AUSTERE PURITAN GARDENS 



'Tor Mrs. Winthrop at Boston" 



"My sweet wife I prayse God I am in good 

 health, peace be to thee and o r familye, so I kisse 

 thee, and hope shortly to see thee: farewell. 



Hasten the sending away Scarlett, and gather- 

 ing the Turnips. 



J. W." 



ABSENT from home on the affairs of the Col- 

 ony, great and good John Winthrop com- 

 passes, in this short and tender little letter to his wife, 

 practically the whole range of life as it was lived in 

 New England in Puritan days. The "prayse" of 

 God first, always; then the conscious and deep, real 

 thankfulness for bodily vigor and health in this new, 

 rude land where these were so frequently impaired; 

 and finally practical directions concerning practical, 

 homely things for even the Governor, busy with his 

 duties of state, could not afford to neglect his tur- 

 nips. Turnips in those days occupied about the same 

 place that potatoes do now, furnishing the main root 



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