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'Y^ILE«¥]Mn¥ISIESIIir¥« In Memory of
RUSSELL LORD
Yale 1910 S.
from the fund established in 1928
by his mother
MRS. JOHN BRACKETT LORD

OLD COLONY DAYS

OLD COLONY DAYS

BY
MAY ALDEN WARD
3ut!)ac o{
" LIFE OF DANTE," " LIFE OF PETRARCH," ETC.

BOSTON
ROBERTS BROTHERS
1896

Copyright, 1896,
By Roberts Brothers.

BEitibersttg Press:
John 'Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A.

CONTENTS.

PAGE
The Father of American History ... 9
The Early Autocrat of New England . 89
An Old-Time Magistrate  129
Some Delusions of Our Forefathers . . 187
A Group of Puritan Poets  235
INDEX  277

THE
FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY.

OLD COLONY DAYS.

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN
HISTORY.
"OROWNING has tried to show us that it
"^ is better to live poetry than to write
it, although he could do both. For different
reasons it is a grander thing to make history
than to be merely the recorders of it. But
when the makers of noble history are also its
writers, then is the world fortunate.
As Americans we can never be grateful
enough that in the little band of men who
first set foot on Plymouth Rock was one
who realized that they were making history,
one who felt that that rock was _to become
the corner-stone of a nation. He saw that
9

10 OLD COLONY DAYS.
from the moment when they first resolved
for freedom's sake " to tempt the dangers of
an unknown sea, to plant a home in an un
known wilderness," their lightest acts became
important and worthy of recording. To him
we owe the chart by which we follow this
heroic band step by step, day after day,
through the long privations, the terrible
sufferings, and the crushing sorrows which
attended the birth of New England.
Now that Forefathers' Day is celebrated
from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and a splen
did monument marks the scene of their mar
tyrdom; now that great paintings of the
embarkation and of the landing adorn not
only the walls of Pilgrim Hall at Plymouth,
but the Rotunda of the Capitol at Washing
ton, and the Peers' Corridor of the House of
Parliament, — we are apt to forget what very
unimportant events these were at the time
of their occurrence. We cannot realize how
little noise they made in the world, and how

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. II
easily all record of them might have been
lost. England took no note either of the
embarkation or of the landing; and the Peers
would have been mightily amused had it
been suggested to them that the departure of
that little band of stubborn " Separatists "
was an event of historical importance, worthy
to be perpetuated on the walls of the House
of Parliament. Painters, poets, and historians
would have been dependent on imagination
and tradition in portraying these scenes were
it not for the pen of William Bradford, to
whom belongs, unquestionably, the title of
"The Father of American History."
By this opinion no slight is intended to his
famous contemporaries. Their greatness lay
chiefly in other directions. Some touches, it
is true, were added to the history by Edward
Winslow ; but his sketches, rare treasures as
they are, narrate only detached incidents.
To Bradford alone belongs the credit of hav
ing written a connected history of the " Old

12 OLD COLONY DAYS.
Colony" during the first quarter century of
its existence, while it was still doubtful
whether it was to exist at all. He must be
placed first in that great triumvirate of Plym
outh men of whom it has been said that
Standish was the hand, Winslow the tongue,
and Bradford the guiding brain.
Volumes upon volumes have been written
since; but whoever would live again the life
of the Pilgrims and feel their very presence,
must go back to three old books, " Mourt's
Relation," "Bradford's Letter Book," and
" Bradford's History," written more than two
centuries and a half ago. Each of these
works had curious adventures of its own
before it reached us in its present permanent
form. The quaint little book called " Mourt's
Relation" contains Bradford's journal during
that first eventful winter on the bleak New
England shore. It contains also Winslow's
account of four expeditions to the Indian
tribes about them, and a sermon preached to

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 13
the Pilgrims by Robert Cushman during his
first visit to the colony. For the satisfaction
of those Englishmen who had risked their
money in the venture, these papers were sent
back to England in the second ship that
came over. In 1622 they were published
anonymously, without the knowledge of the
writers, in a small volume called " Mourt's
Relation." There was little interest in the
subject, and the book soon fell into oblivion,
from which it was rescued only during the
present century. Thanks to the Massachu
setts Historical Society, we have now a
second edition, which in type, spelling, and
punctuation is an exact reproduction of the
first. " Bradford's Letter Book " contained an
invaluable collection of letters to different
members of the colony from friends in Eng
land and from those left behind in Leyden,
together with the replies of the colonists and
copies of important documents. The Brad-

14 OLD COLONY DAYS.
ford family allowed it to be placed for safe
keeping in the tower of the Old South
Church in Boston, where the Rev. Mr.
Prince had collected a valuable library on
New England history. At the beginning of
the Revolution, when the British soldiers took
possession of the Old South Church, and
turned it into a riding school, many valuable
manuscripts were purloined from the library,
among them being the Letter Book. Twenty
years later Mr. James Clark, of Boston, dis
covered a remnant of it in a grocer's shop in
Nova Scotia. Three hundred and thirty-eight
pages had already been used for wrapping-
paper. Mr. Clark rescued the remainder,
and it was printed in the Collections of the
Massachusetts Historical Society.
Bradford's manuscript history was also
deposited in the library of the Old South,
and disappeared with the letters. It had
been cited and quoted by Morton, Prince,
Mather, and others ; but the work itself had

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 15
never been printed. From these extracts
historians realized the value of what they
had lost; but for more than seventy years
no trace of it could be found. In 1855 ^*''
Barry found in an English book a passage
which was ascribed to a manuscript history
of Plymouth, in the library of the Bishop of
London. He recognized the passage as' one
of those extracts from Bradford, and began
to hope that this manuscript was the long-lost
history. Careful examination proved beyond
a doubt that the man'uscript was Bradford's
history, written with his own hand. On one
ofthe blank leaves was this memorandum: —
" This book was rit by goefner William
Bradford, and gifen to his son, mager
William Bradford, and by him to his son
mager John Bradford, rit by me Samuel
Bradford, March 20, 1705." Another page
contained a note by Rev. Mr. Prince, ex
plaining how the book came into the Old
South library.

1 6 OLD COLONY DAYS.
The Bishop of London allowed a copy to
be made for the Massachusetts Historical
Society; and this, too, has been printed in
their Collections. The original manuscript,
however, still remains in the library of the
Bishop of London. It is an example of the
irony of fate that the palace once occupied
by Bancroft, whose cruelty drove the Pil
grims out of England, and later by Laud,
whose tyranny caused the settlement of
Massachusetts Bay, should become the re
pository of the only record of the persecu
tions, sufferings, and achievements of the
exiles. It has been suggested by a promi
nent Englishman that it would be a graceful
act on the part of Great Britain to restore to
the United States this precious manuscript,
— the very book of Genesis of the nation.
It is easy to see from the dates given above
that only the present generation has had the
privilege of hearing the story of the Pilgrims
from their own lips. Indeed, before the dis-

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY, f]
covery of " Bradford's History," we had not
even a complete list of the passengers of
the " Mayflower." Prince had copied from
Bradford the names of the men who signed
the compact, and had indicated by a figure
after each name the size of the man's family;
but the names of the women and children,
whose heroism was equal to if not greater
than that of the men, he had not thought it
worth while to preserve.
Although the character of Bradford is re
vealed in every page of his writings, he
modestly keeps his personality in the back
ground, speaking of himself only when neces
sary, and theji in an impersonal way. And
yet the history of Plymouth contains the
entire story of his life. While still a child, he
came under the influence of those who were
endeavoring to escape from the forms and
requirements of the English Church as it
was in that day, —the "bare and beggarly
ceremonies," as he calls them. His only

1 8 OLD COLONY DAYS.
relatives or guardians were two old uncles,
who laughed at his piety and scorned his
associates. The lad's chosen friend and companion
was William Brewster, a man thirty years
his senior. His influence on Bradford was
of the utmost importance, not only on ac
count of his piety, but because of his great
stores of wisdom and experience. Brewster
was a scholar; but he had seen much of
courts and cities, and had studied the world
as well as books, before he settled down
at Scrooby. In his earlier life he had been
for years the trusted secretary and friend of
Davison, the Secretary of State to Queen
Elizabeth. Davison treated him " rather as
a son than a servant." Brewster had been
with him at Court and in foreign lands, had
been entrusted with important commissions,
and had come into very close touch with
the mysteries of royalty; for it was Davi
son, his employer, who signed the death

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 1 9
warrant of Mary, Queen of Scots, and
lost his office thereby, through Elizabeth's
treachery. Later Brewster received the government
post which his father had held, and came
to live in the old maftor house at Scrooby,
under the roof which had sheltered Cardinal
Wolsey in his last days. Here he became
the " special stay and help " of the little flock
of Separatists who were under the ministry
of Pastor Clifton and the Rev. John Robin
son.' When persecution obliged them to
give up their place of worship, the congre
gation assembled regularly at the old manor
house, where Brewster, " with great love, en
tertained them when they came, making pro
vision for them to his great charge." Those
who speak of Bradford's lack of early advan
tages forget that the constant companionship
of a man like William Brewster was in itself
a liberal education.
The congregation to which Brewster and

20 OLD COLONY DA YS.
Bradford belonged were not long allowed to
assemble peaceably in the manor house. In
formers were plenty; and they were hunted
and persecuted on every side, says Bradford,
" so as their former afflictions were but as
flea-bitings in comparison of these which
now came upon them. For some were
taken and clapt up in prison, and others
had their houses besett and watcht night and
day, and hardly escaped their hands ; and ye
most were faine to flie and leave their howses
and habitations, and the means of their livele-
hood. Seeing themselves thus molested, and
that ther was no hope of their continuance
ther, by a joynte consente they resolved to
goe into ye Low-Countries, wher they heard
was freedome of Religion for all men.
" Being thus constrained to leave their
native soyle and countrie, their lands and
livings, and all their friends and familiar ac
quaintance, it was much, and thought mar
velous by many. But to go into a countrie

THE FATIIER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 21
they knew not (but by hearsay,) wher they
must learn a new language, and get their
livings they knew not how, it being a dear
place, and subject to ye misseries of warr, it
was by many thought an adventure almost
desperate, a case intolerable, and a misserie
worse then death. Especially seeing they
were not acquainted with trads nor trafiique,
(by which yt countrie doth subsiste) but had
only been used to a plaine countrie life, and
ye innocente trade of husbandry. But these
things did not dismay them (though they
did sometimes trouble them) for their desires
were sett on ye ways of God, and to injoye
his ordinances ; but they rested on his provi
dence, and knew whom they had beleeved."
Yet this was not all, continues Bradford ;
for though they could not stay, yet were
they not suffered to go. The ports and
havens were closed against them ; they were
obliged to steal away like criminals, to bribe
the mariners, and give " exterordinarie " rates

22 OLD COLONY DAYS.
for their passages, and were many times
betrayed and surprised and intercepted, and
" thereby put to great trouble and charge."
At one time, when they had chartered a ship
which was to meet them at Boston, forty
miles from Scrooby, the master of the ship
betrayed them. As soon as the victims were
on board, the officers appeared and hurried
them ashore. After robbing and maltreating
them, they threw them into prison. The
majority were released in a few weeks ; but
Bradford, Brewster, and five others " of ye
principall" were kept in prison for some
time. JBradford was at this time only eigh
teen years of age, but was, as we see, one
" of ye principall."
The next year another attempt was made.
This time they engaged a " Dutchman at
Hull " who had a ship of his own. A few of
the men were on board his boat, waiting to
receive the women and children and their
goods from the little bark which had brought

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 23
them, when a company of officers appeared.
The cowardly Dutch captain at once put to
sea, without waiting for the rest of his pas
sengers. Those strong men wept. They
begged to be put ashore that they might
protect their families and their possessions,
but in vain. They were carried out to' sea ;
and after a terrible storm, which took them
nearly a thousand miles out of their way,
they were landed in Holland. Here Bradford
was arrested as a fugitive from English justice
and put in prison, but was released when it
was found he was only a religious exile.
After many other disappointments and
mishaps "they all gatt over at length, some
at one time and some at another, and some
in one place and some in another, and mette
togeather againe according to their desires,
with no small rejoycing.
" Being now come into ye Low Countries,
they saw many goodly and fortified cities,
strongly walled and garded with troopes of

24 OLD COLONY DAYS.
armed men. Also they heard a strange and
uncouth language, and beheld ye differente
maners and custumes of ye people, with their
strange fashions and attires; all so farre dif
fering from yt of their plaine countrie vil-~
lages (wherin they were bred, and had so
longe lived) as it seemed they were come into
a new world. But these were not ye things
they much looked on, or long tooke up their
thoughts; for they had other work in hand,
and another kind of warr to wage and main-
taine. For though they saw faire and bewti-
full cities, flowing with abundance of all sorts
of welth and riches, yet it was not longe before
they saw the grime and grisly face of povertie
coming upon them like an armed man, with
whom they must bukle and incounter, and
from whom they could not flye; but they
were armed with faith and patience against
him and all his encounters; and though they
were sometimes foyled, yet by God's assist
ance they prevailed and got ye victorie."

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 25
Those among them who had been men of
property had expended their wealth for the
common good. The great expense of bring
ing over the whole number, together with the
losses and misfortunes which had attended
their efforts, had swallowed up their fortunes,
so that all were now upon the same footing,
— obliged to earn their living in whatever
way they could. Bradford apprenticed him
self to a weaver; others became hatters,
wool-combers, spinners, carpenters, brewers,
bakers, tailors, and masons.
They remained, however, but a few months
in Amsterdam, fearing to become involved in
the fierce controversy which was raging be
tween the two English churches already there.
Hence they resolved to remove to Leyden,
although the opportunities for earning a live
lihood were less favorable. They valued
" peace and their spirituall comforte above
any other riches whatsoever. And at length
they came to raise a competente and com-

26 OLD COLONY DA YS.
forteable living, but with hard and continuall
labor." The Rev. John Robinson, their pastor, was
a " common father to them all," in temporal
as well as spiritual affairs. He was a man
rarely gifted for the place he was called to
fill. His learning and talents finally brought
him into such notice that the freedom of the
university was extended to him. Among
fhe privileges and perquisites belonging to
this honor were " exemption from municipal
control, half a tun of beer every month, and
ten gallons of wine every three months."
William Brewster was chosen as assistant
pastor and elder.
Brewster, however, suffered especial hard
ships. He had spent all of his fortune for
the common good, and being, by his age and
former manner of life, unfitted for the trades
and callings which the Pilgrims were forced
to take up, he had great difficulty to support
his large family. But his cheerfulness and

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 2/
dignity never failed him. At length he ob
tained employment in teaching English to
some German and Danish students at the
university, using Latin as a means of com
munication. He invented a text-book on the
plan of the Latin grammar, and attained
some celebrity as a teacher. Afterward he
set up a printing-press, bringing out a num
ber of theological books which could not
safely be published in England. The Eng
lish government demanded his arrest, but he
escaped by flight.
In the course of years many new members
were added to the little congregation, from
different parts of England, and Bradford says
they were sometimes not fewer than three
hundred communicants. They lived in Ley
den eleven or twelve years, in such peace and
harmony that the Dutch magistrates held
them up as an example to the French Wal
loons, who also had a church there but who
were of a less peaceable disposition.

28 OLD COLONY DAYS.
At length, however, the wiser members of
the flock began to talk of removal to some
other place. "Not out of any newfangled-
ness, or other such like giddie humor, by
which men are oftentimes transported to
their great hurt and danger, but for sundrie
weightie and solid reasons."
First, the difficulty of obtaining a living;
for many that would come to them were
unable to endure the labor and hard fare,
" yea, some even preferred and chose ye
prisons in England rather than this libertie
in Holland with these afflictions."
Secondly, though the people generally
bore these difficulties very cheerfully, yet old
age began to steal on many of them, and
they saw that they must soon scatter, or sink
under their burdens.
Thirdly, " as necessitie was a task-master
over them they were forced to be such to
their children," and many of them were over
taxed physically and growing old before
their time.

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 29
" But that which was more lamentable, and
of all sorrowes most heavie to be borne, was
that many of their children, by these occa
sions, and ye great licentiousness of youth in
yt countrie, and ye manifold temptations of
the place, were drawne away by evill examples
into extravagante and dangerous courses, get
ting ye raines off their neks, and departing
from their parents. Some became souldiers,
others tooke upon them farr viages by sea,
and other some worse courses, tending to
dissolutenes and the danger of their souls,
to ye great greefe of their parents and dis
honour of God. So that they saw their
posteritie would be in danger to degenerate
and be corrupted."
Lastly, the hope of laying some founda
tion for propagating the gospel in heathen
lands. For these reasons and others they
resolved to leave Leyden and to form a
colony in some place where they could re
main Englishmen and train up their children

30 OLD COLONY DA YS.
in their own church. Their thoughts turned
to America as the only land offering room
for their plans. Some, won by the glowing
accounts of Sir Walter Raleigh, were for set
tling in Guiana; but the unsuitable climate,
and the fact that Spain laid claim to the
region, were sufficient objections. Others
moved to join the English colony already
established in Virginia. But it was feared
that the church could not enjoy in Virginia
the independence it desired. Those who had
given most thought to the subject preferred
a location farther north, yet still under the
jurisdiction of the Virginia Company, as it
was called.
Several unsuccessful attempts had been
made to plant a colony in this northern lati
tude, but in each case the colonists had given
up, and had returned to England with the
most disheartening reports of the country.
Those who now objected to the scheme did
not allow the promoters of it to forget or

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 3 1
ignore the dangers and difficulties to be
faced. They not only urged the perils of
the sea, the length and discomfort of the
voyage, the change of climate, the liability to
famine and sickness, but added, that " those
which should escape or overcome these diffi
culties, should yett be in continuall danger
of ye salvage people, who are cruell, barbar
ous and most trecherous, being most furious
in their rage, and merciles wher they over
come; not being contente only to kill, and
take away life, but delight to tormente men
in ye most bloodie manner that may be;
fleaing some alive with ye shells of fishes,
cutting of ye members and joynts of others
by peesmeale, and broiling on ye coles, eate
ye collops of their flesh in their sight whilst
they live; with other cruelties horrible to
be related. And surely it could not be
thought but ye very hearing of these things
could not but move ye very bowels of men
to grate within them, and make ye weake to

32 OLD COLONY DAYS.
quake and tremble." In spite of all this they
did not abandon the design.
For nearly two years three of their prin
cipal men were busy in England making
arrangements for the emigration. There
were two joint stock companies whose busi
ness was the colonization of America, and
from one of these they obtained a grant of
land, the place to be chosen by themselves
somewhere near the mouth of the Delaware.
They endeavored also to obtain a charter
from King James with the privilege of reli
gious liberty. But the most the king could
be brought to promise was that he would
connive at their going, and would not molest
them so long as they conducted themselves
peaceably. Many were frightened at this,
and afraid to venture without a charter; but
Bradford wisely saw that if the king's word
was not good neither would his seal be,
for if he desired to wrong them he could do
it "though they had a seal as broad as ye
house flore."

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 33

Arrangements were finally made with
seventy " merchant adventurers " in London,
who were to furnish the capital for the enter
prise, while the settlers were to mortgage
their labor for seven years, during which
time all profits and benefits " gott by trade,
traffick, trucking, working, fishing, or any
other means of any person or persons,"
were to be turned into the common fund.
At the end of seven years the capital and
profits, the houses, lands, goods, and chattels,
were to be divided equally between the adven
turers and planters. The colonists found some
of the conditions very hard. They had hoped
to reserve tv/o days in the week for themselves,
" for their own private imployment." They
also felt that the homes which they should
build in a new country ought to belong to
them at the end of the seven years instead
of being divided with the adventurers. But
both of these clauses were stricken out of the
agreement, greatly to their disappointment
3

34

OLD COLONY DA YS.

When these things had been settled, they
appointed a solemn public fast to ask further
guidance of the Lord as to who should go.
There was not money enough to transport
the whole company, nor could all have been
ready to go at once. It was therefore re
solved that the younger and stronger mem
bers should go first, but only such as should
freely offer themselves ; those who remained
promising to join them as soon as possible,
if the Lord gave them life, means, and op
portunity. Pastor Robinson was to remain
with the congregation at Leyden, and Elder
Brewster to accompany the Pilgrims to the
New World.
In the number who were to go were some
who were but recent additions to the flock;
among others, Edward Winslow, a talented
and educated young Englishman, who, pass
ing through Holland three years before, had
been so charmed with the little community
that he joined himself to it. He was now

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 35
ready to accompany them in this perilous
undertaking; and he it was who became
their tongue, their ever ready ambassador,
whether to savage tribes or to English
courts. Another recent accession was the
doughty little captain, Miles Standish, who
was not a member of their church, and was
even strongly suspected by some of secret
leanings toward Roman Catholicism. What
ever his religion, he cast in his lot with the
Pilgrims, and proved himself their brave de
fender in many an hour of terror.
At length all things were in readiness for
the departure. A small ship — the " Speed
well " — was brought, which was to carry
them to Southampton, where they were
to meet the larger vessel which had been
procured for them, — the "Mayflower." The
smaller ship was to carry a part of them
across the Atlantic, and remain with them
for a year. Another solemn fast was kept,
the pastor taking for his text Ezra viii. 21 :

36 OLD COLONY DA YS.
"And ther at ye river by Ahava, I proclaimed
a fast, that we might humble ourselves before
our God, and seeke of him a right way for us,
and for our children and for all our substance."
" Upon which," says Bradford, " he spente
a good part of ye day very profitably. The
rest of the time was spente in pouring out
prairs to ye Lord with great fervencie, mixed
with abundance of tears. And ye time being
come that they must departe, they were ac
companied with most of their brethren out
of the citie, unto a town sundrie miles off
called Delfes-Haven, wher the ship lay ready
to receive them. So they lefte yt goodly and
pleasant citie, which had been ther resting
place near twelve years, but they knew they
were pilgrimes, and looked not much on
those things, but lift up their eyes to ye
heavens, their dearest countrie, and quieted
their spirits.'' Bradford, who writes these
words, was leaving behind him his only
child, a boy not more than six years old.

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 37
" When they came to ye place they found
ye ship and all things ready; and such of
their freinds as could not come with them
followed after them and sundrie also came
from Amsterdame to see them shipte and to
take their leave of them. That night was
spent with litle sleepe by ye most, but with
freindly entertainmente and christian dis
course and other real expressions of true
christian love. The next day, the wind being
faire, they wente aborde and their freinds
with them, where truly dolful was ye sight of
that sad and mournfull parting ; to see what
sighs and sobbs and praires did sound
amongst them, what tears did gush from
every eye, and pithy speeches peirst each
harte; that sundry of ye Dutch strangers
yt stood on ye key as spectators, could not
refraine from tears. Yet comfortable and
sweete it was to see shuch lively and true
expressions of dear and unfained love. But
ye tide (which stays for no man) caling

38 OLD COLONY DAYS.
them away yt were thus loath to departe,
their Reverend pastor falling downe on his
knees (and they all with him) with watrie
cheeks comended them with most fervente
praiers to the Lord and his blessing. And
then with mutuall imbrases and many tears,
they tooke their leaves one of another ; —
which proved to be ye last leave to many
of them." This was the embarkation of the
Pilgrims. At Southampton they found the " May
flower," with those who were to join them
there. But they met with serious delays and
provocations in their final arrangements with
the adventurers. At length, on the fifteenth
of August, they " sett sayle." The passen
gers were divided, ninety being assigned to
the " Mayflower " and thirty to the " Speed
well." They had not gone far when the
master of the smaller ship complained that
his ship was leaking, and that he dared not
go farther. Both vessels resolved to put

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 39
into Dartmouth to have the " Speedwell "
searched and mended, which was done, " to
their great charg and losse of time and a faire
winde." They again put to sea, but had gone
only three hundred miles from Land's End
when the master of the small ship again com
plained of his leaky vessel, declaring he could
hardly keep her free by constant pumping.
After consultation both ships put back to
Plymouth. No leak could be discovered in the
" Speedwell ; " but concluding that she was
unseaworthy from general weakness, they
decided to send her back to London, and
continue the voyage with only one vessel.
This necessitated leaving a part of the pas
sengers; for they could not all be crowded
into the "Mayflower."
" The which (though it was greevous and
caused great discouragmente) was put into
execution. So after they had tooke out such
provission as ye other ship could well stow.

40 OLD COLONY DA YS.
and concluded both what number and what
persons to send bak, they made another sad
parting, ye one ship going backe for London,
and ye other was to proceede on her viage.
Those that went bak were for the most parte
such as were willing so to doe, either out of
some discontente, or feare they conceived of
ye ill success of ye vioage, seeing so many
croses befall, and the year time so farr
spente ; but others, in regarde of their own
weaknes, and charge of many yonge chil
dren, were thought least usefull, and most
unfite to bear ye brunte of this hard adven
ture; unto which worke of God, and judge-
mente of their brethren, they were contented
to submite. And thus, like Gedeon's armie,
this small number was devided, as if ye Lord
by this worke of his providence thought
these few too many for ye great worke he
had to do." Afterward it was learned that
the master of the "Speedwell" had repented
of his agreement to remain a year with the
colonLsts, and had deceived them.

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 41

Eighteen of the company were sent back
to London in the "Speedwell." The remain
ing one hundred and two were crowded into
the "Mayflower; " and they put to sea for
the third time on the sixteenth of Septem
ber. By the treachery and mismanagement
of others they had been robbed of six weeks
of fair weather, and the journey had been
pushed into the most unfavorable season
of the year. In mid-ocean they encountered
terrible storms, by which the ship was
"shrewdly shaken," and the main beam
amidships " bowed and cracked." The fright
ened sailors began to talk of returning, and
would probably have done so had not Europe
been as far away as America. Fortunately
one of the passengers had brought from Hol
land a great iron jack-screw; and with this
the beam was crowded home. One of the
passengers died at sea; but their number re
mained the same, for Mistress Hopkins gave
birth to a boy, who received the appropriate
name of Oceanus.

42 OLD COLONY DAYS.
On the twentieth of November, at break of
day, they espied land, and the appearance of
it much comforted them. It proved to be
Cape Cod ; and as their patent gave them no
authority to settle there, they turned the
ship southward, toward the mouth of the
Hudson. But the difficulties and dangers of
the passage, and the fierce opposition of the
captain, forced them to return to Cape Cod
harbor, and to think of a settlement there.
" Being thus arrived in a good harbor and-
brought safe to land, they fell upon their
knees and blessed ye God of heaven, who
had brought them over ye vast and furious
ocean, and delivered them from all ye perils
and miseries therof, againe to set their feete
on the firme and stable earth, their proper
element. " But hear," says Bradford, " I cannot but
stay and make a pause, and stand half
amased at this poore peoples presente con
dition ; and so I thinke will the reader too,

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 43
when he well considers the same. Being
thus passed ye vast ocean, and a sea of
troubles before in their preparation (as
may be remembered by yt which wente
before) they had now no freinds to wellcome
them, nor inns to entertaine or refresh their
weather-beaten bodys, no houses or much
less townes to repair too, to seeke for suc-
coure. It is recorded in scripture as a
mercie to ye apostle and his ship wraked
company, yt the barbarians showed them no
small kindness in refreshing them, but the.se
savage barbarians, when they mette with
them (as after will appeare) were readier to
fill their sids full of arrows then otherwise.
And for ye season it was winter, and they
that know ye winters of yt countrie know
them to be sharp and violent, and subject to
cruell and feirce storms, deangerous to travill
to known places, much more to serch an
unknown coast. Besides, what could they
see but a hidious and desolate wildernes.

44 OLD COLONY DA YS.
full of wild beasts and wild men? and what
multitudes ther might be of them they knew
not. Nether could they, as it were, goe up
to the top of Pisgah, to vew from this will-,
dernes a more goodly countrie to feed their
hops; for which way soever they turned
their eyes (save upward to ye heavens) they
could have little solace or content in respecte
of any outward objects. For summer being
done, all things stand upon them with a
wetherbeaten face ; and ye whole countrie,
full of woods and thickets, represented a wild
and savage heiw. If they looked behind
them, there was ye mighty ocean which they
had passed, and was now as a main barr and
goulfe to separate them from all the civill
parts of ye world. If it be said they had a
ship to succoure them, it is trew; but what
heard they daly from the master and com
pany? but that with speed they should look
out a place with their shallop. Yea, it was
muttered by some, that if they gott not 'a

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 45
place in time, they would turn them and
their goods ashore and leave them. What
could now sustain them but ye spirite of God
and his grace? May not and ought not the
children of these fathers rightly to say : Our
faithers were Englishmen which came over
this great ocean, and were ready to perish in
this wilderness ; but they cried unto ye Lord
and he heard their voyce and looked on their
adversitie. Let them therfore praise ye Lord,
because he is good and his mercies endure for
ever." The passage from Plymouth to Cape Cod
had lasted sixty-seven days, but from South
ampton it had been ninety-nine days, while
those who started from Delft haven had been
more than four months on shipboard. They
must still be content in midwinter with those
narrow, uncomfortable quarters, and for the
women and children there were many weeks
of waiting before all could be provided for
on shore.

