1

4. The "Mayflower" reaches New England 1 Determined to try their fortunes in the New World, the Pilgrims The Mayflower returned to England, and having overcome a number of preliminary weighs obstacles, at length set sail for America. After a tedious and distress- anchor off Cape Cod. ing voyage of many weeks, they anchored in Cape Cod harbor on the eleventh of November, 1620. Before going ashore they adopted what is known as the Mayflower Compact, by means of which they formed themselves into a body politic. After agreeing to this compact, they chose John Carver to act as their governor for the first year. The following extracts from Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation describe the landing of the Pilgrims:

go ashore.

Necessity called on them to look out for a place of habitation. A party Having brought a large shallop with them from England, stowed in prepares to quarters in the ship, they now got her out, and set their carpenters to work to trim her up; but being much bruised and battered in the foul weather they saw she would be long mending. So a few of them volunteered to go by land and explore the neighboring parts, whilst the shallop was put in order; particularly since, as they entered the bay, there seemed to be an opening some two or three leagues off, which the captain thought was a river. It was conceived there might be danger in the attempt; but seeing them resolute, sixteen of them, well-armed, were permitted to go, under charge of Captain Standish. They set forth on the 15th of November, being landed by the ship's boat, and when they had marched about the space of a mile by the seaside, they espied five or six persons with a dog coming toward them. They were savages; but they fled back into the woods, followed by the English, who wished to see if they could speak with them, and to discover if there were more lying in ambush. But the Indians, seeing themselves followed, left the woods, and ran along the sands as hard as they could, so our men could not come up with them, but followed the track of their feet several miles. . . .

Some Indians

and a dog

are seen

Night coming on, they made their rendezvous, and set sentinels, The next day and rested in quiet. Next morning they again pursued the Indians'

tracks, till they came to a great creek, where they had left the sands and turned into the woods. But they continued to follow them by guess, hoping to find their dwellings; but soon they lost both the 1 From William Bradford, History of Plymouth Plantation, Chapter x.

they find

some Indian corn, part of which they take back to the ship with them.

The

exploration
is continued.

Indians and themselves, and fell into such thickets that their clothes and armour were injured severely; but they suffered most from want of water. At length they found some, and refreshed themselves with the first New England water they had drunk; and in their great thirst they found it as pleasant as wine or beer had been before. Afterwards they directed their course towards the other shore, for they knew it was only a neck of land they had to cross over. At length they got to the sea-side, and marched to this supposed river, and by the way found a pond of fresh water, and shortly after a quantity of cleared ground where the Indians had formerly planted corn; and they found some of their graves.

Proceeding further, they saw stubble where corn had been grown the same year, and also found a place where a house had lately been, with some planks, and a great kettle and heaps of sand newly banked, under which they found several large baskets filled with corn, some in the ear of various colours, which was a very goodly sight they having never seen any like it before. This was near the supposed river that they had come to seek. When they reached it, they found that it opened into two arms, with a high cliff of sand at the entrance, but more likely to be creeks of salt water than fresh, they thought. There was good harbourage for their shallop, so they left it to be further explored when she was ready. The time allowed them having expired, they returned to the ship, lest the others should be anxious about their safety. They took part of the corn and buried the rest; and so, like the men from Eschol, carried with them of the fruits of the land, and showed their brethren; at which the rest were very glad, and greatly encouraged.

After this, the shallop being ready, they set out again for the better reconnoitering of the place. The captain of the ship desired to go himself, so there were some thirty men. However, they found it to be no harbour for ships, but only for boats. They also found two of the Indians' houses covered with mats, and some of their implements in them; but the people had run away and could not be seen. They also found more corn, and beans of various colours. These they brought away, intending to give them full satisfaction when they should meet with any of them, as about six months afterwards they did.

5. The struggles of the early colonists 1

pioneer,

Once it had been demonstrated that the American wilderness The work of the could be fashioned into homes, colonists flocked to the New World. Clusters of settlements formed all along the Atlantic seaboard, while back from the coast the clearing of the solitary planter came to be a common sight. Though the type of settlement varied with the geography of the region, it is generally true that the pioneering process was everywhere the same. From Maine to Georgia it involved fashioning a rude dwelling, clearing the forest, and planting crops. The following description of pioneering in New England, therefore, may be taken as also typical of the settler's work elsewhere in the colonies:

The planters are necessitated to struggle with many diffi- and the culties. To clear a farm covered with a thick growth of large trees, confronting difficulties such as generally abound in this country, is a work of no small him. magnitude. Especially is this true when, as is usually the fact, it is to be done by a single man; and still more especially, when that man is poor, and obliged to struggle with many other discouragements.

