As if the thread she was spinning were that of his life and his fortune,

After a pause in their talk, thus spake to the sound of the

66

spindle.

Truly, Priscilla,” he said, “when I see you spinning and

spinning,

45

Never idle a moment, but thrifty and thoughtful of others, Suddenly you are transformed, are visibly changed in a mo

ment;

You are no longer Priscilla, but Bertha the Beautiful Spinner." 1

Here the light foot on the treadle grew swifter and swifter; the spindle

Uttered an angry snarl, and the thread snapped short in her

fingers;

50

While the impetuous speaker, not heeding the mischief, con

66

tinued:

You are the beautiful Bertha, the spinner, the queen of

Helvetia;2

She whose story I read at a stall in the streets of Southampton, Who, as she rode on her palfrey, o'er valley and meadow and mountain,

Ever was spinning her thread from a distaff fixed to her saddle.

55

She was so thrifty and good, that her name passed into a

proverb.

So shall it be with your own, when the spinning-wheel shall

no longer

Hum in the house of the farmer, and fill its chambers with

music.

Then shall the mothers, reproving, relate how it was in their childhood,

1 Karl Joseph Simrock's monograph, Bertha die Spinnerin (Frankfort, 1853), contains the legend of Bertha.

2 The ancient name of Switzerland.

Praising the good old times, and the days of Priscilla the

spinner!"

60

Straight uprose from her wheel the beautiful Puritan maiden, Pleased with the praise of her thrift from him whose praise was the sweetest,

Drew from the reel on the table a snowy skein of her spinning,

Thus making answer, meanwhile, to the flattering phrases of

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Alden:

Come, you must not be idle; if I am a pattern for house

wives,

65

Show yourself equally worthy of being the model of husbands. Hold this skein on your hands, while I wind it, ready for

knitting;

Then who knows but hereafter, when fashions have changed and the manners,

Fathers may talk to their sons of the good old times of John Alden!"

Thus, with a jest and a laugh, the skein on his hands she

adjusted,

70

He sitting awkwardly there, with his arms extended before

him,

She standing graceful, erect, and winding the thread from his fingers,

Sometimes chiding a little his clumsy manner of holding, Sometimes touching his hands, as she disentangled expertly Twist or knot in the yarn, unawares-for how could she help it ?

Sending electrical thrills through every nerve in his body.

75

Lo! in the midst of this scene, a breathless messenger entered,

-Bringing in hurry and heat the terrible news from the village. Yes; Miles Standish was dead!-an Indian had brought them

the tidings,—

Slain by a poisoned arrow, shot down in the front of the battle,

80 Into an ambush beguiled, cut off with the whole of his forces;

All the town would be burned, and all the people be mur

dered!

Such were the tidings of evil that burst on the hearts of the hearers.

Silent and statue-like stood Priscilla, her face looking backward

Still at the face of the speaker, her arms uplifted in hor

ror;

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But John Alden, upstarting, as if the barb of the arrow Piercing the heart of his friend had struck his own, and had

sundered

Once and forever the bonds that held him bound as a captive, Wild with excess of sensation, the awful delight of his freedom, Mingled with pain and regret, unconscious of what he was

doing,

90

Clasped, almost with a groan, the motionless form of Priscilla, Pressing her close to his heart, as forever his own, and ex

claiming:

"Those whom the Lord hath united, let no man put them asunder!"

Even as rivulets twain, from distant and separate sources, Seeing each other afar, as they leap from the rocks, and pur

suing

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Each one its devious path, but drawing nearer and nearer,
Rush together at last, at their trysting-place in the forest;
So these lives that had run thus far in separate channels,
Coming in sight of each other, then swerving and flowing
asunder,

Parted by barriers strong, but drawing nearer and nearer, 100
Rushed together at last, and one was lost in the other.

IX.

THE WEDDING-DAY.

FORTH from the curtain of clouds, from the tent of purple and scarlet,

Issued the sun, the great High-Priest, in his garments resplendent,

Holiness unto the Lord, in letters of light, on his forehead, Round the hem of his robe the golden bells and pomegran

ates.1

Blessing the world he came, and the bars of vapor beneath

him

5

Gleamed like a grate of brass, and the sea at his feet was a laver!

This was the wedding morn of Priscilla the Puritan maiden. Friends were assembled together; the Elder and Magistrate also

Graced the scene with their presence, and stood like the Law and the Gospel,

One with the sanction of earth and one with the blessing of

heaven.

10

Simple and brief was the wedding, as that of Ruth and of

Boaz.'

Softly the youth and the maiden repeated the words of betrothal,

Taking each other for husband and wife in the Magistrate's presence,

After the Puritan way, and the laudable custom of Holland.'

1 Exodus, xxviii.

2 Ruth, iv. 11, 12.

3 "May 12 was the first marriage in this place," says Bradford, "which, according to the laudable custome of the Low-Cuntries, in which they had lived, was thought most requisite to be performed by the magistrate, as being a civil thing, upon which many questions aboute inheritances doe depende, with other things most proper to their cog

Fervently then and devoutly, the excellent Elder of Plymouth

15

Prayed for the hearth and the home, that were founded that day in affection,

Speaking of life and of death, and imploring Divine benedictions.

Lo! when the service was ended, a form appeared on the

threshold,

Clad in armor of steel, a sombre and sorrowful figure!

Why does the bridegroom start and stare at the strange ap

parition?

20

Why does the bride turn pale, and hide her face on his shoulder ?

Is it a phantom of air,-a bodiless, spectral illusion?

Is it a ghost from the grave, that has come to forbid the be

trothal ?

Long had it stood there unseen, a guest uninvited, unwelcomed;

Over its clouded eyes there had passed at times an expres

sion

25

Softening the gloom and revealing the warm heart hidden

beneath them,

As when across the sky the driving rack of the rain cloud Grows for a moment thin, and betrays the sun by its bright

ness.

Once it had lifted its hand, and moved its lips, but was silent, As if an iron will had mastered the fleeting intention. 30 But when were ended the troth and the prayer and the last

benediction,

Into the room it strode, and the people beheld with amazement

nizans, and most consonante to the scripturs, Ruth 4, and no wher found in the gospell to be layed on the ministers as a part of their office."-History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 101.