46 OLD COLONY DA YS.
The place where they now were was wholly
outside the jurisdiction of the Virginia Com
pany. Therefore the patent which it had
cost them so much trouble to procure was
useless. They had no doubt of being able
to obtain a patent from the other company;
but in the mean time another trouble arose.
Not all the passengers of the " Mayflower "
were saints by any means. Not all of them
were even desirable citizens, as later events
proved. Their relations to the adventurers
had obliged the Pilgrims to allow certain
persons, of whom they knew nothing, to join
them in England. From some of these
strangers troublesome and mutinous mutter-
ings were now heard, to the effect that when
they came ashore they would have their own
liberty; since the patent was null, and they
had no charter, there was no authority to
which they need be subject ; as soon as they
landed every man would be his own master.
For this reason, and in accordance with

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 47
Robinson's advice that they should at once
frame a form of civil polity, forty-one men
met in the little cabin of the " Mayflower "
and signed the famous compact: "In the
name of God, amen. We, whose names are
underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread
sovereign, lord King James, by the grace of
God of Great Britain, France and Ireland,
King, Defender of the Faith, etc., having
undertaken for the glory of God and the
advancement of the Christian faith, and
honor of our King and country, a voyage to
plant the first colony in the northern parts
of Virginia, do, by these presents solemnly
and mutually, in the presence of God, and
one of another, covenant and combine our
selves together into a civil body politic, for
our better ordering and preservation and
furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by
virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame
such just and equal laws, ordinances, acts,
constitutions, and offices, from time to time.

48 OLD COLONY DAYS.
as shall be thought most meet and con
venient for the general good of the colony,
unto which we promise all due submission
and obedience. In witness whereof we have
hereunder subscribed our names at Cape
Cod, the Eleventh of November, (Old Style)
in the year of the reign of our sovereign lord
King James, of England, France and Ireland,
the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-
fourth-Anno Dom., 1620."
" This," said John Quincy Adams, " is
perhaps the only instance in human history
of that positive, original social compact
which speculative philosophers have imag
ined as the only legitimate source of govern
ment. Here was a unanimous and personal
assent by all the individuals of the commu
nity to the association, by which they became
a nation." The malcontents, whoever they
were, signed the compact with the rest; so
that all had pledged themselves to be bound
by such laws as the majority should adopt.

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 49
After this they elected Mr. John Carver
governor for that year.
Two days later the women of the " May
flower " took decisive action. They insisted
upon being carried ashore to do a " much
needed washing." Monday, the twenty-third
of November, deserves to be remembered
in the annals of history as the first " wash
day' in New England.
The ship was now anchored about a mile
from the site of Provincetown. The men
got out the shallop which they had brought
from England, " stowed away in the ship's
quarters," and set the carpenters to repairing
it, in order that they might explore the coast
to find a suitable site for a town. Too im
patient to wait for the shallop, sixteen men,
under command of Capt. Miles Standish,
made an expedition on foot. They were
gone three days, and brought back some
Indian corn, " which seemed to them a very
goodly sight, they never having seen such

50 OLD COLONY DAYS.
before." This corn was used for seed-corn,
and proved the salvation of the colony.
While they were absent, an addition had
been made to the colony by the birth of
Peregrine White, the first English child born
on the coast of New England.
The second expedition was made with the
shallop, but they returned discouraged, hav
ing found no suitable spot. While they lay
at anchor in Cape Cod n harbor, the whole
company came near being blown into eter
nity by the ubiquitous small boy, from whom
not even the "Mayflower" was exempt.
John Billington, having found a loaded gun,
shot it off in the cabin, where there was a
keg of loose powder not four feet from the
fire. " And yet, by God's mercy, no harm
done," says Bradford, mildly.
On the sixteenth of December, ten of the
men, with eight seamen, again started out in
the shallop to find a larger harbor, although
it was so cold that the sea spray froze on

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 51
their clothes, making them like coats of iron.
The second night some of the party built a
barricade, and slept on shore. In the morn
ing they had their first unpleasant encounter
with the Indians, who showered arrows upon
them from behind the trees. Fortunately
no one was hurt, though some coats hanging
on the barricade were shot through and
through. Having frightened the Indians
away with their firearms, and gathered up
eighteen arrows to send back to England,
they returned to their boat.
In the afternoon a storm came on them,
with sleet and snow; the sea grew rough,
the rudder broke, their mast split in three
pieces, the sail fell overboard, the pilot lost
his head entirely, and_ they would all have
been cast away but for the presence of mind
of one of the sailors. " Though it was very
dark and rained sore, yet in ye end they gott
under the lee of a small iland, and remained
there all yt night in saftie. But they did

52 OLD COLONY DAYS.
not know it to be an island, and some were
afraid to go ashore for fear of the Indians."
Others werd so weak and cold and wet that
they could not endure it, but got ashore
and built a fire. After midnight the wind
changed to the northwest, it froze hard, and
all were glad to come ashore. "Ye next day
was a faire, sunshinig day, and they found
them sellvs to be on an iland, secure from
ye Indeans, wher they might drie their stufe,
fixe their peeces, rest themselves, and gave
God thanks for his mercies in their manifould
deliverances. And this being the last day of
ye weeke, they prepared ther to keepe ye
Sabath." On the Sabbath Day they rested.
When we remember their situation, — the
cold winter day, so far from the ship, on an
unknown island, with no shelter over their
heads, their families anxiously awaiting their
return, — when we consider all this, and see
these men quietly keeping the Sabbath on
Clark's Island, we can form some estimate

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 53
of their respect for the day. That there
could be any combination of circumstances
which would justify "breaking the Sabbath"
seems never to have entered their minds.
In this connection it is of interest to note
their record of Christmas a few days later:
" We went on shore, some to fell timber,
some to saw, some to rive, and some to
carry; so no man rested all that day."
Christmas was to them a relic of popery;
but the Sabbath day was sacred.
On Monday they sounded the harbor, and
found it fit for shipping ; they marched into
the land, and found diverse cornfields and
little running brooks, — a place very good
for situation. This, then, was the landing of
the Pilgrims, "the birthday of New Eng
land." The spot which they had chosen had
the four advantages of which they had been
in search, — a harbor for ships, cleared land,
good water, and natural defences. Long
before, by a singular coincidence, the place

54 OLD COLONY DA YS.
had received from Capt. John Smith the
name of Plymouth, — the name of the last
port in England from which they had sailed.
The exploring party had been absent about a
week, and their families in the " Mayflower"
were eagerly awaiting their return. "So they
returned to their shipe againe with this news
to ye rest of their people, which did much
comforte their harts."
William Bradford was one of the explor
ing party. On his return to the ship, weary
and worn from exposure, but glad to be the
bearer of good news, he was met by the
terrible tidings that the young wife Who
had accompanied him across the ocean had
fallen overboard and drowned during his
absence. The home of which he was dream
ing in the lovely spot which they had chosen
would be a lonely one for him.
By the end of the week the " Mayflower"
was safely anchored in Plymouth harbor, her
journey done, her name made immortal.

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 55
Another Sabbath Day the Pilgrims rested
in sight of the " promised land." Then, the
majority having confirmed the choice of the
ten explorers, they set to work to build a
town out of the raw material. They had to
hew the logs, carry stone, make mortar, and
cut thatch. On the hill above they planned
to build a platform for their cannon, to pro
tect them from the Indians, whose dusky
forms they could see now and then sulking
about among the trees.
Another hill was chosen for a burying-
ground ; for so many were the dead and
dying that this was one of their first needs.
A common house was built, twenty feet
square, to receive their provisions, and to
shelter those who had begun to sleep on the
shore. In order to do away with the neces
sity of building many houses, the company
was divided into nineteen families ; and each
single man was assigned to some family.
A street was laid out, running from the

56 OLD COLONY DAYS.
harbor to the hill, parallel with the little
stream which they called Town Brook. The
choice of location was determined by lot,
and homesteads were staked out on each
side of the way. The street was at first
called simply "The Street;" afterward,
when there were others, it was called First
Street. Two hundred years later it received
its present name of Leyden Street. It is
still there ; and as we pass between the two
"rows of houses, along the path so often
trodden by the Pilgrims, " from the seaside
to the hill, ... he is cold indeed who does
not feel the thrill that comes from treading
on hallowed ground."
The building went but slowly. " Frost
and foul weather hindered them much."
Seldom could they work more than half the
week. Much time was lost in going to and
from the ship ; for only a few of them could
sleep in the " common house." The ship lay
a mile and a half from the shore; and they

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 57
often had to wait for the tide. Could we
linger over every step of the building of the
town, could we follow day by day Bradford's
photographic record of the doings of the Pil
grims during these first weeks, we should
find every page full of interest, full of quaint
and pathetic incidents. There was that ter
ribly anxious night when two of their num
ber, who had gone to cut thatch, were lost
in the woods, and stood all night listening to
the howling of the wolves, trying to keep
their two dogs from answering the howls,
and ready to climb the trees at a moment's
warning if the wolves should approach near.
Thus they waited for daylight with the very
blood freezing in their veins. Then who can
forget that afternoon walk of John Goodman
and his little spaniel? The dog, chased by
the wolves, crouched for protection between
his master's frozen feet. Goodman, with no
weapon but a stick, tried to frighten away
the wolves, " which sat on their tails grinning
at him."

58 OLD COLONY DAYS.
After three weeks' labor, their common
house being finished and covered with a roof
of thatch, they prepared to observe the Sab
bath there. All who were able to leave the
ship were to attend the services. But on
Sunday morning, when those on shipboard
turned their eyes as usual toward their future
home, they saw the common house in flames.
They supposed the fire to be the work of
savages; and they waited in trembling un
certainty until the tide would permit them to
go ashore and learn the fate of their breth
ren. They found that the fire had caught
from a spark, that only the roof had burned,
and that no one was injured, although Gov
ernor Carver and William Bradford had lain
sick in the house with their loaded muskets
by their sides.
" In these hard and difficulte beginings
they found some discontents and murmurings
arise amongst some, and mutinous speeches
and carriags in other ; but they were soone

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 59
quelled and overcome by ye wisdome, pa
tience, and just and equall carrage of things
by ye Governor and better part, which clave
faithfully together in ye maine. But that
which was most sadd and lamentable was,
that in two or three months time halfe of
their company dyed, espetially in January
and February, being ye depth of winter, and
wanting houses and other comforts; being
infected with ye scurvie and other diseases,
which this long vioyage and their inaccom-
modate condition had brought upon them;
so as ther dyed sometimes two or three of a
day, in ye aforesaid time ; that of one hun
dred and odd persons, scarce fifty remained.
And of these in ye time of most distress,
there was but six or seven sound persons,
who, to their great comendations be it
spoken, spared no pains, night nor day, but
with abundance of toyle and hazard of their
owne health, fetched them woode, made them
fires, drest them meat, made their beads,

6o OLD COLONY DAYS.
washed their lothsome cloaths, cloathed and
uncloathed them; in a word, did all ye
homly and necessarie offices for them which
dainty and quesie stomacks cannot endure
to hear named; and all this willingly and
cherfuUy, without any grudging in ye least,
shewing herein their true love unto their
freinds and bretheren. A rare example and
worthy to be remembered. Tow of these
seven were Mr. William Brewster, ther Rev
erend Elder, and Miles Standish, ther Cap-
tein and military commander, unto whom
myselfe, and many others were much be
holden in our low and sicke condition. And
yet the Lord so upheld these persons, as in
this generall calamity, they were not at all
infected." We have many instances of Elder Brew
ster's greatness of heart; but we are glad to
have this picture of Miles Standish nursing
the sick, — glad to know that underneath
that fiery temper and warlike spirit was a

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 6l
nature as tender and gentle as a woman's.
Rose Standish, his delicate wife, was one of
the first to droop and die in the unkind air
of New England. The graves upon the hill
side had grown so numerous that they were
obliged to smooth away all traces of them
and sow the place with grain, through fear
lest the Indians should see how their num
bers had been reduced and take advantage of
their weakness.
One of the first steps which the Pilgrims
took was to hold a town meeting, and form a
military organization, electing Miles Standish
as their commander. In the beginning the
number of men had been but forty-one, of
whom a large proportion had already sick
ened and died, so that their standing army
was a small one. Captain Standish could
boast, as did Caesar, that he knew the name
of every man in his army. Yet he yielded
not an inch of his authority, but insisted
upon strict military discipline and obedience.

62 OLD COLONY DAYS.
"John Billington, for his contempt of the
Captain's lawful command with opprobrious
speeches, was convented before the whole
company and adjudged to have his neck and
heels tied together, but upon his humbling
himself and craving pardon he was released."
During all this time they had had no com
munication with the natives, although they
could see one now and then skulking behind
a tree. One day in March, a dusky savage,
naked save for a leather girdle about his
waist, passed up the street to the common
house, where the men were holding a town
meeting, and greeted them with the word
"Welcome." His name was Samoset ; and
he had learned some English words from
the men who came to fish on the coast of
Maine. From him they learned tha:t the
place where they were was called by the In
dians Pawtucket, and that four years before
a terrible plague had exterminated the tribe
which dwelt there. Samoset was well re-

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 63
ceived, and came again and again, the third
time bringing word that Massasoit, the grand
sachem of the tribes of Pokanoket, wanted to
visit them. When the chief appeared with
twenty warriors, they received him with as
much pomp and state as they could sum
mon. Captain Standish with six musketeers
met him at Town Brook, and conducted him
to a house where a green rug and cushion
had been placed for him. Then Governor
Carver appeared with a small body-guard of
musketeers, attended by drum and trumpet.
This visit was of the gravest importance. A
treaty was concluded with Massasoit which
was not broken for more than forty years.
He also undertook to convey to the other
tribes the peaceable intentions of the white
men. Samoset had brought with him Squanto,
or Tisquantum, the sole surviving Indian of
the tribe which had been exterminated.
Squanto's life had been saved in a curious

64 OLD COLONY DA YS.
manner. Some. seven years previously Cap
tain Hunt, one of John Smith's men, having
beguiled a score of Indians into his ship
under pretence of trading, carried them off
to Spain, and sold them as slaves. Squanto
was one of the number. He was taken to
England, where he learned the language and
something of English habits. After three or
four years he was carried back to America
by Captain Dermer, to find himself the sole
survivor of his tribe. Squanto became, as
it were, the guest of the colony, remaining
with them as long as he lived, and proving
of great service as an interpreter. He also
taught them how to sow and tend their corn,
and where to hunt and fish. Captain Hunt's
treachery had aroused in the Indians a feel
ing of hatred toward all white men ; and
when they saw the colonists coming, they
looked upon them as enemies. They held
an assembly in a " dark and dismal swampe,
. . . where they got all the Powachs of ye

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 65
country," says Bradford, " for three days
togeather, in a horid and divellish maner to
curse and execrate them with their conjura
tions." The treaty with Massasoit was there
fore a gain of no small importance.
At length the weary winter wore away,
" Warm and fair weather appeared and the
birds sang in the trees most pleasantly. ... It
pleased God the mortalitie begane to cease
amongst them, and ye sick and lame recov
ered apace, which put as it were new life
into them; though they had borne their sadd
affliction with much patience and contented-
nes, as I thinke any people could doe."
There was no necessity now for the nine
teen houses they had planned to build. A
much smaller number would suffice. Half
the company had found a home in the
"house not made with hands." Many, many
times had the sad pilgrimage been made to
the hill which they had chosen for a burial-
ground. And now, with the approach of

66 OLD COLONY DAYS.
spring, another trial was before them. The
" Mayflower," which had remained in the
harbor through the winter, was to return to
England. The crew, as we know, were
coarse, inhuman men. The captain had
shown the Pilgrims scant courtesy. The
occasions when they were " kindly and
friendly together" had been rare enough to
be worthy of special mention. Yet, with all
that, it was a sad day when the old ship
sailed away. She was the only connecting
link between the Pilgrims and the civilized
world. With her departure all possibility of
return, all means of communication were
cut off. They might be destroyed by the
Indians or swept away by disease, and none
would know their fate. Five hundred miles
to the north of them were a few Frenchmen.
Five hundred miles to the south was the
little colony of Jamestown. But practically
all the white people on the continent were as
far removed from them as if they had been

TIIE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 67
in Europe. The Pilgrims were surrounded
by savage tribes, of which only one had signi
fied peaceable intentions. Yet, in the face of
all these discouragements, when the " May
flower" sailed away not one of the Pilgrims
was on board. Surely the words which
Brewster had written were true: "It is not
with us as with other men, whom small
things can discourage, or small discontent
ments cause to wish themselves at home
again." Soon after the departure of the " May
flower" the colony suffered a great loss in
the death of Governor Carver. He returned
from the field, where he had gone to labor
with the others, prostrated with the heat, and
died a few days later. They buried him in
" great lamentation and heaviness, with as
much solemnity as they were in capacity to
perform, with a discharge of some volleys of
shot of all that bare arms." His wife, over
come with grief, followed him in a few

68 OLD COLONY DA YS.
weeks. The first governor of Plymouth left
no descendants.
William Bradford was chosen as Carver's
successor ; and from that time until his
death, thirty-six years later, the colony
looked upon him as its head. "Five times
he by importunity gat off, insisting that if
the office of governor were an honor others
ought to share it, and if it were a burden
all ought to help to bear it." He succeeded
in having Winslow serve three years, and
Prince two. For thirty-one years Bradford
served them faithfully as governor; and
though the colony was small, the duties of
the office were not light. He was required
to be chief justice, minister of foreign affairs,
and auditor of the treasury. There were also
many lesser matters to which he was obliged
to give his attention. For instance, when
famine threatened, and the stock of grain
was so reduced that they restricted them
selves to a quarter of a pound of bread a day

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 69
for each person, the governor caused it to
be given out daily, " otherwise, had it been
in their own custodie, they would have eate
it up and then starved." The governor also
worked with them in the fields, and led out
the men to their work every morning.
At the town meetings, not only had mili
tary order been adopted, but also such
civil laws and ordinances as were thought
" behooveful for their present estate and
condition." Soon after Bradford's elec
tion occurred the second offence requiring
punishment. Two young men became en
gaged in a quarrel, and having brought over
some Old World ideas, decided to settle it
by a duel. With a sword in the right hand
and a dagger in the left they fought until
each had received a slight wound, and their
honor was satisfied. But not so the honor of
the colony. The Pilgrims considered it a
disgrace ; and the duellists were sentenced to
lie in a public place, neck and heels tied

70 OLD COLONY DA YS.
together, for twenty-four hours. The punish
ment was begun ; but after an hour or two
of suffering the culprits pleaded so earnestly
that they were released. The treatment
proved effectual; for this was the first and
last duel fought in the " old colony."
The first summer of Bradford's administra
tion proved a busy one. Twenty-six acres
were planted and tilled, — six in barley,
wheat, and peas, and twenty or more in
corn. By the advice of Squanto two or
three herrings were placed in each hill of
corn as a fertilizer. When we remember
that they had neither horses nor cattle, that
all the ground had to be broken up by hand,
the many tons of herrings to be transported
from Town Brook to the fields, and that their
entire force consisted of twenty-one men and
six boys, we may form some idea of their
labors. At the end of the summer " The
Street" contained seven dwelling-houses and
four public buildings, — one used for worship

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. "Jl
and for town meetings, the others as depots
for their crops, their provisions, and their
trading stock. A fair harvest had been
gathered, which with fish, game, and fruit
furnished a variety of food. Besides all
this, four expeditions had been made to
establish peaceable relations with the differ
ent tribes of Indians. In view of this gen
eral prosperity Governor Bradford appointed
a day of Thanksgiving, " that they might
after a special manner rejoice together after
they had gathered the fruits of their labors."
To be; neighborly they invited Massasoit,
who came, bringing ninety warriors with
him. For three days they feasted and en
tertained this company, rehearsing for their
benefit their military tactics and evolutions.
Thus the great festival of Thanksgiving was
inaugurated in New England, and we are
glad to know that wild turkeys were a fea
ture of the feast.
In November, just a year from the time

72 OLD COLONY DA YS.
the Pilgrims first sighted land, another ship
arrived, the "Fortune," bringing to the colony
an addition of thirty-five members. They
were received with open arms, though as
they had brought no provisions their arrival
was somewhat inopportune. The colonists
had prepared for winter ; but when they saw
the number of mouths almost doubled, they
were obliged to put every one upon half
rations until spring. The second year fam
ine again "pinched them sore," while the
third spring, by the time their corn was
planted, " all their victuals were spent, and
they were only to rest on God's providence ;
at night not many times knowing where to
have a bite of anything the next day. And
so, as one well observed, had need to pray
that God would give them their daily bread,
above all people in the world." Men were
seen at noon-day, staggering for want of food.
Elder Brewster, who had dined in palaces,
and had often feasted the whole Scrooby

THE FATIIER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 73
congregation in his own house, sat down to
his daily dinner of boiled clams and spring
water, and thanked God that he and his were
still allowed to "suck of the abundance of
the seas and of the treasures hid in the
sand." They now began to ask what they should
do to raise greater crops of corn wherewith
to prevent such misery. After long debate,
the governor, with the advice of the chiefest
among them, decided to let every man plant
his own corn. This year, therefore, they
assigned a " parcel of land " to each family
for its own use. " This had very good suc
cess; for it made all hands very industrious,
so as much more corne was planted than
otherwaise would have bene, by any means
ye governor or any other could use, and
saved him a great deall of trouble and gave
farr better contente. The women now wente
willingly into ye feild and tooke their litle
ons with them to set corne which before

74 OLD COLONY DAYS.
would aledg weaknes, and inabilitie ; whom
to have compelled would have bene thought
great tiranie and oppression."
Governor Bradford moralizes on this result
to the effect that communism is not a suc
cess. " The experience that was had in this
comone course and condition, tried sundrie
years, and that amongst godly and sober
men, may well evince the vanitie of that con-
ceite of Platos and other ancients, applauded
by some of later times ; — that ye taking
away of propertie, and bringing in com-
unitie into a comonewealth, would make
them happy and florishing; as if they were
wiser, then God. For this comunitie, (so
farr as it was) was found to breed much con
fusion and discontent, and retard much im-
ploymet that would have been to their
benefite and comforte. For ye yong-men
that were most able and fitte for labour and
service did repine that they should spend their
time and streingth to worke for other men's

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 75
wives and children, with out any recompence.
The strong, or man of parts, had no more
in devission of victails and cloaths, then he
that was weake and not able to doe a quarter
ye other could ; this was thought injuestice.
The aged and graver men to be ranked and
equalised in labours, and victails, cloaths, etc.,
with ye meaner and yonger sorte, thought it
some indiginitie and disrespect unto them.
And for men's wives to be commanded to doe
service for other men, as dresing their meate,
washing their cloaths, etc., they deemd it a
kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands
well brooke it. . . . And would have bene
worse if they had been men of another con
dition. Let none objecte this is men's cor
ruption, and nothing to ye course it selfe.
I answer, seeing all men have this corruption
in them, God in his wisdome saw another
course fiter for them."
By the new method a much larger crop
was sown ; but for a time their greater in-

76 OLD COLONY DA YS.
dustry and pains seemed in vain. From
May to July there was a heavy drought,
with such great heat that the corn began
to wither away: A day of fasting was ap
pointed, — a day of solemn humiliation and
prayer. They assembled in the fortified
house on the hill-top, and the services con
tinued some eight or nine hours. When
they began the heavens were as clear as
ever; but as hour after hour passed by in
prayer, the sky began to overcast, and at
length came rain "with shuch sweete and
gentle showers, as gave them cause of re-
joyceing and blessing God. It came, without
either wind, or thunder, or any violence, and
by degreese in that abundance, as that ye
earth was thorowly wete and soked ther-
with." Winslow says, " It was hard to say
whether their withered corn or drooping
affections were most quickened or revived."
The Indians were greatly impressed by this
answer to prayer, particularly by the manner

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY, yj
of it; for when their conjurers brought rain,
they said, it came in such torrents as to do
more harm than good by beating down the
crops. In this year the colony narrowly escaped
complete destruction by the Indians. Mas
sasoit, whose life had been saved by Wins
low, in his gratitude revealed a plot of the
Neponsets to kill every white man on the
coast. Standish, by prompt and heroic
measures, put an end to the conspiracy, and
to all further hostility from the savages for
many years.
This same eventful summer arrived two
vessels, — the "Anne" and the "Little
James," — bringing a reinforcement to the
colony of sixty new members. " Some of
them being very usefull persons, and became
good members to ye body, and some were ye
wives and children of shuch as were hear
allready. And some were so bad, as they
were faine to be at charge to send them

78 OLD COLONY DAYS.
home again ye next year." Besides, there
came some that did not belong to the gen
eral body, but were " on their particular,"
as they called it ; that is, they were subject
to the general government, but were not
under contract to the adventurers. These
afterward caused trouble and disturbance.
The new arrivals had come with high hopes,
and great was their disappointment at what
they found. " When they saw their low
and poore condition a shore, they were much
danted and dismayed, and according to
their diverse humores were diversly affected;
some wished them selves in England againe ;
others fell a weeping, fancying their own
miserie in what they saw now in others;
other some pitying the distress they saw
their friends had been long in, and still
were under ; in a word, all were full of sad-
nes. . . . And truly it was no marvell they
should be thus affected, for they were in a
very low condition, many were ragged in

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 79
aparell, and some litle beter than halfe
naked. For food, they were all alike. The
best dish they could presente their friends
with was a lobster, or a peece of fish, with
out bread or anything els but a cupp of fair
spring water. And ye long continuance of
this diate and their labours abroad, had
something abated ye freshnes of their former
complexion." Among those who came in the "Anne"
was Mistress Alice Southworth, who in less
than a fortnight became the wife of Governor
Bradford, — rather a short courtship, unless
we may believe the old tradition that the
two had been lovers in England many years
before. Miles Standish also found a wife in
the " Anne ; " and Barbara soon consoled
him for the slight put upon him by Priscilla.
When the harvest came, the famine was over.
"The face of things was changed to the re
joicing of the hearts of many." The result
of the individual labor was apparent; for

8o OLD COLONY DA YS.
every one had enough for the year, and some
of the abler and more industrious had grain
to sell. Edward Winslow had returned to
England in the "Anne," and the next year
he brought back four head of cattle, — " the
first beginning of any cattle of that kind in
the land." As John Alden and Priscilla had
been married more than a year, the picture
of Priscilla riding on a snow-white bull, on
her wedding day, is an anachronism. The
worst hardships of the Pilgrims were now
over. With cattle and good crops, there was
not to be any more suffering for food. The
existence ofthe colony was assured.
There were still, however, many trials and
discouragements before the colonists. The
death of John Robinson, their pastor in Ley
den, was a heavy sorrow ; for they had hoped
each year that he would be able to join
them. As Elder Brewster was not a clergy
man, and hence not able to administer the
sacraments of baptism and the Lord's Sup-

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 8 1
per, they felt that they were a flock without
a shepherd. The Elder, however, was faith
ful in " dispensing the gospel ; " and none
were allowed to suffer for the lack of hear
ing the Word. " For every Lords day some
are appointed to visit suspected places, and
if any be found idling, and neglect ye hear
ing of ye word (through idlnes or profanes,)
they are punished for ye same."
There was some internal dissension and
hard feeling stirred up by those who came
" on their particular." The story of John
Oldham and Mr. Lyford, and of the colony's
dealings with them, as told by Bradford, is
intensely dramatic. But by wisdom of the
governor all their plottings were brought
to naught. There were also some very un
pleasant passages with their ill-conducted
neighbors at Merrymount, who persisted in
selling rum and firearms to the Indians.
This "unruly nest" was at last broken up,
and its leader sent to England. 6

82 OLD COLONY DAYS.
The greatest trial of the colony during its
first seven years of existence was its uncom
fortable relation with the adventurers who
had furnished the capital for the enterprise.
There were mutterings and discontent on
both sides. Many cargoes of beaver fur and
clapboard had been sent back to England.
In return they received no supplies, but only
constant complaints and reproaches and
some very undesirable settlers. In 1627
they succeeded in buying out the entire
interest of the adventurers for the sum of
eighteen hundred pounds, payable in instal
ments. They thus became the owners of the
land on which they were settled, and were
able to make an equitable division of prop
erty. Bradford and seven others, who be
came the bondsmen of the colony, undertook
to farm its trade, and to pay the whole in
debtedness. By the misconduct of their
agent, Allerton, the debt was largely in
creased, but in time all was paid. They also

THE FATIIER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 83
expended several hundred pounds in bring
ing others of their number from Leyden.
The time had now come when the Pilgrims
were no longer alone on the continent.
Encouraged by their success, hundreds, even
thousands, of Englishmen had crossed the
seas to escape persecution. They had
neighbors at Salem, Boston, Dorchester, and
elsewhere. It was a red-letter day when
Governor Bradford travelled to Naumkeag
(Salem) to give the little church there organ
ized the right hand of fellowship.
When Bradford had filled the office of
governor for twelve years, he succeeded in
pressing Winslow into the service for one
year. Winslow was succeeded by Prince;
but the next year Bradford was again forced
into the harness, which he wore, except for
three short intermissions, until his death.
It was a sorrowful day for the governor when
some of the " Mayflower's " passengers, —
notably. Miles Standish, John Alden, and the

84 OLD COLONY DA YS.
Brewsters — took their families across the
harbor to found the town of Duxbury. Brad
ford feared that this- division of the church
would provoke the Lord's displeasure, and
considered an earthquake which occurred
about that time a visible sign of such dis
approval. But the seceders remained, and
others followed their example. By 1640
the colony consisted of eight towns. The
duties of the governor were heavier and
more complex; but he found time to con
tinue his history, to write a poem now and
then, and to begin the study of Hebrew, that
he might see with his own eyes something
of that holy tongue in which the laws and
oracles of God were written. Before leaving
Holland he had studied Greek and Latin,
French and Dutch. He was also well skilled
in history, antiquity, philosophy, and theol
ogy, says Cotton Mather. And now in his
old age he turned his attention to Hebrew.
At the back of his manuscript history are

THE FATHER OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 85
several pages of Hebrew exercises in Brad
ford's writing, with the following note pre
fixed : " Though I am growne aged, yet I
have had a longing desire to see, with my
owne eyes, something of that most ancient
language, and holy tongue, in which the Law
and oracles of God were write; and in which
God, and angels, spake to the holy patriarks
ofold time; and what names were given to
things, from the creation. And though I
canot attaine to much herein, yet I am re
freshed to have seen some glimpse hereof
(as Moyses saw the land of Canan a farr of) .
My aime and desire is, to see how words and
phrases lye in the holy texte ; and to dis-
cerne somewhat of the same, for my owne
contente." In 1655 Bradford filed eight objections to
a re-election; but they were all overruled,
and he was chosen governor for the thirtieth
time. The following year he was again
chosen, with Standish, as usual, for one of

86 OLD COLONY DAYS.
the assistants. At the next annual meeting
both their seats were vacant. Winslow had
died the year before. That noble trio which
had served the colony for so many years, the
ready tongue, the firm hand, the wise brain,
were all at rest. Bradford's body was carried
to the top of Burial Hill. No religious ser
vices were held ; for that would have " sa
vored of Popery." The whole community
stood quietly by till the grave was filled and
a volley fired over it. The Pilgrims knew-
what they had lost, and so long as any sur
vivors of the "Mayflower" were left, they
loved to speak of Bradford as the " Common
blessing and father of us all."

