Does not respond at once to a love that she never suspected, Does not attain at a bound the height to which you have been climbing.

This is not right nor just; for surely a woman's affection 125 Is not a thing to be asked for, and had for only the asking. When one is truly in love, one not only says it, but shows it. Had he but waited awhile, had he only showed that he loved me,

Even this Captain of yours-who knows?-at last might have

won me,

Old and rough as he is; but now it never can happen.' 130

Still John Alden went on, unheeding the words of Pris

cilla,

Urging the suit of his friend, explaining, persuading, expanding;

Spoke of his courage and skill, and of all his battles in Flanders,

How with the people of God he had chosen to suffer affliction,' How, in return for his zeal, they had made him Captain of

Plymouth;

135

He was a gentleman born, could trace his pedigree plainly Back to Hugh Standish of Duxbury Hall, in Lancashire,

England,

Who was the son of Ralph, and the grandson of Thurston de

Standish;

Heir unto vast estates, of which he was basely defrauded,
Still bore the family arms, and had for his crest a cock

argent

Combed and wattled gules, and all the rest of the blazon.❜

1 Hebrews, xi. 25.

140

2 Captain Standish had inherited, according to the laws of heraldry, the family armorial insignia. These were originally embroidered on the knight's hauberk, or coat-ofmail-hence the term, coat of arms-but later, on the shield or escutcheon. The Standish crest was a silver cock, with red comb and wattle, appended to the family shield. Blazon is the description in heraldic terms of the charges, or objects, on the shield.

He was a man of honor, of noble and generous nature; Though he was rough, he was kindly; she knew how during

the winter

He had attended the sick, with a hand as gentle as woman's; Somewhat hasty and hot, he could not deny it, and head

strong,

145

Stern as a soldier might be, but hearty, and placable al

ways,

Not to be laughed at and scorned, because he was little of stature;)

For he was great of heart, magnanimous, courtly, courageous;
Any woman in Plymouth, nay, any woman in England,
Might be happy, and proud to be called the wife of Miles
Standish!

150

But as he warmed and glowed, in his simple and eloquent

language,

Quite forgetful of self, and full of the praise of his rival, Archly the maiden smiled, and, with eyes overrunning with laughter,

Said, in a tremulous voice, "Why don't you speak for yourself, John?"

IV.

JOHN ALDEN.

INTO the open air John Alden, perplexed and bewildered, Rushed like a man insane, and wandered alone by the sea

side;

Paced up and down the sands, and bared his head to the east

wind,

Cooling his heated brow, and the fire and fever within him. Slowly, as out of the heavens, with apocalyptical splendors, 5 Sank the City of God, in the vision of John the Apostle,'

1 Revelation of St. John, xxi. 10-27.

So, with its cloudy walls of chrysolite, jasper, and sap

phire,

Sank the broad red sun, and over its turrets uplifted

Glimmered the golden reed of the angel who measured the city.

66

Welcome, O wind of the East!" he exclaimed in his wild exultation,

10

Welcome, O wind of the East, from the caves of the misty

Atlantic!

Blowing o'er fields of dulse,' and measureless meadows of sea

grass,

Blowing o'er rocky wastes, and the grottos and gardens of

ocean!

Lay thy cold, moist hand on my burning forehead, and wrap

me

Close in thy garments of mist, to allay the fever within me!"

15

Like an awakened conscience, the sea was moaning and

tossing,

Beating remorseful and loud the mutable sands of the seashore.

Fierce in his soul was the struggle and tumult of passions contending;

Love triumphant and crowned, and friendship wounded and bleeding,

Passionate cries of desire, and importunate pleadings of

duty!

20

"Is it my fault," he said, "that the maiden has chosen be

tween us?

Is it my fault that he failed,—my fault that I am the vic

tor?"

1 Sea-weed of a reddish brown color, adhering to the rocks in long strips, and sometimes eaten, as in Scotland.

Then within him there thundered a voice, like the voice of

the Prophet:

"It hath displeased the Lord!"-and he thought of David's

transgression,

Bathsheba's' beautiful face, and his friend in the front of the

battle!

25

Shame and confusion of guilt, and abasement and self-con

demnation,

Overwhelmed him at once; and he cried in the deepest contrition:

"It hath displeased the Lord! It is the temptation of Satan!"

Then, uplifting his head, he looked at the sea, and beheld there

Dimly the shadowy form of the "Mayflower

anchor,

riding at 30

Rocked on the rising tide, and ready to sail on the morrow; Heard the voices of men through the mist, the rattle of cord

age

Thrown on the deck, the shouts of the mate, and the sailors' "Ay, ay, Sir!"

Clear and distinct, but not loud, in the dripping air of the twilight.

Still for a moment he stood, and listened, and stared at the

vessel

Then went hurriedly on, as one who, seeing a phantom,

35

Stops, then quickens his pace, and follows the beckoning

shadow.

"Yes, it is plain to me now," he murmured; "the hand of the Lord is

1 The beautiful wife of Uriah the Hittite, afterwards the wife of King David and the mother of Solomon. The Prophet was Nathan. The story of Bathsheba will be found in II. Samuel, chaps. xi. and xii. It is the subject of an old play by George Peele, called The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe (1599),

Leading me out of the land of darkness, the bondage of error, Through the sea, that shall lift the walls of its waters around

me,

40

Hiding me, cutting me off, from the cruel thoughts that pur

sue me.1

Back will I go o'er the ocean, this dreary land will aban

don,

Her whom I may not love, and him whom my heart has offended.

Better to be in my grave in the green old churchyard in Eng

land,

Close by my mother's side, and among the dust of my kin

dred;

45

Better be dead and forgotten, than living in shame and dis

honor!

Sacred and safe and unseen, in the dark of the narrow cham

ber

With me my secret shall lie, like a buried jewel that glimmers Bright on the hand that is dust, in the chambers of silence and darkness,

Yes, as the marriage ring of the great espousal hereafter!" 50

Thus as he spake, he turned, in the strength of his strong resolution,

Leaving behind him the shore, and hurried along in the twilight,

2

Through the congenial gloom of the forest silent and sombre, Till he beheld the lights in the seven houses of Plymouth, Shining like seven stars in the dusk and mist of the even

ing.

55 Soon he entered his door, and found the redoubtable Captain

1 For the Biblical reference see Exodus, chaps. xiii. and xiv.

2" You shall understand," wrote Winslow, "that in this little time that a few of us have been here, we have built seven dwelling-houses and four for the use of the plantation."-Letter to a friend in England (December 11, 1621).