his back a half-bushel of +corn in a basket. + +The savage took a fancy to the girdle he wore, offered to give him the +corn, and bring as much more on the following day, if the belt were +given to him then. + + [Illustration] + +Susan's father, believing that the law against buying provisions of an +Indian would not be carried so far as to prevent a bargain like the +one which the savage had offered, stripped off his belt and took the +corn. + +On coming back to the town, Samuel Goodlove, one of the tithing-men, +met him, and asked how it chanced he had set forth in search of wild +fowl and brought back corn. + +Thinking no harm, Susan's father told all that had been done in the +forest, and straightway he was brought before Governor Winthrop, who +fined him ten shillings and the corn he had brought on his back four +miles, for having offended the law. In addition, he was sentenced to +give back to the Indian as much corn as he had taken, but without +demanding from him the girdle that had been given over. + + + + +MASTER PORMONT'S SCHOOL + + +Five years after we were settled in this town of Boston, a school was +set up for young people, and such children of the Indians as wished to +attend were allowed to do so freely without payment, although every +white man was forced to pay each year a certain amount, either in +money or in goods, for the hire of the teacher, who was Master +Philemon Pormont. + +It must not be supposed that we children knew nothing whatsoever of +reading, writing, or of doing small sums in arithmetic, up to this +time. A certain portion of each day did my mother or father teach me +my lessons, and when Master Pormont opened his school, I could write +as fair a hand as I do now, which seems fortunate, for he was not +skilful in teaching the art of writing. + +As for myself, I truly believe that had my first lessons in the use of +a quill come from him, I had never known how to form a letter, because +of his being exceeding harsh in his ways. + + [Illustration] + +A child who failed in doing at the first attempt exactly as Master +Pormont thought fit, was given a sharp blow over the knuckles of the +hand which held the quill, and Ezra Whitman was punished in this +manner so severely on a certain day, that it was nearly a week before +he was able to use his fingers. Even then the teacher declared that if +the blow had been sharper, the boy would, before the pain had ceased, +have known more about that which he was endeavoring to show him. + +The school was first set up in the house that had been built by Josias +Plastow. If you remember, he was one who had been under the discipline +of the court, and it was forbidden any should call him save by the +name of Josias. + +Feeling that he had been harshly dealt with, Josias left Boston, and +went into Plymouth to live, therefore did his dwelling belong to the +town, according to the law. It was made into a schoolroom by having +benches set up around the four sides, in such fashion that the +scholars faced a ledge of puncheon planks, which was built against the +walls to be used when we needed a desk on which to write, or to work +out sums in arithmetic. + +Master Pormont sat upon a platform in the center of the room, where he +could keep us children well in view, and woe betide the one who +neglected his task, for punishment was certain to follow. + + + + +SCHOOL DISCIPLINE + + +There were times when it seemed to me as if Master Pormont had eyes in +the back of his head, for once when I ventured to ask Susan Freeman +for the loan of her quill, while he was looking in the opposite +direction, I was speedily called to an account for misbehavior. Then +it was he handed me a knife he carried in his pocket, and further +command was not needed. + +I knew full well that I must go outside and cut a stout switch for use +upon my own body, and if peradventure I had been so foolish as to +bring back a small one, the first would have been used to switch me +with until it was broken, after which it was my duty to go for another +of more weight. + + [Illustration] + +My hands smarted a full hour after the punishment had been dealt out, +and there were such swellings upon them when I got home that mother +tied both up in linen after besmearing them plentifully with ointment. + +It was not always that Master Pormont used a switch upon a child who +had been foolish enough to speak with his neighbor, for he had what +were called whispering-sticks, which were most disagreeable to wear, +and caused a great deal of pain, so Susan said; but as for myself, I +was never forced to bear such punishment. + +These whispering-sticks were stout bits of wood from the oak tree, +which could not readily be broken by the teeth, and were put into a +child's mouth as you thrust a bit into the mouth of a horse, after +which the two ends were bound securely back of the neck. Thus the +unfortunate one's jaws were stretched wide open, oftentimes for a full +hour. + + + + +OTHER TOOLS OF TORTURE + + +It seemed to me then, and does even now, that Master Pormont spent +more time devising means of punishment than in teaching us our +lessons, for he had as many torture tools of various kinds as would +have served to make a heavy load for either of us children. + +That which the lads most feared was the flapper, and truly it was well +contrived to cause pain. It was a piece of stout deer hide, or thick +leather, four or five inches wide, and twice as long, with a hole in +the center about as large as the end of my thumb. One end of this was +tied to a stout handle, and, when applying it, Master Pormont forced +the child who had disobeyed the rules of school, to lie over one of +the benches in such a manner that he could come at the lad's bare +skin. When the flapper was laid on vigorously, at each blow the flesh +would puff up through this hole in the center of the leather, in a way +most painful to behold. + +There is little need for me to say that Master Pormont had a number of +dunce's caps made of bark from the birch tree, on which were painted +different inscriptions to suit the offence, such as "Stupid Boy," for +one who could not readily answer the questions he asked concerning the +day's lessons; "A Silly Dunce," to fit one who was slow in learning; +"A Wicked Liar," for some lad who had not told the truth. + +In fact, I cannot set down all the names which Master Pormont had +written on these dunce's caps, and there was hardly an hour during the +day when at least one of them was not in use. + + [Illustration] + +That contrivance which he had for children who would not sit