Mary of Plymouth: A Story of the Pilgrim Settlement, Page 5

  Thomas Williams killed seven wolves in four days by tying four orfive mackerel hooks together, covering them with fat, and leaving themexposed where the ravening creatures could get at them.

  Twice before the snow was melted, the men of the village had what theycalled a "wolf-drive," when all made a ring around a certain portionof the forest where the animals lurked, and, by walking toward a givencenter, drove the creatures together where they could be shot or killedwith axes.

  Sarah and I do not dare venture very far from the village becauseof the ferocious animals, and if the time ever comes when we are nolonger in deadly fear of being carried away and eaten by the dreadfulcreatures, this new world of ours will seem more like a real home.

  I wish it might be possible for you to see the flocks and flocks ofpigeons which come here when the weather grows warm. It is as if theyshut out the light of the sun, so great are the numbers, and fathersays that again and again do they break down the branches of the trees,when so many try to roost in one place. Any person who so chooses maygo out in the night after the pigeons have gone to sleep, and gather asmany bags full as he can carry, so stupid are the birds in the dark,and even when they are not the most plentiful, we can buy them at therate of one penny for twelve.

  ELDER BREWSTER

  I must tell you that there is being made a stout fort where we can allgo in case any wicked savages should come against us, and when that hasbeen finished, we shall have a real meeting-house, for one is to be putup inside the walls.

  Mother says she is certain Mistress Brewster will be relieved, for nowwe meet each Sabbath Day at her home. It must be a real hardship forher when Elder Brewster preaches an unusually long sermon, for manya time have the pine knots been lighted before he had come to an end,and, of course, the evening meal could not be cooked until we who hadcome to meeting had gone to our homes.

  Father has told me that Elder Brewster was a postmaster of Scrooby whenhe first knew him; that his belief in our faith was so strong as tomake him one of the Non-Conformists, and so earnestly did he strive toperform whatsoever he believed the Lord had for him to do, that his wasthe house in Scrooby where our people listened to the expounding of theword of God.

  When he, with the others of our friends, went to Leyden, MasterBrewster was chosen as assistant to our preacher Robinson, and was madean elder.

  It is not seemly that a child so young as I should speak even in praiseof what my elders have done; but surely a girl can realize when a manis watchful for the comfort of others, heeding not his own troubles orpains, so that those around him may be soothed, and, next to CaptainStandish, Elder Brewster was the one to whom we children could go foradvice or assistance.

  When the sickness was upon us, he, hardly able to be out of his bed,ministered in turn to those who were dying, and to us who were nigh tostarvation, in as kindly, fatherly a manner as when he had sufficientof the goods of this world to make himself comfortable both in body andmind.

  THE VISIT TO MASSASOIT

  That which gave mother and me a great fright was Governor Bradford'scommand that Edward Winslow and Master Hopkins visit the village ofthe Indian chief, Massasoit, in order to carry as presents from oursettlement of Plymouth a suit of English clothing, a horseman's coat ofred cotton, and three pewter dishes.

 

  It seemed to my mother and me as though it was much like going tocertain death; but Squanto, who was to act as guide, claimed that noharm could come to them. I trust not these savages, who look so cruel,and cried heartily when our people set out; but God allowed them toreturn in safety, although they were not overly well pleased with thevisit.

  Massasoit treated them in the most friendly manner, and seemed tobe well pleased with the gifts; but he set before them only the verysmallest quantity of parched corn, no more than two spoonfuls to eachone, and failed to offer anything else when that had been eaten.

  Except that they were hungry during all the five days of the stay, thesavages treated them kindly, and my father believes that we need haveno fear this tribe will do us any harm; but there are other Indians inthe land who may be tempted to work mischief.

  KEEPING THE SABBATH HOLY

 

  As soon as the fields had been planted, it was decided that six men ofthe company should spend all their time at fishing, to the end that wemight lay up a store of sea food for the coming winter; therefore theygo out in the shallop every day, except the Sabbath, which begins atthree o'clock on Saturday afternoon. At that time we children gatherin one house or another, but mostly at Elder Brewster's, where we studythe Bible, or listen to lectures by Governor Bradford.

  We are not allowed to walk around the village after the Bible lessonsare finished, but must run directly home, and remain there until we goto meeting in Elder Brewster's house next morning.

  Captain Standish says he does not favor such long Sabbaths, while wehave so much work on hand; but he is not listened to on such matters,for his duty in the village is only that of a military leader.

  MAKING CLAPBOARDS

  It is true indeed that there is very much work to be done. First comesthe planting and tending of the crops. Then there is the fishing andthe hunting that we may have meat. Lastly is the making of clapboards,which task was begun soon after the seed had been put in the ground,for Governor Bradford believed we should make enough with which to loadthe first vessel that came to us from England.

  It was all we could do, just then, in the way of getting together thatwhich might be sold to the people in the old country, and father saidthe men of Plymouth must be earning money in some other way than bytrying to gather furs, for already were the animals growing more timidand scarce.

