Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-01-18
The Historical iconocIast On Rampage.

I, these practical. prosaic times Of
,hc 21th century worn. day world th..
iconoclas, is in his glory. There Is no
sanctuary where things may be held
sacred from his cruel attacks. With
his bludgeon aloft ne wanders free and
far and smashes the idols that his IA
Their erected and worshipped. His latest
and most notable expeditions have been
into historical fields and many Of the
prettiest romances and most charming
bits Of sentiment that have relieved
the pages Of Clio Of their dull monot-
ony are mercilessiy maltreated.
The recent attack on the tale familiar
to every schoolboy OF how General Put
nam escaped the British by riding
down the stone steps Of cliff side has
caused a writer in the New York Mail
and Express to go deeper into history
and TO unearth what ne seems pleased
TO tell us are the mistakes that have
been made in recording the history OF
the world. He says the recent celebra-
ton Of the King Alfred millenary calls
TO mind the fact that Alfred the Great
was not great and that he did not
found oxford University nor establish
the system Of trial by jury. and we are
told that these pretty yarns" sprang
up hundreds OF years after his death
In Literature We have a story of how
the blind poet, Milton, dictated Para
disc Lost" to his two daughters, but
this historian tells US that his daugh-
tiers were in reality very ignorant and
could neither read nor write OF Leon
idas and his brave 300 at Their
mopy,ae, who made such a heroic stand
AGAINST great army, the story Is char
acterized as nonsense. and it is told
that Leonidas had no less than 1900
men. and that any fool could have made
the stand. OF the Colossus of Rhodes,
which was accounted one Of the seven
wonders; Of the world. the historian
says the structure was but 1915 feet nigh
standing astride the entrance to the
harbor so that ships might sail beneath.
The story of William Tell and the apple
L. torn TO atoms by the writer. and
then he jumps upon Robert Fulton and
his first steamboat" with both feet, and
proves that on April Is. 1913. Don Bias
co de Garay, in the presence OF En-
r,eror Charles ". launched and pro-
PEELED boat by steam power, many,
many generations before Fulton was
born. Columbus and the egg story. the
story of the army Of Xerxes draininga
river with its thirst and scores Of other
pretty romances are torn TO pieces To
the satisfaction at least of this partic-
ular iconoclast. StiH, all these stories
will live long centuries after he is dust
and his exposure" forgotten.
As IL the New York writer had not
raised sufficient degree OF chaos
among the archives of time. now comes
a Boston doubter who writes long ar
ticle for the Transcript in which he
declares that there Is no proof that the
Mayfiower bore the Pilgrims to Ameri-
can shores In 1920. Isn't that enough to
lar the bones in every Puritan grave:
This particular doubling Thomas
doesn't deny that the Pilgrims came,
or that there was a ship Mayflower.
which brought emigrants to New Eng
land In the 18th century.-he leaves
that for somebody else to do later. lie
simply asserts that Governor Bradford
in his manuscript does not mention the
name Of the ship in which the first
party OF Plymouth colonists made their
voyage. and that no other of the chron-
iclers of those early years mentioned
her name. He says that Nathaniel
Morton. writing in 1869 half century
after the event. first mentions the
Mayfiower as being the ship in ques-
ton. To be sure. Morton heard the
the first voyage and founded the orig
inal settlement. and he ought to De
right In such a matter. yet it seems
strange that neither Bradford no,
Winslow nor the other early writers
mentioned the name of the ship thai
bore them from Holland to Massachu-
sets bay. Bradford mentions the May.
flower as bringing over colonists in 1929
but let's fall no word to indicate thai
! this was the ship in which he and hi:
company made their voyage.
The iconoclastic writer in the Tran
script therefore raises these interestin:
questions: Why are Bradford ane
Winslow silent concerning the name o
the vessel in which the colonist'
sailed? II tho Mayfiower Of 1929 AM
1880 was the ship which brought owe
the original colonists. would It no
have been natural for Bradford to hav
stated that fact in his mention Of tina
vessel? Might not Morton. writing Il
xcao .o-,,., hoys fnrrnttAu the name q