Was it for this I have followed the flying feet and the shadow
Over the wintry sea, to the desolate shores of New England?
Truly the heart is deceitful, and out of its depths of corrup
tion

Rise, like an exhalation, the misty phantoms of passion;
Angels of light they seem, but are only delusions of Satan.
All is clear to me now; I feel it, I see it distinctly!
This is the hand of the Lord; it is laid upon me in anger,
For I have followed too much the heart's desires and de-

vices,

Worshipping Astaroth blindly, and impious idols of Baal. This is the cross I must bear; the sin and the swift retribu

tion."

So through the Plymouth woods John Alden went on his

errand;

Crossing the brook at the ford, where it brawled over pebble and shallow,

Gathering still, as he went, the May-flowers blooming around him,

Fragrant, filling the air with a strange and wonderful sweet

ness,

Children lost in the woods, and covered with leaves in their slumber.

"Puritan flowers," he said, "and the type of Puritan maidens, Modest and simple and sweet, the very type of Priscilla! So I will take them to her; to Priscilla, the May-flower of

Plymouth,

Modest and simple and sweet, as a parting gift will I take

them;

Breathing their silent farewells, as they fade and wither and

perish,

Soon to be thrown away as is the heart of the giver.”

So through the Plymouth woods John Alden went on his

errand;

Came to an open space, and saw the disk of the ocean, Sail-less, sombre and cold with the comfortless breath of the east wind;

Saw the new-built house, and people at work in a meadow; Heard, as he drew near the door, the musical voice of Priscilla

Singing the hundredth Psalm, the grand old Puritan anthem, Music that Luther sang to the sacred words of the Psalmist, Full of the breath of the Lord, consoling and comforting

many.

Then, as he opened the door, he beheld the form of the maiden

Seated beside her wheel, and the carded wool like a snow

drift

Piled at her knee, her white hands feeding the ravenous

spindle,

While with her foot on the treadle she guided the wheel in its

motion.

Open wide on her lap lay the well-worn psalm-book of Ains

worth,

Printed in Amsterdam, the words and the music together, Rough-hewn, angular notes, like stones in the wall of a

churchyard,

Darkened and overhung by the running vine of the verses. Such was the book from whose pages she sang the old Puritan

anthem,

She, the Puritan girl, in the solitude of the forest,

Making the humble house and the modest apparel of home

spun

Beautiful with her beauty, and rich with the wealth of her

being!

Over him rushed, like a wind that is keen and cold and re

lentless,

Thoughts of what might have been, and the weight and woe of his errand;

All the dreams that had faded, and all the hopes that had

vanished,

All his life henceforth a dreary and tenantless mansion,
Haunted by vain regrets, and pallid, sorrowful faces.
Still he said to himself, and almost fiercely he said it,
"Let not him that putteth his hand to the plough look back-

wards;

Though the ploughshare cut through the flowers of life to its fountains,

Though it pass o'er the graves of the dead and the hearths of the living,

It is the will of the Lord; and his mercy endureth for ever!"

So he entered the house: and the hum of the wheel and

the singing

Suddenly ceased; for Priscilla, aroused by his step on the threshold,

Rose as he entered, and gave him her hand, in signal of wel

come,

Saying, "I knew it was you, when I heard your step in the

passage;

For I was thinking of you, as I sat there singing and spin

ning."

Awkward and dumb with delight, that a thought of him had been mingled

Thus in the sacred psalm, that came from the heart of the

maiden,

Silent before her he stood, and gave her the flowers for an

answer,

Finding no words for his thought. He remembered that day in the winter,

After the first great snow, when he broke a path from the

village,

Reeling and plunging along through the drifts that encumbered the doorway,

Stamping the snow from his feet as he entered the house, and Priscilla

Laughed at his snowy locks, and gave him a seat by the fireside,

Grateful and pleased to know he had thought of her in the snow-storm.

Had he but spoken then! perhaps not in vain had he spoken; Now it was all too late; the golden moment had vanished! So he stood there abashed, and gave her the flowers for an

answer.

Then they sat down and talked of the birds and the beautiful spring-time,

Talked of their friends at home, and the Mayflower that sailed on the morrow.

"I have been thinking all day," said gently the Puritan

maiden,

"Dreaming all night, and thinking all day, of the hedgerows of England,

They are in blossom now, and the country is all like a garden; Thinking of lanes and fields, and the song of the lark and

the linnet,

Seeing the village street, and familiar faces of neighbours
Going about as of old, and stopping to gossip together,
And, at the end of the street, the village church, with the ivy
Climbing the old gray tower, and the quiet graves in the
churchyard.

Kind are the people I live with, and dear to me my religion; Still my heart is so sad, that I wish myself back in Old Eng

land.

You will say it is wrong, but I cannot help it: I almost

Wish myself back in Old England, I feel so lonely and wretched."

Thereupon answered the youth:-"Indeed I do not condemn you;

Stouter hearts than a woman's have quailed in this terrible winter.

Yours is tender and trusting, and needs a stronger to lean on; So I have come to you now, with an offer and proffer of mar

riage

Made by a good man and true, Miles Standish the Captain of Plymouth!"

Thus he delivered his message, the dexterous writer of

Did not embellish the theme, nor array it in beautiful phrases, But came straight to the point, and blurted it out like a

schoolboy;

Even the Captain himself could hardly have said it more

bluntly.

Mute with amazement and sorrow, Priscilla the Puritan

maiden

Looked into Alden's face, her eyes dilated with wonder, Feeling his words like a blow, that stunned her and rendered her speechless;

Till at length she exclaimed, interrupting the ominous silence:

"If the great Captain of Plymouth is so very eager to wed

me,