The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1870-02-18


sewing-stand and carved foOt-stoO
{ which gave to the unfinished sitting
1 room of this cabin its air Of taste ant
: elegance; il was the gentle and re
fined atmosphere which surrOundeS
!, her-the impress of her own pure anC
: wOmanly delight in all that was grace
: full, beautiful, and fitting. Elizabetl
: Tillie, coming often hither for refug
{ from her own noisy and utilitaTiaI
: home, more than once asked, no
e without a sigh:
e "What is il, dear Mistress Carver
( that makes this house so differen
from the rest? Certain it is that MI
, mother and toll more than enOugl
| to bring our own home into order, anC
] we too have some little furniture from
over sea, but our place ii is forever il
a hurley, or else so cold and forma
and fort iding. What Is the secret
j mistress 81
nTruly / know not, except that
} John Carver dwells here, and moi
[ there" the wife would sometimes re
r ply; but Elizabeth only shook hel
head, until at last one day John How
I land, waiting until Katherine had lef1
the room, said to the despOndent girl:
s.DO not be cast down, Elizabeth
! because you cannot be like the Gov
ernOr's dame, or make your home like
. that which takes its hue from her. Dc
; the flowers drOopand die because they
are not the moon, who shines OveI
all, and whom all may love and al
mire, even though they never may
, come aneaF her, or even initiate her?i
"And you hold the Governors wife
! even thus above all other women ?'i
. ask Elizabeth, sharply.
"Even as the papists hold their
, saints" replied the young man,
!. gravely. ga being to be loved, ven
Grated, followed humbly and awfully
"a light set above the path of sinful
man even as a lamp unto his feet and
a guiding beacon to his weary eyes" ;"
'It is well that Elder Brewster hears
you not, young man." said Elizabeth,
dryly. "He would surely deal with
you somewhat straightly for giving
that alteration to a fellow-creasure
i which is only fifty placed above"
'I did think, Elizabeth, that you,
too, loved Mistress Carver heartily"
replied Rowland, little severely.
"And so do. Who dares say / do
not? But-but-that is another mat
ter. Good-even to you, John How
land" E5 '-
And as Elizabeth quickly left the
house, her face flushed, her eyes brim-
ming with tears, the young man
looked after her in atsonishment,
muttering:
f'Truly the ways of women pass a
mans understanding. How have 1
angered her by praising our lady and
mistress?"
But now came the pestilence, which
in three terrible months carried off
half of the little band of Pilgrims,
leaving barely fifty alive when it had
passed away. Day after day, when
Carver and his two assistants return
ed from laboring with or in the sery-
ice of the sick, they had new story
of disease or death to relate, and dame
Katherine, her sweet eyes Overbrim-
ming with tears, would hasten from
her own household duties to such Off
ces at the bedside of her neighbors as
she could with her slender strength
perform, until she herself was strick-
en- down; and Carver, returning home
at night, found her and Desire Minter
stretched upon her bed groaning with
pain, while in the next room Roger
Wilder and the little Jasper lay dead,
! the boy William and the maid-servant
being in almost as bad case in the loft
| above.
fHere is work enough for us at
home, john" said the Governor, sad
ly. "And if we could but have wO-
mans help" 81
"John Tillie and mis- wife died yes
terday, and Edward, his brother, and
his wife are dead to-day, and Henrie
Sampson and Humility Cooper are
better, so that Elizabeth Tillie has
naught to do at home but mourn, and
might come hither, if Mistress Carver
wills it," suggested John Rowland,
his hand upon the door-latch.
"Go and ask her to come, JOHN"
replied the Governor, his wistful gaze
fixed upon the flushed face of his
darling.
And Elizabeth, wiping the tears of
orphanhood from her eyes, came at
John Howland's bidding; and they
two nursed not only Katherine and
the others, but the Governor himself,
who shortly after fell sick, more of
WEAKNESS and over effort than of the
disease, which at last left only seven
persons able to perform the offices for
all the sick and dying and dead about
them
But with the sharp spring winds
came a change. The pestilence pass
ed, and its victims crawled out into
the pale sunshine, and, finding some
uncertain strength returning to their
gaunt frames, applied it to the great
task, still scarce begun, of building a
home in this wilderness for them
selves and their children.
Among these laborers was Carver,
who, still feeble from long illness and
anxious attendance upon his wife,
who was now in measure restored
to health, daily led forth the laborers,
under the direction of Squanto, an
Indian, who alone surviving the pest
Hence which had some years before
desolated this region, still fingered
about his birthplace, and became
very serviceable TO its new inhabit-
ants. Squanto it was who taught his
pale-faced friends how and where to
sow their scanty crop of corn, where
to catch fish, how to net the abund-
ant shoals of herring with which to
dress the poor and exhausted soil, and
MANY other savage arts, known and
practiced by his fathers upon this very
spot for centuries before the Pilgrims,
or even Columbus, saw the shores of
the New World.
Sduanto, too, it was VINO brought
his adopted chief, Massasoit, to make
treaty with the white men, and Ia
- ~, x,-or,,od Tbor, Of hocfiIifiac
meditated against them by the Mar
ragansetts, and other hostile tribes
and factions, proving himself from
first to last their firm and faithful
friend. SquantO, too, it was who,
opening the door of the Governors
cabin while the family were at break
fast, stepped lightly inside, and said,
in the broken English he had rapidly
acquired:
"Good morning, master. Want
plant corn again to-day"
ffYes, SquantO, yes. We must be
up and dOing-must labor while it is
yet day, for the night cometh-"
And not finishing his sentence, the
Governor stood still in the middle of
the floor, fastening a strange look up
on his wife, who felt it, and, rising,
came toward him, inquiring very ten
derly:
"John, must you work so hard
again to-day? You are not yet strong
from that terrible illness, and you
overwrought yesterday"
"Dear heart, be not alarmed. 1t is
my place to set good example to my
brothers, and the Lord will uphold his
servants. Come, John, Squanto is al
ready gone"
But John fingered until he could
say to Katherine, unobserved by her
husband:
'I will stay by his side, dame, and
Tighten his burdens if may, and
though he look something pale and
meagre, he has the strength and spirit
of two yet in him."
t'I thank you, John, and / trust him
to YOU for so much as he will allow
you to do, but it is this very spirit
that leads him on enterprises even
beyond his strength"
"I will do my best, DAME" repeated
John, mournfully, and hastened TO
follow his master to the field; while
Elizabeth Tillie, watching the pri-
vate conference, bit her lip, turned
q