Arizona republican. [volume] (Phoenix, Ariz.) 1890-1930, 1899-11-07

l Department. Arizona Republican,
they were men of balanced minds. with
a restraint in their speech bred of the
consciousness that their readers were
to be the great public in Britain. upon
whose good viii the prosperity of their
enterprise was largely dependent Ac-
cordingly the first letters from Ply
mouth were pervaded with the sobriety
of the colonist whose conscience had
sent him adrift from the land he loved.
William Bradford is the earliest of
these chroniclers, whose record of the
first twentyseven years of Plymouth
history became the quarry from which
subsequent compilers dug much ma
terial. The original manuscript long
lost and detained in England. was re-
ceived in 1897 from the bishop OF Lon
don by the state of Massachusetts at
the hands of the American ambassador
with almost as much reverent cere-
mony as if the author himself had re-
turned to Boston. Next to reading this
document, now $50 years old. is the
easier privilege of perusing the fair
new copy with facsimile illustration.
published in 1855 by the commonwealth
Of Massachusetts. Only a paragraph
or two can be cited here to illustrate
the equable temper and straightfor-
ward narration of the second colonial
governor and the plain English of
scholarly man who could speak or. like
Becker. be silent in five languages.
They certainly had not smothered the
clear Saxon and the strong idioms of
his mother tongue.
OIL
they 1.-THE English pilgrimsl removed to
Leyden, a fair ard beautiful city and
of sweet situation, but made more "a
nous by the university wherewith 1t is
adorned, in which of late had been so
many learned men. But wanting that
! traffic by sea which Amsterdam enjoys.
it was not beneficial for their outward
means of living and estates. But now
being here pitched they fell to such
trades and employments as they best
could balancing peace and their spirit
ual comfort above and other riches
whatsoever. And at length they came
to raise a competent and comfortable
! living, but with hard and continual
labor
! Later follows an account of the de-
| parture from Holland. of delays and re-
| verses in getting away from England
of tempestuous voyage and finally of
| the arrival at Cape Cod.
/ And for the reason that it was WIN
! ter and they that know the winters Of
! that country know them to be sharp
and violent and subject to cruel and
/ fierce storms, dangerous to travel to
known places. much more to search an
unknown coast
Besides, what could they see but a
h1deous and desolate wilderness, full
Of wild beasts and wild men? And
what multitudes there might be of
them they knew not. = If they looked
behind them there was the mighty
ocean which they had passed and was
now as main bar or gulf to separate
them from all the civil parts of the
world"
! To use the authors words. "Sundry
other things 1 pass over as being tedi-
Gus and not pertinent" Others there
/ are full of the interest which belong to
the history that is written as fast as
it is made. portraying with graphic
particularly the going out and the
coming in of people
The departure of the Mayfiower on
the return voyage; the arrival of the
Fortune; the treaty with Massasoit;
the trouble with Lyford and Oldome,
the castaway crew which brought both
profit and disturbance; the dishonesty
of agents and factors: the capture of
Sir Christopher Gardener; the arrival
of Roger Williams: the settlement on
( the Connecticut and trouble on the
Kennebec; the meddlesOme French: d
hurricane on the coast; the fight with
the Pequots and finally the breaking
out OF sundry notorious sins and the
/ punishment according to Mosaic law
such incidents and events are faithfully
and impartially set down in a charit-
able temper and with as true a sense
OF pfopOrtionate importance as Il chron-
icler of a little neighborhood can be
expected to have. Most remarkable for
that time is an unusual freedom from
I imputing the disasters of enemies to
the Judgment of heaven, and not too
much assuming that the settlers at
Plymouth We're the chosen people OF the
new dispensation. In short, Bradford
represents the hard. common sense
I which the first colonists brought with
them, and his plain annals. year after
year. are the unbiased record of hum
bic but sturdy people. conscious of Il
high mission which they girded them
selves TO fulfill
Edward Winslow was the associate of
! Bradford, keeping what may be called
daybOok as compared with Brad
ford's ponderous yearbook. This jour
nal begins with the departure from
England Sept. 6, 1920 summarizing the
two months voyage in a single line,
and taking W the continuous record on
the day they sighted the land. Nov. 9.
For forty days there is the account of
attempts to find a suitable place in
which to settle, the little shaIlop hover
ing and fitting about like a distrustful
bird. On board the Mayiower there
were signs of faction and along shore
of Indians. So they made the famous
compact and signed it. and the same
day ''set ashore fifteen or sixteen men
IL..ll ..-l...l