The daily Gate City and constitution-Democrat. (Keokuk, Iowa) 1916-1922, 1920-08-12

1companonless; it is even conceivable that he
might turn yearning thought pitward for more
convincing associates and associations.
/ THE VERY HUMAN PILGRIM FATHERS.
AS the tercentenary of the landing at Ply
mouth of the historic argosy which meant so
much for the world draws near, the character
and aims of the Pilgrims will be held up before
us from various angles of view until we shall be
able to appraise more truly what they were and
lstood for and did Some of US have come to
lidealize them out Of human semblance and to
think of them as other-woorldly to degree un-
/ known today But there was great deal OF
human nature, as know it, in them after all;
! and their virtues are so loudly chorused and
/ generally conceded that it is no disparagement
of them to point out that they came over here to
do what they wanted to- and one Of their ardent
desires was to make others do as they did, In
which they were quite successful for a consider
liable time One of their earliest industries was
the manufacture of wooden cages stocks and
whipping posts for colonists of individualistic
.proclivities. They set about this as soon as
they seemed assured Of enough to eat and as the
artisan who fashioned their first stocks over
Icharged them for his labor, they put him in to
mediate upon his greed.
Having few books no movies and little be-
Isides sermonzing to occupy their minds when
mot at work, they set about watching one an
iother with extraordinary patience, and every
ipeek-hole in the settlement was used for spying
ION one another for peccadillos, delinquencies
land trespasses there being the intensest rivalry
ito see who could convict another Of a venial or
moral sin. It is Of interest, however, at this
particular juncture to note that the Pilgrim
fathers and mothers would not for moment
tnor,o al Low
rated water as a satisfactory beverage but began
brewing and wine making soon possible
and licensed their taverns with great discretion,
locating them conveniently near to the meeting
houses that worshippers might repair there
Ito between services for liquid refreshments and
the warmth of the fire.
Having so little else to do, the Pilgrims mar
Iried early, a custom which was continued by
their descendants and prevailed until the mid
idle Of the nineteenth century in remote rural
communities. Families Of from ten to fifteen
children we're the rule John Alden and his
wife, Priscilla, were the happy parents of eleven.
Governor William Phipps was one of twenty
Isix children. The Rev. John Sherman, who was
twice married, gave twenty-six hostages to for
tune, and Benjamin Franklin, born nearly cen
tury later 06-was the seventeenth of nine
teen children.
We shall have endless opportunities III the
next few months Of considering the remarkable
characteristics of the Pilgrims They were
strong, brave souls and so were their descend
ants three centuries later who went out into the
wilderness of the west with OK carts and axes
to build cabins and clear the primeval forests
for farms. How appalling such task would
seem today. Yet it will be profitable to ap
proach the subject Invested of the preconcep-
ton that the Pilgrim fathers were flawless.
For they were as full Of human nature as an
egg is of meat, wholly intraotable and uncon-
scionably stubborn In fact it is no unjust dis
para cement of the Pilgrim fathers to admit that
they were 'set'' to such degree that habitual
association with the best of them would be ex-
ceedingly wearing for their descendants of to-
day
How far may landlord go in using unortho
dox methods to dispossess tenants whom he no
longer desires? A school teacher In New York
City seems justified in complaining when the
rackrenter, having failed to shift her by cutting
telephone wires and holding up milk deliveries,
took to making flashligbt pictures of her in her
early morning working clothes and dsheveled
icoiffure.