FOREFATHERS' DAY 41 



2ist, though we 'have really an all-winter land- 

 ing of the Pilgrims, the ship remaining in the 

 harbor and being more or less their refuge until 

 the 5th of April, 1621. In some respects the 

 place of their landing has vastly changed. The 

 waterfront is ugly with rough wharves and coal 

 pockets, store-houses and factories. The famous 

 rock itself reposes beneath a monstrous granite 

 canopy and seems to have so little connection with 

 the sea that one at first sight is inclined to levity, 

 wondering where the landing party got the gang 

 plank which bridged such a distance. Yet it was 

 in all reverence that I sought Plymouth, hoping 

 to in some measure bridge the three centuries 

 that lie between that day and this, and see the 

 New World in some measure as they saw it, at 

 the same season. 



For at least the seasons have not changed. 

 The storms and the calms, the snow and the sun- 

 shine, come now, as then, in cycles that may not 

 match day by day in all instances, but, taking 

 year by year, come surprisingly near it. There 

 is more in the Old Farmer's Almanack's serene 

 forecast of the weather for an entire year ahead 

 than most of us are willing to admit. There are 

 people who back its oracle against the Weather 