THE EARLY AUTOCRAT OF NEW
ENGLAND.

THE EARLY AUTOCRAT OF NEW
ENGLAND.
IV T O people in the world were ever more
jealous of ritual and liturgy — the au
thority of church and priest — than the early
settlers of New England. In their fear of a
hierarchy they did not allow the clergy to
hold certain offices, and they prevented them
from officiating at funerals and weddings.
The marriage ceremony was performed by
magistrates. They disliked the word church,
and called the place where they assembled
for worship the "meeting-house."
In spite of all this watchful care against
the form and letter of the hierarchy, no
people were ever more thoroughly under the
control of the clergy than these same early
settlers of New England. The real auto-

90 OLD COLONY DA YS.
crat of early New England was the Puritan
preacher. And it was not alone from the
pulpit that he exercised authority ; his hand
was seen in every matter, great and small.
The laws by which the colony was to be
governed were framed by him. True, the
code based on Joshua and Jeremiah, drawn
up by " that godly, grave, and judicious
divine," Mr. John Cotton, was rejected; but
the code which was finally adopted — the
famous "Body of Liberties" — was framed
by another clergyman, — the Rev. Nathaniel
Ward, of Ipswich.
So great was the esteem and honor in
which the clergy were held that " speaking
slanderously or reproachfully of the minis
ter" was an offence to be met with dire
punishment. The offender was required to
" stand two hours openly upon a block four
feet high, on a lecture day, with a paper
fixed upon his breast, with the words ' A
Wanton Gospeller ' written in capital let-

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NEW ENGLAND 9 1
ters, that others might fear and be ashamed
of breaking out into the like wickedness." A
man in Windham was punished for saying he
" had rather hear his dog bark than to hear
Mr. Bellamy preach," and promised there
after to put a guard upon his tongue. A
New Haven man was whipped for saying he
received no profit from the minister's ser
mons. Mistress Oliver, for " reproaching the
elders," was forced to stand in public with a
cleft stick on her tongue. In short, in most
of the towns, " speaking deridingly of the
minister's powers," or " casting uncharitable
reflections on the minister," was a crime to
be avoided.
In laying out a new town, the first thing to
be done was to select a site for a meeting
house ; the second step was setting aside fifty
acres for the minister, ^ — "it being as unnat
ural for a right New England man to live
without an able ministry as for a Smith to
work his iron without a fire," as Johnson tells

92 OLD COLONY DA YS.
US in his " Wonder Working Providence."
In the list of things noted in 1629, which
were needed for New England, the order is:
"first, ministers; second. Patent under Seal;
third. Seal ; " and after that, seed grains of
various sorts. The reason for this ascend
ency of the clergy is not far to seek. One
of the earliest Puritan preachers, the Rev.
Francis Higginson, writes : " Let it never be
forgotten, that our New England was origin
ally a plantation of religion and not a planta
tion of trade. And if there be a man among
you who counts religion as twelve, and the
world as thirteen, let such a one remember
that he hath neither the spirit of a true New
England man, nor yet of a sincere Christian."
There were few indeed of the early colo
nists who counted religion as twelve and the
world as thirteen. Religion stood first with
them. The government which they thought
to found was, as one of their number de
scribed it, a theocracy. They planned a sort

EARLY A UTO CRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. 93
of " Biblical Commonwealth, of which God
should be the ruler and the Bible the statute
book." They had no thought of founding a
democracy. Said Cotton : " Democracy I
do not conceyve that ever God did ordeyne
as a fitt government eyther for church or
commonwealth. If the people be governors,
who shall be governed?" They could con
ceive of no circumstances in which the Bible
was not an explicit guide. To quote again
from the Rev. John Cotton, who was one
of their chief advisers : " I am very apt to_
believe that the word and Scriptures of God
doe conteyne a short upoluposis, or platforme,
not only of theology, but also of other sacred
sciences, attendants, and hand maids ther-
unto, — ethicks, oeconomics, politics, church-
government, prophesy, academy. It is very
suitable to God's-all-sufficient wisdom, and to
the fulness and perfection of Holy Scriptures,
not only to prescribe perfect rules for the
right ordering of a private man's soule, but

94 OLD COLONY DAYS.
also for the right ordering of a man's family,
yea, of the commonwealth too. When a
commonwealth hath liberty to mould his own
frame, I conceyve the Scripture hath given
full direction for the right ordering of the
same." For more than ten years they had no other
code of law than God's word. And when, in
1641, the "Body of Liberties" was adopted,
the preamble provided that " in case of the
defect of the law in any particular case, the
matter should be decided by the word of
God; according to that Word to be judged
by the General Court."
Under such a government, and with such
a code, who would take a higher position
than the men whose main business in life was
to expound and explain the word of God
and apply it to private life? Moreover, the
clergy were the most learned men in the
colony, and were well fitted to take part in
its councils. They were, without exception,

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. 95
graduates of the universities and men of
ability. So it was only natural that in all
grave and perplexing cases the pastors of
the churches should be called in to counsel
and advise with the General Court.
There was no use for lawyers. We find
but one lawyer in the colonial history of
Boston, and he had a sorry time of it. This
was Thomas Lechford, who, in his three
years' residence, had but one case, and was
all the time regarded with distrust and sus
picion by magistrates and people. He re
turned to England in disgust, and wrote one
of the most interesting books on New Eng
land, called " Plain Dealing."
Another circumstance which added to the
influence of the clergy was the limitation of
the franchise. We have said that the colo
nists were not planning a democracy. They
had their distinctions; but the aristocracy
which they planned was not to rest upon
birth or wealth or conquest, but on the sin-

96 OLD COLONY DA YS.
gular requisite of "goodness." Their test of
goodness was that men should worship God
in the same way that they did ; and they
therefore settled the question of the franchise
very simply, by allowing none to vote who
were not members of the church. The mo
tive assigned was, " that the body of the
commons may be possessed of good and
honest men." We might think it would be
easy to join the church for the sake of secur
ing one's political rights ; but it was not so
simple a matter as it looks to us. The con
ferring with the church officers, the being
propounded, having one's past life examined,
and making public rehearsal of one's pri
vate experience, made it a complex affair
not to be lightly undertaken. There were
times when not more than one fifth of the
male population of Boston were church mem
bers and voters.
But if deprived of the franchise, the non-
voters were by no means deprived of church

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NEW ENGLAND. 97
privileges. Indeed, these privileges were
thrust upon them. Not only were they gov
erned by the churchiy rules, and obliged to
help support the pastor, but, whether they
would or not, they had to listen to his ser
mons. If any one absented himself from
church, he was hunted up by the tithing-
man, and fined five shillings for the first
offence. If he stayed away a whole month
together, he could be put in the stocks or in
the wooden cage. He had to come in time
too. In Scituate, one Bryant entered the
church after service had begun, and Parson
Wetherell, at the close of his prayer, thus
addressed him : " Neighbor Bryant, it is to
your reproach that you have disturbed the
worship by entering late, living as you do
within a mile of this place; and especially so
since here is Goody Barstow, who has milked
seven cows, made a cheese, and walked five
miles to the house of God in good season."
The New Haven code of laws ordered that
7

98 OLD COLONY DAYS.
profanation ofthe Lord's Day should be pun
ished by fine, imprisonment, or corporal pun
ishment; "and if proudly, and with a high
hand against the authority of God, — with
death." Though it was dangerous to stay away from
church, it was still more dangerous to go,
unless one were able to place a guard upon
one's tongue. We have seen how "Wanton
Gospellers " fared ; and the old records of
the different towns are full of sentences
against those whose criticisms were too free.
" Nathaniel Haddock was sentenced to be
severely whipped for declaring that he could
receive no profit from Mr. H.'s preaching.
Thomas Maule received ten stripes for de
claring that Mr. H. preached nothing but lies,
and that his instruction was the doctrine of
devils. The wife of Nicholas Phelps was sen
tenced to pay five pounds or be whipped, for
asserting that this same Mr. H. sent abroad
his wolves and bloodhounds among the sheep

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. 99
and lambs." Nor was it enough to abstain
from criticism. One had to give respectful
attention to the sermon ; for the tithing-man
was on the watch to see that every one kept
awake. He had his rod, with a fox-tail on
one end and a ball on the other. If it were a
woman who fell asleep, her face was brushed
with the fox-tail; if a man, he received a
smart tap on the head from the ball end.
Thomas Scott, of Lynn, was snoring so
audibly that a sound rap was necessary to
awaken him. He started up angrily, and
knocked the officer down. For this offence
he was taken to court and condemned to be
severely whipped for " common sleeping" at
public worship, and for striking him that
waked him. Then the boys ! It is a relief
to find how much akin these Puritan boys
were to the boys of to-day. In the records
of a justice of the peace in Connecticut are
notes of their "rude and idel behavior in the
meting hows, such as Smiling and Larfing,

100 OLD COLONY DAYS.
and pulling the hair of his nayber, benoni
Simkins in the time of public worship."
Some churches were obliged to allow twenty
shillings a year to an officer for looking to
the boys, and keeping peace in the church.
It was no small task to sit still and keep
awake during a sermon which lasted from
two to three hours, and that, too, in a church
without heat. Judge Sewall records that on
one occasion the sacrament bread was frozen
so hard that it rattled in the plate like beads.
And still the congregation sat solemnly quiet
until the minister got safely through his
finally and lastly.
If reverence for the minister was thus
rigidly enforced, still more strict were the
laws with regard to reverence for the church
and all that it stood for. Profanity was one
of the worst of crimes. A man in Hartford,
for " his filthy and profane expressions, viz.
that hee hoped to meet some of the members
of the Church in Hell before long, and he

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. I O I

did not question but hee should," was com
mitted to prison, " there to be kept in safe
custody till the sermon, and then to stand
the time thereof in the pillory, and after ser
mon to be severely whipped." Mr. Tomlin,
of Lynn, was fined for saying, " Curse ye
woodchuck! " and Mr. Dexter was "putt in
ye bilboes for prophane saying dam ye
cowe ! " What would a Harvard student of
to-day say to the case of Thomas Sargeant, a
student, two hundred and twenty years ago ?
" Thomas Sargeant was examined by the Cor
poration : finally the advice of Mr. Danforth,
Mr. Stoughton, Mr. Thatcher, Mr. Mather
(then present) was taken. This was his
sentence. That being convicted of speaking
blasphemous words concerning the H. G.*
he should be therefore publickly whipped
before all the Scholars. 2. That he should
be suspended as to taking his degree of
Bachelour (this sentence read to him twice
* The Holy Ghost.

102 OLD COLONY DAYS.
at the Pr'ts, before the committee, and in the
Library . . • ) 3- Sit alone by himself in
the Hall uncovered at meals, during the
pleasure of the President and fellows, and be
in all things obedient, doing what exercise
was appointed him by the President, or else
be finally expelled the Colledge. The first
was presently put in execution in the Library,
. . . before the Scholars. He kneeled down
and the instrument Goodman Hely attended
to the President's word as to the performance
of his part in the work. Prayer was had
before and after by the President." * It is
safe to say that Thomas did not swear again
in college. The prayer before and after the
whipping is as characteristic of the times as
the sentence itself.
In a community where words were so
carefully weighed and morals so closely
watched, where the clergy made the laws,
and the voters and office-holders had to be
* Sewall's Diary.

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. 103
church members, we can imagine the influ
ence and prestige of the preacher. There
was no talk in that day of keeping politics
out of the pulpit. To give his opinion on
all public questions, and to inform his people
of their duties, was a part of his task. The
election sermon was one of the great events
of the year. No pastor would neglect to tell
his people how to vote. His preaching was
not confined to the Sabbath. There was the
"great and Thursday,'' as they called it, —
the weekly lecture, which was to the seven
teenth century what the opera is to the nine
teenth. It was their one dissipation ; and it
became so much of a dissipation that the
General Court had to interfere to regulate
the, hours. It was held on Thursday in Bos
ton, and on other days in the neighboring
towns ; and there was much going back and
forth on these days. Judge Sewall often
took long rides in order to be in Salem or
elsewhere on lecture day, which was a day of

104 OLD COLONY DAYS.
visiting and hospitality. There were other
things besides the Gospel to give zest to the
Thursday lecture. On that day the names
of those who were intending marriage were
called aloud in the church. Those who
had committed some misdemeanor were pub
licly reproved before the whole congrega
tion. Greater offenders were placed, during
lecture hour, in the pillory, or the stocks,
which stood on either side of the meeting
house. People with troubled consciences
sometimes arose during the service and
made confession of secret sins. It was also
the day for the whipping-post: Therefore
there was no knowing what event you might
miss if you stayed away from the Thursday
lecture. The life of a minister was not a sinecure.
In addition to the Sunday sermons and the
Thursday lecture, Mr. Cotton preached three
times a week besides, — on Wednesday and
Thursday evening and Saturday afternoon.

EARLY AUTOCRAT OF NEW E.VGLAND. IO5
He also held a daily lecture in his own
house. Then there were the fast days and
other special days, when he would " spend
six hours in the word and in prayer." The
Rev. Joshua Moody wrote four thousand ser
mons in his lifetime. Preaching was only
one feature of the pastor's work. Among
his other duties were catechising the chil
dren of the parish, listening to cases of con
science, giving counsel on every subject, and
making pastoral visits. " He must have five
or six separate seasons for private prayer
daily, devoting each day in the week to
special meditations and intercessions — as,
Monday to his family, Tuesday to enemies,
Wednesday to the churches, Thursday to
other societies, Friday to persons afflicted,
and Saturday to his own soul." * He must
have his fast days both public and private.
And as nothing in the world was begun or
* T. 'W. Higginson, Atlantic Essays, p. 199.

Io6 OLD COLONY DAYS.
ended without prayer, he must officiate very
frequently in that way.
One would think this clerical life was as
full as it could be crowded ; but in addition
to these manifold duties, the pastor often had
to earn his own living, either by tilling the
acres given him or by skill in some other
direction ; for his salary was by no means in
proportion to his authority. Parson Everett,
of Sandwich, added to his slender income by
sweeping the meeting-house and taking care
of it, for which work he was paid the sum
of three dollars a year. The same thrifty
parson leased a fulling mill, and spent what
leisure he had in cleansing the homespun
clothes of his parishioners. Some of the
pastors earned small sums by drawing up
wills and other legal documents. Some
studied medicine, and kept a stock of drugs
for sale. The inscription on the grave of
Michael Wigglesworth, at Maiden, records:
" Here lyes interd in silent grave below
Maulden's Physician of Soul and Body too."

EARLY AUTOCRAT OF NEW ENGLAND. 107
Others of the pastors were coopers, car
penters, millers, or cobblers. Many of them
who had no trade at command received
students into their families to prepare for
college. It might be thought that in a community
which was governed by the laws of Moses,
which was settled in the wilderness, and
removed from the temptations of cities, the
pastor would have but little difficulty in
keeping his flock in order, — that he would
need to preach only doctrinal sermons.
There were doctrinal sermons, it is true; for
were there not eighty-two " pestilential her
esies " to contend against? But there were
also many practical sermons. There were,
as we have seen, " pnishouse, odious and
Squerulous words" to be suppressed; there
were the fashions to be preached about, —
the wearing of veils, and of "slashed apparel"
and of " immoderate great sleeves." And
for the men there were sermons against long

loS OLD COLONY DAYS.
hair, and later, against the ungodly fashion of
periwigs. If you think it is only in our day
that people are the slaves of fashion, listen to
what the Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich,
had to say to the women two hundred and
forty years ago. He will borrow, he says,
" a little of their loosed tongued liberty and
misspend a word or two upon their long
waisted but short skirted patience. I honor
the woman that can honor herself with her
attire; a good text always deserves a fair
margent but as for a woman who lives but to
ape the newest court fashions, I look at her
as the very gizzard of a trifle, the product of
a quarter of a cipher, the epitome of nothing;
fitter to be kicked if she were of a kickable
substance than either honored or humored.
To speak moderately, I truly confess, it is
beyond my understanding to conceive how
these women should have any true grace or
valuable virtue, that have so little wit as to
disfigure themselves with exotic garbs, as

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NEW ENGLAND. 109
not only dismantles their native, lovely lustre
but transclouts them into gaunt bar-geese,
ill shapen shotten shellfish, Egyptian hiero
glyphics, or at the best into French flirts of
the pastry, which a proper English woman
should scorn with her heels. It is no marvel
they wear drails on the hinder part of their
heads ; having nothing, it seems, in the fore
part but a few squirrels' brains to help them
frisk from one ill favored fashion to another."
There were also sermons to be preached
against the popish superstitions of keep
ing Christmas and saints' holidays. There
vvere certain worldly practices and amuse
ments that new comers were trying to bring
over. If we would see how they handled
their subjects, we may read Increase Mather's
sermon entitled, " Testimony against several
popular and superstitious customs now prac
ticed by some in New England. Against
stage plays, promiscuous dancing, health
drinking, cards and dice and such like games.

no OLD COLONY DAYS.
Against profane Christmas keeping. Against
New Year's gifts. Candlemas, Shrove Tues
day. The vanity of making cakes on such a
day." As for more serious subjects, we learn
from Cotton Mather with what enemies they
had to contend. The seventh book of his
remarkable Magnalia, entitled "A Book of
the Wars of the Lord," narrates the afflic
tive disturbances which the churches of New
England have suffered from their various
adversaries, viz.: "the Devil, Separatists,
Familists, Antinomians, Quakers, Clerical
imposters and Indians." As for the first of
these, we fear he is still abroad in the land ;
and for the last of the seven, — the Indians
— they were regarded as the natural children
of the devil, his worshippers and followers.
To exterminate them was to weaken the
powers of darkness. Eliot and Mayhew,
indeed, prayed for their conversion; but
during King Phillip's War, Increase Mather

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NE IV ENGLAND. 1 1 1
prayed openly, in the pulpit, every Sunday,
for the death of that miserable monarch.
On a certain Sunday he forgot to insert that
clause in his prayer, and was greatly troubled
by the omission, until he learned afterward
that his prayers had already been effectual,
— that King Phillip had died before the Sun
day in question. The other enemies men
tioned — Separatists, Familists, Antinomians,
and Quakers — were, most of them, con
quered after long and bitter struggles, and
driven forth into that " Paradise of heretics,"
— Rhode Island.
Not all of them, however, reached that
haven. Some few were put to death. We
who love New England may, indeed, wish
that no Quakers had ever been hanged on
Boston Common. But we may wish also
that the Quakers had not chosen to go
through the streets and into the churches
naked, or clothed in sackcloth and ashes.
And we must admit that even our tolerant

112 OLD COLONY DAYS.
modern divines would find it somewhat irri
tating to have people stand up in the congre
gation and interrupt the sermon with such
epithets as these : " Thou firebrand I thou
moon-calf! thou gormandizing priest! thou
bane of reason and beast of the earth ! " We
must remember, too, that these disturbers of
the peace were begged to leave in peace, and
take themselves and their heresy elsewhere;
but that they persisted in returning to Bos
ton, and courted death by making them
selves as conspicuous as possible. We must
remember also that the Quakers were not
merely heretics ; they opposed themselves to
the political order of things. They would
not bear arms or pay taxes; they refused
allegiance to the charter, and denied the
authority of the laws. Moreover, it was not
an age of toleration. Those who have said
that our Puritan forefathers came here to
found freedom of worship, and then turned
persecutors themselves, have wholly mis-

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. 1 1 3
taken their motives. Liberty of worship was
farthest from their thoughts. They came
here to worship God in their own way; but
they were just as certain that their way was
the way as was ever Archbishop Laud him
self. They believed that the presence of
such people would endanger the Common
wealth, and that they had a right to brand
them with H. for heretic, and R. for rogue,
and drive them from their midst. " Let us
be just, even to the unjust!" says Colonel
Higginson. In any history of the founders of New
England how many of the honored and
familiar names belong to the ranks of
the clergy ! We cannot think of Hartford
without Thomas Hooker; of Providence
without Roger Williams ; of Cambridge with
out the " holy, heavenly, sweet-affecting, soul-
ravishing Mr. Shephard ; " or of Boston
without John Cotton and the three genera
tions of Mathers, — father, son, and grand-

114 OLD COLONY DAYS.
son. In the old burying-ground on Copp's
Hill is a table-like monument bearing the
names of Increase Mather and Cotton Mather.
The names on the moss-covered stone are
almost illegible, and the memory of them
has also grown dim in men's minds ; but no
two men ever had greater influence in Boston
than the tWo who lie in this forgotten grave.
Historians refer to their day as the Mather
dynasty. Increase Mather (whose name "was
given him by his father because of the never-
to-be-forgotten Increase, of every sort, where
with God favored the country, about the time
of his Nativity,") was for more than sixty
years the pastor of the old North Church,
and during a great part of that time was
also president of Harvard College. From
his diaries we might think his whole hfe
was given up to ecstatic prayers, divine
afflations, and visions; but he gave the clos
est attention to public affairs. Although he
held no office, no question of importance was

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. I 1 5
decided in Boston without his advice. In
those dark days when Charles II. was de
manding the surrender of her charter- from
Massachusetts, the freemen of Boston met
together, and invited Increase Mather to give
them his views of this " Case of Conscience."
He urged them to trust themselves in the
hands of God rather than in the hands of
men, — that is, to hold on to their charter.
At the close of his " pungent speech, many
of the Freemeii fell into tears ; and there was
a general acclamation, ' We thank you, Syr.
We thank you, Syr.' " The assembly voted
against the surrender of the charter without
a dissenting voice.
When the charter was annulled by James
II., and the hated governor. Sir Edmund
Andros, sent over, Mr. Mather opposed with
great plainness every encroachment of the
new government. Andros and his associates
recognized his power, and paid him the com
pliment of hating him thoroughly. " New

Il6 OLD COLONY DAYS.
England's Mahomett," they called him, —
" The Bellows of Sedition and Treason."
When the tyranny of Andros became unen
durable, and the colony decided to send an
agent to England to complain of it and to
labor for a new charter, Mr. Mather was
chosen for the mission. He had two or
three audiences with King James, and ob
tained fair promises from the crafty king;
but before anything was done, James was
obliged to. flee, and the power passed into
the hands of William and Mary. The new
monarchs had so many important problems
to solve that they could not, at first, give
special thought to the colonies across the
sea. Therefore they issued a circular letter
to all the colonies, confirming the old gov
ernors until further orders. This would rein
state Sir Edmund Andros. But, in the
mean time, the people of Boston, as soon as
they heard of the revolution in England, had
risen up in revolt, had placed Andros and

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NEW ENGLAND. 1 1 7
his associates in prison, and had restored the
old government as it was under the charter.
Increase Mather knew that if Andros were
restored to power, though only for a short
time, he would bitterly revenge himself for
the indignities he had suffered. Mather,
therefore, took upon himself the responsi
bility of interfering with the royal letter, and
in some way succeeded in stopping it. He
then waited upon the king and queen at
every opportunity, and pressed the claims of
New England. With all his efforts he could
not obtain the restoration of the old charter;
and the charter that he finally secured was
very unsatisfactory to the colonists. It left
to the king the appointment of a governor.
There were some advantages, however, which
they failed to appreciate. Although the
crown appointed the governor, the colonists
paid him, and in their own way ; and that
gave them a hold upon the royal governors
which they did not fail to use, down to the

Il8 OLD COLQNY DAYS.
time of the Revolution. The king showed
his appreciation of Mr. Mather's importance
by the singular favor of allowing him to
choose the new governor, as well as the other
officers to be appointed by the crown. Mr.
Mather chose for the first governor that
famous knight. Sir William Phipps, whose
history is a romance by itself
The new charter had one provision which
was very distasteful, even to Mr. Mather.
It extended the franchise to allow other than
church members to vote. This, so far as the
power of the clergy was concerned, was the
" beginning of the end." Increase Mather
was the last possessor of the almost absolute
power of the Puritan clergy. Nevertheless,
for a time, nearly equal power and importance
belonged to his son. Cotton Mather, who was
descended not only from the Mathers, but
from the "father and glory of Boston," —
John Cotton. An epitaph was written for
his grandfather, —

EARLY A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. 1 1 9

" Here lies Richard Mather,
'Who had a son greater than his father.
And a grandson greater than either."
We can best understand the spirit of those
old Puritan divines, and the atmosphere in
which they lived, by a glance at Cotton
Mather's childhood. Truly, in his case, the
child was father to the man. He began to
pray, he says, when he began to speak. He
used secret prayer, not confining himself to
forms. But when he was seven or eight
years old, he composed forms of prayer for
his schoolmates and obliged them to pray.
" I rebuked my playmates for their wicked
words and ways; and sometimes suffered
from them the persecution of not only Scoffs
but Blows also, for my rebukes." His chief
fault, he says, was idleness ; yet we find that
at the age of eleven he could speak Latin so
readily that he was able to write the notes
of sermons in that language. He had con
versed with Cato, Terence, Tully, Ovid, and

I20 OLD COLONY DAYS.
Virgil, had made epistles and themes, had
gone through a great part of the New Testa
ment in Greek, had read considerably in
Socrates and Homer, and had made some
entrance into Hebrew grammar. Before he
came to the age of fourteen, he had " com
posed Hebrew exercises and ran through the
other sciences." At twelve he was admitted
to Harvard College, and graduated at six
teen. When he took his second degree, the
subject ofhis thesis was, "The Hebrew vowel
points are of divine origin."
He was but twenty years old when he was
called to be his father's assistant in the North
Church; and he remained minister of that
church all his life. A leaf from his diary
gives a glimpse of his daily life at this time.
" Read Exodus, 34, 35, 36. Prayed, Exam
ined the children; read Descartes; read com
mentators ; breakfasted ; prepared sermon ;
took part in family prayer; heard pupils
recite; read Salmon on medicine; dined;

EARL Y A UTOCRA T OF NEW ENGLAND. 121
visited many friends; read various books;
prepared sermon ; heard pupils recite ; med
itated; prayed; supped; prepared sermon;
took part in family prayer." As the record
of a week's work we find that he preached
on Lord's Day and on Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, and Thursday. He very often
preached five times in one week, and some
times five times in two days. In one year he
observed sixty private fast days and twenty
vigils. On one occasion two friends hap
pened in when he was busy with a private
fast, and instead of giving it up, he "preached
unto them three, sermons, each of them about
an hour long apeece." Naturally, with so
much fasting and prayer, he saw visions.
At one time an angel appeared to him in
white and shining robes, with wings and a
tiara. He had also his personal encounters
with the devil. He records his temptations in
Latin, for fear, as he adds in Latin, " lest my
dear wife, sometime looking over these papers.

