76 LITERARY PILGRIMAGES 



The present-day pilgrim to Provincetown comes 

 by the Mayflower route, in part, at least, if he 

 come by sea, following in the wave-washed 

 track of destiny. Like Gosnold's ship, like that 

 which bore Captain John Smith, and like that 

 greatest of all small vessels which carried Brad- 

 ford and his friends, his ship glides by Race 

 Point, coasts the long convexity of sand to and 

 round Long Point, and heads northwest as if 

 to go out to sea again, but is fairly caught by the 

 barb of the hook, and landed. Between Boston 

 Light and the tip of the Cape the voyager gets 

 a taste of that same sea which Bradford and his 

 friends breasted for two long months. If the 

 sweet summer winds have been off shore for 

 long enough there is little trouble, even for the 

 landsman in this sea. It is likely to be smooth 

 and smiling as an inland lake. If on the other 

 hand the salt vigor of the east winds has shoul- 

 dered it for a day or two the pilgrim of to-day may 

 well hail the sight of the sand hills of the Cape 

 with a joy as great and a hope of early relief as 

 intense as did the lone voyagers of 1620. Fish 

 out of water that rolls like this bite eagerly at 



