The Greatest Works of Charles Carleton Coffin. Charles Carleton Coffin
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did not Thomas Morton bring his gun to his shoulder and put a bullet through Miles Standish? Why did not the drunken crew riddle him in an instant? Because they were cowards, and because they were confronted by law and order. Through all ages people had called the king “His Majesty.” but now the people themselves were Majesty, exercising authority, and able to deal summarily with Thomas Morton or anybody else.
Did Thomas Morton fire? Oh no; he opened the door, became as meek as a lamb, was marched down to Plymouth, and packed off to England.
Captain Standish had laid his beautiful young wife, Rose, down to sleep on Burial Hill, but why should he live alone? Why not make that sweet girl, Priscilla Mullens, Mrs. Standish? There were wrinkles on his brow; the crows’-feet were gathering in the corners of his eyes; he had seen hard service, been in many a battle: his hair was turning gray. Priscilla was young and fair; perhaps she might say “No.” He thought that it would be better to get bashful John Alden, who was about Priscilla’s age, to open the matter to her.
“Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?” said Priscilla.
So it came about that Priscilla, instead of going over to the hill on the other side of the bay. to be mistress of Captain Standish’s house, became Mrs. John Alden. William Bradford — governor, not a minister but a magistrate — bade them join hands, pronounced them husband and wife; and we may believe that they could not have been any happier if a bishop had conducted the ceremony.
The settlers of Plymouth had been knocked about so much that few of them had had any time to acquire knowledge. All could read. All who signed the agreement in the cabin of the Mayflower wrote their names in full. William Bradford, William Brewster, and Edward Winslow could speak several languages.
“We have no common school for want of a fit person, or means to maintain one, though we desire now to begin,” wrote William Bradford in 1624.
They were poor; were bound by a hard bargain to the London merchants. Half their number had died. They had their houses to build, their corn to plant; everything to do, with none to lend a helping hand. Instead of being helped, twice they had to supply Mr. Weston’s ship and his starving men with provisions, and to take care of the sick left on their hands. How could they support a school? The mothers taught the children what they could; but children worked. There were no drones in the hive.
As the years went on, some of the settlers crossed the bay and settled Duxbury. Miles Standish built his house there. Edward Winslow went farther north. The settlements together were known as the “Old Colony.” They were kind to the Indians, treating them fairly when buying their beaver-skins, and the Indians treated them kindly in return.
These were the rules which the Pilgrims hung up in their houses to guide them in the affairs of life:
“Profane no Divine ordinance. Touch no State matters. Urge no healths. Pick no quarrels. Encourage no vice. Repeat no grievances. Reveal no secrets. Maintain no ill opinions. Make no comparisons. Keep no bad company. Make no long meals. Lay no wagers.”
In what other age has there been such seed sowing? What will come of it? What sort of institutions — what civilization — what good to the world will spring up from such seed-corn? Time will show.
Chapter IX
Settlement of New Hampshire, New York, and Canada
Captain John Mason and Sir Fernando Gorges obtained a grant of land extending from the Kennebec River to the Merrimac, which they called Laconia. Captain Mason took the section between the Piscataqna and the Merriac, extending sixty miles inland, and named it New Hampshire. David Thompson, and Edward and William Hilton, came to make settlements and carry on the fishing business. Mr. Thompson built a house not far from the Piscataqua, and called the place Little Harbor. He laid off a tract of a thousand acres for Captain Mason, who intended to build a great manor-house. and live there like an English lord.
Edward and William Hilton went up the Piscataqna ten miles, and built their houses at Dover: they set their nets in the stream, caught shad and salmon, sailed down the river to a ledge of rocks called the Whale’s Back, made trips to the Isle of Shoals, or coasted along the sandy beaches to the Merrimac. They reared their houses in 1623, and were the first settlers in New Hampshire.
While the Hiltons were building their houses on the Piscataqua, a lumbering Dutch vessel was sailing from Amsterdam with a company of men, women, and children, who were looking for the last time upon a city that had given them refuge during days of bitter persecution. Who were they? Years before, when the Jesuits were burning thousands of heretics in the country along the Rhine, the fathers of these men and women left their homes, abandoned their vineyards along the Rhine and Moselle, and fled to Holland for refuge. They called themselves Walloons.
The merchants of Amsterdam, who were with Captain Block when he exhibited his map to John Barneveld, and who had been sending their ships to America, were incorporated as “the West India Company.” Their capital was $2,500,000. Their charter gave them all the land they could obtain in America, with power to build war-ships, appoint governors, raise armies, and take any steps they pleased to help on their trade. They were made a great and powerful corporation. Spain and Holland were at war, and the company sent out its armed ships to plunder the Spanish towns in the West Indies and South America. They captured so many ships laden with gold and silver, that in a short time their $2,500,000 became $6,000,000.
The company did not wish, however, to carry on war, but to purchase furs of the Indians. The beads, bits of looking-glass and tin, the bright-colored blankets and knives which the Indians wanted, cost but little, while the furs obtained for them were of great value.
The ship New Netherlands, commanded by Cornelius May, was fitted out, and thirty families of Walloons bade farewell to Holland. The ship entered Hudson River; eight families landed on Manhattan. Some of them went up the river, and built a new fort at Albany, which they named Fort Orange.
Peter Minuet was appointed Governor of New Netherlands. On a bright May morning he met the Indians for a trade. He wanted the island of Manhattan; while they wanted the buttons, beads, and trinkets which he displayed before their longing eyes. The bargain was made, and for twenty-four dollars he obtained the island of Manhattan.
Having purchased the island, he set Krym Frederick to building a battery, upon which were planted several cannon pointing down the harbor, with a palisade protecting the rear, naming it Fort Amsterdam. He built a stone house, thatched it with grass and rushes, in which the foods were stored. More vessels came with Walloons, and by midsummer Manhattan contained thirty houses.
It was an Old World and an old time idea that men must be governed by force — by the fear of punishment. The idea had not dawned upon rulers that men would obey laws because laws were good. The trouble was that the laws were not always good; that they were often made not for the people but in the interest of the rulers, who looked upon people as their subjects. Instead of ruling by just and equitable laws, rulers endeavored to force men to obedience. To this end Governor Minuet erected stocks and pillory in the square at Manhattan.
The grain which the Walloons sowed on the cleared patches of ground grew luxuriantly, and they reaped a grand harvest of wheat, rye, oats, barley, and beans.
The Walloons appointed two of their number as “comforters to the sick,” and who read the Bible and led their prayers on Sunday.
Peter Minuet lived in state, with three negro slaves to wait upon him. One day the negroes met an Indian in the woods with a lot of beaver-skins. A thought came to them: why not seize his skins? They had been stolen from Africa by the white men, and were in slavery. Might they not plunder the heathen Indian? They fell upon him, and in the melee the Indian was killed; but his nephew, a little boy, saw the clubs smash his uncle’s skull.
“I shall have my revenge!” he said to himself, as he fled through the woods.
The West India Company voted that any member who would send fifty adults to New