122 OLD COLONY DAYS.
should understand it." What wonder then
that he believed not only in the bad spirits
and the good, but also in demoniacal posses
sion, and was firmly convinced that certain
people had sold themselves to the devil, and
had become witches ! The darkest stain upon
the name of Cotton Mather is his relation
to the witchcraft tragedy. There are those
who still refuse to believe him. sincere in that
matter, who accuse him of having fomented
the excitement in order to restore his own
and his father's waning power. But tlie more
we see him as he saw himself, and the more
we study his diary, the more we are con
vinced that, however misguided, he was sin
cere. There was no question of not believing
in witchcraft. Everybody believed in witch
craft. The history of that remarkable craze
is another story, and it is only touched upon
here because of the obloquy which has at
tached to Cotton Mather on account of it.
Historians have left a terrible picture of him

EARLY A UTOCRA T OF NEW ENGLAND. 1 23
on his white horse, riding around the com
mon, during the hanging of the witches, stir
ring the people up to greater fury. But
there is no doubt that, with his emotional
and excitable nature. Cotton Mather felt that
he was waging a personal war with Satan
for the control of New England.
Of his emotional nature we have many
proofs in his diaries. He is always on the
mountain-top or in the valley. He is either
" under a divine afflatus, wonderfully irradi
ated," or else he is full of " dejected and
abasing thoughts of his own extraordinary
vileness." He is frequently prostrate on his
study floor, in the dust; and he speaks of
leaving floods of tears upon the floor. When
preparing a sermon, he says, " I first laid my
sinful mouth in the Dust on my Study-floor
before the Lord, where I cast myself, in my
supplications for His Assistance and Accept
ance, as utterly unworthy thereof." It is
difficult for us to conceive of the extremely

124 OLD COLONY DAYS.
personal character of his religion, — his
constant communication with the " invisible
world." His relations with the devil were
equally personal. One Sunday morning
Satan's emissaries stole the carefully pre
pared notes of his sermon. He entered the
pulpit, nevertheless, and preached extempore.
" So the divil got nothing out of it," he said.
When the demons brought their books for
the possessed to sign away their souls, he
regarded it as a direct defiance from hell,
against his efforts ; for he worked for God
by writing books. After this challenge he
worked more busily at it than ever. The
titles of his printed works number three hun
dred and eighty-three, — all of them religious
or theological. It was a poor year that did
not bring out ten or twelve works from his
pen. His great work, his labor of love, was
the " Magnalia Christi Americana," or, the
" Ecclesiastical History of New England.''
Considered as literature, the Magnalia is very

EARLY A UTOCRA T OF NE W ENGLAND. 1 2 5
dull reading; but as a mirror of the Puritan
style of thinking, it is invaluable.
We have seen that the new charter, which
gave the privilege of voting to non-church
members, dealt a heavy blow to the clergy.
The witchcraft tragedy finally broke the
power of the theocracy. For the last thirty
years of their lives, the Mathers — father and
son — fought an ever-losing battle against the
new order of things. They used every means
in their power, both fair and foul, historians
say, to restore the polity of the fathers. But
all in vain. The theocracy could not be
restored. The old regime ended with the
Mathers. The ministers of the eighteenth
century occupied a very different position
from those of the nineteenth. The keys of
heaven and hell they might still hold, but the
management of the affairs of this world was
taken out of their hands. The days of the
autocrat were over !

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE.

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE.
'' I ^HE seventeenth century was fortu-
nate in possessing three of the most
princely gossips that ever lived, — Saint
Simon in France, the immortal Pepys in
England, and the good Judge Sewall in Bos
ton. Each of these men wrote down from
day to day, apparently for his own use, the
occurrences of the day, — the details of the
life about him ; and each has given us an
incomparable picture of the world in which
he lived, — a picture which no historian, biog
rapher, poet, or painter could have equalled.
And they have painted three widely differing
worlds. Nothing could better illustrate the
differences between the countries they repre
sent than the pages of these old diaries of
the seventeenth century.
9 139

I30 OLD COLONY DAYS.
With Saint Simon the world means the
Court of France, and the problem of life re
solves itself into a question of precedence.
The privilege of being present at the petit
lever and the petit coiicher, the king's get
ting up and the king's going to bed, is an
honor worth any amount of striving and
fighting and fawning. Life has no higher
reward than the honor of being chosen to
place upon the sacred body of majesty the
royal shirt. What conflicts, what heart burn
ings, what cruel disappointments, what bitter
enmities in that long and weary struggle over
the all-important question as to which of the
peers are entitled to keep their hats on in
the king's presence ! Saint Simon, it is true,
does sometimes take a look at the busy,
swarming multitude who live outside the
palace of Versailles, but only as a man
somewhat interested in natural history might
watch with curiosity the habits of the animals
which were created for his comfort and sup-

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 131
port. There is enough of corruption and im
morality in the great palace; intrigue and
scandal are the daily food of this nobility,
so proud of its birth. But it is sin with its
dress-coat on, taking itself seriously, which is
almost as dull and uninteresting as virtue
itself. In the pages of Pepys we still have some
thing of the Court; but it is no longer the
Court of the grand monarch ; it is the Court
of Charles II. and Nell Gwynne. The sub
ject of life is no longer dignity, but pleasure.
Pepys tells us over and over again that he
had a " mighty good time," that it was
" mighty pleasant," that he and his friends
were " mighty merry together." There is
plenty of good eating and drinking, and
sometimes the cheerful record, " drunk and
so to bed." There are actors and actresses,
and " drunken, roaring courtiers." There are
hundreds of interesting people who have
nothing to do with the Court. For Pepys

132 OLD COLONY DAYS.
confesses that he hobnobs with "tag, rag, and
bobtail," and often spends his nights in danc
ing, singing, and drinking. When we go to
the play, we go behind the scenes and joke
and carry on with the actress ; and poor
Pepys sometimes carries this so far that his
wife, in her jealousy, waves the tongs over
his head, and threatens a beating. Pepys, in
his turn, is jealous, and has been known to
give his wife a black eye. But we must not
forget that in spite of all this he is a respec
table man, occupying a prominent public po
sition. As to his moral standard, he thinks
it is not decent to be more honest than those
around him. In regard to his taxes, he feels
some scruples about cheating, but fears it
would "be thought vain glory" if he did
differently from the rest. So, rather than
appear eccentric, he will remain a thief He
says he will not be bribed to be unjust, but
is " not so squeamish as to refuse a present
after." There is immorality enough in this

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 33
world of Pepys ; but it wears its every-day
clothes, and is vastly more interesting than
the stately vice which solemnly parades itself
in the pages of Saint Simon.
Turning from these books to the diary of
Judge Sewall is like turning away from the
footlights, and from the heavy, unnatural at
mosphere of the theatre, to come out into
the pure air, under a clear sky. For a
glimpse of his moral standpoint as compared
with theirs, take this incident which the judge
records with pain: "September 3d 1686 —
Mr. Shrimpton, Captain Lidget and others
come in a Coach from Roxbury about nine
o'clock or past, singing as they come, being
inflamed with Drink. At Justice Morgan's
they stop and drink Healths, curse, swear,
talk profanely and baudily, to the great dis
turbance of the Town and grief of good
people. Such high handed wickedness has
hardly been heard of before in Boston."
There we have the worst that can be said

134 OLD COLONY DAYS.
of Boston. A few drunken rowdies riding
through the streets — an every-day affair in
London — is the most high-handed wicked
ness this Puritan community has ever known.
The diary of Judge Sewall fills four volumes
of the Massachusetts Historical Society's col
lection, and is a storehouse to which the stu
dent must always go, if he would understand
the New England Puritan of the second
generation. The worthy magistrate little
dreamed, as he jotted down from day to day
the doings of himself, his family, and his
neighbors, including their little peculiarities
and peccadilloes, that he was bestowing a
boon for which posterity would never cease
to be grateful.
The author of the diary was Samuel
Sewall, a resident of New England for sev
enty years, and, for a great part of that
period, one of her magistrates. His father,
Henry Sewall, " out of dislike to the English
Hierarchy," came to this country in 1634,

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 135
and settled in Newbury. He married there ;
but a little later, when the rule of Cromwell
made England more tolerable for the Puri
tans, he returned to the old home. Samuel
was born at Bishop Stoke in 1652. The
restoration of the worst ofthe Stuarts — King
Charles II. — brought the family back to
New England in 1661, when Samuel was
nine years old. After five years' instruction
from the Rev. Mr. Parker, the blind preacher
of Newbury, he entered Harvard College at
the age of fourteen. The college was still
very primitive. The tuition was paid in
produce; and the government of the stu
dents was strictly paternal, corporal punish
ment being by no means uncommon. Yet
they turned out good, solid men. Unfortu
nately, Sewall's diary does not begin until
after his college days. After graduation he
became a Resident Fellow of the college, and
was keeper of the library. He was strongly
inchned to the ministry ; and among the first

136 OLD COLONY DAYS.
entries of the journal it is frequently set down
that he " commonplaced," — i. e., delivered
religious discourses to the students. He re
cords also his first sermon, when, " being
afraid to look on the glass, he ignorantly and
unwittingly stood two hours and a half"
He was for some time undecided as to the
choice of a profession, and was greatly exer
cised with regard to his " spiritual estate."
But at last he gave up the idea of the minis
try, and settled down into a devout and con
scientious layman.
We get curious glimpses into the Puritan
habit of mind from the pious reflections he
was wont to make in connection with the
most ordinary and trivial events. When he
fed his chickens, he reflected on his own
need of spiritual food, and hoped that he
should not nauseate daily duties of prayer,
etc. When he sat down to a solitary dinner
of baked pigeons, he prayed that he might
be " wise as a Serpent and as harmless as a

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 37
Dove." When he is weighed, he prays that
" the Lord may add or take away from our
corporal weight, so as shall be most advan
tageous for our spiritual growth." Feeling,
on the Lord's Day, " dull and heavy and list
less as to spiritual Good; Carnal, Lifeless ;"
he sighed to God that he would quicken him.
The next day, when his house is broken into
and twenty pounds' worth of silver and linen
stolen, he regards it as an answer to his
prayer, because he was helped to submit to
the stroke. When the thief is caught and
put in prison, " the stroke is turned into a
kiss of God."
In 167I Sewall was married to Hannah
Hull, daughter of Capt. John Hull of pine-
tree shilling fame. Mistress Hannah had
been present at Harvard when the young stu
dent took his degree, and had set her affec
tions on him at that time, although he knew
nothing of it until after their marriage, two
years later. The diary makes no mention of

138 OLD COLONY DAYS.
the marriage; but tradition tells us that the
bride was valued as worth her weight in sil
ver, and that the carefully weighed amount
went with her as her dowry. Many times
was the husband called upon to stand in the
Old South Church and offer up to God in
baptism a tiny morsel of humanity. Some
of these children died in infancy; but others
always came to take their places, " so that by
the underserved goodness of God," says the
father, " we were never without a child."
Fourteen children were born from this mar
riage ; and scattered through the pages of
the diary are quaint pictures of the solemn
life of the staid little Puritans. The father
sadly records : " November 6, 1692. Joseph
threw a knop of brass and hit his Sister Betty
on the forhead so as to make it bleed and
swell; upon which, and for his playing at
Prayer-time, and eating when Return Thanks,
I whipd him pretty smartly. When I first
went in (call'd by his Grandmother) he sought

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 39
to shadow and hide himself from me behind
the head of the Cradle : which gave me the
sorrowfull remembrance of Adam's carriage."
Joseph, at this time, when he committed the
sin of eating when thanks was being returned,
and playing in prayer time, was four years
old. Poor little Betty's troubles, however, were
the worst. How one's heart aches for the
poor little tortured soul I Betty's troubles
began when she was only eight years old,
when it fell to her share to read in family
prayer the twenty-fourth chapter of Isaiah
with its dread pictures of the judgments of
God. Betty read with many tears ; and the
contents of the chapter, and sympathy with
her, drew tears from the father also. When
Betty was about fifteen. Judge Sewall came
home one night to find the family in distress.
" She had given some signs of dejection and
sorrow; but a little after diner she burst out
into an amazing cry, which caused all the

140 OLD COLONY DAYS.
family to cry too ; Her Mother asked the
reason; she gave none; at last she said she
was afraid she should goe to Hell, her sins
were not pardon'd. She was first wounded
by my reading a Sermon of Mr. Norton's
about the 5th of Jan. Text Jno. 7.34. Ye
shall seek me and shall not find me. And
those words in the Sermon Jno. 8.21. Ye
shall seek me and shall die in your sins, ran
in her mind, and terrified her greatly. And
staying at home Jan. 12 she read out of
Mr. Cotton Mather — Why hath Satan filled
thy heart, which increas'd her Fear. Her
Mother ask'd her whether she pray'd. She
answer'd Yes ; but feared her prayers were
not heard because her Sins not pardon'd."
The pastor was sent for and " pray'd excel
lently, but without effect."
For a whole week the child had been
carrying this dreadful fear before she spoke
of it. A few weeks later the father writes :
"Feb. 22, 169! — Betty comes in to me

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. I41
almost as soon as I was up and tells me the
disquiet she had when waked ; told me was
afraid should go to Hell, was like Spira, not
Elected. Ask'd her what I should pray for,
she said, that God would pardon her Sin and
give her a new heart. I answer'd her Fears
as well as I could, and pray'd with many
Tears on either part; hope God heard us.
I gave her solemnly to God." Two months
later he records : " Betty can hardly read her
chapter from weeping; tells me she is afraid
she is gon back, does not taste that sweet
ness in reading the Word which once she
did; fears that what was once upon her is
worn off. I said what I could to her and in
the evening pray'd with her alone." Betty's
fears were never entirely allayed. This ter
rible shadow of non-election darkened her
life even after she was married and had chil
dren of her own. On the day of her death
her father wrote sadly: "I hope God has
delivered her now from all her fears."

142 OLD COLONY DAYS.
Little Sam also had his doubts and fears.
He was ten years old when a playmate died
of small-pox. The judge thought he ought
to " tell Sam. of it and what need he had to
prepare for Death, and therefore to endeavor
really to pray when he said over the Lord's
Prayer: He seemed not much to mind, eat
ing an Aple; but when he came to say. Our
father, he burst out into a bitter Cry, and
when I ask't what was the matter and he
could speak, he burst out into a bitter Cry
and said he was afraid he should die. I
pray'd with him, and read Scriptures com
forting against death, as, O death where is
thy sting etc. All things yours. Life and
Immortality brought to light by Christ etc."
Perhaps Sam's fears were heightened by the
fact that his father had, not long before, cor
rected him for breach of the ninth command
ment, — for saying he had been at the writing
school when he had not.
Sewall had the greatest confidence in his

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 143
wife, as is shown by an entry made in the jour
nal many years after his marriage, — "Jan.
24, i7of. . . . Took 24 s. in my pocket, and
gave my Wife the rest of my cash £^ 3-8,
and tell her she shall now keep the Cash ; If
I want I will borrow of her. She has a better
faculty than I at managing Affairs : I will
assist her ; and will endeavor to live upon
my Salary; will see what it will doe. The
Lord give his Blessing."
Sewall held many public offices after he
gave up the ministry. In 1678 he was one
of the perambulators of bounds for Muddy
River. In 1681 he was appointed to under
take the management of the printing press in
Boston. He was one of a committee to draw
up instructions for the deputies. In 1683 he
was chosen one of the seven commissioners
of the town to assess rates. In the same
year he became a member of the General
Court, — i. e., a deputy. Later he was made
a magistrate.

144 OLD COLONY DAYS.
His first years in office were the darkest
years in New England. He had but just
been made deputy when the king, Charles IL,
demanded the return of the charter from the
colony. " A great town meeting was held in
the old South Meeting House, and the mod
erator requested all who were for surrender
ing the charter to hold up their hands. Not
a hand was lifted, and out from the throng
a solitary voice exclaimed, with deep drawn
breath, ' The Lord be praised ! ' Then arose
Increase Mathar, president of Harvard Col
lege, and reminded them how their fathers did
win this charter, and should they deliver it
up into the spoiler who demanded it even as
Ahab required Naboth's vineyard. Oh ! their
children would be bound to curse them."
When the news of this meeting reached Lon
don, the charter of the colony was at once
annulled. The loss of their charter meant
much to these men of Massachusetts. It
meant not only that they could no longer

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 145
elect one of their own number as governor,
but that they must be ruled by whomsoever
the king would send over; it meant not only
that the foundations were taken away on
which all their institutions, political and ec
clesiastical, rested ; it meant also that all their
lands reverted to the crown; that the land
titles of individuals, which had rested on the
charter, were void ; that the owners could no
longer hold their lands except by paying quit
rent to the king.
There is little of definite history in Sewall's
record, but there is much insight into the
strained relations existing between the new
governor, Andros, and the people. One
cause of ill will was his appropriating the
Old South Meeting-House for the service of
the Church of England. He enjoyed the
joke of prolonging his services, and keeping
the humiliated Puritans outside for an hour
or two in the cold, awaiting their turn. This
dispute finally led to the building of King's

146 OLD COLONY DAYS.
Chapel, — the first Episcopal church in New
England. During the rule of Andros, Sewall made a
journey to London, not only to look after
property there, but to join with Increase
Mather and others of the colony who were
there, in the effort to obtain a restoration of
the charter. It was characteristic that before
sailing he invited his friends to hold a day
of prayer at his home. " Mr. Williard pray'd
and preached excellently from Ps. 143. 10;
pray'd. Intermission. Mr. Allen pray'd,
then Mr. Moodey, both verj^ well, then 3d-7th
verses of the 86th Ps., sung Cambridge short
Tune, which I set." On his return he again
invited in his friends, to the number of
twenty, for a service of gratitude. " Mr.
Cotton Mather returned Thanks in an excel
lent maner. Sung part of the Six and
fifteth Psalm. I set it to Windsor Tune."
Just as Sewall arrived in England, he was
met by the report of the flight of James II.

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 147
and the landing of William and Mary. When
the news reached Boston, there was great re
joicing. Bells were rung ; guns were fired ;
the citizens came together and clapped the
obnoxious governor into prison. They chose
old Simon Bradstreet, then eighty-seven years
of age, to be their governor once more.
They hoped for a restoration of the charter.
But William and Mary, though favorably dis
posed toward Massachusetts, were resolved
to govern it in their own way. The new
charter was very different from the old. The
governors were to be appointed by the crown,
instead of elected by the people. All laws
passed by the legislature were to be sent to
England for royal approval ; and the fran
chise was not to be limited to church mem
bers. Massachusetts was no longer a colony.
She had become a royal province.
Judge Sewall returned to Boston, and held
office under the new regime as he had under
the old. He had grave and troublous prob-

148 OLD COLONY DAYS.
lems to study. It was the time of the terrible
witchcraft excitement. The idea that certain
people had sold themselves to the devil and
were tormenting their neighbors had taken
firm hold of the public mind. A hundred
persons were in jail, accused of witchcraft.
The governor. Sir William Phipps, appointed
a special commission, consisting of seven men,
to try these cases. Judge Sewall was one of
the seven. By their decision twenty innocent
people were put to death. Then came the
reaction. The eyes of magistrates and people
were opened. They saw their mistake. A
day was appointed for fasting and prayer, on
account of what might have been done amiss
" in the late tragedy, raised among us by
Satan and his instruments, through the awful
judgment of God." When sickness and death
came into Judge Sewall's family, he looked
upon it as a direct punishment for his own
part in this miserable matter. He winced
when Sam, reciting his Latin Scripture les-

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 149
son, came to this verse : " If ye had known
what this meaneth, I will have mercy and not
sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the
guiltless." It " did awfully bring to mind the
Salem Tragedie," he says. He " put up a
bill " for public prayers. There is no more
impressive and solemn moment in the life of
Judge Sewall than that when he stood up in
the South Meeting-House, and listened with
bowed head to his own public confession
read as follows: "Samuel Sewall, sensible of
the reiterated strokes of God upon himself
and family; and being sensible, that as to the
Guilt contracted upon the opening of the late
Commission of Oyer and Terminer at Salem
(to which the order for this Day relates) he is,
upon many accounts, more concerned than
any that he knows of. Desires to take the
Blame and shame of it. Asking pardon of
men. And especially desiring prayers that
God, who has an Unlimited Authority, would
pardon that sin and all other his sins; per-

150 OLD COLONY DAYS.
sonal and Relative : And according to his
infinite Benignity and Sovereignty, Not Visit
the sin of him, or of any other, upon himself
or any of his, nor upon the Land : But that
He would powerfully defend him against all
Temptations to Sin, for the future ; and
vouchsafe him the efficacious, saving Con
duct of his Word and Spirit."
None of Sewall's associates in the unhappy
business followed his example in doing pen
ance publicly. When the chief judge of the
witch trials, Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton,
heard of it, he said he had no such confes
sion to make, as he had acted according to
the best light God had given him.
Sewall's repentance did not end with this
public confession and humiliation. Tradi
tion tells us that every year, for forty years,
he set aside a day for prayer and fasting, in
remembrance of this greatest mistake of his
life. Whittier has preserved this tradition in
his beautiful ballad : —

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 15 I
" Touching and sad, a tale is told.
Like a penitent hymn of the Psalmist old.
Of the fast which the good man lifelong kept
'With a haunting sorrow that never slept.
All the day long from dawn to dawn.
His door was bolted, his curtain drawn ;
No foot on his silent threshold trod.
No eye looked on him save that of God,
As he baffled the ghosts of the dead with charms
Of penitent tears, and prayers, and psalms.
And, with precious proofs from the sacred word
Of the boundless pity and love of the Lord,
His faith confirmed and his trust renewed
That the sin of his ignorance, sorely rued.
Might be washed away in the mingled flood
Of his human sorrow and Christ's dear blood ! "
Whether he kept this anniversary or not,
fasts were not infrequent with Judge Sewall.
Public fasts were appointed, and these he re
ligiously kept. He was often invited to the
houses of his friends to observe a fast with
them, and he frequently entertained them in
the same way. In addition he had his own
private fasts. When affliction visited him,
when he had some question to decide, or

152 OLD COLONY DAYS.
when he was about to engage in some under
taking on which he desired the blessing of
the Lord, he spent a day in prayer and fast
ing. This was not done for the approval of
others. The only account of it is in his
diary, written for his eyes alone. None but
his family knew when he withdrew into his
own room, closed the curtains, shut out the
world, and spent the long day in communion
with his God.
In his quaint, methodical way he some
times entered in his journal a list of the sub
jects which he presented to the Lord in
prayer. "February 9; i7o|- The Apoint-
ment of a Judge for the Super. Court being
to be made upon next Fifth day, Febr. 12,
I pray'd God to Accept me in keeping a
privat day of Prayer with fasting for That
and other Important Matters : I kept it
upon the Third day Febr. 10, 170^ in the
uper Chamber at the North East end of
the House, fastening the Shutters next the

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 53
Street. — Perfect what is lacking in my Faith
and in the faith of my dear Yoke-fellow.
Convert my children ; especially Samuel and
Hanah ; Provide rest and Settlement for
Hanah : Recover Mary, Save Judith, Elisa
beth and Joseph; Requite the Labour of
Love of my Kinswoman Jane Tappin, Give
her health, find out Rest for her. Make
David a man after thy own heart. Let Susan
live and be baptised with the Holy Ghost,
and with fire. Relations. Steer the Govern
ment in this difficult time, when the Gover-
nour and many others are at so much
Variance : Direct, incline, overrule on the
Council-day fifth day, Febr. 12, as to the
special Work of it in filling the Super. Court
with Justices ; or any other thing of like
nature; as Plim° infer Court. Bless the
Company for propagation of the Gospel,
especially Gov' Ashurst &c. Revive the
Business of Religion at Natick, and accept
and bless John Neesnumin who went thither

154 OLD COLONY DAYS.
last week for that end. Mr. Rawson at Nan
tucket. Bless the South Church in preserv
ing and spiriting our Pastor; in directing
unto suitable Supply, and making the Church
unanimous : Save the Town, College ; Prov
ince from Invasion of Enemies, open. Secret,
and from false Brethern : Defend the Purity
of Worship. Save Connecticut, bless their
new Governour: Save the Reformation under
N. York Governm'. Reform all the Euro
pean Plantations in America; Spanish, Portu
guese, English, French, Dutch ; Save this
New World, that where Sin hath abounded,
Grace may Superabound ; that CHRIST who
is stronger, would bind the strong man
and spoil his house ; and order the Word
to be given, Babylon is fallen. — Save our
Queen, lengthen out her Life and Reign.
Save France, make the Proud helper stoop
(Job IX 13), Save all Europe; Save Asia,
Africa, Europe and America. These were
gen'l heads of my Meditation and prayer;

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. I 55
and through the bounteous Grace of GOD, I
had a very Comfortable day of it." The
prayer of the Puritan has been compared
to the newspaper of to-day. It left out noth
ing. The atmosphere of prayer is constantly
present throughout his life. " There was no
variance or break, no stagnation or ebb in
his religious life. This was continuous and
uniform, in his closet, his family circle, the
church, the court room, in college business,
the council chamber, the town meeting and
the school visitation."
He dwelt upon the thought that in the
midst of life we are in death. The subject
of death was never far distant from his
thoughts. Tombs and graves had a fascina
tion for him. He tells that in visiting the
family tomb he was " entertained " by the
coffins of his "Father and Mother Hull," and
of his six children. He says, "Twas an awful
yet pleasing treat." His greatest dissipation
was funerals. As we follow the long proces-

156 OLD COLONY DAYS.
sion of dead Bostonians whom he helped to
lay away, we almost get the impression that
he was a professional mourner. He was in
great demand as a " Bearer," and found a
dignified pleasure in leading the solemn fu
neral processions through the crooked Bos
ton streets. He carefully records, each time,
whether he let down the head or the feet into
the grave. He usually had some kind word
to say of the departed ; but of one poor
wight he records that " he lived undesired
and died unlamented."
These funerals had their perquisites. It
was customary to send gloves to all who
were to attend, and " scarves " or rings
(sometimes both) to the bearers. The num
ber of scarves, rings, and gloves set down in
Sewall's diary would foot up an enormous
total. It is related of Dr. Samuel Buxton,
of Salem, who died at the age of eighty-one,
that he left to his heirs " a quart tankard full
of mourning rings which he had received at

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 57
funerals." One would think Judge Sewall's
heirs must have at least a bucket full of these
relics. And of gloves and scarves he must
certainly have left barrels, unless, like the
Rev. Andrew Eliot, he disposed of them in
his lifetime. This prudent clergyman re
ceived, in thirty-two years, from funerals,
weddings, and christenings, two thousand
nine hundred and forty pairs of gloves. As
he and his family could not wear them all, he
sold them through the Boston milliners, and
received therefor between six and seven hun
dred dollars. The quality of the gloves was
proportioned to the rank of the wearer.
We are not to think that there were no
diversions except funerals. There was feast
ing as well as fasting, rejoicing as well as
mourning. There was plenty of good eating
and drinking. We can almost smell and taste
the savory food on the Sewall table. The
days of short commons among the Puritans
were over. After the birth of her fourteenth

158 OLD COLONY DAYS.
child Madam Sewall gave a dinner to the
various professional nurses whom she had
had occasion to employ in past years, to the
number of seventeen. It was a gathering
one would like to have seen. " Had a good
Dinner, Boil'd Pork, Beef, Fowls ; very good
Rost Beef, Turkey-Pye, Tarts."
Although feasting, fasting, and funerals
occupy so large a place in the judge's jour
nal, they were not the serious occupation of
his life. He had many duties, and held
many positions of trust. He was deputy-
councillor, judge, selectman, moderator, over
seer of the poor, commissioner of the Society
for Propagating the Gospel among the In
dians, and Captain of the Ancient and Hon
orable Artillery Company. In 1699 he was
made Judge of the Superior Court; in 1717,
Judge of Probate, and in 1718, Chief-Justice.
The office of judge was not a sinecure. It
involved holding court in Cambridge, Plym
outh, Dedham, Salem, and other towns, in

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 59
all kinds of weather. It involved frequent
journeys, usually on horseback, — journeys
that were difficult, uncomfortable, and often
dangerous. They had to travel " on rough
roads, across ferries, often of icy waters, over
marshes and inner seas." He often mentions
that in crossing a stream .his horse fell under
him; and more than one party travelling
from Cambridge or Charlestown to Boston
barely escaped drowning. The court itself
was a solemn affair. There were grave and
weighty decisions to be made. Sins of Sab
bath breaking, lying, and drunkenness had to
be punished. After a disturbance in North's
tavern, Mr. Thomas Banister, Jr., is fined " 20
shillings for Lying; 5 shillings for Curse, \OS.
Breach of the peace for throwing the pots
and scale-box at the maid and was bound to
his good behavior till next sessions." When
an offender was sentenced to prison or to
the stocks, pillory, or whipping-post, he was
gravely admonished and reproved by the

l6o OLD COLONY DAYS.
judges. A " woman that had whip'd a man "
was sentenced to be whipped ; and Judge
Sewall informed her that a " woman that had
lost her modesty, was like Salt that had lost
its savor; good for nothing but to be cast to
the Dunghill."
The unlucky wights who sought to intro
duce dancing into the colony were rigidly
suppressed. " Mr. Francis Stepney, the Danc
ing Master, desired a Jury, so he and Mr.
Shrimpton Bound in ^50 to January Court.
Said Stepney is ordered not to keep a Danc
ing School; if he does will be taken in con
tempt and be proceeded with accordingly."
A man who was " Setting a room in his House
for a man to shew Tricks in " was dealt with
in a different manner. The magistrates went
to his house, prayed with him, expostulated
with him, and sang the ninetieth psalm from
the twelfth verse to the end. The treatment
seems to have been effectual. The coming of
the royal governors and the royal officers and

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. l6l
soldiers of their train had brought into the
sober Puritan town habits and customs it had
never known before ; and the judges jealously
watched these encroachments, and passed
severe sentence against them when possible.
They had also other and graver sins to
deal with. Since there were ten crimes that
were capital in Massachusetts, sometimes the
death sentence had to be passed. A hang
ing was an affair of the greatest interest. As
much publicity as possible was given it fof
the sake of example. On the Sunday or
the lecture-day before the execution the con
demned person was brought in chains to the
church, and seated in a conspicuous place,
to listen to a sermon on his crime. No one
failed to be at church on that day ; and these
improving discourses were printed and sold
in great numbers. The whole community
made it a point to be in at the death. Even
a kindly man like Judge Sewall never stayed
away from a hanging.

l62 OLD COLONY DAYS.
We have related Sewall's weakness in re
gard to the subject of witchcraft. We must
not fail to credit him with being ahead of his
age on three other questions which are still
of the greatest interest to us, — the slavery
question, the Indian question, and the woman
question. , Slavery still existed in New Eng
land; and to Sewall belongs the honor of
publishing the first anti-slavery tract in
America. It was entitled, " The Selling of
Joseph ; " and in it he prays for the rights
of the black man, and answers all the argu
ments in favor of slavery. On the Indian
question he also took advanced ground, and
labored faithfully and earnestly all his life
long for the education of this unfortunate
race. On the woman question he wrote the
treatise called "Talitha Cumi," in which
he pleads for women as joint heirs of the
heavenly mansions, and argues learnedly
that women will undoubtedly be found in
heaven.

