Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-11-23

the Pilgrims rOundly, and said that he
hoped to cast half of them overheard be-
fore the journeys end BY the irony of
fate his own dead body was the first to
be thrown from the ship. They had to
pass through the roaring breakers, tide
rips. winds and dangerous rocks and
shoals along the coasts around Cape
Cod and Nantucket and 1t was not until
December Is. 1920, that they finally
anchored In Plymouth bay, which they
had chosen for the site of the future
colony
A further cause for apparent thankful
ness was that they found lands cleared
for planting at this point, for the Indians
who had previously cultivated them had.
with the exception Of one man named
Squanto or Tisquantum. been carried off
by plague or mortal disease which is
supposed to have been measles or small
pox Another Indian named Samoset,
who had lived some time with the Eng
lishmen. brought Squanto to the Plymouth
settlement, and as return for their
kindness and tender care he was able to
act as their guide and interpreter and in
the spring showed them how to plant and
SOW the corn.
In spite OF these later blessings the
trials of the Pilgrims were many in the
first days and years Of the settlement
Four of their ships passengers had died
on the ship as she lay in the harbor at
the end of Cape Cod. Another death oc.
Cured soon after they reached Plymouth
After this deaths came SO fast that they
had to cease work In order to nurse the
sick and dying who were sheltered on
the ship and in the rude huts hastily built
on the land.
At times two or three died In a day,
and at the worst period only six or seven
out OF the party of over a hundred orig
inal emigrants were well enough to care
for the rest. To conceal their losses from
the Indians they even leveled the graves
of their sacred dead. In April, 1921, when
the Mayflower prepared to return home,
the eighteen married women who safely
reached Cape Cod with the ship only
four were alive when the next summer
came.
Another disadvantage was that, though
the woods were full of game and the
seas full OF fish. tho Pilgr1ms were not
skilled In hunting and fishing. and the
hooks that they had brought with them
were too large to catch shore fish, so
when their crops failed they could only
dig CLAIMS from the mud and tread out
cells with their feet.
But the year of 1871 brought many
blessings to the heroic colonists. New
later ships, and Massasoit, the war chief
of the Wampanoags. who lived some dis
lance to the south from Plymouth, came
on visit to the new colony. His face
was painted a sad red. like murrey. with
his head SO carefully oiled that 1t looked
greasy. His followers had their faces
painted black, red, yellow or white, with
crosses and curious devices on them. The
Pilgrims gave him some aqua vitae. Of
which he drank SO heavily that it made
him sweat all the while after They
then agreed that neither the red men
nor the white men should injure the
other. and If any offense should be COM
mitted the offender should be punished.
The agreement was kept by the Plymouth
colony and the Indians until long after
Massasoit, Bradford and Winslow were
in their graves. Winslow won Massasoit' s
gratitude by bringing him back to life
when he was In a state of coma.
This treaty of peace with the warlike