When a planter commences this undertaking, he sets out for his farm with his axe, gun, blanket, provision and ammunition. With these he enters the forest and builds himself a shed by setting up poles at four angles, crossing them with other poles, and covering the whole with the bark, leaves and twigs of trees, except the south side, which is purposely left open to the sun and a fire.

structs a

shelter, clears the

Under this shelter he dresses his food, and makes his bed of straw He conon which he sleeps soundly beneath his blanket. Here he usually continues through the season, and sometimes without the sight of any other human being. After he has completed this shelter, he ground, begins to clear a spot of ground, i. e. to remove the forest by which it is covered.

After the field is burned over, his next business is to break it up. prepares it The instrument employed for this purpose is a large and strong har- for planting,

row.

It is drawn over the surface a sufficient number of times

1 From Timothy Dwight, Travels in New England and New York. New Haven, 1821. Vol. II, pp. 464-469.

and builds
a house and
a barn.

Isolation handicaps the pioneer.

Lack of medical aid.

The problem of getting

food.

to make it mellow, and afterwards to cover the seed. A plough here would be of no use, as it would soon be broken to pieces by the roots of the trees. In the same manner the planter proceeds to another field, and to another, until his farm is sufficiently cleared to satisfy his wishes.

The first house which he builds is formed of logs . . . with a stone chimney in the middle. His next labour is to procure a barn; generally large, well framed, covered and roofed. Compared with his house, it is a palace. But for this a sawmill is necessary, and is therefore built as early as possible.

It will be easily believed that the labours already mentioned must be attended by fatigue and hardships, sufficient to discourage any man who can live tolerably on his native soil. But the principal sufferings of these planters, in the early periods of their business, spring from quite other sources. The want of neighbors to assist them, the want of convenient implements, and universally the want of those means without which the necessary business of life cannot be carried on, even comfortably; is among their greatest difficulties. The first planters at Haverhill and Newbury, on the Connecticut river, were obliged to go to Charlestown, more than seventy miles, to get their corn ground . . . and to obtain assistance to raise the frame of every building. At that time there was no road between these towns. The travelling was, of course, all done on

the river...

In sickness, and other cases of suffering and danger, these planters are often without the aid either of a physician, or a surgeon. To accidents they are peculiarly exposed by the nature of their employments, while to remedies, besides such as are supplied by their own skill and patience, they can scarcely have any access.

As most of the first planters were poor, and as many of them had numerous families of small children, the burden of providing food for them was heavy, and discouraging. Some relief they found, at times, in the game with which the forests were formerly replenished. But supplies from that source were always precarious, and could never be relied on with safety. Fish, in the wild season, might often be caught in the streams, and in the lakes. In desperate cases the old settlements, though frequently distant, were always in possession

of abundance, and, in the mode either of commerce or of charity, would certainly prevent them and theirs from perishing with hunger.

To balance these evils, principally suffered by the earliest class The of planters, they had some important advantages. Their land, advantages of pioneer usually covered with a thick stratum of vegetable mould, was emi- life. nently productive. Seldom were their crops injured by the blast, or the mildew, and seldom were they devoured by insects. When the wheat was taken from the ground, a rich covering of grass was regularly spread over the surface, and furnished them with an ample supply of pasture and hay for their cattle.

Besides the abundance of their crops, they had the continual satisfaction of seeing their embarrassments daily decreasing, and their wealth and their comforts daily increasing. . . . The planter is cheered by the continual sight of improvement in everything about him. His fields increase in number and beauty. His means of living are enlarged. The wearisome part of his labour is gradually lessened. His neighbors multiply, and his troubles annually recede.

Among the enjoyments of these people, health, and hardihood, ought never to be forgotten. The toils which they undergo, the difficulties which they surmount, and the hazards which they escape, all increase their spirits and their firmness. . . . The minds of these settlers therefore possess the energy which results from health, as well as that which results from activity, and few persons taste. the pleasures which fall to their lot, with a keener relish. The common troubles of life, often deeply felt by persons in easy circumstances, scarcely awaken in them the slightest emotion. Cold and heat, snow and rain, labour and fatigue, are regarded by them as trifles, deserving no attention. The coarsest food is pleasant to them, and the hardest bed refreshing. .

6. Growth of the English colonies 1

The early pioneers were healthy, active, and optimistic.

Though she entered the field relatively late, England was destined Rapid to dominate the colonization of North America. In 1664 the Dutch increase in population. surrendered New Amsterdam to the English, and in 1763 France

1 From Benjamin Franklin, Works.