curious observer noted the difference between the villagers about the northern bay and cape, peopled by the Puritans, and those around the southern bay and cape, where settled the Pilgrims. Even to-day in the latter region are to be found some of the most purely English of communities with a transatlantic development.1 Time brought healing on its wings, and another generation saw the two Colonies one in soul, as they had long been one in body. In the American struggles against royal control, and eventually for independence, and in the passage to nationality through a confederacy modelled on the ancient league of the United Colonies of New England, as well as in the more recent contests of war and of peace, the name of Massachusetts has stood second to none in honor and renown; but her fair fame has been no more zealously upheld and cherished by the descendants of the Puritans who followed Winthrop, than by the sons of the Independents who walked with Bradford. Both classes now join in applauding the assertion of selfgovernment so gallantly maintained by the Colony of the Bay, and in honoring the milder, more home-like virtues which found their best exemplification in THE PILGRIM REPUBLIC. 1 When the Revolution began, in 1775, it was estimated that ninety-eight per cent of the white people in New England were of English descent. APPENDIX. SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER. Earthquakes. Comets. — Lightning. -- Aurora Borealis. - Climate.— Buildings, Houses, etc. - Food. Cotton, Wool, and Crops. - Shipbuilding. Clothing. — Pewter vs. Earthen. Funeral Matters. — Verdict of a Coroner's Jury. Indian Warrant. - Winthrop's Supernaturalism. · Wolves and other Wild Animals. - Small-Pox. Marriage Celebrations. Divorces. Matrimonial Impediments. Delayed Marriages. — Capital Cases. — Treason. — Various CourtCases. Card-Playing. Church Items. Church Troubles. - Formation of Counties. Variations of Spelling. The Pilgrim Society; its Hall and Monuments. ΟΝ EARTHQUAKES. N June 1/11, 1638, Plymouth heard a heavy rumbling to the northward. As it came nearer, the ground shook so that dishes fell from shelves, and people out of doors could stand only by laying hold of the fences. Bradford says the shock was "very terrible," and created a fear that the houses would fall. Ships at sea were shaken, and the quaking extended far inland. For years afterward the summers were unseasonable and frosty, so that much Indian corn did not ripen; but as to any connection, Bradford says, "I leave it to naturalists to judge." Few people were then so intelligently deferential to science.1 In 1658 was another severe earthquake, and in 1662 an especially heavy one. 1 Honest Morton explained earthquakes in the following lucid manner: "The efficient cause is supernatural, as either principally God, or instrumentally the angels, although naturally the wind shut up within the powers and bowels of the earth." In 1727 was the greatest earthquake since 1662. Pastor Coleman, of Brattle Street Church, Boston, says: "The pewter fell off the shelves, the lids of warming-pans were thrown open, and walkers . . . had to sit down, unable to stand." Dr. Prince, of the Old South Church, Boston, states that the houses rocked and cracked. Pastor Foxcroft noticed that the earthquake was heralded by the noises of the dogs and by flashes. Jabez Delano, of Dartmouth, reported that at Nantucket "ye harth-stones grated one against the other." There were seven distinct shocks, and some of them were especially fearful in the West Indies. In 1755 the most severe earthquake ever known in New England came in a bright moonlight evening. Many chimneys were shaken down in Boston; in the rural towns the stone walls around the fields were thrown over; at sea, ships were tossed and fish were killed in great numbers. To allay the superstitious fears which it aroused, a very sensible and philosophical tract was written by Professor Winthrop, of Harvard College, a great-grandson to the first Governor Winthrop. He also took occasion to defend lightning-rods. Some nineteen earthquakes followed during the next sixty years, of which the most severe was on Nov. 28, 1814. The heaviest shock of this century in New England, however, was on Oct. 19, 1870. It is a noteworthy fact that no loss of life from this source has been known in this country—at least east of the Rocky Mountains — until the great earthquake of September, 1886, at Charleston, S. C. In this some thirty-two (?) lives were lost, and nearly $5,000,000 worth of property, etc. COMETS. In the days of the Pilgrims, and long after, comets were regarded with terror by all nations. Even the wise Winthrop and many of the most learned clergy of his day shared this feeling; but as Governor Bradford never deigned to give them the slightest notice, it is pretty certain that he at least was free from the superstition. This can hardly be said for Secretary Morton, Bradford's nephew and pupil, who was quite carried away by it. In his "Memorial" he declares that comets "usually precede and portend great calamities,” and cites sixteen especially malign comets during the Christian era. That of 1618 he held to be a harbinger of the great Indian plague of that period; but he unfortunately overlooked the fact that the plague came a year earlier than the comet ! |