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 163
Among "other books that Sewall wrote
there were two on America, in the second
of which he considers it scripturally as the
future earthly paradise. He spent many
years of loving labor on the two bulky vol
umes with the appalling title of " Phenomena
Quaedam Apocalyptica," which deal with the
fulfilment of prophecies. Nor did he dis
dain verse. He sometimes records the mak
ing of a couplet as he lies in bed in the
morning. Here is one of these morning
productions: —
" To Horses, Swine, Net-Cattell, Sheep and Deer,
Ninety and Seven prov'd a Mortal yeer."
A fair sample of his poetry is this hymn on
the opening of the new century, which he
had the bellman recite through the town on
New Year's Day : —
" Once more ! our God vouchsafe to shine :
Correct the Coldness of our Clime.
Make haste with thy Impartial Light,
And terminate this long dark night.

164 OLD COLONY DAYS.
" Give the poor Indians Eyes to see
The Light of Life : and set them free.
So Men shall God in Christ adore.
And worship Idols vain, no more.
" So Asia, and Africa,
Europa, with America ;
All Four, in Consort join'd shall Sing
New Songs of Praise to Christ our King."
On the occasion of a funeral at which two
other bearers had the name of Samuel, two
were called John, and one Thomas, Sewall
made the following couplet, and esteemed it
worthy of record : —
" Three Sams, two Johns, and one good Tom
Bore Prudent Mary to her Tomb."
The judge was a musician as well as a
poet, and for twenty-four years he " set the
tunes " in the Old South Church. He led
them triumphantly through the " Bay Psalm
Book'' many times in course; and when he
set the psalm well, he recorded the fact with
pride. In one respect he was a model for
modern musicians. When his musical talent

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 65
began to fail him, he was the first to notice
it. When he intended Windsor and fell into
High Dutch, and then, essaying to set an
other tune, went into a key much too high,
he said, " The Lord humble me and instruct
me that I should be the occasion of any
interruption in the worship of God." When
it happened that twice within three weeks he
set York Tune, and the congregation carried
it over into Saint David's, he took it as a
sign that he ought to resign the precentor's
place. " I have through the divine Long-
suffering and Favour done it for 24. years,
and now God by his Providence seems to
call me off; my voice being enfeebled." He
persisted in giving up this pleasant task,
though urged to continue.
Of the judge's genial and kindly side we
have many glimpses. His pockets seem to
have been always filled with sermons, trink
ets, fruits, and goodies. He scarcely ever
made a call without leaving behind him a

1 66 OLD COLONY DAYS.
box of " Chocolatt, Marmalad or Figgs,"
accompanied by a tract. He records in
one day the giving away of the " Jews in
Berlin," " God's All-Sufficiency," " Cooper's
Sermons," " Vincent's Catechism," and forty
shillings. Cotton Mather's sermons he sowed
broadcast among his friends.
The judge was also stubbornly conscien
tious, and in following his line of duty often
ran counter to the opinions of others and
incurred their ill-will. The Rev. Cotton
Mather rushed upon him one day in a
public place, and declared in a loud voice
that he had used his father worse than a
" neger." On the next page of the journal
we find the entry : " Sent ,.Mr. Increase
Mather a haunch of Venison. In that I
hope I did not treat him as a negro." His
pastor, the Rev. Mr. Pemberton, became
offended at Sewall and the rest of the judges,
and in church gave out the first five verses
of the fifty-eighth psalm to be sung: —

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 167
" Speak, O ye judges of the Earth if just your Sen
tence be :
Or must not Innocence appeal to Heaven from your
Decree ?
"Your wicked hearts and Judgements are alike by
malice sway'd ;
'Your griping Hands, by weighty Bribes, to 'Violence
betrayed."
Sewall writes in his diary : " I think if I had
been in his place and had been kindly and
tenderly affectioned, I should not have done
it at this time. Another Psalm might have
suited his Subject as well."
There was one subject, however, upon
which Sewall could not be charitable; this
was the wearing of periwigs. He fought a
life-long battle against this ungodly fashion
which was creeping into New England.
When we come upon the entry, " This day
I wore my" black skull cap in meeting," it
seems an unimportant act, but it was in real
ity a' manifesto. His hair was getting thin ;
and when all the heads about him were cov-

1 68 OLD COLONY DAYS.
ered with flowing periwigs, he covered his
with a black skull-cap, which he wore until
his death. When any of his friends adopted
the obnoxious fashion, he remonstrated with
them earnestly. " Mention the words of our
Saviour, Can ye not make one hair white or
black." He records with almost cruel satis
faction the miserable death of a wigmaker.
When Josiah Williard appeared in a wig,
Sewall went to him and labored with him.
" I enquired of him what Extremity had
forced him to put off his own hair and put
on a Wigg? He answered none at all. But
said that his Hair was streight and that it
parted behinde. Seem'd to argue that men
might as well shave their hair off their head,
as off their face. I answered men were men
before they had hair on their faces, (half
of mankind have never any). God seems to
have ordain'd our Hair as a Test, to see
whether we can bring our minds to be con
tent to be at his finding : or whether we would

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 169
be our own Carvers, Lords, and come no
more at Him." Josiah promised to leave off
his wig when his hair was grown, but he
seems to have forgotten his promise, for he
was still wearing it six months later; and
when he was to preach in the Old South,
Sewall absented himself and attended another
church rather than see the hated wig in the
pulpit. In summing up the character of a
man who had died, he says : " A rare instance
of Piety, Health, Strength, Serviceableness.
The Wellfare of the Province was much upon
his Spirit. He abominated Perriwigs."
We can imagine the judge's feelings when
the Rev. Cotton Mather preached a sermon
in defence of periwigs. " Said one sign of
a hypocrit was for a man to strain at a Gnat
and swallow a Camel. Sign in 's Throat dis
covered him; To be zealous against an ino-
cent fashion taken up and used by the best
of men ; and yet make no conscience of
being guilty of great Immoralities. ... I

170 OLD COLONY DAYS.
expected not to hear a vindication of Perri-
wiggs in Boston Pulpit by Mr. Mather ; how
ever, not from that Text. The Lord give me
a good Heart and help to know, and not
only to know but also to doe his Will ; that
my Heart and Head may be his." The
senseless fashion, however, continually gained
ground, and Sewall was left almost alone in
his opposition.
In 1 71 7, after forty-four years of married
life, Sewall lost his wife. She had proved
herself to be worth far more than her weight
in silver to him, and her husband mourned
her sincerely.
It was not to be expected, however, that
he would remain single. Although he was
sixty-six years old, his friends began at once
to look about to find a suitable match for him.
In a few weeks he himself began to " take
notice " of the various widows about him.
The elder Mr. Weller had not yet given his
famous advice to " bevare of vidders;" nor

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 171
would it have been of any use in that commu
nity. "Godly old maids," like Mary Carpenter,
were a rare commodity. It was widows or
nothing. Boston had not yet become what
Theodore Parker called it later, the " Para
dise of old Maids." Sewall began to note
the comings and goings of Madam Katherine
Winthrop, whose husband had died soon
after Mrs. Sewall., It is just four months
after the death of his wife that we find the
entry in the diary, February 6, "This morn
ing wandering in my mind whether to live a
Single or a Married Life." He had already
sent Madam Winthrop " Smoking Flax in
flamed, the Jewish children of Berlin, and
my small vial of Tears." All of his friends
approved his choice, and things seemed to
be going well, when suddenly his friend, Mr.
Denison, died, and the judge turned his eyes
to the Widow Denison. To tell the truth,
he accompanied her home from the funeral,
and prayed God to keep house with the

172 OLD COLONY DAYS.
widow. She came to his house to prove the
will, and he gave her a " Widows Book
Bound, having writ her Name in it." On her
next visit he took her up into his chamber,
and " discoursed thorowly with her ; . . .
told her I intended to visit her at her own
house next Lecture day. She said, twoul'd
be talk'd of. I answered. In such Cases,
persons must run the Gantlet." On next
lecture-day he kept his word. He gave her
Dr. Mather's sermons bound, and she gave
him very good curds. On his next visit she
invited him to eat. He gave her " two Cases
with a knife and fork in each ; one Turtle
shell tackling ; the other long with Ivory han
dles, Squar'd, cost 4.^. 6d. ; Pound of Raisins
with proportionable Almonds." Later he
gave her a Psalm-book bound with leather,
and a pair of shoe-buckles ; cost 5.?. 3(j?. At
last he told her he thought it was time to
finish the business. But when they came
to the very delicate question of settlements.

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 173
they could not agree. Mr. Denison had left
his widow very well to do, and she thought
it hard to " give up a certainty for an uncer
tainty." The more they discussed the sub
ject, the less they agreed. Neither would
yield ; and the judge wrote, " My bowels
yern towards Mrs. Denison, but I think God
directs me in his providence to desist." She
came once more to see him, on foot from
Roxbury, on a cold night, to try to patch the
matter up ; but no result was reached. She
offered to give back his presents, but the
elderly lover bade her keep them, " only now
they had not the same signification as before.
She went away in the bitter Cold, no Moon
being up, to my great pain. I Saluted her
at parting."
He next visited Mrs. Elizabeth Tilly;
and here is the record of one week, in the
diary : —
September 16, After the Meeting I visited Mrs.
Tilly.

174 OLD COLONY DAYS.
September i8, ditto.
September 21, I gave Mrs. Tilly a little booke
entitled " Ornaments for the daughters of Sion." I
gave it to my dear 'Wife August 28 1702.
September 23, 24, eat Almonds and Reasons with
Mrs. Tilly and Mrs. Armitage ; Discoursed with Mrs.
Armitage, who spake very agreeably, and said Mrs.
Tilly had been a great Blessing to them hop'd God
would make her so to me and my family.
September 25, 'Visited Mrs. Tilly.
The matter was soon settled. Two weeks
later the banns were published, and in an
other two weeks they were married. Sewall's
son, the Reverend Joseph, who was the apple
of his eye, performed the ceremony " in the
best room below stairs. Mr. Prince pray'd
the 2^ time. Mr. Adams the Minister of
Newington was there, Mr. Oliver and Mr.
Tim° Clark Justices, and many more. Sung
the 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16, verses of the 90th
Psalm. Cous. S Sewall set Low-dutch Tune
in a very good Key, which made the Singing
with a good number of Voices very agree
able. Distributed Cake." The next day

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 175
the governor and his lady, the ex-governor,
councillors, and ministers in town, with their
wives, dined with them.
The judge's happiness was of short dura
tion. Mrs. Tilly lived but half a year after
she had become Mrs. Sewall, and it was all
to do over again. He remembered with sad
ness Madam Winthrop, whom he had left for
Mrs. Denison. After a suitable time — three
months — he sent his daughter to acquaint
Madam Winthrop that if she pleased to be
within at three P.M. he would wait upon her.
He approaches her this time with great deli
cacy. " My loving wife died so soon and so
suddenly, 'twas hardly convenient for me to
think of Marrying again ; however I came to
this Resolution, that I would not make my
Court to any person without first Consulting
with her." They then discoursed pleasantly
about the seven single persons who sat in the
fore-seat the previous Sunday. The next
day they continued this discourse; and, as

176 OLD COLONY DAYS.
she recommended one widow after another,
he prayed that Katherine herself might be the
one. But she refused, " as if she had catched
at an opportunity to do it." The wooer
refused to be discouraged, gave her the
" Fountain Opened," and said he would call
that day Sennight, the loth. Instead of
waiting for the appointed day, however, he
called twice within the week ; gave her " a
piece of Cake and Ginger Bread wrapped up
in a clean sheet of Paper ; " told her of his
loneliness, and that they might help to for
ward one another in their journey to Canaan.
On the loth he called, and was " treated with
a great deal of Curtesy ; Wine, Marmalade."
On the nth he sent her the following letter:
Madam, — These wait on you with Mr. Mayhew's
Sermon, and Account of the state of the Indians on
Martha's Vinyard. I thank you for your Unmerited
Favors of yesterday ; and hope to have the Hapiness
of Waiting on you tomorrow before Eight aclock
after Noon. I pray God to keep you, and give you a
joyfull entrance upon the Two Hundred and twenty

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 77
ninth year of Christopher Columbus his Discovery;
and take Leave who am, Madam your humble Serv'. S. S.
When he called next day, he found her full
of work behind a stand, and her countenance
much changed, — " looked dark and lower
ing." He got his chair in place, and " had
some Converse, but very Cold and indifferent
to what 'twas before. Ask'd her to acquit
me of Rudeness If I drew off her Glove.
Enquiring the reason, I told her 'twas great
odds between handling a dead Goat, and a
living Lady. Got it off." She, however,
persisted in her refusal, recommended other
widows to him, and finally twitted him with
leaving her for Mrs. Denison. Upon which
he told her that if after a first and second
vagary she would accept of him returning,
" Her Victorious Kindness and Good Will
would be very Obliging." He gave her an
other book. She filled a glass of wine, and
sent her servant home with him with a good

178 OLD COLONY DAYS.
lantern. " Told her the reason why I came
every other night was lest I should drink too
deep draughts of Pleasure. She had talked
of Canary, her Kisses were to me better than
the best Canary.'' When they came to the
question of settlements. Madam Winthrop
mentioned her desire that he should keep a
coach, and also added the condition that he
should wear a wig. The next day his son,
the minister, came to him by appointment,
and they went into his chamber and prayed
together concerning the courtship. Not to
much avail, it would seem, for Madam proved
cold that night. She offered him no wine ;
when he rose to go did not offer to help him
put on his coat; would not send her servant
to light him home, but let him stumble along
as best he could. He explained that he
could not afford to keep a coach. " As to a
Perriwig, My best and greatest Friend, began
to find me with Hair before I was born, and
had continued to do so ever since ; and I

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 79
could not find in my heart to go to another."
The son again came and prayed with his
father about the courtship, but with no better
success than before.
Mrs. Winthrop was rocking her grand
daughter's cradle when he came, and she
placed the cradle between his chair and hers.
" The Fire was come to one short Brand
beside the Block; " and when it fell to pieces
and she did not replenish it, he took the hint.
"Took leave of her . . . did not bid her
draw off her Glove as sometime I had done.
Her Dress was not so clean as sometime it
had been. Jehovah Jireh ! " Thus ended
another dream.
The Widow Ruggles proved equally obdu
rate. " She express'd her inability to be
Servicable." She even " made some Diffi
culty to accept an Election Sermon, lest it
should be an obligation on her."
The judge's next attempt was a letter to
Mrs. Mary Gibbs, widow, of Newtown : —

l80 OLD COLONY DAYS.
January 12, ^^W.
Madam, — Your Removal out of Town and the
Severity of the Winter, are the reason of my making
you this Epistolary Visit. In times past (as I remem
ber) you were minded that I should marry you, by
giving you to your desirable Bridegroom. Some sense
of this intended Respect abides with me still; and
puts me upon enquiring whether you be willing that
I should Marry you now, by becoming your Husband;
Aged, and feeble, and exhausted as I am, your favor
able Answer to this Enquirey, in a few Lines, the
Candor of it will much oblige, Madam, your humble
Serv't. S. S.
The widow's answer was favorable, and he
rode to Newtown in a coach to visit her.
Carried her a pound of glazed almonds and
" a Duz. Meers Cakes ; Two bottles of Can
ary," — not such expensive presents as he
had given the others; perhaps Mrs. Gibbs
was too easily won. They discussed settle
ments, and she thought him hard. After a
good deal of higgling the matter was settled,
and the banns were published, upon which
he writes to her : " Madam, Possibly you

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. l8l
have heard of our Publishment last Thors-
day, before now. It remains for us to join
together in fervent Prayers, without ceasing,
that God would graciously Crown our Es
pousals with his Blessing. A good Wife, and
a good Husband too, are from the Lord. . . .
Please to accept of Mr. Mitchel's Sermons
of Glory, which is inclosed." They were
married by his son-in-law, and the third Mrs.
Sewall outlived him. We hope she cared for
him tenderly during these last few years of
his life.
Sewall has been called the last of the
Puritans; and truly before his death the old
order of things had passed away. His last
years were a continual protest against the
new ideas which were making their way
into Boston, of which periwigs were but the
outward sign. How it must have wrung
his soul to write that the governor gave a
ball which lasted till three o'clock in the
morning!

1 82 OLD COLONY DAYS.
What impression do we get of the charac
ter of this man who lived two hundred years
ago, and whom we know more intimately
than any one else that ever walked the streets
of Boston? Who of us could stand the test
of writing out from day to day, not only our
outward actions, but our inward thoughts?
What impression would the record make
upon posterity two centuries hence? Judge
Sewall has stood this test without losing
one grain of our respect. The diary is quaint
and amusing, sometimes even undignified,
and causes many a smile as we linger over
its pages ; but there is not a single unworthy
page in it, not one that we wish had been
left unwritten. There are no scandals, no
harsh criticisms of contemporaries, no reve
lations of hypocrisy. One of his last entries
is this sentiment from the " New England
Weekly Journal " : " There is no notion more
false than that which some have taken up,
that Religion is inconsistent with a Gentle-

AN OLD-TIME MAGISTRATE. 1 83
man." May we not leave him with the fit
ting tribute which Whittier has paid tc this
magistrate of the olden time, " Samuel
Sewall, the good and wise " ? —
" His face with lines of firmness wrought.
He wears the look of a man unbought.
Who swears to his hurt and changes not;
Yet, touched and softened nevertheless
With the grace of Christian gentleness,
The face that a child would climb to kiss !
True and tender and brave and just,
That man might honor and woman trust.
Green forever the memory be
Of the Judge of the old Theocracy,
'Whom even his errors glorified,
Like a far-seen, sunlit mountain side
By the cloudy shadows which o'er it glide !
Honor and praise to the Puritan
Who the halting step of his age outran.
To the saintly soul of the early day,
To the Christian judge, let us turn and say :
Praise and thanks for an honest man !
Glory to God for the Puritan ! "

SOME DELUSIONS OF OUR FORE
FATHERS.

SOME DELUSIONS OF OUR FORE
FATHERS.
TF our forefathers had been invariably wise
¦*¦ and just and good, they would not have
been human. Had they never made mistakes,
they would have been too far removed from
us. Our own degeneracy would have been
too depressing. It is indeed true, as William
Stoughton said in his election sermon of
1688, that " God sifted a whole nation, that
He might send choice grain into the wilder
ness." In John Fiske's opinion, there has
been, in all history, " no other instance of colo
nization so exclusively effected by picked and
chosen men." In integrity, in earnestness, in
that quality which is best expressed by the
word, " backbone," they had no peers. Their
convictions, their close study of principles,
had given them enlarged views on many
187

OLD COLONY DAYS.

subjects; but we must not expect them to
have been prophets and seers. We must not
consider them as a band of chosen philoso
phers, who had come here to establish ad
vanced ideas. The earnestness which made
them willing to endure all manner of persecu
tion, to face banishment and all kind of hard
ships rather than abandon their convictions,
made them, in a sense, narrow. Those convic
tions were of tremendous importance; they
were a matter of life and death ; they must
be guarded within and without. Hence the
expulsion of Ann Hutchinson, of Roger
Williams, of the Quakers, and other heretics.
It is not in a spirit of criticism that we should
examine their mistakes, but in a spirit of
inquiry to judge wherein we resemble them.
"It is well," says Nevin, "to revive the
unwise or unjust acts of our ancestors some
times, as we would place a beacon on some
shoal or reef where a ship had been wrecked,
to warn others of the danger."

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 1 89
We have seen that, according to Cotton
Mather, the seven enemies with whom New
England had to contend were " the Devil,
Separatists, Familists, Antinomians, Quakers,
clerical impostors, and Indians." All o
•these were more or less in league with Satan
and under his influence. The Indians were
his special emissaries, his subjects, and wor
shippers. When heretics, false prophets,
and impostors had been driven out, when
the Indians had been repeatedly conquered,
and their power lessened, the devil began to
tremble lest he was to be driven from his
own soil. He roused himself for a mighty
effort. The second and third generations of
New England had to contend with Satan
himself in a terrible conflict for the mastery.
For centuries it had been held that the devil
was the head and ruler of a world of his own,
— a world of demons; that he was able to
hold communications with mortals, to inter
fere in their affairs, and to exercise more or

190 OLD COLONY DAYS.
less control over the laws of nature. The
logical result of this belief was the belief in
demoniacal possession or witchcraft ; that is,
that a person could sign a compact with
Satan, and by this means obtain certain su
pernatural powers. This belief was by nO
means confined to the ignorant, the credu
lous, and the superstitious. It was held by
Luther, by Melancthon, and by Kepler.
The wisest philosphers, the most eminent
scholars, accepted without question the ex
istence of witches. Richard Baxter, whose
" Saints' Rest " has soothed so many souls,
was a firm believer. Doctor More, Sir
Thomas Browne, Boyle, Cranmer, and Bacon
were believers. As late as 1765 Blackstone,
the great expounder of English law, wrote:
"To deny the possibility, nay, actual exist
ence of witchcraft and sorcery, is at once
flatly to contradict the revealed word of God
in various passages both of the Old and New
Testaments; and the thing itself is a truth

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 191
to which every nation in the world hath, in
its time, borne testimony either by example,
seemingly well attested, or by prohibitory
laws which at least suppose the possibility of
commerce with evil spirits."
In the seventeenth century a canon in the
English Church forbade ministers to cast out
devils without a license ; and the Bishop of
Chester actually issued licenses duly author
izing certain ministers to cast out devils.
During this whole century there were trials
and executions for witchcraft in all civilized
countries. More than two hundred victims
were hanged in England ; thousands were
burned in Scotland, and still larger numbers
in France, Germany, and Italy. In Geneva,
in 1 5 14, five hundred persons are said to have
been executed for witchcraft in two weeks.
We have an account of the expenses attend
ing the execution of two witches in Scotland,
which shows the cool, matter-of-fact way in
which the affair was managed.

192 OLD COLONY DAYS.
For 10 loads of coal to burn them . . £2> 6 8
For a tar barrel  o 14 o
For towes  060
For burden to be jumps for them . . 3 1 1 o
For making of them  080
For one to go to Fairmouth for the Laird
to sit upon their assize as judge . 060
For the executioner for his pains . . 8140
For his expenses here  o i6 o
Total  18 16 4
Matthew Hopkins in England was so zeal
ous in the matter of exterminating witches
that he received the title of " witch finder
general." He travelled from place to place ;
his expenses were paid, and he required in
addition regular fees for the discovery of a
witch. One of his tests was to prick the
body of the accused with pins, to find whether
there was a callous spot, which was supposed
to be the devil's mark. His favorite test was
to tie the thumb of the right hand to the toe
of the left foot, and drag the victims through
a river or pond ; if they floated, they were

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 1 93
witches. His success was so great that the
people accounted for it by declaring that he
had stolen the devil's memorandum book, in
which Satan had recorded the names of those
who were in league with him. It is some
satisfaction to know that his own right thumb
and left toe were finally tied together, and he
was dragged through a pond. But this did
not happen until he had procured the death,
in one year, and in one county, of more than
three times as many as suffered in Salem
during the whole delusion. We see, then,
that the witchcraft tragedy in this country
was a very small affair compared with those
of the Old World, although we have fallen
into the habit of speaking of Salem witch
craft as if it were something unique in the
history of civilization.
Before we take up this dark history in
de,tail, let us see what witchcraft meant.
What constituted a witch? " A witch was a
person who had made an actual, deliberate,
13

194 OLD COLONY DAYS.
formal compact with Satan, by which it was
agreed that she should become his faithful
subject, and do all in her power to aid him
in his rebellion against God and his warfare
against the gospel and Church of Christ.
Thus a witch was considered as a person
who had transferred allegiance from God to
the devil." Satan was always glad to have
these human agents in league with him.
In return for their services he bestowed
on the witches certain supernatural powers.
Through this compact a witch was believed
to have the power of afflicting, distressing,
and rending whomsoever she would. She
could cause them to pine away, throw them
into the most frightful convulsions, choke,
bruise, pierce, and craze them, subject them
to every description of pain and disease,
and even to death itself. The persons upon
whom she exercised her evil influence were
said to be bewitched. The witches could
exert this influence at any distance of time

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 195
or space. When they could not go in per
son to the ones they wished to afflict, they
could transform themselves into the likeness
of some animal, — a dog, hog, cat, rat, mouse,
or toad, or a yellow bird. They also had
imps under their control; and these took the
form of an insect, such as a fly or a spider.
A witch could also act upon her victims
through her spirit, spectre, or apparition.
Satan enabled her to be anywhere and
everywhere at once. She could also operate
on others by means of puppets. She could
procure any kind of a doll, and will it to
represent the person whom she wished to
torment. Then whatever she did to the
puppet or doll would be suffered by the per
son it represented. A pin stuck into the
puppet would pierce the flesh of the person
she wished to afflict. A witch could also
read the thoughts of others, and could influ
ence the minds of those whom she wished to
tempt. She could cast the evil eye.

