“Still to ourselves in every place consigned,Our own felicity we make or find;With silent course, which no loud storms annoy,Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.”Goldsmith’sTraveller.
“Still to ourselves in every place consigned,Our own felicity we make or find;With silent course, which no loud storms annoy,Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.”Goldsmith’sTraveller.
“Still to ourselves in every place consigned,
Our own felicity we make or find;
With silent course, which no loud storms annoy,
Glides the smooth current of domestic joy.”
Goldsmith’sTraveller.
Now, as their second wilderness winter began to benumb the fingers and chill the blood of the Pilgrim colonists, they were necessarily shut out from many of the employments of the spring, the summer, and the autumn. They were busied chiefly in fishing, hunting, the collection of fuel, hewing timber, and exploring expeditions, varying this routine by occasional traffic with Indian trappers.[332]
Devoutly thankful were the forefathers for God’s mercy and protection in the past, and with tranquil faith they set their faces towards the future. So full was their devotion, that it constantly cropped out, even setting its impress upon the seal of the commonwealth, which represented four men in the midst of a wilderness, each resting on one knee, and raising his clasped hands towards heaven in the attitude of prayer.[333]
With the Pilgrims, faith was the spur of labor; and this active enterprise eased and conquered all obstacles. Still, causes for solicitude and trials infinite constantly arose. The lean condition of their larder was a care urgent for the passing time and weighty in the future; and to this a new source of anxiety was added. In the depth of winter, a report was bruited that active hostilities might momentarily be looked for, fomented by the restless enmity of the Narragansetts.[334]
That the Narragansetts were inimical they soon learned. One day one of the warriors of that tribe entered Plymouth, and announced himself to be a messenger from his renowned sagamore Canonicus. He asked for Squanto, but seemed pleased when told that he was absent. He said he had a package for Squanto. This consisted of a bundle of new arrows, wrapped in a rattlesnake’s skin. It was enigmatical to the English; but, suspicious that it could not be the Indian olive-branch, and might mean mischief, Standish detained the messenger as he was about to quit the settlement, and determined to hold him until Squanto’s return should solve the riddle.[335]
At first the savage was frightened; but after a little, seeing that his captors meant him no harm, he became quite friendly, and began to chat. The Pilgrims learned from him, that an envoy whom they had despatched to negotiate a peace with the Narragansetts, in the preceding summer, had playedJudas, and betrayed his trust. Withholding from Canonicus the presents which the colonists had sent him as tokens of amity, he had used his influence to kindle a war. The imprisoned runner said Canonicus would not have uttered sinister threats, had he thought the English friendly to him. When he returned, and informed the Narragansetts of the real sentiments of the pale-faces, firm peace would come.[336]
Somewhat affected by these representations, Bradford concluded to release the Indian; previous to which, however, he bade the envoy inform Canonicus that the pale-faces had heard of his threats, and were offended; that they desired to live in amity with their red brothers; yet if any warlike demonstrations were made, they would be prepared to meet them.[337]
Then the governor urged the savage to take some food; but he was too anxious to quit the dangerous vicinage to remain a moment after his liberation; so, after expressing his gratitude, he immediately set out, in the midst of a driving storm, to find his way through the white, shivering December woods to his wigwam and his people.[338]
When Squanto came in, the settlers at once crowded about him, and showing him the sphynx-like Indian package, asked him to spell the riddle. With a laugh and a shrug, he explained that it expressed enmity, and was the red man’s declarationof war. The settlers were startled; all adjourned to the fort; and here, after deliberation, it was resolved to meet menace by menace. They thought, rightly, that a determined attitude would in their case be safest; and though Bradford had no anxiety to pit his fifty-odd men against the five thousand warriors whom Canonicus could muster, he was bold and defiant in appearance.[339]
The governor filled the rattlesnake-skin with powder and bullets, and despatched it to the Narragansetts by a special messenger, with this word: “If we were supplied with ships, we would save the Narragansett sagamore the trouble of coming so far to meet us by sailing to him in his own dominions. As it is, if he will come to the colony, he will find us ready to receive him.”[340]
When Canonicus heard this message, he was profoundly impressed with the courage of his pale-face neighbors; and when the skin was tendered him, he refused to receive it; but the Pilgrim envoy would not take it back; so it was passed from hand to hand among the Narragansetts, till finally, pushed from the forest by superstitious fear, it reached the Plymouth settlementunopened.[341]
Though this prompt action cowed the Narragansetts for a time, the rumor of intended hostilities continued to vex the colonists through the winter. “This made them the more careful to look to themselves; so they agreed to enclose their dwellingswith a strong pale, with flankers in convenient spots, and gates to shut, which were every night locked, and a watch kept; when need required, there was also warding through the day. The company, by the advice of Standish and the governor, was divided into four squadrons; and every man had his position assigned him, to which he was to repair in case of sudden alarm. If there should be a cry of fire, a squad was appointed for a guard, with muskets, whilst others quenched the flames. All this was accomplished very cheerfully; and to prevent Indian treachery, the whole town was impaled round by the beginning of March, while every family had a pretty garden-spot secured.”[342]