  It is not easy work, this clapboard-making, and I cannot wonder thatthe men complain at being forced to continue it day after day. Firstan oak tree is cut by saws into the length necessary for clapboards,which, so father tells me, should be about four feet long. Then a toolcalled a "frow" is used to split the trunk of the tree into slabs, orclapboards, making them thin at one edge and half an inch or more thickat the other.

 

  This "frow" is shaped something like a butcher's cleaver, and a woodenmallet is used to drive it into the log until the splint is forced off.

  Our people made many clapboards during the time between planting andharvest, so that we had enormous stacks under the trees ready to put onboard the first vessel that should sail for England.

  COOKING PUMPKINS

  When the first pumpkins were ripe, Squanto showed us how to cook them,and most of us find the fruit an agreeable change from sweet puddings,parched corn, and fish.

  This is the way that Squanto cooked pumpkins. First he was careful tofind one that was wholly ripe. In the top of the yellow globe he cut asmall hole through which it was possible for him to take out the seeds,of which there are many. Then the whole pumpkin was put into the ironoven and baked until the pulp on the inside was soft, after which theshell could be broken open, and the meat of the fruit eaten with thesugar which we get from the trees.

  Mistress Bradford invented the plan of mixing the baked pumpkin pulpwith meal of the Indian corn, and made of the whole a queer lookingbread, which some like exceeding well, but father says he is forced toshut his eyes while eating it.

  A NEW OVEN

  Perhaps I have not told you how we happen to have an oven, when thereis only the big fireplace in which to cook our food. Mistress White andMistress Tilley each brought from Leyden, in Holland, what some peoplecall "roasting kitchens," and you can think of nothing more convenient.The oven or kitchen is made of thin iron like unto a box, the front ofwhich is open, and the back rounded as is a log. It is near to a yardlong, and stands so high as to take all the heat from the fire whichwould otherwise be thrown out into the room.

 

  In this oven we put our bread, pumpkins, or meat and set it in front of,and close against, a roaring fire. The back, or rounded part is thenheaped high with hot ashes or live embers, and that which is i
nsidemust of a necessity be cooked. At the very top of the oven is a smalldoor, which can be opened for the cook to look inside, and one may seejust how the food is getting on, without disturbing the embers thathave been heaped against the outer portion.

  We often borrow of Mistress Tilley her oven, and father has promised tosend by the first ship that comes to this harbor, for one that shall beour very own. When it arrives, I am certain mother will be very glad,for there is no kitchen article which can save so much labor for thehousewife.

  MAKING SPOONS AND DISHES

  I wish you might see how greatly I added to our store of spoons duringthe first summer we were here in Plymouth. Sarah and I gathered fromthe shore clam shells that had been washed clean and white by the sea,and Squanto cut many smooth sticks, with a cleft in one end so thatthey might be pushed firmly on the shell, thus making a most beautifulspoon.

 

  Sarah says that they are most to her liking, because it is notnecessary to spend very much time each week polishing them, as we areforced to do with the pewter spoons.

  Some day, after we own cows, we can use the large, flat clam shellswith which to skim milk, and when we make our own butter and cheese, weshall be rich indeed.

 

  After the pumpkins ripened, and when the gourds in the Indian villagewere hardened, we added to our store of bowls and cups until thekitchen was much the same as littered with them, and all formed of thepumpkin and gourd shells.

  Out of the gourd shells we made what were really most serviceabledippers, and even bottles, while in the pumpkin shell dishes we keptmuch of our supply of Indian corn.

 

  Captain Standish gave me two of the most beautiful turkey wings, tobe used as brushes; but they are so fine that mother has them hung onthe wall as ornaments, and we sweep the hearth with smaller and lessperfect wings from the birds or turkeys father has brought home.

  This no doubt seems to you of Scrooby a queer way of keeping house.

  THE FORT AND MEETING-HOUSE

  That which Captain Standish calls a fort is very much like our homes,or the Common House, except that it is larger, and has small, squareopenings high up on the walls to serve both as windows and placesthrough which our people can shoot at an enemy, if any come against us.

  Surely there are none in this new world who should wish us harm, andyet my father says that we have need to guard ourselves carefully,because Squanto and Samoset have both insisted that a tribe of savageswho call themselves Narragansetts, and who live quite a long distanceaway, may seek to drive us from the land.

  This fort, the logs of which are sunken so deeply into the earth thatthey cannot easily be overthrown, has been built on the highest landwithin the settlement, and extending from it in such a manner as tomake it a corner of the enclosure, is a fence of logs, which CaptainStandish calls a palisade, built to form a square. The fence is madelike the sides of our houses; but the logs rise higher above thesurface than the head of the tallest man.

  There are two gates in the palisade, one on the side nearest the fort,with the other directly opposite, and these can be fastened with heavylogs on the inside. All the people have been told that at the firstsignal of danger, they must flee without loss of time inside the fenceof logs, after which the gates will be barred, and no person may go onthe outside without permission from Captain Standish.

  The six cannon, which I told you had been mounted on a platform whenwe first began to build the houses, have been taken to the top of thefort, and from there, so Captain Standish says, we can hold in checka regular army of Indians; but God forbid that anything of the kindshould be necessary after we have come to this new world desiringpeace, and with honest intentions toward all men.

