Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-09-18
THE PILGRIM FATHERS
Tercentenary Of Landing at
Plymouth Inspires T,oo In
teresting Books

The Booth anniversary of the LANDING
Of the Pilgrim Fathers on Plymouth
Rock has already had its initiation oi
celebration and commemoration. The
Mayhower passengers first set foot on
the soil of the New World on Monday
December 81. but already various cx
ercises have been held. especially (aud
Queerly enough does the whirligig OF
time manage its changes) In England
whence they fed to seek religious and
In sense political freedom. while the
President has appointed an American
commission to pay due honor to them
and by proclamation has called on
Americans to commemorate the land
ing.
A very considerable legend has grown
up about the Pilgrims composed Of
some truths. many fallacies and nu
merous unauthenticated \statements.
Enough contemporary doc,iments are
extnnt to dspcl some of the illusions
concerning them. and Mary Caroline
Crawford has very cleverly and inter
cstingly disentangled the erroneous from
the true. both concerning their habits
and customs and their principles and
ideals. She calls her book ~"In the
Davs Of the Pilgrim Fathers" and her
skill III TfStdT'H HtE DVNtE w
graphic presentation give IL both
breadth and bottom. She has recreatod
very definite and belicvablc back
ground for her immediate narrative, and
has .based her conclusions on the gen
une foundations.
Thus we have very informing chap.
tcrs. mcaty despite their skctchy char,
acter. Of the rise Of the "Brownists,
S,eNa .,roptaItr n
Cambridge University, Of life in Eng
land of their day. and Of the transi
tion Of the original Pilgrims who land
cd at Plymouth from Puritan antece-
dents.
Miss Crawford points >out that the
men who landed Mt Plymouth never
thought Of themselves or spoke Of them
selves at Pilgrims" As applied to the
by Albert Matthews. authority on early
American history, the word ''Pilgrim''
first appeared in 1908 and ''Pilgrim
Fathers in 1900. Oddly enough. 1t was
Thomas Paine who. In an account
printed in the Columbian Sentinel OF
the 177th anniversary OF the landing at
Plymouth Rock. first bestowed this term
on the early settlers-Thomas Paine.
whose name has long been anathema to
devout sons and daughters Of the Pill
grim Fathers.
Miss Crawford also makes clear that
~ thcv did not take the name Pilgrim
neither did they call themselves Puri-
tans. THAT term they not only did
not use. but emphatically disavowed.
bradford. indeed. twice expresses his
dislike for the term on the ground that
II was one of reproach. like the term
Quaker They were not Purituns. but
Scparatists. The Puritan in England. At
nny rate, was n Nationalist. believing in
thc union of church and state. however
dcsirous he might be that the Church Of
England might be thoroughly reformed.
while the Pilgrim was Separatist not
only from the Anglican Prayer Book
and Queen Elizabeth Episcopacy, but
From all national churches.
Miss Crawford clarifies the confusion
that resides in the minds OF most Amer
leans as to the distinction and differ
encc between Pilgrims and Puritans.
| ,'For more than sixty years, that is.
from 1909 TO 1901, when the colony at
Plymouth and that centering about Sa'
lem Charlestown and Boston, were
merged under one constitution. what
wc now call Massachusetts consisted Of
two distinct colonies. two ccnters Of life
and influence which. though separated
geographically by only forty miles, in
every other respect far apart
On the evidence Of Miss Crawford's
chapters the Plymouth settlers were a
milder. more humane and more human
lin many specifications lot Of mon than
tho cold and austrrc ncighbors Of Mas
socbusctts bav, who whipped the Quak-
ors and Bartists out Of their confines
at n carttail and did many other things
That more enlightened and, it may
he, softer minded generation deems