Nooks and Corners of the New England Coast Part 33

Fuller among us, and rejoice much that I am by him satisfied touching your judgments of the outward form of G.o.d's worship; it is (as far as I can yet gather) no other than is warranted by the evidence of truth, and the same which I have professed and maintained ever since the Lord in his mercy revealed himself unto me, being far differing from the common reports that hath been spread of you touching that particular."[191]

I have thought it worth mentioning that the church at Salem was the first completely organized Congregational church in America. It was gathered August 6th, 1629, when Rev. Mr. Higginson was ordained teacher, and Mr. Skelton pastor.[192] Governor Bradford and others deputed from the church at Plymouth, coming into the a.s.sembly in the hour of the solemnity, gave them the right hand of fellowship. Robinson never having come over, Plymouth was without a pastor for some years.

Under Charles I. the Pilgrims fared little better than in the preceding reign; but they had seated themselves firmly by the period of the Civil War. On the day before his arrival at Shrewsbury, the king caused the military orders to be read at the head of each regiment. Then, mounting his horse, and placing himself in the midst, where all might hear, he made a speech to his soldiers, in which this pa.s.sage occurs:

"Gentlemen, you have heard these orders read; it is your part, in your severall places, to observe them exactly.... I can not suspect your Courage and Resolution; your Conscience and your Loyalty hath brought you hither to fight for your Religion, your King, and the Laws of the Land; you shall fight with no Enemies, but Traitours, most of them Brownists, Anabaptists, and Atheists, such who desire to destroy both Church and State, and who have already condemned you to ruin for being Loyall to vs."

Here, then, were a handful of men repudiated by their king, cast off by their commercial partners, a prey to the consequences of civil war at home, and living by sufferance in the midst of a fierce and warlike people, compelled at last to work out their own political destiny. What wonder that with them self-preservation stood first, last, and always!

All other settlements in New England were made with the hope of gain alone, few, if any, colonists meaning to make a permanent home in its wilds. We may not withhold the respect due to these Pilgrims, who were essentially a unit, embodying the germ of civil, political, and religious liberty. They beheld from the beach the vanishing sail of the _Mayflower_ as men who had accepted what fate may bring to them. They did not mean to go back.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

FOOTNOTES:

[171] In possession of New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston. It is by Corne, a marine painter of some repute in his day.

[172] Other portraits are of Dr. James Thacher, by Frothingham, and of John Alden, great-grandson of John, of the _Mayflower_, who died at the great age of one hundred and two years. He was of Middleborough. Dr.

Thacher, a surgeon of the old Continental army, deserves more s.p.a.ce than I am able to give him. He has embodied a great deal of Revolutionary history, in a very interesting way, in his "Military Journal," having been present at the princ.i.p.al battles.

[173] "Pilgrim Memorial."

[174] John Newcomen.

[175] Jones's River.

[176] The _Mayflower_ was only one hundred and eighty tons burden.

[177] Mourt.

[178] I do not find any exact authority for this.

[179] "This is to certify that I took the schooner _Harmony_, Nathaniel Carver, master, belonging to Plymouth, but, on account of his good services, have given him up his vessel again.

"HORATIO NELSON.

"Dated on board H.M. ship _Albemarle_, 17th August, 1782."

[180] Governor Bradford's "History of Plymouth."

[181] Green's Harbor, perhaps.

[182] Followed as literally as possible, to preserve the style.

[183] Named by De Monts, and supposed to be Brant Point.

[184] "The south part of New England, as it is planted this yeare, 1634."

[185] "Collections of the Ma.s.sachusetts Historical Society."

[186] See Popham's settlement on the Kennebec; the Episcopal service was doubtless the first religious exercise in New England.

[187] Captain John Smith, speaking of the town in 1624, says of this fortress, there was "within a high mount a fort, with a watch-tower, well built of stone, lome, and wood, their ordnance well mounted."

[188] During some excavations made on the hill, remains of the watch-tower of brick came to light, indicating its position to have been in the vicinity of the Judson monument. There also existed on the hill, until about 1860, a powder-house of antique fashion, built in 1770. It had an oval slab of slate imbedded in the wall, with a Latin inscription; and there were also engraved upon it a powder-horn, cartridge, and a cannon.--"Pilgrim Memorial."

[189] Robert Brown, the founder of the sect, after thirty-two imprisonments, eventually conformed. Henry Penay, Henry Barrow, and other Brownists, were cruelly executed for alleged sedition, May 29th, 1593. Elizabeth's celebrated Act of 1593 visited a refusal to make a declaration of conformity with the Church of England with banishment and forfeiture of citizenship; death if the offender returned into the realm.