196 OLD COLONY DAYS.
Now let us imagine, for a moment, what
the case would be if we believed in the power
of human beings to work such evil. What
would be our attitude toward them? Are we
willing to turn a wild beast loose in our
midst? Would we let a small-pox patient
roam our streets at will? Would we leave a
dangerous lunatic at large? Yet how small
the danger from any of these sources com
pared to what might be expected from the
presence of witches. Unless we can place our
selves at this standpoint we cannot realize the
terrible panic that swept over New England
two hundred years ago. The horror of that
tragedy would be unendurable were we not
able to remember that the community was
mad with terror. Malice and imposture were
at work, of course, but the field had been
prepared for them. In the case of the Salem
tragedies, moreover, it was not simply terror
and superstition that actuated our forefathers ;
it was also the stern determination to meet

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 1 97
Satan face to face and drive him from the
land. There were a number of witches hung in
the colonies before the outbreak of the
epidemic at Salem. The first execution for
witchcraft, in the New World, was in Charles-
town, in 1647, the victim being Margaret
Jones. Governor Winthrop presided over
the trial and pronounced her sentence. He
gravely records in his journal the evidence
against her, and also the fact that the
" same day and hour she was executed,
there was a very great tempest at Con
necticut which blew down many trees."
Mistress Ann Hibbins, of Boston, was sen
tenced by Governor Endicott. In 1680,
Governor Bradstreet sentenced a witch to be
hanged, but afterward granted a reprieve,
and, though the General Court protested and
urged her death, he succeeded in saving the
woman's life. Had Governor Bradstreet been
in power in 1692, our annals might have

198 OLD COLONY DAYS.
been different. He was one of the few en
lightened ones who consistently opposed the
storm of prejudice. The most interesting
witch trial, previous to those at Salem, was
that of Goody Glover, an Irish Catholic
woman, who was sentenced to death for hav
ing bewitched the Goodwin children. These
clever little impostors succeeded in fooling
the most learned men of Boston, including
Cotton Mather, who wrote an account of
their strange performances. The writings of
the Mathers no doubt helped to arouse a
morbid' interest in the subject of witchcraft.
These earlier cases show that the outbreak at
Salem was not phenomenal. It differed in
degree, but not in kind, from what was taking
place elsewhere. A lack of wisdom in the
prominent men led them to foster the excite
ment rather than check it, and the terrible
tragedy followed.
In all the annals of crime there is no more
singular story than that of the bewitched

DELUSIO.VS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 199
children of Salem village. Eight girls, their
ages ranging from nine years to eighteen,
together with two or three servant girls, pro
cured the death of twenty people and the
persecution and imprisonment of at least two
hundred more. In our own day we have
shuddered at the depravity of a boy criminal
like Jesse Pomeroy. Before the depravity
of the " bewitched children," as they were
called, the mind simply stands appalled,
refusing to comprehend. Psychologists can
give us no explanation. That these chil
dren were deliberate, wicked, cruel impostors
there is not a shadow of doubt. It is easy
to account for the madness of the com
munity. The history of panics is always
the same. But the conduct of the girls
who worked up the panic cannot be ex
plained. It would be charitable to suppose
them insane, but there is too much proof
of method in their madness.
The strange doings began in the house of

200 OLD COLONY DAYS.
the Reverend Mr. Parris, pastor at Salem
village. Mr. Parris had formerly lived at the
West Indies, and had brought from there
three slaves, who were called Indians, but
were probably of mixed blood, partly negro.
Two of these slaves were concerned in the
proceedings. Tituba, the Indian woman, was
full of superstitious tales of magic and sor
cery belonging to her native tribe. These
she poured into the ears of the children of
the family, — Elizabeth Parris, aged nine, and
her cousin, Abigail Williams, aged eleven.
With them was Ann Putnam, aged twelve,
the daughter of the clerk of the parish.
During the winter of 1691 and '92 these girls,
with half a dozen others, some of them ser
vants, met at the house of Mr. Parris and
studied palmistry, magic, necromancy, and
the like. They absorbed all the lore of
Tituba and read all they could find on the
subject. They became very proficient in all
kinds of juggling tricks. After entertaining

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 20I
themselves for a time, they concluded to
astonish their families with their perform
ances. " They would creep into holes and
under chairs, writhe in dreadful contortions,
utter loud outcries and incoherent unintelligi
ble expressions." Then they added fits,
faints, and ravings to their accomplishments.
The whole neighborhood was soon filled with
the story of their behavior. Their families
were alarmed ; Dr. Griggs, the village physi
cian, was called in, and, not understanding
such unusual symptoms, he gravely declared
that the girls were "under an evil eye;" that
is, that they were bewitched. Everybody
flocked to see the convulsions of the afflicted
children. Their love of notoriety increasing,
they began to exhibit their fits and ravings
in church, which, remarks the Reverend Mr.
Lawson with much simplicity, " occurring in
public worship did something interrupt me
in my first prayer, being so unusual." On
a certain Sunday Abigail Williams cried

202 OLD COLONY DA YS.
out after the psalm, "Now stand up and
take your text!" then, "It's a long text!"
Another, in the middle of the discourse,
exclaimed, " Now there is enough of that ! "
One called out, " Look where she sits upon
the beam, sucking her yellow bird betwixt
her fingers;" and another, " There is a yellow
bird sitting on the minister's hat as it hangs
in the pulpit."
Instead of being punished for such per
formances, the girls were looked upon with
pity and terror. Mr. Parris was greatly ex
ercised. He invited the neighboring minis
ters to his house for a day of fasting and
prayer. The children performed before
them. The ministers were amazed and hor
ror stricken. They confirmed the decision of
the doctor that the children were under the
power of the devil; that is, they were be
witched. The community was wildly ex
cited. They felt that the evil one was let
loose among them. As he could operate

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 203
only through human beings in league with
him, it was necessary to know who his agents
were. " Who is the devil's agent bewitching
these unfortunate girls?" was the cry. They
were importuned to tell who had hurt them.
At first they were loth to accuse any one,
but being pressed, named Good, Osborne, and
Tituba. Their victims were cleverly chosen.
Three more friendless people could not be
found. Sarah Good was a bedridden beggar,
who had separated from her husband and
was universally disliked. Sarah Osborne was
another helpless old woman, who had made
an unhappy marriage, was shattered in mind,
and had been the subject of much scandal.
Tituba, the Indian woman, was an excellent
tool. Warrants were issued for the arrest
of the three women, and they were brought
before the magistrates to be examined.
The examination was to be held in the
tavern, but such crowds came out that they
had to adjourn to the meeting-house. The

204 OLD COLONY DAYS.
multitude were filled with excitement and
abhorrence. The magistrates, John Hath-
orne and Jonathan Corwin, seated themselves
in front of the pulpit, facing the audience.
Before them was a table or raised platform,
and on this the first prisoner, Sarah Good,
was placed, to be out of reach of the crowd
and in plain sight. The magistrates assumed
from the first that the prisoners were guilty,
and framed their questions in that view,
trying to make them confess or contradict
themselves. The afflicted children were
brought in as witnesses and placed before the
prisoner. When the poor old woman, from
her table, looked down upon them, they fell
to the floor as if struck dead, or screeched
in agony ; or went into fearful spasms and
convulsive fits ; or cried out that they were
pricked with pins, pinched, and throttled by
invisible hands. Each one was brought up
to the prisoner, touched her person, and was
at once restored to calm and quiet. With

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 205
one voice they all declared that Sarah Good
had thus tormented them by her power as a
witch in league with the devil. We may im
agine the excitement of the crowd as they saw
the effect produced before their eyes, and saw
how, upon touching her, the diabolical effects
ceased, the malignant fluid passing back like
an electric stream into the body of the witch.
No other evidence was needed to prove her
guilt. She was carried to prison, bound with
cords, and loaded with irons ; for it was
thought that fastenings would not hold a
witch. The proceedings in the case of Sarah
Osborne were exactly the same. The children
were brought in, repeated the acting, and
fixed the delusion more firmly in the minds
of the crowd.
When Tituba was brought upon the stand,
the wily Indian confessed, and accused the
other two of being her accomplices and of
having forced her to sign the devil's book.
She repeated to those grave magistrates and

206 OLD COLONY DA YS.
to the awe-struck multitude strange tales of
riding through the air on sticks, with Good
and Osborne behind her; of having imps
who did their bidding ; of familiar spirits in
the shape of cats, dogs, and yellow birds,
which they sent to hurt and afflict the
bewitched girls. Day by day the same
scenes were repeated. The magistrates, with
their cavalcade, came in pomp from Salem to
Salem village, every morning, and the pris
oners were brought on horseback from the
Ipswich jail, — a distance of ten miles, — and
carried back at night. The examination each
day was simply a repetition, with the actions
of the girls as proof positive of the guilt of
the accused. While Tituba was confessing,
their torments ceased. When she had fin
ished she herself fell into convulsions, declar
ing that the devil was punishing her for her
confessions. Tituba had said that there were four women
and two men in the league, and it was neces-

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 207
sary to find the other two. The girls, having
gained such an influence, became bolder in
their charges and aimed higher. Their next
victim was Martha Corey, an honored mem
ber of the church, against whom there was
not a shadow of blame. She had incurred
their ill-will by declaring her unbelief in
witchcraft. They feared the clear eyes which
could see their imposture, and decided to put
her out of the way by calling her a witch.
The fourth was Frances Nourse, a mother in
Israel, and a disbeliever in witchcraft.
At this stage, Deodat Lawson, a former
pastor, arrived in the village and preached a
memorable sermon on the all-engrossing
theme. With impassioned eloquence he
summoned the people of God to rally and
confront unflinchingly their hellish foe. The
effect of his sermon was terrible. Awe,
anger, consternation, and frantic zeal filled
the hearts of his hearers. The Reverend Mr.
Parris also preached on the subject, from the

208 OLD COLONY DA YS.
text, " Have I not chosen you twelve and
one of you is a devil?" It was communion
Sunday. Sarah Cloyse, the sister of Frances
Nourse, was present. The sister who had sat
with her on the last communion day was now
chained in prison, " awaiting the horrors of a
frenzied tribunal." She felt that the text was
a fling at her sister, and her heart was too
full to remain. She arose and passed out of
the meeting-house to her home. From that
day she, too, was marked as a witch, and her
doom was sealed. Other charges followed.
A child four years old was placed in prison.
No one was safe, high or low. The Reverend
Mr. Burroughs, a former pastor, was declared
a witch, and brought from Maine for his trial.
A council from the General Court, consisting
of the deputy governor and five magistrates,
came out to inquire into the matter. The
prisons were almost full of those who had
signed the devil's book. Panic prevailed
everywhere. People began to feel that their

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 209
only safety lay in accusing others. Many
confessed to save themselves. Business was
at a standstill. Many quit the country.
Just at this crisis. Sir William Phipps
arrived in Boston, the new Governor chosen
by Increase Mather. The new charter, which
made Massachusetts a royal province instead
of an independent colony, was put in force.
A more unsuitable man for such an emer
gency could not have been found. Ignorant,
credulous, and superstitious, he increased the
frenzy instead of assuaging it. His first
order was that heavy irons should be put
upon all those in prison. Salem jails were
now full of those awaiting final trial. The
governor appointed a special court of Oyer
and Terminer to try them, consisting of seven
judges, with Lieutenant-Governor Stoughton
as Chief Justice.
Many were the tests by which a witch was
discovered. It was believed that a witch
could not weep, could not shed tears. If
14

2IO OLD COLONY DAYS.
then the accused were too dazed or angry to
weep, it told against them. Again, it was
believed that when they signed the infernal
compact, the devil put his mark upon them
by touching with his finger some part of the
body. His touch left a callous spot which
could not feel pain. A committee was ap
pointed of each sex to examine the bodies of
the accused. The only way of testing them
was by sticking pins into them to find the
callous spot or the devil's mark. There was
also the test by water, already spoken of. " If
you float, you are a witch : if you sink, you
are not." This was not much used in Salem.
But the worst thing was the spectral evidence.
It was believed that a witch could be present
in her spectre or apparition at any place she
pleased, no matter what the distance. If,
then, the afflicted testified that they had been
tormented by the shape of any person, it
was of no use to prove an alibi, for a witch
could easily be in two or three places at once.

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 2 11
If she did not wish to go herself, she could
send her imp, in the shape of a dog, cat,
toad, rat, spider, or bird ; or she could roll
up a bundle of rags into a puppet, and by
sticking pins into it could torment whom
soever she would.
Then there was the visible evidence of the
effect of the presence of the accused upon
the afflicted. As soon as a prisoner was
brought in, the girls fell into convulsions and
ravings. If, in her terror, she clasped her
hands, they would shriek out that she was
pinching them. When she pressed her lips,
they exclaimed that she was biting them. If
in her weariness she leaned, to one side or the
other, they cried out that their bodies were
crushed. If she took a step or changed her
position, they would say their feet were in
pain. When Goody Nourse's head drooped
to one side from fatigue, their necks were bent
the same way. Elizabeth Hubbard's neck
was fixed in that direction and could not be

212 OLD COLONY DAYS.
moved. Abigail Williams cried out, " Set
up Goody Nourse's head, the maid's neck
will be broke." Whereupon some one held
the prisoner's head up and Betty Hubbard's
was immediately righted. The afflicted girls
also declared that they were pricked with
pins, and the pins drawn from under their
flesh were produced in court. These pins
are still preserved in Salem in the court
house. They are kept in a glass bottle,
sealed with the court seal. Sometimes the
evidence was so appalling that the amazed
prisoners were led to believe in their own
guilt. Against such testimony as this ho plea
that they could make would be of any avail.
To be accused meant to be convicted. The
verdict was a foregone conclusion. In the
case of Frances Nourse, the jury were so im
pressed by the age, character, and bearing of
the woman that they brought in a verdict of
not guilty. Immediately there was an out-

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 213
cry from the accusers and the spectators.
Whereupon the magistrates sent the jury
back to find another verdict, and they were
obliged to pronounce her guilty. After her
condemnation the governor granted her a re
prieve ; but the people of Salem prevailed
upon him to recall it, and she was executed
with the rest. After the sentence was passed,
she was, by a unanimous vote of the parish,
formally excommunicated from the church,
of which she had been for more than fifty
years an honored member. There is a tradi
tion that her body, instead of being thrown
into the pit on Gallows Hill, was stolen away
by her children and buried at the home. A
beautiful monument now marks her grave,
and two years ago her descendants, to the
number of hundreds, celebrated the two hun
dredth anniversary of her martyrdom.
Among the saddest cases of this series of
tragedies are those of Martha Corey and her
husband, Giles Corey. Mrs. Corey was an

214 OLD COLONY DAYS.
earnest, sincere Christian, and too enlightened
for the age in which she lived. She was one
of the two or three bold ones who dared to
say that they did not believe in witches.
This disbelief was enough in itself to cast
suspicion on her. A person who did not
believe in witchcraft was considered almost
an infidel. A member of the Royal Society
in England but a few years before had writ
ten, " Atheism is begun in Sadducism. And
those that dare not bluntly say ' there is no
God,' content themselves, for a fair step and
introduction, to deny there are spirits or
witches ! " Giles Corey, the husband, had
been a hard, rough man all his life, and had
engaged in quarrels and lawsuits ; but, a year
or two before, when over eighty years of age,
he had joined the church. He was com
pletely carried away by the excitement. He
left his work, day after day, to attend the first
examinations. When his wife spoke freely
and' fearlessly against the delusions, and

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 215
begged him to stay away from the trials, he
was horrified at her infidelity. When the
wretched children cried out upon her as a
witch, the superstitious old man began to fear
there was some truth in it. He remembered
that she often remained kneeling on the
hearthstone a long time after he had gone
to bed. He remembered accidents that had
happened to his ox and his cat. He remem
bered that his saddle had sometimes disap
peared when he wanted to go to the trials.
He remembered that recently, when he tried
to pray, he could not think of anything to
say, and he feared he was bewitched ; not re
alizing, poor old man, that when one has been
for eighty years unaccustomed to prayer, the
habit may not come easily. All these un
guarded expresssions of his were used against
Mrs. Corey. The greatest excitement pre
vailed at her trial. One hysterical woman
threw her muff at her, and, missing her aim,
took off her shoe and threw it, hitting Mrs.

2X6 OLD COLONY PAYS.
Corey on the head. Two of Corey's sons-in-
law testified against her. Martha Corey was
committed to prison; was tried, and sen
tenced to death. " Protesting her inocency,
she concluded her life with prayer upon the
ladder." Giles Corey had scarcely awakened from
his delusion and realized the terrible fate
that awaited his wife, when he himself was
marked as a victim. He had probably
spoken too freely of her condemnation.
Knowing that there was no hope of justice,
and that to be accused meant certain death,
he resolved upon a heroic course. He had
four married daughters. Two of his sons-in-
law had testified against his wife. He wished
to show his attitude to those who had been
false to her and to those who had been
true. He therefore made a will, in prison,
which was rather a deed, conveying all his
property to the two who had upheld his
wife in her trouble. He feared, however.

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 217
that if he were tried and convicted of
felony the will would not stand, and his
property would be confiscated. He deter
mined not to be brought to trial. He chose
a course which required all the courage and
firmness of which a human being is capa
ble. 'When called into court to answer to
the indictment found by the grand jury, he
would neither plead guilty nor not guilty, but
stood mute. Unless he would plead, there
could be no trial ; and he would thus retain
the power of disposing of his own property,
and securing it to his daughters. To deprive
the public of the excitement of the trial, to
deprive the magistrates of their right of con
victing him, to deprive the afflicted children
of the privilege of being afflicted in his
presence, was the most exasperating plan
he could have taken. But in spite of the
wrath and amazement of the magistrates and
people, nothing could unseal his lips. For
such an offence, which was called " standing

2X8 OLD COLONY DAYS.
dumb," the English law provided a penalty.
" In such cases the prisoner was to be three
times brought before the court, and called
to plead; the consequences of persisting in
standing mute being solemnly announced to
him each time. If he remained obdurate
the sentence of peine forte et dure was passed
upon him; and, remanded to prison, he was
placed in a low and dark apartment. He
would there be laid on his back on the bare
floor, naked for the most part. A weight of
iron would be placed upon him, not quite
enough to crush him. He would have no
sustenance, save only, on the first day, three
morsels of the worst bread ; and on the sec
ond day, three draughts of standing water
that should be nearest to the prison door;
and, in this situation, such would be alter
nately his daily diet till he died, or till he
answered." The object of this punishment
was to induce the prisoner to plead to the
indictment, so that he could be brought to

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 2x9
trial in the ordinary way. The practice of
putting weights upon the victims, and gradu
ally increasing the weight, was to force them,
by the slowly increasing torture, to yield.
Giles Corey, a man over eighty years of age,
voluntarily faced this horrible lingering death,
rather than yield his rights or recognize the
justice of that frenzied tribunal. His heroism
made a profound impression on the minds of
the public, and had its influence in breaking
the spell which bound them.
During all these proceedings the afflicted
girls had grown more and more expert in
their acting. Their continual public exhibi
tions had increased their boldness and their
skill. No necromancer could surpass them
in the management of voice and feature, in
sleight of hand, in the simulation of passions,
sufferings, and physical affections. " There
has seldom been better acting in a theatre
than they displayed in the presence of the
astonished and horror-stricken rulers, magis-

220 OLD COLONY DAYS.
trates, ministers, judges, jurors, spectators,
and prisoners. Day by day pastors, dea
cons, church members, college professors,
officers of state, everybody, learned and igno
rant, crowded into the church to behold their
feats ; feats which have scarcely ever been
surpassed either by ancient sorcerers and
magicians, or by modern jugglers and mes-
merizers." No one seems to have dreamed
that their actings and sufferings could be the
result of cunning or imposture. The accused
themselves were utterly confounded by the
acting of the girls, and almost began to feel
that they had been the instruments of the
evil one without knowing it. " To see a
young woman or girl suddenly struck down,
speechless, pallid as in death ; with muscles
rigid, eyeballs fixed or rolled back in their
sockets; the stiffened frame either wholly
prostrated or drawn up into contorted atti
tudes and shapes, or vehemently convulsed
with racking pains, or dropping with relaxed

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 22 X
muscles into a lifeless lump; and to hear
dread shrieks of delirious ravings, must have
produced a truly frightful effect upon an ex
cited and deluded assembly. The constables
and their assistants would go to the rescue,
lift the body of the sufferer, and bear it in
their arms toward the prisoner. The magis
trates and the crowd, hushed in the deepest
silence, would watch with breathless awe
the result of the experiment. The officers
slowly approached the accused, who, when
they came near, would, in obedience to the
order of the magistrates, hold out a hand
and touch the flesh of the afflicted one. In
stantly the spasms cease, the eyes open,
color returns to the countenance, the limbs
resume their position and functions, and life
and intelligence are wholly restored. The
sufferer comes to herself, walks back, and
takes her seat as well as ever." No wonder
the effect on the accused persons was con
founding, and that it sometimes broke them

222 OLD COLONY DA YS.
down. Poor Deliverance Hobbs was com
pletely overpowered. Both reason and con
science seemed to abandon her. Exclaiming,
" I am amazed, I am amazed ! " she assented
to every charge brought against her, and
said whatever she was told to say.
The afflicted children had become the
autocrats of the village. There was no limit
to their boldness. They were no longer
cautious as to where they should strike. No
aim was too high for them. Dudley Brad
street, son of the honored and revered Simon
Bradstreet who had so long served as gov
ernor, was obliged to flee. Suspicion was
cast upon Lady Phipps, wife of Sir William
Phipps, the governor, who had openly sym
pathized with the prisoners. Capt. John
Alden, son of John Alden of the " May
flower," was brought from Boston to Salem to
stand a trial. There is a satisfaction in read
ing the somewhat strong and emphatic sailor
language which Captain Alden addressed to

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 223
the magistrates on this occasion. He was
placed in prison, but made his escape, and
fled to his relatives in Duxbury, where he re
mained in hiding until the storm had passed
by. The old sailor could never afterward
speak of the episode with any degree of
calmness. The reign of terror had lasted for more
than six months; twenty people had been
put to death, — nineteen by hanging, and
one by being pressed to death; two had
died in prison, from fright and e.Khaustion.
When eight had been hanged in one day on
Gallows Hill, the Rev. Mr. Noyes, pointing
to their bodies, exclaimed : " What a sad
sight to see eight firebrands of hell hanging
there!" The prisons of Boston, Salem,
Cambridge, and Ipswich were full, and had
been for months. Hundreds had been com
mitted, and were awaiting their trial. One
victim had been executed in June, five in
July, five in August, and eight in September,

224 OLD COLONY DA YS.
Suddenly the storm seemed to have spent
itself. The people awakened from the hor
rible nightmare which had weighed upon
them. There is no other instance in history
of so sudden, so rapid, so complete a revul
sion of feeling. The first examination on
the charge of witchcraft was held on the first
day of March. The last execution occurred
on the twenty-second of September. In Sep
tember the special court adjourned, to meet
again in a few weeks; but it never met again.
Governor Phipps, seeing the temper of the
people, abolished the special court. In the
following January, at the session of the Supe
rior Court of Judicature in Salem, the grand
jury brought in fifty indictments for witch
craft; but only three were convicted, and
these were never executed. Later, four were
tried in Charlestown, one in Boston, and
five in Ipswich; but no convictions could be
secured. It was not the officials who had
changed, but the people. The jurors re-

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 225
peatedly refused to convict. When Judge
Stoughton, who had presided over both
courts, found that he was not to be allowed
to sentence any more witches, he was so
exasperated that he left the bench in dis
pleasure and never returned. " Word was
brought that a reprieve was sent to Salem,
and had prevented the execution of seven of
those that were condemned, which so moved
the chief judge that he said to this effect:
' We were in a way to have cleared the land
of them ; who it is that obstructs the cause
of justice I know not; the Lord be merciful
to the country ! ' and so went off the bench,
and came no more into that court."
One thing that helped to turn the tide of
public opinion was the accusation brought
against Mrs. Hale, wife of the Rev. Mr. Hale,
of Beverly. Mr. Hale had helped to raise
the storm, had been zealous in urging it on ;
but when it broke over his own household,
he turned and resisted it. Mrs. Hale was so
IS

226 OLD COLONY DAYS.
universally beloved and esteemed, her char
acter was so far above reproach, that even
that frenzied community refused to believe
her guilty. They began to feel that the ac
cusers had perjured themselves, and from
that moment their power was at an end. At
Andover, where more than fifty were in
prison, the accused, taking advantage of the
turn of the tide, began to bring suits for
slander against the accusers. There were
some zealots, of course, who tried to keep
up the excitement, but they did not succeed.
The storm had spent itself. The reaction
had set in. It was not that people had
ceased to believe in the reality of witchcraft.
Even Calef, the most bitter contemporary
critic ofthe trials, wrote, a year later: "That
there are witches is not the doubt. The
scriptures else were vain . . . but what this
witchcraft is and wherein it does consist,
seems to be the whole difficulty." The
great change seemed to be the distrust of

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 227
spectral evidence. When any one had testi
fied that the apparition of such and such a
person had appeared to him and had affiicted
and tormented him, and that he had known
this apparition to commit murders and all
sorts of crimes, it was received as evidence.
It was held that the devil could not assume
the shape of any person unless that person
were willing and in league with him. It was
of no use then for the accused to prove that,
at the time in question, he was in an entirely
different place ; for the crime could be com
mitted by his apparition as well as by him
self. They now began to say that the devil
could assume any shape he chose, even that
of a perfectly good and innocent man. As
soon as spectral evidence was thrown out,
the witch trials fell through.
In May, 1693, Governor Phipps issued a
proclamation ordering the release from prison
of all who were held on the charge of witch
craft. "Such a jail delivery was never known

228 OLD COLONY DAYS.
in New England." One hundred and fifty
came out of the prisons. To the disgrace
of the courts, only those were released who
had paid their board during the entire time
of their imprisonment, and their jailer's fees.
Those who had not the means were left to
languish in jail until some one paid these
dues for them. Tituba, the Indian woman,
was finally sold for her fees.
We cannot ascertain definitely how many
had suffered from the charge; for, besides
those who had been put to death, those who
had been released, and those who had been
left for their fees, there were many who were
out on bail, and others who had escaped
from prison. Some, too, had fled from the
country, when suspicion was cast upon them,
without allowing themselves to be examined.
Probably no less than three hundred people
had been definitely charged with' witchcraft
by that one circle of girls.
Those who were released had been for

DELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 229
many months in a prison cell, heavily chained.
Their property had been wasted, their fam
ilies scattered, their health broken. Their
freedom was restored ; but what was to
compensate for their ruined lives ? A few
years later the General Court reversed the
attainder against those who had been exe
cuted, and tried to make good to their fam
ilies the losses suffered. The churches also
revoked the sentences of excommunication.
In 1697 the government appointed a public
fast-day throughout the colony, to implore
the Lord to turn away his anger, and not to
punish the land for that fatal error. The
jurors who had tried and convicted the ac
cused made ^ a public statement, confessing
that they had been " sadly deluded and
mistaken." As to the girls who had originated the
horrible tragedy, most of them turned out
profligates. Only one of them — Ann Put
nam — ever made public confession of her^

230 OLD COLONY DAYS.
sin ; and this confession was not so humble
as it might have been, considering the ruin
she had wrought.
The Rev. Mr. Parris persisted in the delu
sion with which his name will forever be
associated. The people of Salem village
made heroic efforts to rid themselves of his
ministry, but he refused to go. All the min
isters of Boston had to be called in before
the community could be rid of his presence. ,
As we think of those who were condemned,
one thing must be remembered to their ever
lasting honor, — namely, that confession at
any time would have saved them. They
preferred to die rather than to lie. Some,
who at first were, through weakness, per
suaded or terrified into a confession, after
ward voluntarily took it back and disowned
it before trial. " It required great strength
of mind to take back a confession; relin
quish life and liberty; go down into a dun
geon loaded with irons; and thence to ascend

1) ELUSIONS OF OUR FOREFATHERS. 23 X
the gallows." Yet many a weak girl took
this step rather than live with that terrible
lie on her soul.
And the people who were carried away
with this weird tide of fanaticism, — can we
realize how the loneliness of their surround
ings, the isolation of their lives, the dangers
with which they were beset, and the hard
ships they had to endure, formed their minds,
and made them a suitable prey for gloomy
fancies and morbid superstitions? In the
history of this panic is there any resemblance
to the action of mobs in our own day? It is
ea.sy to stand upon a pinnacle of superiority
and look down with a pitying smile upon the
delusions of our forefathers ; but, after all,
are we free enough from superstition, pas
sion, and prejudice to pass judgment upon
them?

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS.