 

  Because it is not reasonable to suppose that any human being could wishto work us harm, Sarah and I look upon that which is called a fort,rather as a meeting-house than a place of defence, and such it reallylooks to be, for the floor is covered with seats made of puncheonplanks placed on short lengths of logs, while at one end is a desk forthe preacher built in much the same fashion as are the seats.

  Here, also, so Governor Bradford has promised, we children shall have aschool as soon as a teacher can be persuaded to come over from England.As it is now, our parents teach us at home, and father believes I caneven now write as well as if I had been all this while at school inScrooby. With both a meeting-house and a school, it will seem as if wehad indeed built a town in this vast wilderness.

  THE HARVEST FESTIVAL

  You shall now hear about our harvest festival, which Governor Bradforddeclared should be called a day of thanksgiving because the Lord hadbeen good to us in permitting of our getting from the earth, the sea,and the forest, such a supply of food as gave us to believe that nevermore would famine visit Plymouth.

  True it is the crop of peas had failed, but the barley, so father said,was fairly good, while the Indian corn grew in abundance. Our peoplehad taken a great many fish, and the hunters found in the forest agoodly supply of birds and animals. Already were there seven housesbuilt, without counting the Common House that had been repaired soonafter it was injured by fire, and the fort with its palisade.

  As soon as the harvest was over, the Governor sent four men out aftersuch fowls and animals as might be taken, and in two days they killedas many as would serve to provide all the people of Plymouth with meatfor at least a full week.

 

  There were wild ducks in greatest number, together with turkeys,and small birds like unto pheasants. No less than twenty deer werekilled, and it was well we provided such a bountiful supply for thethanksgiving festival, because on the day before the one appointed,Massasoit, with ninety of his men, came to Plymouth, bringing as giftsfive deer, and it seemed as if the Indians did nothing more than eatcontinuously.

  Instead of giving thanks on one particular day, as Governor Bradfordhad ordered, three days were spent in such festivities as we had notseen since leaving our homes in England.

  The deer and the big turkeys were roasted over fires built in the openair, and we had corn and barley bread, baked pumpkins, clams, lobsters,and fish until one was wearied by the sight of so much food.

  Nor was eating the only amusement during this thanksgiving time, for weplayed at games much as we would have done in Scrooby.

  There was running, jumping, and leaping by the men, stoolball for theboys, and a wolf hunt for those soldiers under Captain Standish whowere not content with small sports.

  HOW TO PLAY STOOLBALL

  I know not if my friend Hannah has seen the game of stoolball as itis played in our village of Plymouth, because those among us who takepart in it use no sticks nor bats, but strike the ball only with theirhands. Of course we have no real stools here as yet, because of thelabor necessary to make them, when a block of wood serves equally wellon which to sit; but the lads who play the game take a short piece ofpuncheon board, and, boring three holes in it, put therein sticks toserve as legs.

  These they place upon the ground behind them, and he who throws theball strives to hit the stool rather than the player, who is allowedonly to use his hands in warding it off. Whosesoever stool has been hitmust himself take the ball, throwing it, and continuing at such serviceuntil he succeeds in striking another's stool.

 

  Sarah and I had believed that at this festival time, we would gatherin the new meeting-house to praise the Lord for his wondrous goodness;but Master Bradford believed it would not be seemly to mix religiousservices with worldly sports, therefore it was not until the nextSabbath Day that we heard lessons of the Bible explained from thatreading desk built of puncheons and short lengths of tree trunks.

  Perhaps it was because Governor Bradford allowed the men and boysto play at games during the time of thanksgiving, that they came tobelieve such sports would be permitted on Christmas, even though theelders of our colony had decided no attention should be paid to the daybecause of its being a Pagan festivity.

  ON CHRIST
MAS DAY

  On the morning of the first Christmas after our houses had been built,many of the men and boys, when called upon to go out to work for thecommon good, as had been the custom every week day during the year,declared that they did not believe it right to labor at the timewhen it was said Christ had been born. Whereupon Governor Bradford,after telling them plainly that he believed laziness rather than anyreligious promptings of the spirit inclined them to remain idle onthat day, said he would leave them alone until they were come to havea better understanding of the matter.

  Then he, with those who were ready to obey the rules, went to theirwork; but on coming back at noon, he found those who did not believe itseemly to labor on Christmas day, at play in the street, some throwingbars, and others at stoolball. Without delay the governor seized theballs and the bars, carrying them into the fort, at the same timedeclaring that it was against his conscience for some to play whileothers worked. This, as you may suppose, brought the merrymaking to anend.

  For my part I enjoyed the Christmas festivities as we held them atScrooby, and cannot understand why, simply because certain heathenpeople turned the day into a time for play and rejoicing, we should notmake merry after the custom of those in England.

  WHEN THE "FORTUNE" ARRIVED

  I hardly know how to set about telling you of that time when thefirst ship came into our harbor. It was not long after the day ofthanksgiving when, early one morning, even before any of our people hadbegun work, some person cried out that a vessel was in sight.