entire section of country; or to have become acquainted with the hostile designs of unfriendly tribes, and escaped destruction.*

The comparative mildness of the first winter of their sojourn in this strange country was another providential circumstance, worthy of commemoration. It was, it is true, a terrible winter to the pilgrims, in their miserable cabins, worn down with hardships and exposure, sick and dying; but it was, after all, a remarkably mild winter for this latitude" a calm winter," "no winter in comparison," as their subsequent experience taught them.† And was not God's hand in this staying his rough wind in the day of his east wind?

It is generally regarded as a particular misfortune, that the pilgrims should have pitched on a spot so unpromising for agricultural purposes as But a little reflection will satisfy Plymouth was. any one, that for the purpose which God had in view in giving these good men a habitation on these northern shores- to make them "stepping stones" (to use their own language) for others, into this new world-nothing could have been

* Bradford, 93-98, 103; Mourt, in Young, 182-196.

† Dudley, in a letter to the Countess of Lincoln, in 1631, says, they were favored with a calm winter, such as was never seen "the year of New Plyhere since." And Wood, in 1639, says, mouth men's arrival, was no winter in comparison." In Young's Chronicles, 105, note. The harbor appears to have been free from ice up to Jan. 9th, and we know not how much longer; while in Young, Dec. 1831 and 1834, it was an expanse of ice and snow. 173, note.

better. True, the immediate neighborhood of Plymouth had but a light and unproductive soil for a great agricultural people; and afforded but contracted quarters for a large colony. But yet, it would have been difficult to have found a spot along the entire coast of New England better suited to the immediate wants and circumstances of a small and feeble colony, like the Leyden church. The soil, it is true, was light and sandy; though it had over it, "a spit's depth, excellent black earth," as the first explorers reported; but it was easily cultivated, was warm and quick, and yielded a good crop of corn with little labor. This, for men who had no ploughs or beasts of burden, and who depended entirely on the mattock and the hoe for preparing and cultivating the soil, was a matter of vital importance.

And further, considerable tracts of land had been cleared and made ready for culture by former occupants. And the land thus cleared was that

Morton, 29 and note, Congl. Board's ed. In Mourt's Relation, we read: "From thence, we went on and found much plain ground, about fifty acres, fit for the plough, and some signs where the Indians had formerly planted their corn." - Young's Chronicles, 130. The Plymouth Colonists were able to plant twenty acres with "Indian" corn, and to sow six acres with barley and peas, in the spring of 1621. The corn was manured with fish, probably alewives. - Mourt in Young, 230-31.

"The ground, or earth, sand hills, much like the downs in Holland, but much better, the crust of the earth a spit's depth [a spade's depth], excellent blacke earth; all wooded with oaks, pines, sassafras, juniper, birch, holly, vines, some ash, walnut; the wood for the most part open and without underwood, fit either

which was best suited to the culture of corn. This was also a vital matter to these enfeebled men. Had they been compelled to clear away the forests before planting and sowing, they could not have secured any crops during their first year at Plymouth.

Then again, the neighborhood in which they planted themselves abounded with game; and at certain seasons of the year wild fowl were very abundant; the harbor and ponds, and the brook even along which they built their village, swarmed with fish. The country around also yielded a variety of nuts, and a great supply of berries.*

to go or ride in."- Mourt, 10. This, to be sure, is a description of Cape Cod; but was essentially true of the neighborhood of Plymouth, except that it was less sandy. Winslow, in describing the soil of Plymouth, says: "The land for the crust of the earth is a spit's depth excellent black mould, and fat in some places.” — In Young, 165. And under date of July, 1622, one of the colonist wrote: "Our number is about one hundred persons, all in health [that is free from sickness, though not from weakness] near sixty acres of ground well planted with corn, besides gardens replenished with useful fruits." - Purchase in Prince, 204.

"Cod and bass, and other fish of which they took good store. And now began to come in store of fowl, as winter [of 1621-22] approached, of which this place did abound when they came first, but afterward decreased by degrees. And besides water fowl, there was great store of wild turkies, of which they took many, besides venison, etc." ― Bradford, 100, 105. "Four men in one day, killed as much fowl, as, with a little help beside, served the company almost a week." - Mourt, in Young, 231. William Hilton, in his letter to his "Loving Cousin," from New Plymouth, Nov. 1621, gives a most flattering picture of the country: "The country very pleasant and temperate, yielding naturally, of itself, great store of fruits, as vines of divers sorts, in great abundance.

If the question is raised- How, with such resources, could the colonists suffer so severely for food, as they did at times during their first three years' residence at Plymouth? - for there was no general want among them after the gathering of harvest in 1623*- the answer is: that the colonists were few and weak, and unable at first to cultivate more than a very moderate number of acres probably less than an acre to an inhabitant; that the supply of game and wild fowl was transient and uncertain; that they were, at first, unprovided with suitable hooks and tackle for fishing; that there was a great deal of hard work to be done by them, besides providing food: such as building houses, impaling their town, raising their store-houses, fort, etc., travelling about to trade with the natives, and preparing return cargoes for the London Adventurers, who were pressing for

There is, likewise, walnuts, chestnuts, small nuts and plums. No place hath more gooseberries and strawberries, nor better flocks of turkies, quails, pigeons, and partridges; many great lakes abounding with fish, fowl, beavers, and otters," etc. "Better grain cannot be than Indian corn, if we will plant upon as good ground as a man need desire. We are all freeholders: the rent day doth not trouble us." In Young, 250. As to the abundant growth of nuts, grapes, strawberries, in the vicinity of Plymouth, see Mourt, pp. 20-21, Dexter's notes. Roger Williams says of the wild strawberry of New England: "I have many times seen as many as would fill a good ship, within a few miles compass." They still grow abundantly in the vicinity of Plymouth. Wood says: "There are strawberries in abundance, very large ones, some being two inches about; one may gather half a bushel in a forenoon." In Young, 182.

* Bradford, 147.

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payments on advances made; and above all, they were repeatedly compelled to furnish from their scanty store supplies for others. Thus, in November, 1621, came the ship Fortune from London, with thirty-five new colonists, "most of them lusty young men," without so much as a biscuit-cake or any other victuals"; and it became necessary to put the whole colony on half allowance. In December of the same year, after they had gathered with grateful hearts their comparatively plentiful harvest and procured an ample supply of wild fowl, and, were keeping their first Thanksgiving, they had a visit from their friend and ally, Massasoit, and some ninety of his people, who had to be entertained and feasted for three days. And at other times they were called on to share their supplies with other new comers; as Weston and his graceless men, repeatedly."

The above, and many like instances of providential interposition, all carefully recorded by the early historians of Plymouth Colony, deserve our reverential and grateful notice, as illustrative of that good Providence which guided and guarded the pilgrim church in its first settlement on our shores.t

*Young's Chronicles, 231; Bradford, 105–10, 114, 116, 118, 124, 133-34, 145.

The early history of Plymouth Colony has been preserved for us, with great minuteness, in the writings of several of the chief actors in the enterprise. I refer particularly to Governor Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, which, after having