39 



headlands, islands, and bays are suggestive of Ushing and 

 the abundance of lisli in their vicinity. Captain John 

 Smith gave ' the name of Cape Cod to that famous arm of 

 Massachusetts, because, as he said, cod were so abundant 

 near there that they "belabored" the sides of his ship. 



It was fishing that led to the settlement of New Eng- 

 land. When the delegates from the Puritans went to King- 

 James and asked for permission to settle America, he, 

 with true Scottish thrift, asked what profit might arise. 

 They answered, "Fishing.'"' This seemed to impress the 

 King very favorably, for he said: "So God have my soul, 

 'tis an honest trade; 'twas the Apostles' own calling." 

 And so this little band of pilgrims established themselves 

 on the rugged, rock-bound coast of New England, in a 

 harbor which they described as being in the shape of a 

 fish-hook. 



The free school, one of the grandest and most important 

 heritages of American children, was first established and 

 maintained from the income of the fisheries at Cape Cod. 



The part which our fishermen took in the establishment 

 of the independence of this country forms one of the most 

 striking and glorious images in the history of the Revolu- 

 tion. Indeed, it is j)erhaps not too much to claim that the 

 result of that struggle might have been very different had 

 it not been for the courage and aggressive energy of the 

 men who had been trained in our fisheries. On more than 

 one occasion they saved the American army from defeat, 

 and enabled it to achieve important victories. I will not 

 stop to recount them in detail, but will simply say that we 

 have it on so high an authority as General Knox, Wash- 

 ington's chief of artillery, that the victory at Trenton — one 

 of the most important of the Revolution — was due, more 

 than anything else, to the part taken in it by tishermen. 

 Years after the close of the war, when General Knox was a 

 member of the Massachusetts Legislature, Marblehead ap- 

 plied for a charter for a bank. There was opposition to it. 



