The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1866-09-23
Gbt Gate = Uitp.


- 49, ~ ~
FROM THE HoAH OF THE EARLx
n - EaEoRKAaLz s. ~
The we'll known stOAalEroxn is now visit
ing England and Scotland. He writes to the
Boston Journal thai. concerning the hnms Of
the early pilgrims: 4e44a
Just beyond Retford Junction We come
upon the meadows of the river Idle, = lazy
stream winding its way sastwafd 70 the -.
We passed two insignificant hAmlets and
came upon third winch bears 8hemely
name but which to New Eaalauder u Of
surprising interest. ecrooby = The birth
place of the American Republic. Let MS
lnger here little while. 1t y place pro-
tages covered with red tiles, With moss grow
ing in the crevices Of the walls, groups Of
children playing in the streets, and English
peasants gazing with stolid stare upon the
passers BY. The lately mown fields are
clothed with greeDest verdare. The ripsned
wheat rolls in golden waves ~ the breezes
pass. Flocks and herds browse the pasture
lands. It is scene Of qniet beauty. But
let us 60 back three centuries. Scrooby was
hamlet then, with church Of stone three
hundred years old when Elizabeth was Queen
six hundred now. These green and fertile
lowlands were boys and marshes when Henry
VIII, father of Elizabeth, WAS King, and the
wild ducks came up from the Sea and bred
their young along the reedy shores. A sign-
board by the railroad bears this inscription !:
"Footpath to Chesterfield" Along that
same path, three centuries gone by, . little
boy walked on Sunday morning, coming over
from Chesterfield, mile distant, to hear an
old man preach, not in the church but in .
large house, long since gone TO dust That
boy was William Bradford, and the preacher
was Cyfton, tall man With white beard
hanging down on his breast, . cody man,
ripe for heaven.
That large house, gone to the dust, where
Clyflon preached pure doctrine, WA the home
Of Brewster, owned in the time of Henry
VIII by Cardinal Wolsey, and where the
prelate lived after his fall from kingly favor.
1t stood within . moat and was surrounded
with courts, large and ample-a stately, ba-
ronial place, built in that remote century
when cheftains assembled their retainers and
went forth to accomplish deeds of valor in
those turbulent times. Henry VIII once
spent night there on his journey to Scot
land, for it stood on the great northern
thoroughfare. Archbishop Sandys lived
there, and magnates of the church and of the
realm, we may believe came there to eat and
drink and shoot the wild fowl so abundant in
the marshes,
Perhaps the boy William did not come over
from Chesterfield every Sunday morning
merely to hear Clyfton preach, for here in
Scrooby was q sweet girl by the name Of AL
ice, whom William loved to look at, and who.
in after years, when Dorethea May wife of
far off burial ground at New Plymouth, went
across the stormy Atlantic to be his loving
wife. William was poor lad with mo pros.
poets before him, it is said, while Alice was
high-born, but there was true stuff about the
boy. He had won renown in Holland and
now was Governor of New Plymouth. Be-
sides, Alice was widow and he widower,
aud SO the old love revived, and for his sake
she was ready to leave the home of her child
hood forever.
Such men and women and children were
those of Scrooby, Bawterry and Auster6eld
When persecution was hot against them
when they could no longer meet in the old
mansion house when it was q crime to pray
aloud the prayer Of the heart instead of the
formula described by the bishop, when they
were hurried 70 prisons, despoied of their
goods, they would not yield their conviction
of what was right and true in the sight of
God. Resisting not the officers, they resolved
to leave their dear old homes and find free
dom of worship in a foreign land. Strange
that bigotry should not let them depart But
so it was that when they attempted to quietly |
leave the country they we're prevented. Find |
ing that they could not openly depart they |
resolved to leave by stealth. Let the imagi- |
nation go back TO those days-to the land
scape as it then appeared-the humble Gotta
ges, the reedy marshes, the sea fowl wheel |
lug in mid air, the small patches OF cultivated |
land-all else fens and forests; see the irony
hearted men and women bidding their friends
farewell, stealing away at night
lest their unsympathizing neigh
bors should inform the officers of
what was going on; then the weary tramp
over the muddy roads to the sea-to find
themselves betrayed by the faithess Dutch /
skipper, and instead of refuge on shipbosrd, |
persecution most herce-driven to prison,
robbed of their goods, husbands separated |
from wives, mothers from their children
That is the historical picture. Where in the
worlds history shall we find its counte part Z I
They walked by faith, not by sight. God led
them. Their eight was not in vain. They |
of all men have accomplished most for ind- |
vidua liberty. They fought to the death. |
Bunker Hill and Gettysburg were standpoints
in the same struggle and the contest Is mott
yet ended. In the progress of years the strife |
has been transferred from the fens of Lin |
colnshire to the Congress of the United States |
perhaps evenyet to be fought out on bloody
fields.
1t will be DEPRESSION, but let me turn from
these historical scenes for moment to the |
future of the United States, not as viewed |
personally, but as looked upon by our friends |
In England. For we have friends here--the |
liberal minded men-who look upon us as |
fighting their battles. They rejoice that Con.
gress has stood firm on the great questions of
the day The tories and the tory press are
with the President The Spectator, one Of
the ablest conducted journals this side OF the
water, which, through the war, was our firm
friend, has q thoughtful article on the United |
States -apprehensve that we are upon the |
verge Of another bloody conflict. find here |
apprehensions Of such an issue, not common |
to the people of the United States. The
Times is also apprehensive that the Ameri.
can question is not altogether peacesbly set
tied, especially if the forthcoming elections
'sall give much increase to the Democratic
marty n Congress If the President brings
snch an issue before the American people
they will meet it manfully. The great battle
for individual liberty was begun here In this
hamlet of Scrooby, and the descendants of
the Pilgrims, having gone so far through the
bloody sweat Of four years, by Gods help
will fight it out to final, irreversible victory.
A. Ward In London.