[190] Sir Matthew Hale used to say, "Those of the Separation were good men, but they had narrow souls, or they would not break the peace of the Church about such inconsiderable matters as the points of difference were." In this country the Independents took the name of Congregationalists. They held, among other things, that one church may advise or reprove another, but had no power to excommunicate. The churches outside of Plymouth did, however, practice excommunication.

[191] Governor Bradford's Letter-book.

[192] The teacher explained doctrines; the pastor enforced them by suitable exhortations.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE PILGRIMS' FIRST ENCOUNTER.]

CHAPTER XVIII.

PLYMOUTH, CLARK'S ISLAND, AND DUXBURY.

"Ay, call it holy ground, The soil where first they trod!

They have left unstain'd what there they found-- Freedom to worship G.o.d!"--MRS. HEMANS.

Let us now take a walk in Leyden Street. Until 1802 the princ.i.p.al street of the Pilgrims was without a name; it was then proposed to give it the one it now so appropriately bears. In my descent of the hill into the town square, I pa.s.sed under the shade of some magnificent elms just putting forth their spring buds. Some of those natural enemies of trees were talking of cutting down the n.o.blest of them all, that has stood for nearly a hundred years, and long shaded Governor Bradford's house.[193]

Consulting again our old guide, De Rasieres, I find he tells us, "New Plymouth lies on the slope of a hill stretching east, toward the sea-coast, with a broad street about a cannon-shot of eight hundred [yards] long leading down the hill; with a street crossing in the middle northward to the rivulet and southward to the land. The houses are constructed of hewn planks, with gardens, also inclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks; so that their houses and court-yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the sides with hewn planks; so that their houses and court-yards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates. In the centre, on the cross-street, stands the governor's house, before which is a square inclosure, upon which four pateros [steenstucken] are mounted, so as to flank along the streets." We are standing, then, in the ancient place of arms of the Pilgrims.

[Ill.u.s.tration: BUILDING ON THE SITE OF BRADFORD'S MANSION.]

Nearest to us, on the north side of the square, is the site of Governor Bradford's house, with the Church of the Pilgrimage just beyond. The dwelling of the governor was long ago removed to the north part of the town, and this, its successor, does not fulfill our want, as the veritable habitation of the much-honored magistrate would do. Nearly opposite is the old county court-house, erected in 1749. Up at the head of this inclosed s.p.a.ce, which long custom miscalls a square, is the First Church, its pinnacles appearing dimly through the interweaving branches of tall elms. There is a coolness as well as a repose about the spot that makes us loiter.

After the tragic death of his first wife, Bradford bethought him of Mrs.

Southworth, whom he had known and wooed in old England as Alice Carpenter. She was now a widow. He renewed his suit, and she hearkened to him. But as the governor could not leave his magistracy, the lady, ceding her woman's rights, took ship, and came to Plymouth in August, 1623. In a fortnight they were married.

Bradford tells how the pa.s.sengers of the ship _Ann_, of whom Mistress Southworth was one, were affected by what they saw when they first set foot in Plymouth. They were met by a band of haggard men and women, meanly appareled, and in some cases little better than half-naked. The best dish they could set before their friends was a lobster or piece of fish, without other drink than a cup of water. Some of the newly arrived fell weeping; others wished themselves in England again, while even the joy of meeting friends from whom they had long been separated could not dispel the sadness of others in beholding their miserable condition. The governor has not told us of the coming of Alice Southworth, but says simply there were "some very useful persons" on board the ship _Ann_.

Here the governor entertained Pere Gabriel Dreuillettes, in 1650 with a fish dinner, because, says the good old Jesuit, it was a Friday. The governor was equal to the courtesy; yet, I fancy, fish dinners were often eaten in Plymouth.

Bradford's second wife survived him thirteen years. With her came his brother-in-law, George Morton, her sister, Bridget Fuller,[194] and two daughters of Elder Brewster. She lived thirty years with her second husband, and, from the tribute of Nathaniel Morton,[195] must have been a woman of an exemplary and beautiful character. Her sister, Mary Carpenter, lived to be ninety years old. She is referred to in the church records of Plymonth as "a G.o.dly old maid, never married."

Apropos of the governor's wedding, I extract this notice of the first marriage in the colony from his history: "May 12th, 1621, was ye first marriage in this place, which, according to ye laudable custome of ye Low Countries, was thought most requisite to be performed by the magistrate, as being a civill thing, upon which many questions aboute inheritance doe depende," etc.