The Manchester journal. [volume] (Manchester, Vt.) 1861-current, 1920-12-23
THE PILGRIn ANNIyERsARY


the United States the anniversary il
being celebrated this week by the de-
scendants Of the most remarkable
body Of eolonists who ever came to
the new world
i II is common error Of those who
have not read history carefully. 20
confuse the Pilgrims OF Plymouth
with the Puritan colonies which were
later established at Salem and Boston
In fact there was a wide difference be-
tween the two colonies on the shores
Of Massachusetts,.
To Salem and Boston came the rigid
Puritans, The sternly righteous, un-
smiling, supporters Of their own views
who would brook no interference with
their own iron theories. These relig-
ious zealots Of Massachusetts Bay and
their followers have been a great
force in the world and anyone who
reads history must admit that the
rigid purity Of their life and doctrine
was needed in the world in their day
End generation.
But the Pilgrims. who landed three
hundred years ago today on Plymouth
Rock, were Of a superior type For
eleven years they had lived in exile in
Holland They had learned something
Of religious tolerance and civil liberty
and these lessons they brought to the
shores of New England. They never
hanged witch or dubbed a Quaker
They lived in peace and friendship
with the Indians and permitted those
who did not agree with them in relig-
ious belief TO settle on lands owned by
Plymouth in the town Of Eastman.
From Governor William Bradford and
Elder Robinson down TO Perigrine
White, the boy baby, born at Privince-
town, ere the Mayfower reached Ply
mouth, the Pilgrim Fathers and Moth
ers were the most tolerant and broad
minded of the colonial groups which
laid the foundations of America.
There is so much that may be said
in honor of the pilgrim forefathers
and the colony which they founded
that brief newspaper article can in
no sense do them justice. The famous
pact" signed in the dingy cabin of
the Mayaower may rightly be said TO
be the precursor Of the Declaration Of
and the Constitution of
the United States. Plymouth Rock, in
more senses than one, is the founda-
ton Of American freedom.
The doctrine declared by Elder Rob
inson, pastor Of the Mayflower flock,
for fsurteas yoaEs "a &=asegf snd
Holland, @TOg lave q 3ks Is tIBSbie
yourself with any mans conscience, so
long as nothing is done to cause priv
ate harm or public scandal" is the
greatest doctrine Of religious liberty
which is the brightest jewel in the
crown Of the American Republic.
II was the Pilgrims who founded the
free public school. 1t was the Pilgrims
who discovered that the rights Of the
individual and the rights of property
must go hand in hand and that neither
can continue without the other. II
was the Pilgrims who discovered that
government acquiesced
in by the people 1.-THE consent Of the
is the best form Of govern
ment that the earth has yet produced.
II was the Pilgrims, who, TO defend .
heir colony, dared to burden them
selves with public debt greater than c
he total value Of all their property. !,
No country in the recent war has \
ihouldered greater proportionate OBJ Y
litigation than did these rugged fore {
athers of New England. And they I
,aid the debt in full. We Of this day :,
md generation, in view Of their ex- d
nipple, ought to be ashamed TO com b
lain Of the public burdens we are n
allied upon to bear. :,
The world, and particularly the y
United States, has learned more Of the =
ssentials Of self government, Of civil 81
nd religious liberty, and Of the cor p
ect relation Of the state TO the indi-
idual and the individual TO the state, =;
rom that colonial experiment at Ply Ii
Mouth than from all other sources Ct
ombined.
Sons and daughters Of New Eng n
and, wherever they may roam, and 3
atriots Of every blood and breed from
ow TO the writing on the writing on
he last page in the book Of Time,
hould honor the Pilgrim Fathers, not g
My in name and fame, but, chiefly, in q
eeding the lessons they learned and Z
ave transmitted to US and 70 the D
Banner. :,