Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1870-06-08
THE PILGRIM FATHERS
GOV. EDWARD WINSLOW.
BY JAMES PARTON.

"
a we are struck with admiration at the
) bOldness and wisdom of their busines:
! operations. If Edward WinslOw was
, the leader and chief manager of theiI
! enterprise, he was well seconded by
Others of the colony. Governor Wins
! low was not member of the cOngre-
, CATION in England, but while making
the tour of the Continent he visited
Leyden, in Holland, where he became
acquainted with their pastor, Mr.. Rob-
inson, and others of the little band of
Puritan exiles. He afterwards re-
moved to Leyden, married a lady of
? the congregation, and emigrated with
them to America. He belonged to a
family OF wealth and distinction in
England, and it often happened in
latest times, when the pilgrims were
; threatened with the hostility of the
Government, that his influence with
members of Parliament averted the
eyiL. When he emigrated, he brought
with him, besides his wife and an
adopted child, two men-servants.
In order to understand how well the
pilgrims managed their affairs, it is
necessary to know something of that
part of the coast of Massachusetts
where their lot was cast.
L suppose many people besides my
self after walking about old Plymouth,
Massachusetts, have thought what a
pity it was the Pilgrim Fathers had
not sailed few miles further north,
and discovered the fine, cOmmOdious
and beautiful harbor of Boston. Not
that Plymouth and the waters about
1t are not most pleasant and inviting.
If Mrs. Hemans had ever seen that
coast, she would not have described it
as "stern and rOek-bound.n There is
not a rock anywhere about Plymouth
Harbor, unless it be a few small boul-
ders scattered at long intervals along
the beach. The very rock upon which
the Pilgrims are supposed first to have
set foot, which is now covered by a
granite monument, is a bOulder-''an
emigrant like selves"-brought
to that shore by floating ice. The
HarbOr, however is shallow, and be-
comes shallower every year, and the
soil is so sandy that if the Indians had
not taught them to plant a good fat
| fish in every hill of corn, they would
have gone hungry longer than they
did.
They were not ill-pleased with their
new home, and they may well be ex-
eused for thinking that Providence
had prepared it specially for them. l
never saw so curious a harbor. 1t does
not look like the work of nature, but
seems as if it had been constructed by
an engineer in pursuance of an Act of
Congress. The harbOr is formed by
( a natural breakwater-a long, narrow
beach, eighty yards wide, and three
miles long, running almost parallel
with the shore, about half mile from
| it. This thin strip of beach, within
| the memory of living men, was dense
| ly covered with trees, the roots of
which protected it; but these have
been cut down, and the ocean is max
ing inroads in consequence. As you
stand upon FOrefathers' Rock, when
an easterly wind has been blowing,
you can hear the waves laundering
and roaring on the other side of the
/ beach, like ten thousand furious ami
mails, eager to leap over the barrier
and rush ravenous upon the town.
The noise is the more impressive from
the fact that the ocean is hidden from
view by the long line of beach. AS
stood there, during the gale of last
September, could not but think how
often the Pilgrims must have listened
to the same sounds, and felt as they
listened, that Providence, ages before,
had drawn that line of sandy barrier
across the bay on purpose 20 protect
His own.
Nevertheless it must have been
hard to row a mile and a half to the
deep sOundings where the May Flow
er lay at anchor near the end of this
natural breakwater; and the soil of
Plymouth is so little productive, that |
to this day large portion of it is not |
cultivated, and furnishes only a crop |
of firewood every thirty years. The |
township is dotted all over with large /
ponds. When there are great many |
islands in lake, or ponds ina country. |
people usually say that there is one I
for every day of the year. Accord /
ingly, when the reader gives himself !
the great pleasure of visiting the era
die of New England, he may expect /
to be informed that there are three I
hundred and sixty-fve ponds in Ply
mouth; and he will be safe in believ-
ing one-third of the story. Under
the sand in all this region, there is a
stratum of clay. which prevents the
water from sinking into the earth,
and in this way these numberless
ponds are formed. On the highest
ground of Plymouth; when the at
mosphere is very clear. the entire out
line of Cape Coda wave of sand
sixty miles out into the sea
can be discerned; and the same move
ment of the waters which produced
Nr.1 r,-ffr \ oil Of
Plymouth with sand.
There they were then, in the spring
of 1921, little colony of fifty persons;
some of them in debt for their pas
sage, and the colony owing a eOnsid-
erable sum to the prOprietOrs of the
soil in London ; for even this sand,
thinly covered with soil and grass,
was not their own. Let US see how
Winslow led them to swift !
and great prosperity.
The sole capital to begin with, in |
The spring of 1921, besides their i'm '
Dlements of husbandry, was few
bushels of Indian corn, obtained from
IN Indian depository on Cape Cod,
several months before. This had been I
carefully saved to plant in the spring; j
Dut it would have availed them little
{ they had not from the first adopted
he policy of strict honesty toward r
he Indians. Winslow and others Z
lad taken this corn with the inten Y
ion of paying for it as soon as they r
hOuld discover the owner, and this :
they carried out. Early in n
he spring they were visited by the +
indian chiefs Samoset, SquantO and a
'Iassasoit, to whom they gave liberal n
lifts; and they made with MassasOit, h
he principal chief of the country, a \
reaty of friendship, which was so 5
kept on the part Of the pill n
rims, that they eAjOyed unbroken n
'eaee with the Indians for twenty +
our years. During all that period, /
here was a continual interchange of
oOd offices between the two races
{ the Indians taught the white men
D put fish in every hill of corn, the G
7hites supplied the Indians with u
Oes, which enabled them to raise ;
vice as much corn as they had for :
lerly done. q
When the corn was planted and V
rowing well, Edward Winslow and $
ne Of his friends, guided by friend E,
7 Indian, made Z journey, forty miles y
Ito the wilderness, to pay visit to =
IassasOit, with view to confirm him ~
| his peaceful intentions. The chief !; I
,eeived them well, and fed them -, -
pom corn bread and broiled shad roes i'
delicious fare in the woods to hung