138 LITERARY PILGRIMAGES 



simple pioneers rise above them as the story of 

 their lives transcends in interest that of all others 

 that have come after them. The book that Brad- 

 ford wrote, as the tales that Homer told, will last 

 as long as books are read. Plymouth may pass, as 

 Troy did, but the story of its heroes will remain. 

 Bradford's book, which was our first, may well, at 

 the end of time, be rated our greatest. 



The trailing arbutus is peculiarly the flower of 

 Plymouth. Not that it grows there alone, indeed 

 within easy reach of the landing place of the Pil- 

 grims it is not easy now to find it. Once, no 

 doubt, it blossomed about the feet of the pioneers, 

 sending up its fragrance to them as they trod 

 sturdily along their first street and through their 

 new-found fields that first spring after their ar- 

 rival. My, but their hearts must have been home- 

 sick for the English May they had left behind! 

 and in memory of the pink and white of the haw- 

 thorn hedges they called this pink and white flower 

 which peered from the oval-leaved vines trailed 

 about their feet, mayflower. It surely must have 

 grown on the slopes of Burial Hill, down toward 

 Town Brook, but now one will look in vain for it 



