The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-10-06
THE MAYFL0WER
And the Landing of the Pilgrims.

And the Landing of the P1IgrImS.
The following is the first correct YER
sion of the poem by N. Albert Sher-
man Of Salt Lake that was awarded
the Eisteddfod prize for poetic excel
lence.
Autumn, sixteen hundred twenty, sailed
bark from Plymouth port,
lowered with hatred from the church
and the sneers and SCOTS Of court.
While, great social evolutions through
their wider orbits range,
Fettered man with narrow vision scarce
ly apprenends a change.
Oft to nations como unheeded crises of
nomentouS weight
Unheralded as silent footballs of ineXor-
able fate.
Ali That hour was thine. o.! Albion
when beneath the bending skies,
Cleared thy narbor, the staunch May
flower" bound for Western paradise.
Never such an expedition fitted out or
Never bolder heroes ventured on an I'M
known hostile shore.
Pales the wondrous voyage of Jason,
searching for the golden fleece;
And the exploits Of Achille or the deeds
Of Hercules.
Not the Genoese commander, vainly seek
ing midas strand;
Nor erratic Ponce dc Leon, by the lone
Floridian land
Fills such unique space in history; An: 1t
truly won the goal,
That fanatic band in quest OF liberty or
thought and soul.
But the solemn pilgrim knew not on the
ship beside him walked
Freedom spiritualized, he saw not as the
deck he grinIy stalhed.
With eyes bent OH helm and compass, the
faint SHADOW of her hand;
Under the Almighty guidance, deem1ng
his the sole command.
Little dreaming, his grand temple, raised
with prayer and tear and groan,
Should from inner cause De sndAeh liolh
turret to foundation stone.
Ere within its sanctuary the goddess
should q shrine accept ,.5ou,
At his biunderS and excuses Freedom
shrieked and angels wept.
Freighted thus. faced forth the May
PIoughing through the tracl<leSS ocean,
plodding painfully and Slow
From the glowing northern summer,
fierce with almost troplc heat,
Leaving far the English hedges, groves
and gardens cool and sweet;
Through the hazy days of autumn, till
the nights fell chill and drear,
Ger the mighty waste Of waters to the
closing OF tire year:
Changing Eugland's blooming meadows,
sunny wales and babbling rills. uo
For the forest strange and gloomy, whsre
abode a. thousand Ills.
Leaving friends ard kindred; and the
homesteads where their fathers dwelt,
Where they had in childhood gampolea'
and in sterner manhood kneIt.
Round whose hearthstones clustered
memories that should with eaCh pas
TilI sl aaI,ths offerings and treasures be as
naught, become more dear.
All! His anguish who shall fathorn' who
can comDrehend the shock
To the dauntless pilgrim when ne praVely
scaled the frowning rock
cyhristened Plymouth? What wild land
The nii homesick wanderer of the sunny
English harbor left behlnd
Or what could the stern fanatic CLEAN
from yon drear wilderness
That would recompense him for such
la Dor, poverty, ulSlIeSS'
conld the gypsy of the. common have
foretold what bolts of wrath
Fate malicious was preparing 10 peS1re"
his thorny path.
Had he dinly comprehended all the fu-
ture held in store ,,,,- e.o..,
For his dear ones, ne hdd sna o ora Il oiii
that Wild voyage for eNerfnofe'
Narrow. bigoted and headstrongi cruel,
swift TO use the rod; o4 o,e
Yet true as needle to the fnaghe'' SELL
appointed priest Of COO;
Glad. he welcomed sore discomfort, saw
a ge foe and fortunes froWn,
For his glowing faith saw waiting IN INC
skies d starry crown
"Rv their fruits shall We know them,"
said the Seer men call divine;
Judpe that colony of Plymouth by the
sure results of time.
Not the ashes of the martyr Wycliffe
From the wye TO the Severn, from the
Severn to the sea;
Carried seed Of holier promise than the
fateful ''NTayhower' bore.
But the fruitage lay enshrouded; what
the king and courtiers saw
Was the stubborn nOn-conformlst mating
England's church and law.
The Almighty who controllest by "a meth
Can as easily with peasants as with
princes build state.
God ignoring, in His wisdom, futile
scheme and petty creed,
Judges ever by the motive underlying
thought and deed.
He the eager zealot guided, to prepare
foundations vast,