The Pilgrims were regularly drilled by Standish, who had learned the science of war in Flanders. On these occasions, part of the exercises consisted in a general rush, each man to his station, and a simultaneous discharge of musketry. After this, the men escorted their officers to their cabins, fired a salute in their honor, and then dispersed. This may be considered “the first general muster in New England.” It was the germ of the present militia system of thirty-six states.[343]
This diligent training ere long moulded the Pilgrims into a finely disciplined company; and they were quite proud of their proficiency in arms. Thus
“Spake, in the pride of his heart, Miles Standish, the captain of Plymouth:‘Look at these arms,’ he said, ‘the warlike weapons that hang here,Burnished, and bright, and clean, as if for parade or inspection.This is the sword of Damascus I fought with in Flanders. This breastplate—Well I remember the day—once saved my life in a skirmish.There in front you can see the very dint of the bulletFired point-blank at my heart by a Spanish Arcabucero.Had it not been of shear-steel, the forgotten bones of Miles StandishWould at this moment be mould in their grave in the Flemish morasses.Look! you can see from this window my brazen howitzer, plantedHigh on the roof of the church—a preacher who speaks to the purpose,Steady, straight forward, and strong, with irresistible logic;Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the heathen.Now we are ready, I think, for an assault of the Indians.Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it the better.Let them come, if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or pow-wow,Aspinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamahamon.’”[344]
“Spake, in the pride of his heart, Miles Standish, the captain of Plymouth:‘Look at these arms,’ he said, ‘the warlike weapons that hang here,Burnished, and bright, and clean, as if for parade or inspection.This is the sword of Damascus I fought with in Flanders. This breastplate—Well I remember the day—once saved my life in a skirmish.There in front you can see the very dint of the bulletFired point-blank at my heart by a Spanish Arcabucero.Had it not been of shear-steel, the forgotten bones of Miles StandishWould at this moment be mould in their grave in the Flemish morasses.Look! you can see from this window my brazen howitzer, plantedHigh on the roof of the church—a preacher who speaks to the purpose,Steady, straight forward, and strong, with irresistible logic;Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the heathen.Now we are ready, I think, for an assault of the Indians.Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it the better.Let them come, if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or pow-wow,Aspinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamahamon.’”[344]
“Spake, in the pride of his heart, Miles Standish, the captain of Plymouth:
‘Look at these arms,’ he said, ‘the warlike weapons that hang here,
Burnished, and bright, and clean, as if for parade or inspection.
This is the sword of Damascus I fought with in Flanders. This breastplate—
Well I remember the day—once saved my life in a skirmish.
There in front you can see the very dint of the bullet
Fired point-blank at my heart by a Spanish Arcabucero.
Had it not been of shear-steel, the forgotten bones of Miles Standish
Would at this moment be mould in their grave in the Flemish morasses.
Look! you can see from this window my brazen howitzer, planted
High on the roof of the church—a preacher who speaks to the purpose,
Steady, straight forward, and strong, with irresistible logic;
Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the heathen.
Now we are ready, I think, for an assault of the Indians.
Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it the better.
Let them come, if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or pow-wow,
Aspinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamahamon.’”[344]
When, in the preceding summer, the Pilgrims had visited Massachusetts bay, they had promised the tribes in that vicinity to come again in the next spring and renew a trade with them. Now, in the latter part of March, Standish and his friends commenced preparations for this voyage. Rumors, constantly renewed, still foreboded an outbreak against the peace and safety of the little commonwealth; and though the winter had been spent without the yell of the war-whoop, Bradford’s fast friend, Habbamak, strongly advised against the expedition of Standish, since he feared that the northeasterntribes were in close league with the Narragansetts, and anxious to precipitate a war.[345]
Finally the colonists concluded to undertake the expedition, but to do so with extreme caution.[346]Accordingly, Standish embarked. He had not sailed far, ere he was becalmed. Suddenly he heard a cannon-shot, the signal of danger. Instantly putting about, he bade his men row with their utmost strength and skill. Soon Plymouth was reached, and Standish learned that, just as he had sailed, an Indian, one of Squanto’s family, had brought word that the Narragansetts, with Corbitant and Massasoit, were marching on the settlement.[347]Habbamak was confident that, even if this tale were true, Massasoit was not on the war-path; so confident, that he sent his squaw, under pretence of some message, to spy out the facts in the great sagamore’s village.[348]
Meantime watch was kept through the night, and the whole settlement rested on its arms.[349]
Nothing came of it all; not an Indian appeared; and when Habbamak’s wife returned, she said that she found Massasoit at home and quiet.[350]“After this,” says Bradford, “the traders proceeded on their voyage, and had a good traffic; returning in safety, blessed by God.”[351]
From various circumstances, the settlers beganto suspect that Squanto “sought his own ends and played his own game” in his relations with them. He was the most travelled and learned of the Indians, and with the spirit of braggadocio and the love of great stories common to his race, and also to his white prototypes, he was fond of working on the fears of his more ignorant and credulous brothers of the wood, by boasting of his influence with the pale-faces, by reciting wild and terror-striking stories of the magical power of the English, and by offering to insure the peace and security of all who bought his services.[352]
In this way Squanto drove quite a trade, the patent for his truth being his knowledge and singular European adventures.