quietly +on their benches, was, seemingly, the most innocent, and yet, as I +know to my sorrow, caused a vast amount of pain. It was a small square +of puncheon plank with a single stick in the center as a leg, and on +this the culprit was forced to sit, balancing himself or herself as +best might be by the feet, without being allowed to touch the hands to +anything. + +As I thus set down the poor description it seems a harmless thing, and +a punishment too mild to meet a grave offence, but yet if you were to +try to balance yourself on this unipod, as Master Pormont called it, +for the space of an hour, every joint in your body would cry aloud +with pain. + +As for myself, I know that more than once I would rather have fallen +headlong from this unipod, than have endured the torture a single +moment, even had I not known that more severe punishment would follow +such a disregard of the rules of school. + + + + +DIFFICULT LESSONS + + +The first lesson which Master Pormont gave to those of us children who +could read and write fairly well, was from the Latin grammar, and he +required that we have at our tongue's end within the first day, the +different forms of no less than six verbs; and this regardless of the +fact that we had never so much as put our eyes to the language before! + +Do not let it be understood that I am in any way complaining of +whatsoever Master Pormont did, for although I could not understand +the reason for many of the lessons at that time, there can be no +question but that so wise a man as he knew what was best suited for us +children. + +But surely, to Susan and me, who knew no more of arithmetic than was +to be found in the multiplying, dividing, and adding of small sums, it +was most grievous work to stumble over such terms as "fret," "tare," +and "net," when we had no idea of their meaning. + +Nor would Master Pormont give us such information, claiming that we +should seek it from our parents, or from other people in the town, to +the end that if it was gained by much labor we would the longer +remember it. + + + + +OTHER SCHOOLS + + +To me it was a great relief when dame schools were established, and by +this term I mean schools that were taught by women. + +Some of our more tender-hearted people believed Master Pormont's +methods were too harsh for the younger children; therefore, after he +had kept school one year, Mistress Sowerby, who was the widow of +Master Sowerby who had been assistant in the church at Yarmouth, in +England, was hired at the wage of six pounds a year to teach the girls +and the smaller boys. + +She did not appear to think it necessary that young ladies should know +so very much concerning Latin grammar, or arithmetic; but rather spent +her time showing us how to spin tow strings, or to knit hose or +stockings. + +Because of the school's having been set up in her own home, we could +learn how to cook, and to weave, and to knit, not only for our own +use, but to sell, and any kind of knitting work done well was in great +demand. When I could do herringbone, or fox-and-geese patterns, +working them, moreover, into mittens or stockings, I felt exceeding +proud. + + [Illustration] + +Indeed, we had among us one girl who knit into a single pair of +mittens, the alphabet and a verse of poetry in four lines. + +Mistress Sowerby was most careful in teaching us the use of the quill, +for she claimed that the young girl or young woman, who could make +easy, flowing letters, need not consider herself ignorant, even though +she failed in arithmetic, or was unable to spell correctly the words +she set down. + +It seemed to Susan and me as if the people of Boston were taking great +pride in the teaching of their children, when we learned that four +hundred pounds had been set aside from the money of the town with +which to set up a college, near those plantations which we had come to +call the New Town. + +We girls were more than disappointed, however, when told that only +lads would be allowed to enter this college, and then not until having +gained a certain amount of knowledge elsewhere; but yet it was a +matter in which we could take pride, that there should be such a +school formed when only six years had passed since we began to build +the town of Boston. + + + + +RAISING FLAX + + +It would be strange indeed if I failed to set down anything concerning +the flax which we spin, because save for it we would have had nothing +of linen except what could be brought from England. There is no +question but that every one who reads this will know exactly how flax +is raised and spun into cloth; but yet I am minded to explain, because +we girls of Boston have more to do with raising flax than with any +other crop. + +It is sown early in the spring, and when the plants are three or four +inches high, we girls are obliged to weed them, and in so doing are +forced to go barefoot, because of the stalks being very tender and +therefore easily broken down. + + [Illustration] + +I do not believe there is a child in town who fails to go into the +flax fields, because of its being such work as can be done by young +people better than by older ones, who are heavier and more likely to +injure the plants. + +I have said that we are obliged to go barefooted; but where there is a +heavy growth of thistles, as is often the case, we girls wear two or +three pairs of woolen stockings to protect our feet. + +If there is any wind, we must perforce work facing it, so that such of +the plants as may by accident have been trodden down, may be blown +back into place by the breeze. + +Wearying labor it is indeed, this weeding of the flax, and yet those +who come into a new world, as have we, must not complain at whatsoever +is set them to do, for unless much time is expended, crops cannot be +raised, and we children of Boston need only to be reminded of the +famine, when we are inclined to laziness, in order to set us in +motion. + +Of course you know that flax is a pretty plant, with a sweet, +drooping, blue flower, and it ripens about the first of July, when it +is pulled up by the roots and laid carefully out to dry, much as if +one were making hay. This sort of work is always done by the men and +boys, and during two or three days they are forced to turn the flax +again and again, so that the sun may come upon every part of it. + + + + +PREPARING FLAX + + +I despair of trying to tell any one who has never seen flax prepared, +how much and how many different kinds of labor are necessary, before +it can be woven into the beautiful linen of which our mothers are so +proud. + +First it must