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS.
' I ^O most of us the words Puritan and
¦*¦ poet seem antagonistic, — the one a
contradiction of the other. The traditional
Puritan is a long-faced, sour-visaged man,
clad in sad-colored garments. He sternly
represses in himself, and in those about him,
all expression of natural affection, all long
ing for the beautiful, all desire for enjoyment
and pleasure. Macaulay tells us that the Pu
ritan hated bear-baiting, not because it gave
pain to the bears, but because it gave pleas
ure to the spectators. One hundred and fifty
years ago the poet, Freneau, expressed the
popular idea of the Puritan : —
" There exiles were formed in a whimsical mould
And were awed by their priests like the Hebrews of
old.
Disclaimed all pretenses to jesting and laughter,
And sighed their lives through to be happy hereafter.
23s

236 OLD COLONY DAYS.
On a crown immaterial their thoughts were intent,
They loolced toward Zion where-ever they went,
Did all things in hope of a future reward,
And worried mankind — for the sake of the Lord."
Hawthorne describes the Puritan children
playing on the doorstep in such grim fash
ion as their training would permit, — playing
at going to church, or at scourging Quakers,
or at fighting Indians, or at taking witches.
In short, all our ideas of the Puritan combine
to suggest a life of repression and gloom.
We sometimes fear that we have inherited
from them a sort of vague and undefined be
lief that " if you are good you will be happy,
but you won't have a good time."
Was there any place for poetry on this
sombre background? What is poetry with
out the idea of the beautiful, without the nat
ural emotions ofthe heart? Had the Puritan
then no heart? Had he no warm human
blood? If you want to know the real Puri
tan without his shell, turn away from those

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 237
musty volumes of sermons, which it would
require " a long life, implicit faith, and more
than the patience of Job " to read through,
and study rather the quaint old diaries afnd
the letters of these men who crossed the
ocean for the sake of their convictions.
Read, for instance, this farewell letter, written
by Governor Winthrop to the wife whom he
was leaving behind in England until he could
prepare a home for her in the wilderness : —
" And now (my sweet soul) I must once again take
my last fare-well of thee in Old England. It goeth
very near to my heart to leave thee ; but I know to
whom I have committed thee, even to Him who loves
thee much better than any husband can, who hath
taken account of the hairs of thy head, and puts all
thy tears in his bottle, who can and (if it be for his
glory) will, bring us together again with peace and
comfort. Oh, how it refresheth my heart, to think
that I shall yet again see thy sweet face in the land
of the living ! — that lovely countenance, that I have
so much delighted in, and beheld with so great con
tent! I have hitherto been so taken up with business,
as I could seldom look back to my former happiness ;
but now, when I shall be at sOme leisure, I shall not

238 OLD COLONY DAYS.
avoid the remembrance of thee, nor the grief for thy
absence. Thou hast thy share with me, but I hope
the course we have agreed upon will be some ease
to us both. Mondays and Fridays, at five of the clock
at night, we shall meet in spirit till we meet in person.
Yet, if all these hopes should fail, blessed be our God,
that we are assured we shall meet one day, if not as
husband and wife, yet in a better condition. Let that
slay and comfort thy heart. Neither can the sea
drown thy husband, nor enemies destroy, nor any
adversity deprive thee of thy husband or children.
Therefore I will only take thee now and my sweet
children in mine arms, and kiss and embrace you all,
and so leave you with my God. Fare-well, fare-well.
I bless you all in the name of the Lord Jesus.''
Can any woman of the present day show
a more tender love-letter? More demonstra
tive ones we may find, perhaps, more full of
extravagant expressions, but none that show
a warmer, truer heart. Indeed, the more
closely we study the Puritan, the more hu
man we find him. There is plenty of evi
dence that he had' a heart, though it may
have been sometimes overshadowed by his
conscience. The greatest fault of the Puri-

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 239
tan seems to have been an excess of earnest
ness. He was so terribly in earnest in his
beliefs and purposes that he had no time to
make life pleasant and easy for himself or his
family. Lowell has summed up the Puritan's
creed in three points, — "faith in God, faith
in man, and faith in work." He might also
have added, faith in the devil ; for it was his
firm belief in the ever-present activity and
enmity of the devil that accounted for his
austerity. It was not from hardness of heart
that he tried to repress all worldly instincts
in his children, but from a watchful and
jealous love which would save them, in spite
of themselves, from the grasp of Satan.
The Puritan prejudice against art and
against beauty was also a mattef of con
science. It was the natural reaction against
the beauty worship of the Renaissance. On
the one hand were the immorality and the
paganizing tendencies of the Renaissance, on
the other, the Catholic reverence for paintings

240 OLD COLONY DA YS.
and shrines and grand cathedrals. In his
intense desire to escape these two dangers,
the. Puritan had really come to believe that
the Lord loved angles better than curves,
and that ugliness was more pleasing in his
sight than beauty. Painting and sculpture
and architecture, then, were not for him.
There remained only poetry and music, and
these with certain limitations. Dramatic po
etry, the writings of Shakespeare and his
brother playwrights and actors, must be
passed by as temptations of the evil one.
There was left only the metaphysical school,
with its curious quirks and conceits and plays
upon words. As to music, — the instrumental
music used in church worship in the old
country " savored of popery." It was a part
ofthe "bare and beggarly ceremonies" which
they had sought to escape. We may judge
what they thought of choirs from Puritan
Prynnes' description of them : " Choirsters
bellow the tenor as it were oxen; bark a

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 241
counterpart as it were a kennel of dogs;
roar out a treble as it were a sort of bulls ;
and grunt a bass, as it were a number of
hogs." It will be seen that the field allowed to the
Puritan poet was a very narrow one indeed.
Yet the desire for poetic expression must be
a natural instinct of the human heart ; for, in
spite of all these restrictions and prejudices,
the Puritans wrote verses by the hundred, —
not a poem now and then, but quires of
them, reams of them, miles of them. Not an
isolated genius here and there, breaking out
irrepressibly into song, but every one —
preachers, governors, artisans — found vent
in rhyme. It was said of John Wilson, the
first pastor of Boston, that he had so nimble
a faculty of putting his devout thoughts
into verse, that he signalized himself by
sending poems to all persons, in all places,
on all occasions, wherein the curious rel
ished the piety, sometimes, rather than the
16

242 OLD COLONY DAYS.
poetry. His epitaph commends to after
ages, —
"His care to guide his flock and feed his lambs.
By words, works, prayers, psalms, alms, and ana
grams."
The first considerable collection of poetry
of the forefathers was that poetic prodigy,
that metrical monstrosity known as the " Bay
Psalm Book," which enjoys the distinction of
being the first book published in New Eng
land. The Pilgrims had brought from Hol
land a few copies of Ainsworth's version of
the Psalms ; but it was not adopted by other
churches because the tunes were too difficult,
and because it did not contain all the psalms.
The Puritans had brought some copies of
Sternhold and Hopkin's version; but this
was objectionable for the reason that it was
used in the Church of England, and also
because it was not literal enough. They de
cided to have a version of their own for use
in the churches, and appointed a committes

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 243
to prepare it, consisting of the " chiefest di
vines of the country." It seems appropriate
that the first book printed in Massachusetts
should be a psalm book. It was printed in
Cambridge in 1640, and was used by the New
England churches for more than a century.
The titlepage is as follows : —
"The Whole Book of Psalmes Faithfully Trans
lated into English Metre. Whereunto is prefixed a
discourse declaring not only the lawfulness, but also
the necessity of the Heavenly Ordinance of Singing
Psalmes in the Churches of God.
Coll. III. Let the word of God dwell plenteously
in you in all wisdome, teaching and exhorting one
another in Psalmes, Himnes, and spirituall Songs,
singing to the Lord with grace in your hearts.
James 'V. If any be afflicted, let him pray ; and
if any be merry let him sing psalmes."
The words, " for the Use Edification and
Comfort of the saints, in Public and Private,
especially in New England," were added to
'the second edition. The book was sung
through in course, beginning with the first
psalm ; and when the end was reached, they

244 OLD COLONY DA YS.
went back to the first again. There was no
thought of adapting the psalm to the sermon.
Eight tunes were used for the whole book, —
namely, Oxford, Litchfield, Low Dutch, York,
Windsor, Cambridge, Saint David's, and Mar
tyrs. Since there were only a few in each
congregation who were able to own the book,
the deacon " lined the psalm." This sorrie-
times made queer breaks in the meaning of
the words. For instance, the deacon would
read : " The Lord will come and he will not,"
and the people would sing, and then pause
for the second line, — "keep silence but speak
out." There was much discussion at first as
to whether the men only should sing, and not
the women. "Because it is not permitted to a
woman to speak in the church, how then shall
they sing? Much less is it permitted them to
prophecy in the church and singing of psalms
is a kind of prophecying." The Rev. John
Cotton answered these objections, and the
women sang. Some of the psalms were one

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 245
hundred and thirty lines long; and the lining
and the singing occupied a full half hour,
the congregation standing meanwhile. Yet
Judge Sewall, in his diary, frequently makes
" Humbell acknowledgement to God of the
great comfort and merciful kindness received
through singing his psalms."
Having seen how the Puritans sang, let us
look at what they sang, — the metrical and
poetical translations produced by their " chief
divines." Here is a part of the fifty-eighth
psalm : —
" The wicked are estranged from
the womb, they goe astray
as soon as ever they are borne;
uttering lyes are they.
" Their poyson 's like serpent's poyson.
They like deafe Aspe, her eare
that sto^s. Thuough charmer wisely charrae
his voice she wiU not heare.
"Within their mouth doe thou their teeth
break out, O God most strong,
doe thou Jehovah, the great teeth
break of the lion's young."

246 . OLD COLONY DAYS.
A verse of the fifty-first psalm will illustrate
the good men's struggles for rhyme : —
" Create in me clean heart at last God :
A right spirit in me new make.
Nor from thy presence quite me cast,
thy holy spright not from me take."
But, for both metre and rhyme, their crown
ing effort was the rendering of the one hun
dred and thirty-third psalm : —
" I . How good and sweet to see
i 'ts for bretheren to dwell
together in unitee :
"2. Its like choice oyle that fell
the head upon
that down did flow
the beard unto
beard of Aron :
The skirts of his garment
that unto him went down:
"3. Like Hermons dews descent
Sions mountains upon
for there to bee
the Lords blessing
Life aye lasting
commandeth hee."

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 247
From the rhythm of this we can understand
some of Judge Sewall's difficulties in setting
the tune. " He spake to me to set the tune,"
he records. " I intended Windsor and fell
into High Dutch, and then essaying another
tune went into a key much too high. So I
prayed Mr. White to set the tune which he did
well. Litchfield." Again he writes : " I set
York tune and the congregation went out of
it into St. David's in the very 2d going over."
Another time he set Windsor tune, and they
" ran over into Oxford do what I would."
Bound up in the back of the third edition
of the psalm-book were some scripture songs
from other parts of tne Bible. Here is a por
tion of the song of Deborah and Barak : —
"24 Jael the Kenite Hebers wife
'bove women blest shall be :
Above the women in the tent
a blessed one is she.
25 He water ask'd: she gave him milk
him butter forth she fetch'd
26 In Lordly dish : then to the nail
she forth her left hand stretched.

248 OLD COLONY DA YS.
" Her right the workman's hammer held
and Sisera struck dead :
She pierced and struck his temple through
and then smote off his head.
27 He at her feet bow'd, fell, lay down
he at her feet bow'd, where
He fell : Ev'n where he bowed down
he fell destroyed there." ?
Whenever Judge Sewall attended a wed
ding, he was accustomed to carry as a bridal
gift a copy of this psalm-book, and to sing
from it, to the gloomy tune of Windsor, the
hymn known as " Myrrh Aloes " : —
"8 Myrrh Aloes and Cassias smell
all of thy garments had
out of the yvory pallaces
whereby they made thee glad :
"9 Amongst thine honorable maids
kings daughters present were
The Queen is set at thy right hand
in fine gold of Ophir."
He then presented the book to the bride
groom with words like these : —

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 249
" I give you this Psalm Book in order to your per
petuating this Song; and I would have you pray that
it may be an introduction to our Singing with the
Choir above."
The Puritans had been singing the psalms
to their eight tunes for about ten years, when
the poems of Anne Bradstreet appeared.
What wonder that the unhappy New Eng-
landers hailed her with delight as the " Tenth
Muse ; " for it must be remembered that
the first professional poet of New England
was a woman. She was, too, a Puritan of
the Puritans. The daughter of that austere
old Puritan, Gov. Thomas Dudley, and the
wife of the equally strict, but less stern Puri
tan, Simon Bradstreet, she had known from
her childhood no other influence. In 1630
she came, a young bride in her " teens," to
America; and most of her poems were writ
ten during the first ten years in the wilder
ness. But they do not tell us what we
should so much like to know, — her impres
sions of this strange New World, her hard-

250 OLD COLONY DAYS.
ships, trials, and adventures in it. Her pen
does not deal with any such common, every
day subjects, but seeks far more ambitious
themes, as may be seen from the following
elaborate titlepage prefixed by her friends
to the first edition of her poems : —
"The Tenth Muse — Lately sprung up in America.
or Severall Poems, compiled with great
variety of Wit and Learning, full of delight. Wherein
especially is contained a complete discourse and
description of ¦ Elements Constitutions
Ages of Man
. Seasons of the year.
Together with an Exact Epitomie of the Four Mon
archies, viz. ' Assyrian,
Persian,Grecian, Roman.
Also a Dialogue between Old England and New, con
cerning the late troubles. With divers other pleasant
and serious Poems. By a Gentlewoman in those
parts. Printed at Lpndon for Stephen Bowtell at the
signe of the Bible in Popes Head-Alley. 1650."

The Four \

The {

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS 25 I
A preface, written by a masculine hand,
commends the book and prophesies that
men will envy the excellency of the inferior
sex, and will even question whether it be a
woman's work, and ask, —
" Is it possible ? If any do, take this as an answer
from him that dares avow it; it is the Work of a
¦Woman, honoured and esteemed where she lives, for
her gracious demeanour, her eminent parts, her pious
conversation, her courteous disposition, her exact dili
gence in her place, and discreet managing of her Fam
ily occasions, and more then so, these Poems are the
fruit but of some few houres, curtailed from her sleep
and other refreshments."
Following the preface were a number of
poetic eulogies from prominent clergymen
who had read the poems in manuscript.
John Rogers informs her that twice he has
drunk the nectar of her lines, and speaks of
" weltring in dehght." Another writes : —
" I 've read your Poem (Lady) and admire.
Your Sex to such a pitch should e'er aspire;
Go on to write, continue to relate,
New Historyes, of Monarchy and State.

252 OLD COLONY DAYS.
And what the Romans to their Poets gave
Be sure such honour and esteem you 'I have.''
And another still : —
"Twere extream folly should I dare attempt.
To praise this Author's worth with complement ;
None but her self must dare commend her parts.
Whose sublime brain 's the Synopsis of Arts.
Nature and skill, here both in one agree,
To frame this Master-piece of Poetry:
False Fame, belye their Sex no more, it can
Surpass, or parallel the best of Man."
The Rev. Nathaniel Ward, of Ipswich, who
had small esteem for women, wrote : —
" It half revives my chil frost-bitten blood,
To see a 'Woman once, do aught that 's good ;
And chode by Chancers Boots, and Homers Furrs
Let Men look to 't, least Women wear the Spurrs."
Anne herself, in her prologue, forestalls
those who might object to a woman's wield
ing a pen: —
" I am obnoxious to each carping tongue
Who says my hand a needle better fits,
A Poets pen all scorn I thus should wrong,
For such despite they cast on Female wits :
If what I do prove well, it won't advance,
They'l say it's stoln, or else it was by chance."

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 253
We are now ready for the poems themselves.
They are divided, as we have seen from thci
titlepage, into quaternions. The first group
considers the four elements — Fire, Earth,
Air, and Water — represented as four per
sonages who have met together, and are
quarrelling for the precedence, each glorify
ing his own deeds and belittling the others.
Fire stands forth and recounts her services to
mankind, — how she has framed his tools,
forged his weapons, cast h^s pots and kettles,
cooked his food and warmed his limbs. She
then describes her powers, — how she has
destroyed cities and turned castles to cinders,
— speaks of the terrors of her volcanoes, and
concludes : —
" What shall I say of Lightning and of Thunder
Which Kings and mighty ones amaze with wonder.
Which make a Caesar (Romes) the worlds proud
head,
Foolish Caligula creep under 's bed.
And in a word, the world I shall consume
And all therein at that great day of Doom."

254 OLD COLON^ DAYS.
Fire sits down satisfied, and Earth arises
to make her plea. She describes at great
length her mountains, hills, and dales, her
fruits and flowers, the many commodities she
produces for man, and, like Fire, concludes
her bragging with a threat : —
" I 'le say no more, but this thing add I must
Remember Sons, your mould is of my dust
And after death whether interr'd or burn'd
As Earth at first so into Earth return'd."
Water angrily takes her place. She men
tions proudly her fountains, rivers, lakes, and
ponds, her sundry seas, — black and white, —
her curative springs, her tides, her dews,
concluding with a reference to the flood,
when " wholly perish'd Earths ignoble
race." Then Air, calm and placid, takes
her stand : —
" I do suppose you'l yield without controul,
I am the breath of every living soul."
Air goes on to show that words are but wind ;
the sound of drums, trumpets, and organs

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 255
are but forced air ; also the report of the gun
and your songs and pleasant tunes, — they are
the same. Air fills the bellows of the smith
and the sails of the mariner, and so on.
After the four elements come the four ages
of man. " What gripes of wind mine infancy did pain.
What tortures I in breeding teeth sustain?"
sings the first age of man; and the afflicted
third age cries : —
" The Cramp and Gout doth sadly torture me.
And the restraining lame Sciatica.
The Astma, Megrim, Palsy, Lethagrie,
The quartan Ague, dropsy. Lunacy."
The third quaternion is a dialogue between
the four seasons, each of which sings her
own praises. Spring tells of her months, —
March, April, May. In May, —
" The Sun now enters loving Gemini,
And heats us with the glances of his eye.
Our thicker raiment makes us lay aside
Lest by his fervor we be torrifi'd.

256 OLD COLONY DAYS.
Now swarms the busy, witty, honey-Bee,
Whose praise deserves a page from more than me
The cleanly Huswifes Dary's now in th' prime.
Her shelves and firkins fiU'd for winter time."
Summer appears, " Wiping the sweat from
off her face that ran," and recounts her treas
ures. Autumn brings her vintage : —
" Beaf, Brawn, and Pork are now in great request,
And solid meats our stomacks can digest.
This time warm cloaths, full diet and good fires.
Our pinched flesh, and hungry mawes requires :
Old, cold, dry Age, and Earth AutU7nn resembles,
And Melancholy which most of all dissembles.
" Cold, moist, young flegmy winter now doth lye
In swadling Clouts, like new born Infancy.
. . . . . ¦ «
" Cold frozen yanuary next comes in,
Chilling the blood and shrinking up the skin;
The day much longer than it was before.
The cold not lessened, but augmented more.
Now Toes and Ears, and Fingers often freeze,
And Travelers their noses sometimes leese."
The poem on " The Four Monarchies " is
simply a rhymed version of Raleigh's " His
tory of the World." Tedious reading it would

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 257
prove now, but in its day it was received with
enthusiasm. This was useful poetry, with
nothing trivial or frivolous about it, — no
poetic fiction either, but good hard facts.
In the poem about Queen Elizabeth Mrs.
Bradstreet once more takes up the cudgels in
defence of women: —
" She hath wip'd off th' aspersion of her Sex
That women wisdome lack to play the Rex.
Now say, have women worth.? or have they none?
Or had they some, but with our queen is 't gone ?
Nay Masculines, you have thus tax'd us long;
But she, though dead, will vindicate our wrong.
Let such as say our Sex is void of Reason,
Know tis Slander now but once was Treason."
When Anne Bradstreet died, great was the
mourning all over New England. Sermons
were preached in all the churches, and fu
neral elegies by the score poured in upon
the family. A few lines from the one writ
ten by the Rev. John Norton may serve
as a sample of the manner and method
of all : — 17

2S8 OLD COLONY DAYS.
" A Funeral Elogy, upon that Pattern and Patron of
Virtue, the truly pious, peerless and matchless Gentle
woman Mrs. Anne Bradstreet, right Panaretes,
Mirror of her Age, Glory of her Sex, whose Heaven-
born-Soul leaving its earthly Shrine, chose its native
home, and was taken to its Rest, upon the i6th Sept.
1672. " Ask not why hearts turn Magazines of passions,
And why that grief is clad in sev'ral fashions.
Ask not why some in mournfull black are clad;
The Sun is set, there needs must be a shade.
Some do for anguish weep, for anger I
That Ignorance should Uve, and Art should die.
Black, fatal, dismal, inauspicious day,
Unblest forever by Sol's precious Ray,'' etc., etc.
There are four hundred pages of Anne
Bradstreet's poems ; and though a great deal
of it is rubbish, there is, now and then, an
ingot which shows that she had really the
poetic endowment. We can but regret that
instead of singing the elements and the
ancient monarchies, she did not turn the at
tention of her muse to the life about her, to
the strange new experience through which

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 259
she was passing, and to the feelings that
stirred within her own heart. What would
we not give for a woman's view of those
days ?
Next to Anne Bradstreet in our colonial
literature comes a name which was, for more
than a hundred years, a household word
in New England, — the name of Michael
Wigglesworth, whom we must consider as
the Puritan Dante, or rather the New Eng
land Dante. If Taine called " Paradise
Lost " the " epic of damnation and grace "
what would he say of Wigglesworth's " Day
of Doom"? He might truly call it the dog
gerel of " damnation and grace." And yet
the man had no thought of producing any
thing humorous or amusing. He was as
sadly in earnest in warning his generation
as was Dante himself when he made his pil
grimage through the three worlds of the
dead. Wigglesworth was the faithful and
beloved pastor of the church at Maiden for

26o OLD COLONY DAYS.
over fifty years. And, although himself a
" frail feeble shadow of a man," as Cotton
Mather calls him, he was at the same time
their physician, healing the body as well as
the soul. When ill health compelled him,
for a while, to lay aside his work, he em
ployed his time in an attempt to embody his
teachings in poetic form, in order to reach a
wider audience. The result was that remark
able book, the "Day of Doom."
In order properly to estimate this singular
book, we must endeavor to place ourselves,
for a time, in the atmosphere in which it was
created. We must go back two hundred
years and picture to ourselves the weak com
munity, not a nation, not even a state, but a
few small detached villages, always in dan
ger from the Indians, and relying constantly
on the Lord for protection. They believed
themselves the chosen people of God, as
much as ever the Israelites did, trying to gov
ern their little body according to God's will,

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 26 X
basing their laws on the Old Testament and
giving a text for every law. They were made
more rigid and more careful in their life by
the reports which continually reached them
of the gross immorality that was rife in Eng
land during the reign of the Merry Monarch,
Charles II. At every fresh scandal, the
Puritan drew his creed more tightly about
him and watched more jealously over those
entrusted to his care. And, stern though it
seems to us, the sentence which condemned
Hester Prynne to stand in the market-place
and to wear the " Scarlet Letter " as a warn
ing to other women, was kindness itself
compared to the cruelty of the sentiment
prevailing in London, that every woman was
the natural prey of the man who looked
upon her. To understand the high ideal of
the Puritans we have only to compare the
diary of Judge Sewall with that of Pepys,
both written at the same time. The one in
spired by "plain living and high thinking,"

262 OLD COLONY DAYS.
the other by high living and no thinking.
Mindful of all the sin and danger there was
in the world, the Puritan's aim was not to
make the world happy, but to get safely
through it and into the next one. Colman's
words on Cotton Mather were true of almost
every one. " Of death and eternity he was
ever speaking with pleasure and desire." It
is to be remembered that theology and argu
ment were their daily food and that they
were firm in the faith that their belief was
the only safe one. It is sad to read that
even this chosen community, which made it
the object of life to keep in the right way,
was beset with " 82 pestilent heresies."
When we remember all these things and try
to surround ourselves with that atmosphere
of the olden time, we can understand that
Michael Wigglesworth meant his "Day of
Doom" not as a sulphurous denunciation
of the wicked, but as a solemn warning to
those for whom he was responsible.

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 263
The poem is called "The Day of Doom;
or a Poetical Description of the Great and
Last Judgement." It opens with a picture
of the heedlessness and indifference of the
world just before the Judgment.
"StiU was the night, serene and bright,
When all Men sleeping lay;
Calm was the Season, and carnal Reason
thought so 'twould last for aye.
"4 They put away the evil day,
and drown'd their cares and fears.
Till drown'd were they, and swept away
by vengeance unawares;
So at the last, while men sleep fast
in their security,
Surpris'd they are in such a snare
as Cometh suddenly."
The Day of Doom suddenly bursts upon
this sleeping world.
" 5 For at midnight break forth a Light,
which turn'd the night to day,
And speedily an hideous cry
did all the world dismay.

264 OLD COLONY DAYS.
Sinners awake, their hearts do ake,
trembling their loines surprizeth ;
Amaz'd with fear, by what they hear,
each one of them ariseth.
" 6 They rush from Beds with giddy heads,
and to their windows run,
'Viewing this light, which shines more bright
than doth the Noon-day Sun."
Christ, the Judge, appears with his train.
" 10 No heart so bold, but now grows cold
and almost dead with fear :
No eye so dry, but now can cry,
and pour out many a tear."
In their terror some hide themselves in
caves, some leap into the sea, and others flee
to the mountains to escape the dread pres
ence. The mountains smoke, the sea roars,
the earth is rent and torn. The trump is
sounded; the dead arise from their graves,
the living are brought out of their hiding
places, and all are taken before the judgment
seat. The sheep are separated from the
goats and placed at His right hand.

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 265
"27 At Christ's left hand the Goats do stand,
all whining hypocrites.
Who for self-ends did seem Christ's friends,
but foster'd guileful sprites :
"28 Apostates base, and Run-aways,
such as have Christ forsaken,
Of whom the Devil, with seven more evil,
hath fresh possession taken :
"31 Blasphemers lewd, and swearers shrewd,
Scoffers at purity.
That hated God, contemn'd his Rod,
and lov'd Security.
Sabbath polluters. Saints persecutors,
presumptuous men and proud.
Who never lov'd those that reprov'd
all stand amongst this Crowd.
"33 False-witness-bearers, and self-forswearers
Murd'rers and Men of blood.
Witches, Inchanters, and Ale-house-haunters,
beyond account there stood.
" 34 There stands all Nations and Generations
of Adam's Progeny,
Whom Christ redeem'd not, who Christ
esteem'd not,
through Infidelity.

266 OLD COLONY DAYS.
"35 These num'rous bands wringing their hands
and weeping all stand there,
Filled with anguish, whose hearts do languish
with self- tormenting fear."
Christ then begins to judge. He speaks
first to the sheep, explaining how and why
they are saved, and points them to thrones
near by where they are to assist in judg
ing the rest. Then comes the turn of the
wicked. " 51 Of wicked Men, none are so mean
as there to be neglected :
Nor none so high in dignity,
as there to be respected. "
Different classes of sins are judged in their
order. First hypocrites are disposed of, then
"civil honest men," those that pretend want
of opportunity to repent, heathen men, and so
on, until at last come the reprobate infants.
" 166 Then to the Bar, all they drew near
who dy'd in infancy.
And never had or good or bad
effected pers'nally.

