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Where he is happier far than he would be commanding a household,

You may speak boldly, and tell me of all that happened between you,

When you returned last night, and said how ungrateful you found me.”

Thereupon answered John Alden, and told her the whole of the story,

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Told her his own despair, and the direful wrath of

Miles Standish.

Whereat the maiden smiled, and said between laughing and earnest,

"He is a little chimney, and heated hot in a moment!” But as he gently rebuked her, and told her how he had suffered,

How he had even determined to sail that day in the Mayflower,

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And had remained for her sake, on hearing the dangers that threatened,

All her manner was changed, and she said with a faltering accent,

"Truly I thank you for this: how good you have been to me always!"

Thus, as a pilgrim devout, who toward Jerusalem journeys,

Taking three steps in advance, and one reluctantly backward,

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Urged by importunate zeal, and withheld by pangs of

contrition;

Slowly but steadily onward, receding yet ever advancing,

Journeyed this Puritan youth to the Holy Land of his longings,

Urged by the fervor of love, and withheld by remorseful misgivings.

VII

THE MARCH OF MILES STANDISH

Meanwhile the stalwart Miles Standish was marching steadily northward,

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719-724 Give in your own words the meaning of this paragraph. 723 Holy Land: what is its geographical name? Where is it? Why was it called the Holy Land?

725 Northward: this was an expedition against the Indians which Miles Standish undertook in 1623 instead of 1621. But it suits the story better to bring it in here. A friend of the Pilgrims in London, a Mr. Weston, had sent out a colony of his own which settled at about the present location of Weymouth. This colony was not composed of very sensible men, and they were faring badly at the hands of their Indian neighbors. Out of friendship for the founder of the colony, the Pilgrims sent Standish and his little band to their assistance. Eventually, a few of Weston's men joined the Pilgrims, and the rest found their way back to England.

Winding through forest and swamp, and along the trend of the sea-shore,

All day long, with hardly a halt, the fire of his anger Burning and crackling within, and the sulphurous odor of powder

Seeming more sweet to his nostrils than all the scents of the forest.

Silent and moody he went, and much he revolved his

discomfort;

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He who was used to success, and to easy victories

always,

Thus to be flouted, rejected, and laughed to scorn by a maiden,

Thus to be mocked and betrayed by the friend whom most he had trusted!

Ah! 'twas too much to be borne, and he fretted and chafed in his armor!

"I alone am to blame," he muttered, "for mine was the folly.

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What has a rough old soldier, grown grim and gray in the harness,

Used to the camp and its ways, to do with the wooing of maidens?

'Twas but a dream, let it pass,-let it vanish like so many others!

What I thought was a flower, is only a weed, and is worthless;

Out of my heart will I pluck it, and throw it away,

and henceforward

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Be but a fighter of battles, a lover and wooer of dan

gers."

Thus he revolved in his mind his sorry defeat and discomfort,

While he was marching by day or lying at night in the forest,

Looking up at the trees and the constellations beyond them.

After a three days' march he came to an Indian

encampment

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Pitched on the edge of a meadow, between the sea and

the forest;

Women at work by the tents, and warriors, horrid with war-paint,

Seated about a fire, and smoking and talking together;

Who, when they saw from afar the sudden approach of the white men,

748 Who was the Englishman credited with taking this custom to England?

Saw the flash of the sun on breastplate and sabre and

musket,

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Straightway leaped to their feet, and two, from among them advancing,

Came to parley with Standish, and offer him furs as a present:

Friendship was in their looks, but in their hearts there was hatred.

Braves of the tribe were these, and brothers, gigantic in stature,

Huge as Goliath of Gath, or the terrible Og, king of

Bashan;

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One was Pecksuot named, and the other was called Wattawamat.

752 Furs: from time immemorial, furs have been one of the choicest articles of commerce, vying in value with gold and gems. Kings and emperors have desired them for gifts and costly court garments. Make out as long a list as you can of the animals whose fur is valuable, and tell which of these are found in America. Where do Americans get seals? Name a people in America whose clothing consists mainly of furs. Siberia is valued by Russia for its fur-bearing animals; the fur trade caused France to settle Canada, and was concerned in the settlement of New England, New York, and Virginia. Name a port on the west coast of the United States which was founded expressly for the fur trade. What great fur-trading company do the British maintain in British America? 755 Goliath of Gath: look up I Samuel xvii. 4-7. Og, king of Bashan: look up Deuteronomy iii. 1 and 11.

756 Pronounce the Indian names by scanning the line.

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