be rippled. The ripple comb is made of stout teeth, +either wood or iron, set on a puncheon, and the stalks of flax are +pulled through it to break off the seeds, which fall into a cloth that +has been spread to catch them, so they may be sown for the next year's +harvest. + +Of course this kind of work is always done in the field, and the +stalks are then tied in bundles, which are called "bates," and stacked +up something after the shape of a tent, being high in the middle and +broadened out at the bottom. + +After the flax has been exposed to the weather long enough to be +perfectly dry, then water must be sprinkled over it to rot the leaves +and such portions of the stalks as are not used. + + [Illustration] + +Then comes that part of the work which only strong men can perform, +called breaking the flax, to get from the center of the stalks the +hard, wood-like "bun," which is of no value. This is done with a +machine made of wood, as if you were to set three or four broad knives +on a bench, at a certain distance apart, with as many more on a lever +to come from above, fitting closely between the lower blades. The +upper part of the machine is pulled down with force upon the flax, so +that every portion of it is broken. + +After this comes the scutching, or swingling, which is done by +chopping with dull knives on a block of wood to take out the small +pieces of bark which may still be sticking to the fiber. + +Now that which remains is made up into bundles, and pounded again to +clear it yet more thoroughly of what is of no value, after which it is +hackled, and the fineness of the flax depends upon the number of times +it has been hackled, which means, pulling it through a quantity of +iron teeth driven into a board. + + + + +SPINNING, BLEACHING, AND WEAVING FLAX + + +After all this preparation has been done, then comes the spinning, +which is, of course, the work of the women and girls. I am proud to +say I could spin a skein of thread in one day, before I was thirteen +years old, and you must know that this is no mean work for a girl, +since it is reckoned that the best of spinners can do no more than two +skeins. + +Of course the skeins must be bleached, otherwise the cloth made from +them would look as if woven of tow, and this portion of the work +mother is always very careful to look after herself. + +The skeins must stay in warm water for at least four days, and be +wrung out dry every hour or two, when the water is to be changed. Then +they are washed in a brook or river until there is no longer any dust +or dirt remaining, after which they are bricked, which is the same as +if I had said bleached, with ashes and hot water, over and over again, +and afterward left to remain in clear water a full week. + + [Illustration] + +Then comes more rinsing, beating, washing, drying, and winding on +bobbins; so that it may be handy for the loom. + +The chief men in Boston made a law that all boys and girls be taught +to spin flax, and a certain sum of money was set aside to be given +those who made the best linen that had been raised, spun, and woven +within the town. + +I am told that in some of the villages nearabout, the men who make the +laws have ordered that every family shall spin so many pounds of flax +each year, or pay a very large amount of money as a fine for +neglecting to do so. + +It is not needed I should set down how flax is spun, for there is but +one way to spin that I know of, whether the material be wool, cotton, +or flax. + +But I would I might be able so to set it down, that whosoever reads +could understand, how my mother wove this linen thread into cloth; but +it would require more of words than I have patience to write. + +If there be any who have the desire to know how the linen for their +tables, or for their clothing, is made, I would advise that the matter +be studied as one would a lesson in school, for it is most +interesting, and father holds to it that every child should be able to +make all of that which he wears. + + + + +WHAT WE GIRLS DO AT HOME + + +In this town of Boston, if we do not know how to make what is needed, +then must we perforce go without, because one cannot well afford to +spend the time, nor the money, required to send from Boston to London +for whatever may be desired, and wait until it shall be brought across +the sea. + +I wonder if it would interest any of you to know what Susan and I are +obliged to do in our homes during each working day of the week? + +I can remember a time when we were put to it to perform certain tasks +within six days, and have set down that which we did. + +It was on a Monday that Susan and I hackled fifty pounds of flax, and +tired we were when the day was come to an end. On Tuesday we carded +tow, and on Wednesday each spun a skein of linen thread. On Thursday +we did the same stint, and on Friday made brooms of guinney wheat +straw. On Saturday we spun twine out of the coarser part of flax, +which is called tow, and of which I will tell you later. + + [Illustration] + +All this we did in a single week, in addition to helping our mothers +about the house, and had no idea that we were working overly hard. + +And now about tow: when flax has been prepared to that stage where it +is to be hackled, the fibers pulled out by the comb are yet further +divided into cobweb-like threads, and laid carefully one above the +other as straight as may be. To these a certain yellow substance +sticks, which we call tow, and this can be spun into coarse stuff for +aprons and mats, or into twine, which, by the way, is not very strong. + +It would surprise you, when working flax, to see to how small a bulk +it may be reduced. What seems like an enormous stack, before being +made ready for spinning, is lessened to such extent that you may +readily take it in both hands, and then comes the next surprise, when +you see how much cloth can be woven out of so small an amount of +threads. + +As for myself, I am not any too fond of working amid the flax, save +when it comes to spinning; but such labor is greatest pleasure as +compared with soap-making, which is to my mind the most disagreeable +and slovenly of all the housewife's duties. + + + + +MAKING SOAP + + +It seems strange that some industrious person, who is not overly fine +in feelings or in habits, does not take it upon himself to make soap +for sale. Verily it would be better that a family like ours buy a +quart of soap whenever it is needed, than for the whole house to be +turned topsy-turvy because of the dirty work. + +I wonder if there are in this country any girls so fortunate as