The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1910-02-21
GREAT LOVE
STORIES
of HISTORY
MILES STANDISH AND
PRISCILLA MULLENS
tC"pyriSat. BY the Author.)

NC ucIO VI tuiS love STORY ala NOT
marry the heroine. That was not his
fault. He did his best to win her He
was Miles Standish. military captain
of the little band of Pilgrims" who
crossed from England to Massachus-
etts In the Maynower in 1920. The
girl was Priscilla Mullens. orphaned
daughter Of two of those same Pill.
grims.
Many Englishmen in the early years
of the seventeenth century were dis
gusted at the way their country's af-
fairs were mismanaged and at the re-
strictions placed upon religious wor
ship. These people wanted fair laws
and the right to worship God in their
own way Failing to find justice at
home, they sailed to America to start
4 colony there. They landed at Ply
mouth. Mass. and founded a settle
ment. They were harsh, simple. God
fearing folk. these Pilgrim Fathers,
mostly of the farmer and laborer class,
used to hard work and privations. For
their new home was bleak and inhos-
pitable, infested by Indians. and de-
void of comforts. Yet here the Pill
grims established the birthplace of
American liberty. Men who could
thrive under such hardships as theirs
were not the sort to submit forever to
a foreign nations tyranny.
Miles Standish, short, strong.
thickset soldier. was chosen military
captain of the colony. He was a mid
dle-aged man. and had Joined the ex-
petition with his wife. Rose, who died
soon after landing in Amerinca.
Standish's closest friend among the
Pilgrims was young John Alden. a
cooper by trade. who had been en-
gagged on repairs upon the Mayflower
in England, and who had become in
terested in the colony scheme to the
point of enrolling himself in it. Per.
A wooino BY haps the fact that
s Priscilla Mullens
was to sail on the
same ship had something to do with
his resolution. Alden was youngest of
the men who boarded the Mayflower,
being only 81 He was destined to
outlive all his fellow-pioneers. He is
also said to have been the first Of the
band to set foot on American soil at
Plymouth Rock.
The first year or SO Of life in the
new land was too full of excitement.
toll and danger to permit Standish to
brood much over his wife's death. AS
military leader he was forced to guard
the colony against it's Indian foes.
Once when news came that a savage
tribe planned to destroy the whole
settlement by massacre and fire Stand
ish, with eight followers. went to the
tribes village, killed its two treacher-
Gus chiefs and put to rout its bravest
warriors. After that there was peace
for a time and Standish had a chance
to turn his mind to other matters.
He was desperately lonely. and pro-
ceeded to fall in love with pretty Pris-
ella Mullens. But this hero. who
had fearlessly conquered hostile In
dams, lacked the courage to propose.
He was the idol of the colony. and had
every reason to think that any of its
maidens would be glad to become his
wife. Yet he dared not ask Priscilla.
At length he hit upon a scheme for
letting her know of his love. He
summoned his friend. young John Al
ella and WOO her for him. It was an
age OF weddings by proxy" Why not
send younger. more eloquent man
to do his counting for him? The idea
seemed excellent.
John Alden, according to the story.
believed Priscilla guessed nothing of
his own unspoken love for her. But
Priscilla, like most other girls under
the same circumstances, knew It per
fectly we'll. Hence she was amazed
when Alden called
Loyalty. ,,r.a h;s o, s,,;t
but to tell her how brave and good a
man Standish was. Her establishment
reached its climax when the young
man wound up by formally asking her
to marry Standish. Suddenly, by
feminine intuition, she understood the
battle between love and loyalty that
was waging in Alden's brain. She
calmly interrupted his plea for the
captain by asking:
Why don't you speak for yourself
john"
And Standish's chances of winning
Priscilla were forever ended then and
there. When the captain heard how
the mission had failed and that Pris
ella was betrothed to Alden. he was
furiously angry and accused John OF
base treachery toward himself. But
later, when his wrath died down, he
asked forgiveness and became once
more Alden's closest friend
The marriage of John and Priscilla
soon followed. Alden later became a
respected magistrate of the colony
and lived until 1857. longer than any
other man who crossed in the May
flower. Standish died 80 years earlier
having consoled himself by marrying
his first wife's younger sister, Bar
bara, soon after the failure of his
courtship of Priscilla.