St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1897-01-01
OUR PILdRIr1 MOTHERS.
Response to Toast Given by Mrs. W.P.
Smith before the Passumpslc Congregational
Club at ST. Johnsbury, Dec. n.

upon the mind Of the person cndeavorn,
to obtain a picture of the lives of on
Pilgrim Mothers than the fact that the,
did not live in womans age.
Had there been Federation Of Pilgrim
Mothers, with garrulous recording
secretary and printed annual reporr
we should then have known from theil
own lips what they did - or perhap.
more exactly what they thought woult
be good to do. The truth is, however
that am not able to discover exactly
how many women left Deftshaven ano
one hundred and eight days later landed
on the bleak shore OF Massachusetts
There were one hundred and one souls
in the little company. The list as found
in Gov. Bradford's journal reads in this
fashion:
Mr.. John Carver 8,
William Bradford 2.
Mr.. William Brewster 8,
Capt. Miles Standish 2,
Mr.. Edward Winslow 5.
and so on to the number Of nineteen fam
lilies We may infer there were nineteen
wives. There could not have been grown
daughters, for all the fathers except
Gov. Carver and Elder Brewster were
men under thirty-two years Of age. These
nineteen wives, with two or three maid
ems, including Priscilla Mullen made up
the little company of women.
OF how these women looked upon this
venture, how much of the enthusiasm of
the movement is due to them, we have not
a word. has often been said that women
are not idealsts, that a woman will not
risk her life for an idea. If this be true,
we may conclude that our Pilgrim Moth
ers had but little share in propagating
the scheme to sail far across the seas
for the purpose of worshiping God ac-
cording to the dictates of their own con.
sciences. Whether it be true or not that
woman will not lay down her life for an
idea, it has ever been true that she is will.
ing to sacrifice herself for those she loves.
She will follow her husband or her sons
to the ends OF the earth without a MUIR
muir, for the sake of minstering to them.
Who shall declare this selfeffacement a
less noble impulse than that to pure
worship?
| said the Mayhower brought over
nineteen wives. 1t is a grim picture of
misery and heartache, OF exposure, hun
ger and want which presents itself to us
when we learn that the Mayhower, upon
its return to England the following April,
left in Plymouth eleven widows.
But Notwithstanding all that mortal
ity, with the sad privations and hard
ships the survivors had TO endure, not
one man or woman went back to Eng
land in the Mayfower.
Mr.. Choate has beautifully put into the
lips of the venerated Brewster the lam
guage of the Pilgrim souls. Said he:
This spot, this line of shore, this whole
land grows dearer daily, even if only for
the precious dust we have committed to
its bosom. would sleep here when my
own hour comes, rather than elsewhere
with those who have shared with us in
our exceeding labors, and whose burdens
are now Embossed forever. | would be
near them in the last dav and have part
in their resurrection" We often say that
God does not give dying grace, except to
the dying, 1t is equally true that he
does not give pioneer grace except to the
pioneer.
When we consider these brave souls,
we think they must have been made of
different clay from us, and feel that we
perhaps are presuming in coming here
tonight and claiming relationship to
them.
What likeness can there be between the
heroic, grave, psalm-singing, spinning
loving, housekeeping women of Ply
mouth and the Women with capital
W. who occupy so much space in New
England today?
| claim that the germ Of the woman of
today was in the character ofthe woman
of 1920 and that it is only the changed
environment that has turned out differ
ent product.
The women of Plymouth looked well
after the ways of their household they
were thrifty; they had faculty." they
possessed unbounded energy; they were
jealous in good works. These have ever
been and are today characteristics OF
New England born women. To be sure,
we do not spin and weave; the spindles
and looms of the great mills have made
that unnecessary We do not spend our
time in teaching our children to read and
cipher the public schools do that. We
do not gather them i'll groups and COM
pei them to learn the Bible and the cate
chisn; the Sunday School furnishes that
drill. We do not develop the muscles of
our boys by setting them at wood.saw-
ing, or of our girls by putting them be-
fore the wash.tub They go instead to
the Y. M. c. A. gymnasium and the ply
steal training class. We need not even
bake our own bread unless we choose TO