not +to have been obliged to learn how to make soap? I know of none in +Boston, although it may be possible that in Salem, where are some +lately come over from England, live those who still know the luxury of +hard soap, such as can be bought in London. + +For those fortunate ones I will set down how my mother and I make a +barrel of soap, for once we are forced to get about the task, we +contrive to make up as large a quantity as possible. + +First, as you well know, we save all the grease which cannot be used +in cooking, and is not needed for candles, until we have four and +twenty pounds of such stuff as the fat of meat, scraps of suet, and +drippings of wild turkey or wild geese, which last is not pleasant to +use in food, and not fit for candles. + +Well, when we have saved four and twenty pounds of this kind of +grease, and set aside six bushels of ashes from what is known as hard +wood, such as oak, maple, or birch, we "set the leach." + +I suppose every family in Boston has a leach-barrel, which is a stout +cask, perhaps one that has held pickled pork or pickled beef, and has +in it at the very bottom a hole where is set a wooden spigot. + +This barrel is placed upon some sort of platform built to raise it +sufficiently high from the ground, so that a small tub or bucket may +be put under the spigot. Then it is filled with ashes, and water +poured into the top, which, of course, trickles down until it runs, +or, as some say, is leached, out through the spigot, into the bucket, +or whatsoever you have put there to receive it. + +While running slowly through the ashes, it becomes what is called lye, +and upon the making of this lye depends the quality of the soap. + + [Illustration] + +Now, of course, as the water is poured upon the contents of the +barrel, the ashes settle down, and as fast as this comes to pass, yet +more ashes are added and more water thrown in, until one has leached +the entire six bushels, when the lye should be strong enough, as +mother's receipt for soap-making has it, to "bear up an egg, or a +potato, so that you can see a portion of it on the surface as big as a +ninepence." + +If the lye is not of sufficient strength to stand this test, it must +be ladled out and poured over the ashes again, until finally, as will +surely be the case, it has become strong enough. + +The next turn in the work is to build a fire out of doors somewhere, +because to make your soap in the house would be a most disagreeable +undertaking. One needs a great pot, which should hold as much as +one-third of a barrel, and into this is poured half of the grease and +half of the lye, to be kept boiling until it has become soap. + +Now just when that point has been reached I cannot say, because of not +having had sufficient experience; but mother is a master hand at this +dirty labor, and always has greatest success with it. + +Of course, when one kettle-full has been boiled down, the remainder of +the lye and the remainder of the grease is put in, and worked in the +same manner as before. + + + + +SOAP FROM BAYBERRIES + + +It is possible, and we shall do so when time can be spent in making +luxuries, to get soap from the tallow of bay berry plums. + +I have already said that we stew out a kind of vegetable tallow from +bayberries with which to make candles, and this same grease, when +boiled with lye as if you were making soft soap, can be cooked so +stiff that, when poured into molds, it will form little hard cakes +that are particularly convenient for the cleansing of one's hands. + +There can be no question but that bayberry soap will whiten and +soften the skin better than does soft soap; but the labor of making it +is so disagreeable that, as Susan says, I had rather my hands were +tough and rough, than purchase a delicate skin at such an expense. + + + + +GOOSE-PICKING + + +There is another household duty which frets me much, and yet it must +be performed, else would we be put to it for quills with which to +write, and for soft beds, pillows, and quilts. It is goose-picking +that I abhor, not only because of its seeming extremely cruel, but on +account of its being like the soap-making, dirty work. + +I question if there be a family in Boston who does not own a flock of +geese, and among them many who were once wild. They wander around the +streets all summer, paddling the pools of water, chasing insects, and +devouring whatsoever may have been thrown out of the houses that is +eatable. + +I doubt whether, if it were within the power of our preachers so to +do, they would not kill all the geese in the town, for more than once +on a Sabbath day have these noisy creatures made such a tumult outside +the church that the sermon was actually interrupted. + +Besides that, you cannot go anywhere without a lot of foolish geese +running at your heels, hissing as if you had done something for which +you should be ashamed, and they were calling attention to it. + +Twice each season, in the planting and the harvesting time, must the +small feathers be stripped from the live birds, and while this is +being done, the goose, which has a strong neck and beak, would inflict +many a grievous wound if one did not pull an old stocking over its +head. + +Some people are so particular as to have made goose baskets, which in +shape are not unlike small gourds, and through the narrow neck of +these the head of the goose is thrust, while the body can be held +firmly between the knees of whosoever is doing the plucking. + + [Illustration] + +Of course, when one is pulling feathers from the bird, the fine fluff, +or down, flies everywhere about like snow, and the result is, that +unless you take the precaution of tying your hair up in cloths, and +putting on an old linen dress from which dirt can readily be shaken, +you will be covered from head to foot with these fluffy particles, +which are not much larger than snow-flakes, and extremely difficult to +remove. + +I have been so busy setting down matters concerning the household, as +to forget that I should tell you how our town of Boston has grown, and +who of the great men of England have come into it. + + + + +A CHANGE OF GOVERNORS + + +It was the third year after our coming, that Master John Cotton, the +famous preacher, settled among us, taking upon himself, because of the +entreaties of our people, the care of the First Church. + +It was also in this same year that a new governor was chosen, much to +the regret of both Susan and me, for while we girls could not be +expected to know anything regarding the matter, it surely seemed to us +that Master Winthrop was the