The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-06-13
LETTER FROM BOSTON.
a visit To Plymouth Rsck-DescrfDti0n OIL tine
Town Of Plymouth and Adjacent Country
The Pf'xr m Fathers, Their Customs
Their Families, and Their Horse


Boston is preparing to celebrate. by
magnificent and memorable festival day, tn
18th of June, just 100 years from that I'M
mortal day when, at Bunker's Hill, the
yankees, skilled in martial rule,
First put the British troops to school"
It will be the grandest day in the history o
New Boston. All the world will be here
Companies and whole regiments of troops
from distant parts of the United States hav.
already signi6ed their intention to be present
We propose to open our houses, as we have
our hearts, and take in all who come. All
public and private buildings will be filled
and the winter of our discomfort having
long since passed away, GLORIOUS summer
will shine into and warm the great neart OF o,
Boston, and "peace on earth, and good WILL
{, man" will reign supreme
The little uupleasantness that occurred one :
hundred wears ago With our British kindred
has melted away. We have forgotten the AZ
fair of 1872 and the more recent brotherly mis-
understanding, and think of entertaining, at
the Parker House, June II, by particular In.
yitation, the Prince of Wales, his mamma, all
the royal babies, the British Parliament, and as
many Of the Lords, temporal and spiritual, OF
the realm as accept our invitation In Time. AS
for our Canadian neighbors, who have loved US
through thick and thin ever since our fathers
won their country for them from the French,
they will occupy our beautiful Common,
dwelling in tents, and taking their meals at
the Revere House.
For as, that our mind might be in proper
frame for the full comprehension and enjoy
ment of this first Centennial occa ,ion, and
since it ia somewhat doubtful if we are here,
in the flesh, to enjoy the second, we have
been reading up our Concord, and Lexington,
and tea parties. and town meetings, and Paul
e. ID nd ho Ia fnvn
in the old North Church tower and Faneuil
Hall, until We feel truly venerable, and fancy
we live and move among the men of that for
mer generation. Not content with this, we
have gone far back beyond the Revolution,
and the Old French War, and the colonial
times, and the Brunswicks, and Cromwells,
and Stuarts of England, to the landing at
Plymouth in 1920, and have actually in onr
enthusiasm Just visited the famous Rock on
which Gov. Carver and Elder Brewster, and
Nyles Standish and their little company FIRST
stepped from the boat OF the Mayfower.
It is Of this visit that we propose to speak
to the readers of the New Orleans BULLETIN.
What Mecca is to the pious MahOmetan,
what Jerusalem is to the devout Christian and
the faithful Jew, Plymouth is to the native
American. and particularly 10 the New Eng
lander 1t is the one sacred place to which
we turn with admiration, veneration, wonder,
and certain ave. What the small company
of May fl over adventures suffered and accom-
plished, with the wonderful grandeur OF the
results throws into insignifcance all other
enterprises of the kind in the history OF the
world. The story of Eneas 'multum jdcta.us,
on the Mediterranean Sea, who, after many
wanderngs and some didos, landed his Tro-
ian adventurers on the shores of Italy, and
founded the Eternal City,"
sGsnus unde Latinum. Albanique parties.
a!que al 90 moeaia Roma" is pleasing poetry,
immortal fiction, but feeble indeed compared
with the amazing facts of the Mayfower. The
tossings on the stormy Atlantic; the arrival
that bleak December in Massachusetts, Bay;
the long anchorage off Cape Cod; the patient
pany for desirable place for landing and set
clement; the fuding at length of Plymouth
harbor; the Sunday sojourn on Clark's Island;
the first religious exercises that day; the Mon
days stepping out on the immortal Rock; the
meeting with the Indian Chief Samoset; the
laying out of two streets for the new town.
the building of the first Lighthouses; the awful
sufferings of that first and second winter; the
final ration Of five grains Of corn each day
for each man; the death of half the company
the first year; the burial on the hill just be-
hind the Rock; the planting from over the
level graves for fear of Dissertation by the
Indians; the arrival in their EXTREMIST need
of ship from England, laden with hope, and
food, and friends the building of the first
meeting. house; the somber Sunday march to
meeting every man with Bible and musket,
his fond and faithful wife and children by
his side. his heart firm fixed on God, his eye
quick glancing to the hills beyond for lurking
Indians, and his powder dry.
What epic poet shall arise hereafter in our
Republic to sing, in worthy strains. these
facts in the history of the Pilgrim Fathers
as Plymouthp Facts greater more wonder
full, and sweeter withal than the pictures of
any bard who has ever written. What is the
story of Paradise Lost-lost by one poor,
weak, disobedient, ungrateful man, seduced
by q woman, herself seduced by serpent,
compared with the true story of nation
born, continent gained-gained by the un-
conquerable will, the heroic valor, the exalted
piety the sublime endurance. the lofty faith
In God, of that mere handful of Pilgrims,
who signed that immortal contract in the
cabin Of the May flower?
But to our visit. two hours ride, by the
Old Colony train from Boston, took us TO Ply
mouth. The forty miles of intervening coun-
try is chiefly hard, rocky, barren SOIL terrible
in winter. and unattractive always. Yet this
portion of Eastern Massachusetts has raised
many generations of brave men and noble
women, who have gone forth and given
6IToOQtQ anu CuhIdC6I W tAc Wuolc udlOn
Every few minutes we pass thriving town or
beautiful village, each house, however small,
nicely painted and speaking of peace, plenty,
independence and comfort, if not of elegance
and wealth.
Plymouth has now about 6000 inhabitants,
and has modernized away most of its antiqui
ties. 1t has water brought four miles by
pipes, and gas and these through all its
streets and houses. The famous Rock has
been picked off by SO many generations of
worshipers that little is left, and that little
is SO covered and protected by Q noble granite
monument that one can see only about four
square feet of it. and this it is quite impossi-
BILE for the devout to steal
The old meeting houses, so orthodox and
venerable, have given place to modern
ciurches-Unitarian, Universalist, Episcopa
Catholic, Baptist and Presbyterian. Alas
how unlike the ancient days when the Faith
ers had one church, one faith, one baptism,