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Youngest of all was he of the men who came in the

Mayflower.

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Suddenly breaking the silence, the diligent scribe interrupting,

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,

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Well I remember the day! once saved my life in a skirmish;

Here in front you can see the very dint of the bullet

So

the Romans called the inhabitants of the island by their name. fair were the faces of the captives that the good monk exclaimed, "Non Angli sed Angeli," that is, "not Angles but angels." When Saint Gregory became Pope, he sent Saint Augustine over to England to convert them to Christianity.

21 Scribe: from the Latin word which means to write. It is used constantly in the Bible to mean the people whose profession it was to copy out the Scriptures, as there was no printing in those days. The Jews got all their laws from the Scriptures, and hence the scribes were their lawyers. Look up Luke v. 17. With whom are they often associated in the New Testament? To whom does the word refer here? Why?

Fired point-blank at my heart by a Spanish arcabu

cero.

Had it not been of sheer steel, the forgotten bones of Miles Standish

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Would at this moment be mould, in their grave in the
Flemish morasses."
Thereupon answered John Alden, but looked not up
from his writing:

"Truly the breath of the Lord hath slackened the speed of the bullet;

He in his mercy preserved you, to be our shield and our weapon!"

Still the Captain continued, unheeding the words of the stripling:

"See, how bright they are burnished, as if in an arsenal hanging;

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That is because I have done it myself, and not left it to others.

Serve yourself, would you be well served, is an excellent adage;

So I take care of my arms, as you of your pens and your inkhorn.

28 Arcabucero: formerly a Spanish archer, now a Spanish soldier who shoots, with any sort of weapon.

82, 83 This is an instance of how the Pilgrims made use of phrases from the Bible in ordinary speech.

Then, too, there are my soldiers, my great, invincible

army,

Twelve men, all equipped, having each his rest and his matchlock,

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Eighteen shillings a month, together with diet and

pillage,

And, like Cæsar, I know the name of each of my soldiers!"

This he said with a smile, that danced in his eyes, as the sunbeams

Dance on the waves of the sea, and vanish again in a moment.

Alden laughed as he wrote, and still the Captain continued:

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39 Army: this little military company, which is doubtless the beginning of the militia system in America, was made up by the settlers the first year through fear that the Indians would be more than likely to attack them if they came to know how many of their number had died. To Miles Standish, after wars he had seen waged in Holland, this little band of twelve men seemed ludicrous. Yet it was enough with him at its head to preserve the colony until it grew stronger. A few men with guns are a match for a much larger number armed only with such weapons as those of the Indians.

41 Pillage: what would a soldier get by pillage? How much are eighteen shillings in American money? Find out if you can how much soldiers are paid to-day.

42 Cæsar was immensely popular with his army partly for this

reason.

"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, straightforward, and strong, with irresistible logic,

Orthodox, flashing conviction right into the hearts of the heathen.

Now we are ready, I think, for any assault of the

Indians:

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Let them come, if they like, and the sooner they try it

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Let them come if they like, be it sagamore, sachem, or

pow-wow,

Aspinet, Samoset, Corbitant, Squanto, or Tokamaha

mon!"

Long at the window he stood, and wistfully gazed on the landscape,

47 Here the poet is using poetic license with the facts. The church was not built until a year or two later.

52 Give these names in the order of their rank. Why does not the poet arrange them so in his line? What two meanings for pow-wow?

58 These are real names of Indians whom the Pilgrims knew. Learn their proper pronunciation by scanning the line.

Washed with a cold gray mist, the vapory breath of the east-wind,

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Forest and meadow and hill, and the steel-blue rim of

the ocean,

Lying silent and sad, in the afternoon shadows and

sunshine.

Over his countenance flitted a shadow like those on the landscape,

Gloom intermingled with light; and his voice was subdued with emotion,

Tenderness, pity, regret, as after a pause he pro

ceeded:

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"Yonder there, on the hill by the sea, lies buried Rose Standish;

Beautiful rose of love, that bloomed for me by the wayside!

She was the first to die of all who came in the Mayflower!

Green above her is growing the field of wheat we have sown there,

68 Mayflower: what was the name of the other ship which started with the Mayflower? The Mayflower carried the colonists who settled Salem and those who settled what is now Boston. Thus this ship is closely associated with the beginnings of New England. 64 Those who died the first winter were buried on a low bluff near the shore and the graves smoothed flat. As soon as the season

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