“These English,” he would say to a wondering and superstitious group of Indians, “are a wise and powerful people. Diseases are at their command. They have now buried under their storehouse the plague. They can send it forth to any place or upon any people they please, and sweep them all away, though they went not a step from home.”[353]“Ugh! ugh!” would be the responses of the gaping believers. Many was the skin, many the piece of wampum, given Squanto to purchase his powerful intercession on their behalf, to lay the plague of the pale-face magicians.
Once Squanto, being sent for by the governor, entered the house accompanied by Habbamak and several other Indians. A hole had been dug in thefloor for the purpose of concealing certain articles, and the ground was left in a broken state. Habbamak, glancing at it, asked Squanto,
“What does that mean?”
“That,” retorted the wily sachem, “is the place where the plague is buried that I told you about.”
Habbamak, to satisfy himself of the truth or falsity of this statement, asked one of the settlers, shortly after, if this was so.
“No,” said the stern, truthful Puritan; “we have not the plague at our command; but the God whom we worship has, and he can send it forth to the destruction both of his enemies and ours.”[354]
Having learned these things, the Pilgrims spared no pains to contradict Squanto’s misstatements; and so angered were the neighboring tribes, all of whom he had repeatedly swindled and misled, that Massasoit and Habbamak both strenuously insisted upon putting him to death; for the American Indian forgave any thing sooner than an attempt to cheat him; in which he was unlike civilized communities, which often admire in proportion as they are cozened, and frown on and resent nothing but aclumsycheat.
But Squanto, with all his faults, was too useful to the Pilgrims to be surrendered to the cruel vengeance of his foes; so he was saved from death, though not without difficulty, and at the risk of estranging Massasoit.[355]
This made the rescued sachem “walk moresquarely, and cleave unto the English till he died.” There was great jealousy between Squanto and Habbamak. Both were competitors for the good-will of the Pilgrims; and of this emulation good use was made. The governor seemed to countenance the one, and the captain the other, by whichrûsethe colonists got better intelligence, and kept the two scouts more diligent.[356]
Towards the latter part of May, 1622, the scanty provisions of the Pilgrims quite gave out. Actual hunger began to pinch. The wild fowl, so plenty in the preceding season, were now grown shy of Plymouth, and could not be found. Their hooks and seines for fishing were worn out. It was yet hardly time to plant, as the frost still clutched the soil in its icy hand; and even if it were, weary weeks must elapse ere a crop could be reaped. The future looked black, yet even in this strait they trusted in God, “knowing that he would not desert his own.”[357]
While the Pilgrims were thus perplexed to know where their next mouthful was to come from, they espied one day a shallop off their harbor. It proved to be a boat from a ship sent by Thomas Weston to fish off the coast of Maine. It contained six or seven passengers and a parcel of home-letters.[358]
These emigrants, like those who came in the “Fortune,” were destitute of provisions, and the colonists were requested by Weston to provide for their necessities. Despite their own wants, “theytook compassion on the needy new-comers, and in this famine gave them as good as any of their own.”[359]
The Pilgrims got cold comfort from their letter-bag. “Some of the adventurers,” wrote Weston, “have sent you herewith some directions for your furtherance in the common good. It seems to me that they are like those St. James speaks of, that bade their brother eat and warm himself, but gave him nothing; so they bid you make salt and uphold the plantation, but send you no means wherewithal to do it. Soon I purpose to send more people on my own account.”[360]
It seemed from other letters, that the company of Merchant-adventurers was exhausting its energy in internal bickerings. Nothing was said about forwarding the remainder of the congregation at Leyden; nothing was promised for the future; a simple command was sent, that the colonists should assent to the breakage of the joint-stock contract, and despatch to them a paper to that effect, ratified and certified.[361]
“All this,” says Bradford, “was cold comfort to fill their empty bellies; and on the part of Mr. Weston, but a slender performance of his late promise never to forsake the colony;[362]and as little did it fill and warm cold and hungry men, as those theapostle James spoke of, by Weston before mentioned. Well might it remind the settlers of what the psalmist saith, ‘It is better to trust in the Lord than to have confidence in man.’[363]And again, ‘Put not your trust in princes’—much less in merchants—‘nor in the son of man; for there is no help in them.’[364]‘Blessed is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God.’[365]
“These things seemed strange to the settlers. Seeing this inconsistency and shuffling, it made them think there was some mystery at bottom. Therefore the governor, fearing lest, in their straits, this news should tend to disband and scatter the colony, concealed these letters from the public, and only imparting them to some trusty friends for advice, concluded for the present to keep all quiet, and await the development of events.”[366]