very best man in all this world to rule +over us. + +But those who had the privilege of voting must have believed +otherwise, for they elected Master Thomas Dudley in his stead, and +made Master Winthrop one of the assistants in the Council. + +With the exception of that, and the trouble which Master Roger +Williams, the great preacher, was making, nothing disturbed us. Our +town continued to grow fast, until we began to believe that before +many years had passed it would be even as great a city as could be +found in England, with, of course, the exception of London. + + + + +THE FLIGHT OF ROGER WILLIAMS + + +Now as to the trouble which some of our people were having with Master +Roger Williams: I should be able to set it down plainly, and yet it is +not reasonable to suppose girls know much about the affairs of state. + +A very great preacher was Master Williams, and one who took it upon +himself to write, for the public reading, that the King had no right +to sell or give land to us white people, because of the whole +country's belonging to the Indians, and it can be well understood how +much of a stir the matter caused. + +Master Williams had been chosen by the people of Salem as teacher in +their church, and when he declared that we had no right to hold the +land which the King had granted us, which Master Blackstone had sold +to us, and which Chickatabut had given to us in writing, the chief men +of our town declared that he was not the kind of preacher who should +be allowed to remain in the New World. Therefore they wrote to the +people of Salem, demanding that he be sent back to England. + +Of course our gentlemen of Boston must have been in the right, for I +have heard my father say they were, and surely he would not lend his +face to anything which was at all wrong. However, the people of Salem +refused to listen to us of Boston, and, much to our surprise, Master +John Cotton took sides with Master Williams, which seemed to me very +strange. + +I cannot say why it was that the people of the colony kept Governor +Dudley in office only one year, or why Master Haynes was elected. + +Master Haynes was, of course, ruler over the entire colony, and, as +father said, not the kind of man to be trifled with by Master +Williams, even though he was a preacher. Therefore, when Captain +Underhill was about to sail for England, our Governor commanded him to +take Master Williams back to London. + + [Illustration] + +Some one, it seems, told the preacher what was on foot, and, although +it was in January with the snow piled deep everywhere around, he fled +from Salem into the woods, trusting himself to the mercy of the +savages rather than be sent back in disgrace. + +I have heard that it was a bitterly cold day, with the snow blowing +furiously, when the poor man plunged into the woods in flight, taking +with him nothing whatsoever save that which he wore upon his back. + +Father came to know afterward, that Master Williams spent the winter +with the Pokanoket Indians, some of whom he had met during the short +time he lived at Plymouth, and in the spring went to the shore of +Narragansett Bay, where it was reported that he was trying to build up +a village. + + + + +SIR HARRY VANE + + +Quite the most distinguished person who came among us was Sir Harry +Vane. His father was a Privy Councilor to the King, and one of the +Secretaries of State in England. Because of wanting to see the New +World, the young gentleman had been given permission to come to this +country for a term of three years. + +I wish you could have seen the stir that was made when he arrived. The +Governor, with his soldiers and trumpeters, went down to the wharf to +receive him with great ceremony, and the cannon on board the ships +were discharged with a wondrous noise when he stepped ashore. + +He was a most pleasing man to look upon, so young and so courtly, +while his costume was a marvel of elegance. It seemed to me, as I saw +him taking the Governor's hand with so much grace, that we needed but +few men of the same kind among us to lend great distinction to our +town in America. + + [Illustration] + +That same evening, however, my mother reproached me because of worldly +thoughts, saying that fine feathers do not make fine birds, although +they may make a bird look fine, which I suppose is the same as if she +had said that an evil man might, by his costume, be made to appear +worthy, whereas he would not be so at heart. + +However, I was not the only one in Boston who favored Sir Harry Vane, +for before the year was over, when Master Haynes' term of office had +expired, he was chosen as our Governor, and surely no person could +have looked more kingly than did he, when he stood in the door of the +Great House bowing to those people who had assembled in honor of his +having been elected. + + + + +MAKING SUGAR + + +Susan and I had a right delightful time when the first warm days of +spring came, for then it was the season in which to make sugar. I do +not mean to say that we girls took any part in the sweet work; but on +a certain day, very early in the morning, we were allowed to go out to +Master Winthrop's plantation in New Town, there to see his people at +the task, and, what was far better, we remained until late at night. + +It was the first time I had been away from home, save to go over to +Charlestown for a few hours, since we came from England, and I enjoyed +it all the more because of its being something strange. + +The snow was deep on the low-lying lands, therefore we wore +snow-shoes, and you must know that we girls can use those odd footings +almost as well as do the Indian children. It was a long walk to New +Town; but father went with us, his gun loaded heavily in case we came +across a hungry wolf, and so great was the excitement of going abroad +after having been kept in the house, except on those days when we went +to meeting or lecture, ever since the winter began, that we gave no +heed to fatigue. + + [Illustration] + +It seems queer that one can get sugar from trees, and yet so we do in +this new country, otherwise there would be many times when we would +not have sweet cake, for vessels seldom arrive from England with +stores at the very moment when one is in need of this thing or that. + +After we had arrived at Master Winthrop's plantation, good Mistress +Winthrop went with us girls to see the sap drawn from the maples, and +the three of us rode on a sled hauled by one of the serving men, of +whom Master Winthrop has many. + +Do you know how the sap is taken? Well, first a hole is bored in the +trunk of a