Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1886-07-04
Plymouth and tho Pilgrims.

The Pilgrims have made so mucn
noise in the world and so powerfully
affected the continent that our tourists
were surprised to find they had landed
in such a quiet place. and that the
spirit they have left behind them is one
Of such tranquility. The village has a
charm all its own. The houses are old
fashioned and square, with colonial
doors and porches, irregularly aligned
on the main street, which is arched by
ancient and stately elms. In the spa.
cious door-yards the lindens have had
room and time to expand, and in the
beds OF bloom the flowers, if not the
very ones that our grandmothers
planted, are the sorts that they loved.
Showing that the town has grown in
sympathy with human needs and &C.
centricities, and is not the work Of a
surveyor, the streets are irregular,
forming picturesque angles and open
spaces. Nothing could be imagined in
greater contrast to western town, and
a good part of the satisfaction our
tourists experienced was in the absence
Of anything western or "Queen Anne "
in the architecture.
In the Pilgrim Hall-as stone structure
with an incongruous wooden-pillared
front-they came into the very presence
Of the early worthless, saw their por-
traits on the walls, sat in their chairs,
admired the solidity Of their shoes, and
imbubed themselves with the spirit Of
the relics OF their heroic, uncomfsrta-
BILE lives. In the town there was no.
thing to disturb the serenity Of mind
acquired by this communion. The
Puritan interdict Of unseemly excite
ment still prevailed, and the streets
were silent; the artist, who could
compare it with the placidity
of Holland towns, declared that he
never walked in a village so silent (;
there was no loud talking and even
the children played without noise, like
little Pilgrims. God bless such chill
dren, and increase their number! 1t
might have been the approach Of Sun
dsy--if Sunday is still regarded in
eastern Massachusetts-that caused
this hush, for it was now towards sun
set on Saturday, and the inhabitants
were washing the windows and the
fronts Of the houses with the hose,
showing how cleanliness is next to
silence. ..
The famous rock Of the pilgrims-the
foundation stone Of that spirit Of reli-
gious tolerance which was Graded in
intolerance and bigotry-the reputed
stone on which those men who forsook
their homes because they could not
worship God as they wished first land
eds the central object of interest,
and prime in historical import
ance. The character of the sur
roundiDgs is totally changed from
their former condition. Down among
the old wharves, some coal schoOnefs,
and shabby buildings, on one of which
is a sign informing the reckless that
they can obtain there clam-cho WIDER
and ice-cream, is the ugly, heavy
granite canopy erected over the
Rock" No reverent person can see
this rock for the first time without a
thrill of excitement. 1t has the date
of 1920 cut in it, and it is a
good deal cracked and patched
up, as if it had been much landed
~, I'm. tba,a ~ &c apd thara IL will re-
main a witness to great historic event.
unless SOMEBODY takes a notion to cart
it off up town again. 1t is said to rest
on another rock, Of which it formed 8
part before its unfortunate journey,
and that lower rock, as everybody
knows, rests upon the immutable
principle of self-goyernment. The
stone lies too far from the water to
enable anybody to land on it now,
and it is protected from vandalism by
an iron grating. The sentiment Of the
hour was disturbed by the advent OF
the members of a baseball nine, who
wondered why the Pilgrims did not
land on the wharf, and, while thrusting
their feet through the grating in a COM
mendable desire to touch the sacred
rock, expressed a doubt whether the
feet Of the Pilgrims were small enough
to slip through the grating and land on
the stone. 1t seems that there is no.
thing safe from the irreverence Of Anne
rican youth.