The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1920-12-14

WILLIAM BRADFoRD. who lived from
1890 TO 1861 was from the beginning
from Scrooby To Plymouth Rock, one
of the Pilgrim Fathers and the his
tOriGn of the whole movement. He
never once mentions the Maytl0wer
ny name. He calls it ''the ship which
brought us over" or THE first ship"
Of the five, the Ann. Little James,
Fortune and Handmade from the
Church in Leyden. which furnished
both the true Pilgrims and their four
or five magnificent, great minded lead
ers. On these men, who saw the en-
terprise through TO success, BRADFORD
lays the proper emphasis. He has
little direct praise of the miscellaneous
company on the Mayflower, which was
foisted in large part on the original
Leyden company that began the his
toric voyage In the Speedwell from
Delfshaven.
When one to-day makes a special
study Of the resources of the various
initial ships that came to the Eastern,
the Middle and the Southern colonies
during the seventeenth century one
is the more impressed with both the
grace and the grit of these Pilgrim
Fathers. Disappointed and impover-
ished by long delays and expenses in
the English ports of Southampton and
Dartmouth and twice at Plymouth,
they reached America as the poorest
Of the poor. Yet the records show
that the later corners IN the four PHI
grim ships were even less equipped
with food, clothes or tools than the
pioneers in the Speedwell Further
poor ship, the Mayflower, the ocean
voyage was nine weeks long and their
stock of food low. Then far out of
his reckoning. the Mayflower captain
had to dump his passengers not by
October ! at the mouth of the Hud-
son River. as they had expected. but
in dreary winter weather. and on what
was for food getting the meanest part
Of New England.
All the more did the Pilgrim vlr-
tues Of grit and grace shine out. Led
in all the real enterprises by men
from the original Leyden company
they persevered in exploration until
they found spot where it was pos
sible to found home.
Yet even vigilance, circumsp ection
and courage could not fill stomach>
while children cried for food. BY mid
winter half the party were dead or
dying-fourteen out of the eighteen
wives and mothers-and the men were
busy during the time of frozen ground
rs purses or buriers. In such crisis
how could the scanty larders be re-
plenished?
Without the Indians help how was
life TO be preserved or success possible
1t is true that the first knowledge of
the presence of the aborigines was q
war whoop, followed by a flight OF
arrows. But why? Perhaps in that
age OF slave hunting and man steal.
ing n hundred ships had already
visited the New England coast and
Indian homes had suffered from the
white dealers in human flesh. How
could The red man discriminate when
he had no means Of knowing?
Yet far better was the presence Of
the savage than the absence Of al
humanity in Il bowling wilderness only
too perllously rich in wild beasts
When the soy'ia atmosphere had
cleared, how beautiful the friendly
advance Of SQCANTo. The food pro
wider. and of MAssAsolT, the really
noble savage Is the latter not well
worthy to stand in that hall of fame
which the genius of Kenmore CooPEH
created In deathless fiction? Without
the Indians maize the starvation OF
the colonists would have marked o
flnality The seed they had brought
with them. such rs wheat and peas
"came not TO good" as BRADFORD tells
us. IL was the culture of corn. as
taught by the aborigines. as we'll Is
their method of fertilizing the sterile
sand by material already at hand and
abundant that made supply of food
possible. II was the Indians tobacco
maple sugar. snowshoes and wan
pun that led these pioneers into eco.
monte prosperity.
II is well, then. that while we cele.
bratc the Pilgrims and commend them
a. examples we should do Justice als1
10 the first families Of America.
Perhaps also in this view we may
learn parable from the fact re.
vralcd by our botanists and fruit
growers that we gain not only q
colossal national asset in crops from
the soil in the form of grain but also
from The trees and bushes in mau.
nor gud In 20 tOial bulk that sunrise