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 267
But from the womb unto the tomb
were straightway carried,
(Or, at the least, e're they transgrest)
who thus began to plead."
The children argue that they should not be
punished for Adam's sin, but the Judge re
plies promptly that they themselves are sin
ners and must expect to be treated as such.
" 180 Yet to compare your sin with their
who liv'd a longer time,
I do confess yours is much less,
though every sin 's a crime.
" 181 A Crime it is, therefore in bliss
you may not hope to dwell ?
But unto you I shall allow
the easiest room in Hell."
The pleading is all ended, the earth's foun
dation is fired, and the sentence of doom
pronounced. "201 Ye sinful wights, and cursed sprites,
that work iniquity
Depart together from me forever
to endless Misery ;

268 OLD COLONY DAYS.
"212 But who can tell the plagues of Hell,
and torments exquisite ?
Who can relate their dismal state,
and terrours infinite?
"214 But, ah the wo they undergo
(they more than all besides)
Who had the light, and knew the right,
yet would not it abide.
The sev'n fold smart, which to their part,
and portion doth fall.
Who Christ his Grace would not embrace,
nor harken to his call.
"211 They live to lie in misery,
and bear eternal wo ;
And live they must whilst God is just,
that he may plague them so.''
And there the author leaves them while he
returns to celebrate the felicity of the saints,
who are not at all disturbed by the sufferings
of their relatives and friends below. We are
frankly told that "they're not dejected nor
aught affected with all their misery." All
natural affections seem to be done away with.
The mother disowns her children who are
not saved ; and the pious father delights to

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 269
see his son " In Hell with Devils, for all his
evils, burning eternally." It is true that
sympathy formerly moved them to wish to
share the woes of others, but now, he says,
" such compassion is out of fashion, and
wholly laid aside."
" 197 One natural Brother beholds another
in his astonied fit,
Yet sorrows not thereat a jot,
nor pities him a whit.
The godly wife conceives no grief,
nor can she shed a tear,
For the sad fate of her dear Mate,
when she his doom doth hear.
" 198 He that was erst a Husband pierc'd
with sense of wives distress.
Whose tender heart did bear the part
of all her grievances.
Shall mourn no more as heretofore,
because of her ill plight ;
Although he see her now to be
a damn'd forsaken wight."
The swinging sing-song ballad style in
which it was written added much to the
popularity of the poem. No other book ever

270 OLD COLONY DAYS.
published in America has had so large a cir
culation in proportion to the population of
the country, as did the " Day of Doom."
Eighteen hundred copies were sold the first
year, so that at least every fifth family owned
a copy. It was the solace, says Lowell, of
every fireside. Children learned it by heart,
down to the time of the Revolution. For
more than a hundred years it was the repre
sentative poem of New England, and Cotton
Mather predicted that it would continue to
be read in New England until the day of
doom itself should arrive.
Toleration is a broad thing. It was George
Eliot who pointed out that to be truly liberal
you must learn to tolerate intolerance. We
can at least try to understand its motives.
Instead of scoffing at the narrowness and
bigotry of the Puritan we can endeavor to
judge him by the standard ofthe seventeenth
century and not that of the nineteenth cen
tury. We shall find that instead of being

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 27 1
narrower than his generation he was, in all
essentials, broader. If he drove out a heretic
now and then, it was because, in their hand-
to-hand battle for existence, he did not dare
to run the risk of the presence of a disturb
ing element. Those were dark days for
Protestantism, and men needed to be on their
guard. The fires of the inquisition were still
smoking in Spain ; Holland had been well
nigh blotted from the face of the earth;
Germany had been for thirty years a bloody
battle-field, and France had driven the whole
of her thinking population into exile. In
England the dungeons were overflowing with
men whose only crime was attending a dis
senting church, and the horrors of torture
inflicted on the Scotch Presbyterians make
the blood . run cold at the recital. What
wonder that the second generation of Puri
tans were more strict than the first? As for
superstition, — if the Puritans believed in
witches, how was it with the rest of the

272 OLD COLONY DAYS.
world? There was not a nation in Europe
in which a belief in demoniacal possession
was not prevalent. For every witch hung
in Boston or Salem thousands were put to
death in England, in Germany, Switzerland,
and Italy. Nor was theology the only science
which was still groping in darkness. Other
sciences were yet in the grasp of superstition,
notably the science of medicine. Witness
the following prescription, sent by Sir
Kenelm Digby, a London physician, to John
Winthrop, Jr. " For all sorts of agues, I
have of late tried the following magnetical
experiment with infallible success. Pare the
patient's nails when the fit is coming on, and
put the parings into a little bag of fine linen
or sarsanet, and tie that about a live eel's
neck in a tub of water. The eel will die and
the patient will recover. And if a dog or a
hog eat that eel, they will also die."
In short, looking the world ,over in- the
seventeenth century we find that the New

A GROUP OF PURITAN POETS. 273
England Puritan compares very favorably
with other men. He may have been hard
and angular, but he was honest, manly, and
heroic. What he lacked in art he made up
in character, and earnestness is still one of
the primal qualities of character. It was not
so much an excess of earnestness which we
regret, as the direction sometimes taken for
its expression. " Were they too earnest,"
asks Lowell, "in the strife to save their souls
alive? That is still the problem which every
wise and brave man is life-long in solving. If
the Devil takes a less hateful shape to us
than to our fathers, he is as busy with us as
with them ; and if we cannot find it in our
hearts to break with a gentleman of so much
worldly wisdom, who gives such admirable
dinners, and whose manners are so perfect,
so much the worse for us." Before we unite
too heartily in their condemnation it were bet
ter to weigh carefully the words of one who
was certainly our equal in liberality. " Next
IS

274 OLD COLONY DAYS.
to the fugitives whom Moses led out of
Egypt, the little ship-load of outcasts who
landed at Plymouth two centuries and a half
ago are destined to influence the future of
the world. The spiritual thirst of mankind
has for ages been quenched at Hebrew foun
tains ; but the embodiment in human institu
tions of truths uttered by the Son of Man
eighteen centuries ago was to be mainly the
work of Puritan thought and Puritan self-
devotion." *
* James Russell Lowell, in " New England Two Cen
turies Ago.''

INDEX.

INDEX.

Adams, John Quincy, quoted,
48.
Alden, John, 80, 83.
Alden, Captain John, 222.
Alden, Priscilla, 79, So.
Allerton, Mr., 82.
' Amsterdam, 25, -t,"].
Andros, Sir Edmund, 115, 116,
146.
"Anne," the, "j"],, 79, 80.
Bancroft, 16.
Banister, Mr. Thomas, Jr., 159.
Barry, Mr., 15.
Barstow, Goody, 97.
Baxter, Richard, 190.
Bay Psalm Book, 242, et seq.
Bellamy, Mr., 91.
Billington, John, 50, 62.
" Body of Liberties," go, 94.
Bradford, Governor William;
first history of the " Old Col
ony, "11; MS. found, 1 5 ; early
life of, 17; quoted, 20, 21, 23;
life in Holland, 25 ; quoted,
36, 37, 39j 42-45> 58-60, 65,
74; death of wife, 54; chosen
governor, 68 ; married to Alice
Southworth, 79; re-election as
governor, ?>t, ; writings of, 84 ;
chosen governor for thirtieth
time, 85 ; death, 86.
*' Bradford's History," 12,15,17. 2

"Bradford's Letter Book, 12,
13. H-
Bradford, John, 15.
Bradford, Samuel, 15.
Bradstreet, Anne, 249, et seq.
Bradstreet, Dudley, 222.
Bradstreet, Governor Simon,
197.
Brewster, William, aids " Separ
atists," iS, 19; imprisoned,
22 ; made assistant pastor, 26 ;
accompanies Pilgrims, 34;
cares for the sick, 60, 72, 80;
moves to Duxbury, 84.
Browne, Sir Thomas, 190.
Bryant, Mr., 97.
Burial Hill, 86.
Burroughs, Rev. Mr., 208.
Buxton, Dr. Samuel, 156.
Calef, Robert, 226.
Cape Cod, 42, 45, 48, 50.
Carver, John, elected governor,
49, 58 ; Received Massasoit,
63 ; death, 67.
Carpenter, Mary, 171.
Charles II., 115, 131, 135, 144,
261.
Chester, Bishop of, 191.
Clark, Mr. James, 14.
Clark, Mr. Timothy, 174.
Clark's Island, 52.
Clifton, Pastor, 19.
77 »

278

INDJSX.

Cloyse, Sarah, 208.
Copp's Hill, 114.
Corey, Giles, 213, 214, 216, 219.
Corey, Martha, 207, 213, 215,
216.
Corwin, Jonathan, 204.
Cotton, Rev. John, go, 93, 104,
118, 244.
Cushman, Robert, 13.
"Day of Doom," 25g-27o.
Delft haven, 36, 45.
Denison, Widow, 171, 175.
Digby, Sir Kenelm, 272.
Duxbury, 84.
Eliot, Rev. Andrew, 157.
Eliot, Rev. John, no.
Endicott, Governor, 197.
Everett, Parson, 106.
"Father of American His
tory," the, IT.
Fiske, John, quoted, 187.
" Fortune," the, 72.
Freneau, Phillip, 235.
Gallovi^s Hill, 213, 223.
Gibbs, Mrs. Mary, 179, 180.
Glover, Goody, 193.
Good, Sarah, 203-206.
Goodman, John, 57.
Griggs, Dr., 201.
Hale, Mrs., 225.
Hale, Rev, Mr., 225.
Hathorne, John, 204.
Hely, Goodman, 102,
Hibbins, Ann, 197.
Higginson, Rev. Francis, g2.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth,
quoted, 105, 113.

Hobbs, Deliverance, 222.
Hooker, Thomas, 113.
Hopkins, Matthew, 192.
Hopkins, Oceanus, 41.
Hubbard, Elizabeth, 211, 212,
Hull, Hannah, 137.
Hutchinson, Ann, 188,
James II. , 115, 116, 146.
Johnson's "Wonder Working
Providence," 92. r
Jones, Margaret, 197.
Laud, Archbishop, 16, 113.
Lawson, Rev. Mr., 201, 207.
Lechford, Thomas, 95.
Leyden, 13, 25, 29, 34,
Lidget, Captain, 133.
" Little James," the, 77.
Lowell, James Russell, quoted,
229, 270, 273.
Lyford, Mr., 81.
Macaulay, quoted, 235,
" Magnalia Christi Americana,"
no, 124.
Massachusetts Historical So
ciety, 13, 16, 134.
Massasoit, 63, 65, 71, 77.
Mather, Cotton, 84 ; quoted,
no; tomb, 114, 118; youth,
119 ; called to the North
Church, 120; belief in witch
craft, 122, 123; writings, 124;
sermon, 140, 146; quarrel with
Sewall, 166 ; sermon in de
fence of periwigs, 169, 189,
262, 270.
Mather, Increase, sermon, log;
prayer for death qf King Phil
lip, no; diary, 114; sent to
England, 116 ; chooses the

INDEX.

279

governor, 118; speech on the
charter, 144, 146, 166, 209,
Maule, Thomas, 93.
" Mayflower," the, 17, 35 ; starts
on voyage, 38, 39; starts for
the third time, 46 ; compact
signed in, 47 ; anchored at
Provincetown, 49, 50; an
chored at Plymouth, 54 ; sent
back to England, 66, 67.
Mayhew, no.
Merrymount, 81.
More, Doctor, 190.
Morton, 14.
Moody, Rev. Joshua, 105.
"Mourt's Relation/' 12, 13.
Naumkeag, 83.
New Haven Code of Laws, 97.
North Church, 114.
Norton, Rev. John, 257.
Noyes, Rev. Mr., 223.
Old Colony, ii.
Oldham, John, 81.
Old Soutii Church, 14, 13S, 144,
145.
Oliver, Mistress, 91.
Oliver, Mr., 174.
Osborne, Sarah, 203, 205, 206.
Pakker, Theodore, 171.
Parris, Rev. Mr., 200, 202, 207,
230.
Parris, Elizabeth, 200.
Pawtucket, 62.
Pemberton, Rev. Mr., 166.
Pepys, 129, 131, 132, 261.
Phelps, Nicholas, 98.
Phipps, Sir William, 118, 148,
209, 222, 224, 227.
Phipps, Lady, 222.

Pilgrims, 12, 13, 16, 26; decided
to leave Holland, 34; embar
kation, 38 J sign compact, 46;
landing, 53 ; begin to build
town, 55-^7, 66, 67 ; first duel,
69; famine, 72, 86.
" Phenomena QuEedam Apoca
lyptica," 163.
"Plain Dealing," 95.
Plymouth Rock, 9.
Pomeroy, Jesse, 199. ' '
Prince, Rev. Thomas, 14, 15,
17-
Prince, Governor Thomas, 83.
Plymouth, 10, 12, 15, 17, 274.
Plymouth, England, 39, 45.
Provincetown, 49.
Prynne, Hester, 261.
Prynne, Puritan, 240.
Puritan preacher, 90, 92.
Puritans, popular idea of, 235 ;
character of, 270-274.
Quakers, iii, 112, 188.
Robinson, Rev. John, 19, 26,
34, 80.
Ruggles, Widow, 179.
Saint Simon, diary of, 129,
13°. 133-
Samoset, 62, 63.
Sargeant, Thomas, student, loi.
Scott, Thomas, 99.
Scrooby, 18, 19, 22.
"Selling of Joseph," the, 162.
"Separatists," 11, 19, 189.
Sewall, Henryi 134.
Sewall, Betty, 139, 141.
Sewall, Joseph, 139, 174.
Sewall, Mrs., 158, 171.
Sewall, Sam, 142, 148.

28o

INDEX.

Sewall, Judge Samuel, loo, 103,
129; diary, 133; early life,
135 ; marriage, T37 ; diary,
137-1S3 ; public offices, 143;
journey to London, 146 ; en
gaged in witchcraft trials, 148 ;
repentance and confession,
149-151; prayer on fast-day,
152-155 ; duties as judge, 158;
writings, 162 ; opinion on peri
wigs, 167-170; courtships,
171-180 ; second marriage,
174; third marriage, iSi ;
character, 1S2, 183 ; quoted,
245, 247, 248, 261.
Shephard, Rev. Mr, 113.
Shrimpton, Mr., 133.
Smith, Capt. John, 54, 64.
Southworth, Mistress Alice, 79.
Southampton, 35, 38.
" Speedwell," the, 35, 38-41.
Squanto, 6"}^,, 64, 70.
Standish, Barbara, 79.
Standish, Miles, 12 ; joins the
Pilgrims, 35 ; leads exploring
party, 49 ; cares for the sick,
60, 61 ; meets Massasoit, 63 ;

ends war with Indians, 77;
moves to Duxbury, 83, 85;
death, 86.
Standish, Rose, 61.
Stoughton, Lieutenant Gover
nor, 209, 225.
"Talithi Cumi," 162.
Tilly, Mrs. Elizabeth, 173-175.
Tisquantum, 63, 64, 70.
Tituba, 200, 203, 205, 206, 228.
Tomlin, Mr., of Lynn, loi.
Ward, Rev. Nathaniel, 90;
quoted, 108, 252.
Wetherell, Parson, 97.
White, Peregrine, 50.
Wigglesworth, Rev. Michael,
106, 259-262.
Williams, Abigail, 200, 201, 212.
Williams, Roger, 113, 1S8.
Willard, Josiah, 168.
Willard, Rev. Mr., 146.
Winslow, Edward, 11, 34, 80.
Winthrop, Governor, 197, 237.
Wmthrop, Madam Katherine,
171,175) 17S, 179-

A/cssrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications.

Dante : a sketch of His Life and
Works. By May Alden Ward, author of '* Life of
Petrarch," '* Old Colony Days," etc. 16nio, Cloth.
Price, $1.25.
While we are still upou Italian ground, we wish to speak of Mrs. May Alden
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A convenient handbook cast in narrative form, and serving as a ruiming com
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Works. By May Alden Ward, author of '* Life of
Dante." 16mo. Cloth. Price, $1.25.
Mrs. May Alden Ward has done for Petrarch What she did for Dante. She has
written a sketch of his life and works in a simple, straightforward, and unaffected
style, presenting a portrait which is very enjoyable, and free from aU the extras
which other writers have added to his biography. Mrs. Ward seeks simply to pre
sent the man liimself in the full range of his activity. There is notliing laid on, —
no effort at learning, no attempt to make a great book. Hundreds will read this
work, as they have read the same author's little book on Dante, and will enjoy
greatly its unpretending pages without scarcely knowing why. She has told the
story of Petrarch's life so delightfully that we hope she will find some other hero
of that period whose career she can present with equal clearness and simplicity. —
Boston Herald.
A companion volume to the same writer's "Dante." It is a charming book,
graceful in its literary style, happy in the skill with which it seizes upon the salient
point in the poet's life and character, and delightful in the pictures it affords of the
man, the poet, and his friends. The author displays a keen sympathy with the sub
ject ; and her criticisms on the poetry and the letters of Petrarch are marked by fine
taste, admirable judgment, and well-digested knowledge. Although " a sketch," it
contains in essence all that is to be found in more voluminous works on the same
theme leavened by the peculiar felicity of thought and treatment that is the au
thor's own attractive possession, — Boston Gazette.
Nothing more attractive in the way of a biographical sketch can be desired than
May Alden Ward's "Petrarch." The book is delightful in style, sprightly in nar
rative, skilful in seizing salient points in the presentation of the poet, and vivid and
graphic in its pen portraits of the poet and his many friends and appreciative
admirers. Petrarch, the apostle of culture, the instigator of the revival of letters,
the precursor of the Renaissance, is before us iu living presence. — Providence
(i2. /.) Journal. •
The story of his life, of its great influences and influence, its literary work, its
value to posterity, is admirably related by Mrs. Ward ; aud the volume will prove
to be one of genuine interest and permanent value. To bring into a comparatively
limited space so symmetrical a view of one of the epocli-making poets requires
literary skill of a high order ; and well has Mrs. Ward performed this difficult and
delicate task. — Boston Budget.
Mrs. Ward has done her work admirably ; and from this one book you may
glean all that is of real value in the hrmdreds of volumes of which Petrarch has
been the theme. His love, his friendships, his timbitions, his greatness, and his
follies, — they are written here. — Louise Chandler Moulton.
Mrs. May Alden Ward's style is remarkably fcimplo, clear, and attractive. In
whatever phase of his life she presents Petrarch, whether as the dandified youth,
the rapturous lover, the poetic recluse, or the triumphant laureate, — the first of
the race of literary lions — he is always human, near to us, and interesting ; and it
would repay many, to whom Petrarch is little else than a name, to read this sketch
of him, which is deep enough for the more seriously inclined, yet will be entertain
ing to those of a lighter mind. — Figaro, Chicago.
It is the best book in English ou the Italian poet, who immortalized himself, as
well as his Laura, by his famous sonnets. — Philadelphia Bulletin,
Mrs. Ward has condensed into her valuable sketch the main points scattered ,
through the innumerable works of which Petrarch has been the theme, and has told
of his faults, his follies (for, great as he was, there are some regrettable things in
liis life), his ambitions, his hopes, and his friendships in a fashion that makes him
seem a very real and present persop, instead of one who is separated from us by five
centuries. — Public Opinion, New York.

Sold hy all Booksellers. Mailed, postpaid, on receipt oj" price, hy tlie
Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

Messrs. Roberts Brothers Publications.
The Puritan
IN
England and New England.

By Ezra Hoyt Byington, D.D., Member of the American Society of
Church History. With an Introduction by Alexander McKenzie,
D.D., Minister of the First Church in Cambridge, U. S. A.

One Volume. 8vo. Cloth. 3 Illustrations. Price, $2.00.

AN admirably written series of historical studies. The writer starts by
tracing the growth of the Puritan party in England, and shows the
radical difference between the Pilgrims and the Puritans from the
beginning. The chapter on "The Early Ministers of New England" is
fascinating: the methods of worship, the laws requiring attendance and
those forbiding smoking within two miles of the meeting-house, the style of
music, the week-day lectures ; indeed, all the little every-day facts abouj the
lives of the great Puritan ministers and their congregations are described in
a distinctly popular style. The writer is a conscientious student of history,
who has, in many instances, gone to original sources ; and he is'master of a
simple, direct, vigorous style.
The book is offered to the public in the hope that it may contribute ,
toward a fuller knowledge and appreciation of our forefathers, who, under
the limitations of a pioneer life in the seventeenth century, laid the founda
tions of this free and progressive nation.
The book has had a natural growth, originating in papers read before
our historical societies, and embracing the following subjects, viz. : The
Puritan in En^lajid ; The Pilgrim and the Puritan, Which'? The Early
Ministers of New F.ngland ; William Pyncheon, Gent.; The Family
and Social Life of the Puritans : Religiotis Opinions of the Fathers of
New England; The Case of Reverend Robert Breck, of Springfield;
Religious Life in the Eighteenth Century in Northern New England;
giving abundance of material for many interesting pages, which will make
curious and instructive reading.
We find here the results of honest and patient study, presented in an
attractive way, with a style remarkably clear and strong ; and we are taken
from chapter to chapter along pleasant paths, with an increasing knowledge
of the Puritan and of all which the name stands for, and with a growing
and abiding admiration of the ancestry to which every American owes so
much. For sale by all Booksellei's, Mailed, postpaid, on receipt of price,
by the Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications.

MARGARET AND HER FRIENDS;
Oxf Ten Convefsations with Margaret Fuller upon
the Mythology of the Greeks and
its Expression in Art*

Held at the house of Rev. George Ripley, Bedford Places
Boston, beginning March i , 1 84 1 . Reported by
Caroline W. Healey (Mrs. C. H. Dall). 12010.
Cloth. Price, gi.oo.
Among the memoirs, only too few, of a transitional period in our liter
ary history, this entertaining volume is one of the most interesting. It
gives some idea of the charm by which Miss Fuller attracted those who
loved her, and it is curious as showing the line of thought and speculation
which some of the brightest people here were then pursuing. If it make
the young people of to-day take down the volumes of Margaret Fuller's
life, it will do them service. And if any of them have a grandmother who
lived among those people, they cannot make her a more acceptable present.
Whatever Mrs. Dall does is well dene, and Margaret Fuller could not
have asked for a better reporter. — The Comjnonwealth.
"Margaret Fuller and Her Friends; oi', Ten Conversations with
Margaret Fuller upon the Mythology of the Greeks and Its Expression in
Art," presents Mrs. Caroline Healey Ball's personal reminiscences of the
famous "¦ Fuller Conversations." The meetings of the " circle " reported in
the volume were held at the residence of the Rev. George Ripley, in Boston,
during the spring of 1841. Among those who met in famihar association
in the circle, whose presiding genius was Margaret Fuller herself, were the
celebrated sculptor Wiiliam W. Stcrej',, Ralph Waldo Emerson, James
Freeman Clarke, George Ripley, A. Bronson Alcott, the gifted author,
Caroline W. Healey, and a score of others more or less prominent in
literature. The conversations discuss Greek religion and its mflnence
upon Greek art in a delightfully informal style. The be ok, written at the
request of the survivors of the Fuller family, is entertaining and instructive,
and throws a clearer light upon the type of mentality of this gifted
and unfortunate pioneer among American literary women. — Cohimbus
Despatch. In these conversations Margaret Fuller, under the forms suggested by
mythology, proceeded to open all the great questions of life ; and her
opinions and convictions, and those of her hearers, fieely and rfrankly
expressed in the intimacy of this friendly circle, form a volume of excep
tional mterest and value. — The Wisconsin.

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Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS. Boston

NEW ENGLAND LEGENDS ¦*' FOLK LORE.
By SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE,
Author of " Old Landmarks of ' Boston ' and * Middlesex,^ "
^^ Around the HubJ^ etc.
One volume, 12mo, cloth, illustrated. Price, $2.00.

THIS volume brinsrs together, for the first time, the scattered Legendary and Folk Lore
of New England. No subject is so thoroughly fascinating as this is, while very few
indeed afford materials at once so rich, so varied, and so picturesque. It is confi
dently believed that every one who sees how fertile is the field the author's research has
opened, will now wonder why such a work was not long ago undertaken.
The collection, preservation, and effective. presentation of the Legendary Tales of New
England is then the purpose of this book; and that purpose presupposes a work of per
manent interest and value.
For a work of this character ne man is better qualified than Mr. Samuel Adams
Drake, the^uthor who has already a oigli reputation as a writer of History, Biography,
and Travel, and who is thoronghi" ¦¦ home in any and every phase of Old New England
Life. His "Old Landmarks of i^uston," his " Nooks and Corners ofthe New England
Coast," are unique works of their kind, to which his "New England Legends" will un
questionably be the appropriate companion and claimant for ]Miblic favor.
Having diligently searched out the origin of the Lejcendary Tales that compose this
volume, Mr. Drake's method has been to rewrite them in an entertaining manner for his
readers of to-day ; and as some of these pieces have been the theme of poetry and romance,
he has placed the prose and pfietic versions side by side, in order that the thousands to
whom "The Scarlet Letter," "The Buccaneer," or "The Skeleton in Armor" are as
familiar as household words, may have as ready access to the truth as hitherto they have
had to the romance of history.
In this way many ofthe poetical gems of such authors as Longfellow, Whittier, Holmes,
Dana, Lowell, Brainard, Sigourney, and otiiers, are newly interpreted for the public, besides
going to enrich the collection. Motley. Hawthorne, Sir Walter Scott, Austin, the Mathtrs,
— whoever in fact may have drawn upon this subject for inspiration, — are quoted for its
illustration. The popular superstitions of onr ance'=;tors. wh-ch included a firm belief in Witchcrnft,
in the Special Providences of God, and in the Manifestations of the Invisible World, —
not to speak of Omens, Charms, and the like, — are an unfailing source of interest to our
age. Mr. Drake shows us what those beliefs were, and in what way they worked for good
or evil, as moral or phvsical agents, and so moulded the history of the times. Although
they possess all the charm of romance, these stories are really the sober record of the start
ling or marvellous occurrences that they narrate. One cannot rise from a perusal of this
most fascinating book without saying, *' I now know what kind of men and women the
founders of New England really were. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction I "

ROBERTS BROTHERS,
_j Somerset Street, Boston, Mass.

Messrs. Roberts Brothers' Publications.
The New Harry and Lucy.
A Story of Boston in the Summer of 1891. By
Edward E. Hale and Lucretia P. Hale. With
illustrations by Herbert D. Hale. i6mo, cloth.
Price, $\.2'^.

In a most interesting preface the authors give some information re
garding their story, which, it seems, was written as it appeared in The
Commonwealth, and had no plot other than that which unfolded weelc by
week. The hero and heroine record their own experiences by means of
letters, — he to his mother, and she to a girl friend at home ; and the com
pleted story is exceedingly natural and readable. It is not at all unlikely
that the letters of any two bright, wide-awake people might not combine
into a most acceptable novel ; and as the two authors of this book claim,
such a record of the life of any city during a few months or years would
be of tremendous interest and value when another generation should take
to wondering just how the old-time young men and women passed their
days, and how the city which they knew could have looked an hundred
years back. So, as Dr. Hale says, if the Public Library shall have pre
served a copy of " The New Harry and Lucy " when the twentieth century
shall be near its close, this story of Boston life, with all its interesting
information, will be very valuable. And as nothing that Dr. Hale or his
gifted sister writes can be ever anything but interesting, "The New
Harry and Lucy" need not wait for appreciation till a hundred years shall
have yellowed its printed page.
It is a wide awake, interesting story. — Boston Times.
It is unnecessary to slate that as a book for young people, inspiriting as
well as instructive, and entirely innocent in its fun, this is nearly perfect.
And no book written by Dr. Hale is without interest to intelligent persons
of any number of years. — New Haven Palladium.

Sold everywhere. Mailed, post-paid, by the Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Publishers,
BOSTON, MASS.

THE WRITINGS OF SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE.

Old Landmarks and Historic Person
ages of Boston.
One Volume. Square l2mo. 100 Illustrations. Price $2.00l

Old Landmarks and Historic Fields
of Middlesex.
One Volume. Square l2mo. Fully Illustrated. Price $2.00.

" Your Old Landmarks of Boston is a perfect storehouse of information." —
Henry W. Ijmgfellovi.
" I am simply amazed at the extent and accuracy of its information." — "Jghn
G. Palfrey. " Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex is a book after my ovm heart." —
Benson J. Lossing.  ? 
Sold by all Booksellers. Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price.,
by the Publishers,
ROBERTS BROTHERS, Boston.

AROUND THE HUB.
A BOY'S BOOK ABOUT BOSTON.

Boston in 1791.
" Of the books on Boston, Mr. Samuel Drake's ' Aroiind the Hub ' is
much the best. The author has written a book about Boston — Boston in
the old time — for boys. From the days vfhen — as the second chapter has it
— 'the Puritans hung up their_hats ' in the then small town of Shawmut, down
to its expansion into the Boston of a hundred years ago, they were stirring
times, indeed. Mr. Drake tells how the first settlers in Boston managed to
settle with their Indian neighbors. He draws for us graphically accurate
pictures of the old Puritan homes and customs. Then we get to the time
when the withdrawal of the King's Charter caused the Bostonians to rise in
arms, and how sturdily they stuck to their rights is told in a style that quits
secures one's sympathies. The history of the American struggle for inde
pendence could not be written without the men of Boston well in the fore
ground, and as the narrative progresses, we are taken through the thick of
the moral and actual fighting until the famous chapter of history gains a new
reality from the vivid style of the narrator. Although some parts of the
book make an Englishman wince, it is just the sort of historic story-telling
'CO do boys real good. Capital illustrations are scattered through the volume.
increasing the realism of the old-time scenes so well depicted." — The
Zondon Bookseller.

One volume. Square i2mo. Illustrated. Price, $1.25.

Sold by all Booksellers.
by the Publishers,

Mailed, post-paid, on receipt of price.

ROBERTS- BROTHERS, Boston.

YALE UNIVERSITY

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