The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1906-12-14

count of their religious tenets, they
brooked no breach in those frnda-
mental laws that formed the basis of
their theological system. The laws of
New England must be obeyed and JUS
tice, cruel, swift and certain, fell upon
the evll-doer. The genius of Haw-
thorne has painted in our minds this
picture of the Puritans. The green
clad mountains and the waving trees
are brought before us. We sigh for
poor Hester and pity the young minis
ter's struggles between manhood and
self, while the witch antics of Mistress
Hibbins recall wildly those dark days
of superstition at Salem.
Then has another master hand con-
jured up for us those scenes
In the old colony days in Plymouth, tho
land of the Pilgrims. !
We have followed the .courtship OF
Miles Standish and have heard the
message of love borne by John Alden
for another. The struggle of the fair
haired youth has been as, our own.
We have heard him plead the cause Of
his friend before the Puritan flower"
Priscilla, while his own heart was
breaking for the love he would not
tell. We have smelled the sweetness
of the Plymouth woods; we have
heard the brawling of the brook over
pebble and shallow at the ford. We
have seen the bloom of the May flow
ers and we have caught the sacred an.
them sung by the sweet-voiced maid
en-. Our hearts have gone out to John
Alden and we fain would have spoken
for him. Then we have laughed, too.
when amid her spinning
Archly the maiden smiled, and with eyes
overrunning with laughter,
Said, in tremulous voice: why don't
you speak for yourself, John?'':
Thus has the immortal poet led us
through the paths of love in that quiet
New England village. But it was not
always the songs of peace that he
sang for he tells us how Paul Revere
says to his friend:
If the British march
By land or sea from the town tonight
Hang lantern aloft on the belfry arch
OF the North church tower as signal
One If by land and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm
For the country folks to be up and to
, In like manner have the songs of
Whittier depicted those early days in
the land of the Pilgrim fathers. By
the magic of his pen he brings clearly
to our view the everyday life of that
sturdy race. We see the old homes
and the farms. In our fancy:
Still sits the scheolhouse by the road,
A ragged beEgar summing;
Around it still the su1nachs grow
And blackberry vines are running =
And then it is an easy step in our
reveries to join TX Marvel, that prince
of bachelors, in his reveries over the
wood fire in his quiet farmhouse in
New England. One almost can see
that broad bachelor bedstead now,
with the soft warm feathers upon it,
and hear the cracking of the oak and
hickory on the hearth, between the
whistling of the wind through the
broken panes of glass. Thus are we
led through sweet dream memories to
a better understanding and dearer
appreciation of that rugged stock
which has been the bone and sinew
of this great, strong; progressive
American people, and we teach with
pride our children and our children's
children the homage due to our sturdy
ancestors on this great national
Thanksgiving day.