tree, about as high from the surface as will admit of +placing a bucket beneath it, and into this a small wooden spout, or +spigot, is driven. Beneath the spout is placed a bucket or tub, and +into this the sap, coaxed up from the roots by the warmth of the sun, +drops, or runs, very slowly. + + [Illustration] + +Master Winthrop's serving men made holes in many trees, and then, when +the work had been done, went about gathering the sap out of the +buckets or tubs, into casks, which were hauled from place to place on +a sled, exactly as Mistress Winthrop, Susan and I had ridden. + +As soon as a cask has been filled, a huge fire is built near at hand, +and over it is hung a large kettle, much as if one were counting on +making soap. In this the sap is boiled until it is thick, like +molasses, in case one wishes to make syrup, or yet longer if sugar is +wanted. + +Of course it is necessary to taste of the syrup very often to learn if +it has been cooked enough, and this portion of the work Susan and I +did until we felt much as flies look after they have been feasting on +molasses, and have their wings and legs clogged with sweetness. + +I do not mean to say that we besmeared ourselves with it; but we ate +so much while tasting to learn if the cooking was going on properly, +that I felt as if I had been turned into a big cake of sugar. + +When the sap is thick enough to "sugar," as it is called, it is poured +into pans of birch-bark, where it cools in cakes, each weighing two or +three pounds. + + + + +A "SUGARING DINNER" + + +We enjoyed ourselves hugely until well after noon, when we were so +weary and sticky that it was a positive relief to hear Mistress +Winthrop propose that we go back to her dwelling, and there what do +you think we found? + +No less than twenty people from Boston, among whom were Susan's mother +and mine, had all come out for what is called the "sugaring dinner." + +Master Cotton, the preacher, was with the company, and he made a most +beautiful prayer while we were waiting for the meal to be served, +after which the spirit moved him to ask at great length, and in a +most touching manner, that the food might be blessed to each and +every one of us. + + [Illustration] + +One could never have believed that we who were gathered around the +table ever had known what it was to be painfully hungry during one +entire winter, for there was sufficient of food to have served us, in +the old days, a full week. + +There were two enormous wild turkeys roasted to a most delicious +crispness, one placed at either end of the table, while the handsomest +standing salt I ever saw was exactly in the center, so that no one +could say whether he was seated above or below the salt. + +There were also two huge venison pies, with the pastry made wholly of +wheat flour; and placed around the pies in a most tasteful manner, +were potted pigeons, in small dishes. There were apple and pear tarts; +marmalade and preserved plums, grapes, barberries and cherries, +together with poppy and cherry water, cordial and mint water. + +It was a most delicate feast, and my greatest regret was that I had +tasted so often of the maple sap I could not do full justice to it. +Tears actually stood in Susan's eyes as she whispered to me after the +dinner was come to an end, and we were allowed to talk with each +other, + +"I shall never live long enough to cease being sorry because I could +not eat more." + +It was the same as if she had confessed to the sin of gluttony, and it +was my duty to reprove her; but I could not find it in my heart so to +do, because of much the same thought's being in my own mind. + + [Illustration] + +We all sang psalms until near to seven o'clock in the evening, when +good Master Winthrop gave us a famous ride on his new sled drawn by +two oxen, and thus did we go home like really fashionable folk, who +must needs turn night into day, as my mother declared. + + + + +TRAINING DAY + + +I must tell you of our Training Day, in the month of May, after Master +Roger Williams had fled into the wilderness to escape the wrath of our +people which he had aroused; and I am setting down what happened on +that particular day, because of its being the largest and most +exciting training ever held in Boston, so every one says. + +Susan believes Training Day should come oftener than four times a +year, so that we young people may get some idea of what gay life is +like in the old countries, where they make festivals of Christmas, and +other saints' days. It does truly seem as if we might see our soldiers +perform quite often, for it is a most inspiring spectacle, and +especially was it on last Training Day, when, so father says, there +were upwards of seven hundred men marching back and forth across the +Common in a manner which at times was really terrifying, because of +their fierce appearance when fully armed. + +Imagine, if you can, a row of booths along the Common, in which are +for sale ground nuts, packages of nookick, sweet cakes, pumpkin bread +roasted brown and spread with syrup made from maple sap, together +with dainties of all kinds lately brought over from England. + +Between these booths and the water are many tents, which have been set +up that the people of quality may entertain their friends therein with +toothsome food and sweet waters. + +The middle of the Common, and a long space at either end, is kept +clear of idle ones that the soldiers may exercise at arms, and these +do not appear until the on-lookers are in their places. Then we hear a +flourish of trumpets, the rolling of drums, and from the direction of +the Neck comes our army, a mighty array of seven hundred or more men, +all armed and equipped as the law directs. + +When this vast body of warlike men have marched into the vacant space, +they are drawn up in line, there is another flourish of trumpets, +together with the rolling of drums, and Master Cotton comes out from +the tent which has been set up for the use of the Governor and his +assistants, to offer a prayer. + +On this day, moved by the sight of the great throng, Master Cotton +prayed long and fervently, whereat some of the younger soldiers, +having not the fear of God in their hearts, pulled long faces one to +another, or shifted about uneasily on their feet, as if weary with +long standing, and I trembled lest the Governor, seeing such levity, +might rebuke them openly, which would be a great disgrace at such a +time. + + [Illustration] + +When Master Cotton was done with praying, the soldiers began to march +here and there in many ways, until one's eyes were confused with +watching them, and then came the volleys, as the men shot straight +over the heads of the people; but father says no one need fear such +warlike work, for there were no bullets in the guns. + +Of course I understood that he must needs know whether this be true or +not, else he would not have spoken it; and yet I could not but +shudder when so many guns were fired at one time, while the smoke of +powder in the air was most painful to the eyes. + +After the soldiers had marched back and forth in the most ferocious +manner possible until noon, they were allowed a time for rest, and +then it was that those who had set up tents, entertained their friends +at table with stores upon stores of dainties of every kind. + + + + +SHOOTING FOR A PRIZE + + +I have heard that Sir Harry Vane declared our soldiers presented a +very fine front, whatever that may be, and he is not backward about +saying that even the King himself has no more warlike appearing men in +his army. All of which is surely true, for Sir Harry, being the son of +a Privy Councilor, must have seen His Majesty's troops many a time. + +After all the people had feasted, each in his own fashion, and the +soldiers had been refreshed at the expense of the town, the marching +was begun again, to be continued in a manner like to make one's head +swim, until the Governor gave the signal that the shooting at a target +might commence, when it was that the guns were loaded with real +bullets. + +On this day it was Sir Harry who gave the prize to be shot for, which +was a doublet of velvet trimmed with lace, the value of which, so +father declares, is not less than five times as great as any prize +that has ever been offered on Training Day in Boston. + +Susan and I were eager to know who won it; but before the matter was +settled, my mother insisted it was time for us to go home, because of +the behavior of some of the soldiers' being none of the best after +they have done with the training. + + [Illustration] + +However, we saw the doublet, and marked well the pattern of the lace, +therefore if the winner wears it on the street, there will be no +question as to our knowing it again. + +The training was a most enjoyable spectacle, even though Susan and I +were so frightened at times that it seemed as if our hearts were +really in our mouths, and when we followed mother home on that +afternoon, it was with the belief that our town of Boston, although +not as old as Jamestown, Plymouth or Salem, had grown, both in numbers +and fashion, far beyond any other settlement in this New World. + + + + +LECTURE DAY + + +My mother believes it would be better if Training Day were done away +with entirely, for she says we spend far too much time in the pursuit +of frivolity, when we have no less than one lecture day in each week. +It must be that she is in the right, for father has much the same +opinion, and declares a stop must be put to so many lectures, which +but gives a convenient excuse for indolent people, who should be at +work on the plantations or in the houses, to go gadding about the +town. + +You must know that Thursday is the day when we listen to lectures by +some of the preachers, or those among the magistrates who have the +gift of speech, and this has been the custom since the first year we +came here. + +In the early days the lecture hour was in the forenoon; but at the end +of three years, after Boston was become a town, those in authority +over us passed a law that the lecture should not begin until one of +the clock in the afternoon, and this was done in order that the people +might not have an excuse to spend the entire day in idleness. + +I cannot see, however, that any more work is done on Thursdays now +than before the law was made, for as soon as breakfast is finished and +the houses have been set in order, nearly every one walks on the +streets, this pleasure being forbidden on Sabbath days, until it is +time to gather at the church. + +Our magistrates also tried to make the rule that no minister, or other +person, should lecture more often than once in every two weeks, in +order that we might have less of such diversion; but no heed is given +to this law, for I myself have heard Master Cotton speak to the people +no less than twice on every Thursday, and this in addition to lectures +by other preachers. + +If father were one of the magistrates, mother would do all she might +to have the hour of the meetings set back to the morning, for she +believes it is wrong to make of the forenoon a time for the punishing +of evil-doers, as has come to be the custom. + + + + +PUNISHMENT FOR EVIL-DOERS + + +Now, when we go out to mingle with the people, it is impossible not to +stop here or there when one of the constables is whipping an idle +fellow through the streets, laying the lashes on his bare back with +such force that the blood follows nearly every blow. + +Then again, it is not often that one can pass the post at the corner +of Prison Lane, without seeing some wrong-doer chained there as +punishment for striking one of the people, and the cage wherein are +kept men and women who have offended against the laws is seldom empty +on a Thursday. + + [Illustration] + +The prison itself is a dreary looking place, although it is not quite +so very different from the church, but somehow its barred windows make +the shivers run up and down my back and I always hurry past it with as +much speed as possible. + +Most likely there are as many bad people in the other towns of this +New World, as in Boston; but it surely seems to Susan and me as if we +had among us all those in America who delight in breaking the laws. + +Of all the punishments which are inflicted here, I think the most +cruel is that of sentencing a man to wear, so long as he may live, a +halter around his neck so that every one may see it, for thus is the +wrong-doer forced to shame himself during every hour of the day, and +especially on Thursdays, when he must stand not less than two hours +during the forenoon on the steps of the church. + +It is on lecture day that one may see the latest notices put up on the +church, together with the announcements of those who intend to be +married, and Susan and I have great pleasure in reading these, for +then are we aware of anything important about to take place. + +Of course there are times when we are not so well pleased at being +forced to sit still five or six long hours, listening to this preacher +or that who feels a call to speak during the lecture time; but if we +failed to do so, we should not be allowed to go on the street +wheresoever we