Hopkins, Richard Warren, and Gilbert Winslow were all among the Mayflower passengers, and were alive at this time. Page 85. O strong hearts and true! not one The Mayflower sailed on her return voyage April 5, 1621, her stay through the winter being due, as Bradford explains, to the necessity of the Pilgrims for shelter while they were settling themselves, the bad weather, and the unwillingness of the captain to sail with a crew diminished by sickness and death, until the more inclement season was passed. "It is a circumstance worthy of notice, that, notwithstanding the hardships, privations, and mortality among the Pilgrims, not one of them was induced to abandon the en. terprise and return home in the Mayflower. Young's Chronicles, note, p. 199. Page 85. Rounded the point of the Gurnet, and leaving far to the southward Island and cape of sand, and the Field of the First Encounter. The Gurnet, or Gurnet's Nose, is a headland connecting with Marshfield by a beach about seven miles long. On its southern extremity are two light-houses, which light the entrance to Plymouth Harbor. "So after we had given God thanks for our deliverance, we took our shallop and went on our journey, and called this place The First Encounter." Bradford and Winslow's Journal, in Young's Chronicles, p. 159. This place, on the Eastham shore, marked the spot where the Pilgrims had their first encounter with the Indians, December 8, 1620. A party under Miles Standish was exploring the country while the Mayflower was at anchor in Provincetown Harbor. Page 97. He is a little chimney, and heated hot in a moment. Hubbard, in his History of New England, speaks of Standish as a "small chimney soon fired." Page 102. After a three days' march he came to an Indian encampment. The poet apparently has taken his material for this expedition of Standish from the report of Standish's Expedition against the Indians of Weymouth, and the breaking up of Weston's Colony at that place, as given in Winslow's Relation, reproduced in Young's Chronicles, pp. 327-345The historic incident took place in March, 1623, and the party went to the place where the combat took place in a shallop, and not on foot. Page 105. Forth he sprang at a bound, with all his weapons about him. "Among the rest Wituwamat bragged of the excellency of his knife. On the end of the handle there was pictured a woman's face; 'but,' said he, 'I have another at home wherewith I have killed both French and English, and that hath a man's face on it, and by and by these two must marry.' Further, he said of that knife he there had, Hinnaim namen, hinnaim michen, matta cuts ; that is to say, By and by it should see, and by and by it should eat, but not speak. Also Pecksuot, being a man of greater stature than the captain, told him, though he were a great captain, yet he was but a little man; and, said he, though I be no sachem, yet I am a man of great strength and courage." (Winslow's Relation.) In the historic scene, the combat took place within a lodge, here out of doors. The poet turns the whole incident of Standish's parley and killing of the Indian into a more open and brave piece of conduct than the chronicle permits us to see. Page 110. Silent, with folded arms, stood Hobomok, friend of the white man. "Hobbamock stood by all this time as a spectator, and meddled not, observing how our men demeaned themselves in this action. All being here ended, smiling, he brake forth into these speeches to the captain: 'Yesterday Pecksuot, bragging of his own strength and stature, said, though you were a great captain, yet you were but a little man; but to-day I see you are big enough to lay him on the ground." Winslow's Relation. Page 110. And as a trophy of war the head of the brave Wattawamat Scowled from the roof of the fort, which at once was a church and a fortress. "Now was the Captain returned and received with joy, his head being brought to the fort and there set up." (Winslow's Relation.) The custom of exposing the heads of offenders in this way was familiar enough to the Plymouth people before they left England. As late as the year 1747 the heads of the lords who were concerned in the Scots' Rebellion were set up over the Temple Bar in London. Page 115. Month after month passed away, and in Autumn the ships of the merchants Came with kindred and friends, with cattle and corn for the Pilgrims. The poet appears to take Standish's return from his expedition as the date from which after events are measured. The Anne and the Little James came at the beginning of August, 1623. Page 116. Latticed the windows were, and the window-panes were of paper, Oiled to admit the light, while wind and rain were excluded. When the Fortune, which visited the colony in November, 1621, returned to England, Edward Winslow sent by it a letter of advice to those who were thinking of emigrating to America, in which he says: "Bring paper and linseed oil for your windows." Even in the time of Henry VIII. glass windows were considered a luxury. When the Duke of Northumberland, in Elizabeth's time, left Alnwick Castle to come to London for the winter, the few glass windows which formed one of the luxuries of the castle were carefully taken out and laid away, perhaps carried to London to adorn the city residence. Page 116. Still may be seen to this day some trace of the well and the orchard. The Alden family still retain John Alden's homestead in Duxbury, and the present house is said to stand near the site of the one originally built there. In point of fact, however, Alden did not settle in Duxbury until 1631. Page 117. Raghorn, the snow-white bull, that had fallen to Alden's allotment. Bradford, in his History of Plymouth Plantation, p. 109, under date of 1624, says: "Shortly after [March] Mr. Winslow came over, and brought |