please, therefore I hope that mother will not be able +to have the lecture hour changed to the morning. + + + + +THE MURDER OF JOHN OLDHAM + + + [Illustration] + +It was six years after we had come to live in Boston, that a most +terrible crime was committed by the savages of the Narragansett tribe, +for then they killed Captain John Oldham, and three other men, who +were sailing on Long Island Sound. The vessel was taken by the +Indians, after they had murdered all on board, and we in Boston were +moved to great fear, believing the brown men around us were making +ready to murder the white people. + +Sir Harry Vane, the Governor, sent five of our chief men to the head +savage of the Narragansett tribe, to inquire into the matter, and +these messengers were told that none save the Indians living on Block +Island had any hand in the matter. + +Then it was that Governor Vane commanded Master Endicott of Salem, to +take a large number of fighting men in three vessels, and punish the +murderers as they deserved. + +Master Endicott did according to the command; but when he was come to +Block Island, the brown people had run away; therefore all he could do +was to burn the huts, destroy the canoes, and shoot the dogs that were +prowling around the deserted village. + +This Master Endicott did not believe was punishment enough for what +had been done, therefore he crossed over to the mainland where the +Indians who call themselves Pequots live, and there he killed more +than twenty of these people, besides seizing their corn. He also +burned, or destroyed in some other way, all the goods belonging to the +savages that he could find, and then came back to Boston, where the +people of the town turned out to give him a noble welcome. + +We had a thanksgiving day because of what had been done, and believed, +or, at least, Susan and I did, that we need fear nothing more from the +savages, for surely the brown people would not dare molest any white +man again after being so severely punished. + + + + +SAVAGES ON THE WAR-PATH + + +It was not many days, however, before word was brought to Boston that +the Pequot Indians were trying to coax the Narragansett savages to +join them in killing every Englishman that could be found in the land. + +Father had said that this might be done, if the brown people all over +the country should come together, and we who lived in Boston and Salem +were in great fear. + +The soldiers were called together from every village. The gates of the +fort on the Neck were kept closed, with men stationed there night and +day to see that no enemy came through, and the preachers prayed most +fervently that our lives might be spared because of our doing our +utmost to serve God as He would have us. + +Then it was that the Lord heard our prayers, else had we all been +killed, and it was brought about in a way such as, my mother said, +heaped coals of fire upon our heads. + +The same Master Roger Williams who had been driven out into the +wilderness, because of holding a belief contrary to ours, and who had +lived with the Narragansett Indians since then, so pleaded with the +savages of the tribe that they sent some of their chief people to +Boston, with promises of friendliness. + +Sir Harry Vane received the visitors with great state. All our +soldiers were paraded through the streets, and in front of the +Governor's house. The drummers marched to and fro making music, and +the people came out on the streets that the Indians might believe we +had not been afraid. + + [Illustration] + +It was much like Training Day, save that only the magistrates of the +town were allowed to know what was being done in the Governor's house +after the savages had gone into the building, decked out in a brave +array of feathers, and in clothing embroidered with fanciful colored +quills of porcupines, and with their faces painted in a most hideous +fashion. + +We were told, after the Indians had marched out of the town, near to +sunset, one behind the other in a manner as solemn as if they were +coming from church, that the tribe of Narragansett savages had +promised to aid us white people against the brown men of the Pequot +tribe, in every way possible, and greatly did we rejoice that night, +for it seemed as if all trouble had passed. + + + + +PEQUOT INDIANS + + +The Englishmen who had settled in the colony known as Connecticut, +soon found that the Pequot savages could do much of wickedness, even +though the Narragansetts had said they would be friends with the white +people, for within a very short time after Master Roger Williams had +sent the Indians to us in peace, did a season of murder begin. + +Because of my being a girl, who is not supposed to understand affairs +of state, and who could only cower in fear and trembling by the side +of her mother when word was brought of the dreadful deeds done by the +Pequot savages, I shall not set down anything whatsoever concerning +that terrible winter, when we heard nothing save stories of blood and +direst suffering. + +No one could say whether, despite all Master Roger Williams might be +able to do, the savages nearabout would not fall upon us of Boston as +they had upon the white people of Connecticut, and, therefore, as soon +as the shadows of evening had begun to gather, we girls sought the +protection of our mothers. + + [Illustration] + +Seated before the roaring fires, not daring to move about the house +even after the doors and shutters were securely barred, we started in +alarm at every sound, hearing in the roaring of the wind, or the +crackling of the fire, some token that the brown people were skulking +around striving to get inside that they might shed our blood. + +It was far worse than the time of the famine, for then we knew just +what might come to us, and if death entered the house, we would meet +it in the arms of those we loved; but from all which had been told by +those affrighted people who came to us from Connecticut, we realized +that horrors such as could not even be imagined, would be upon us with +the coming of those savages who had sworn to make an end of the white +settlers in the New World. + +It is not well even that I set down in words the distress of mind +which was ours during that long dreadful winter; but this I may say in +all truth, as the parting word, that nowhere in the Massachusetts Bay +Colony could have been found a more distressed or unhappy girl, than +this same Ruth of Boston. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Ruth of Boston, by James Otis + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 44100 *** |