84 OLD-FASHIONED GARDENING 



in the neat, precise, thrifty beauty which, out of his 

 orderly being, he could not help creating everywhere 

 about him, did they acquire. 



Absolutely devoid of these attributes were the Pil- 

 grims, first, last, and all the time. And though 

 poverty naturally does rob those who suffer it of much 

 that is gracious and good, poverty was not the reason 

 for their attitude. It was rather the incessant lash- 

 ing to which they subjected soul and brain; this bred 

 a spirit which rejoiced in works of supererogation, im- 

 molating itself upon cold altars of stony beauty-bar- 

 renness. Pleasure of every kind was condemned, and 

 pleasant things were fearful. John Barry, for ex- 

 ample, gives as one of their reasons for desiring to 

 leave Holland, "The corruption of the Dutch youth 

 was pernicious in its influence" ; a somewhat astonish- 

 ing accusation to lay against the happy flaxen-haired, 

 apple-cheeked Dutch boys and girls. 



It was a certain measure of good fortune for the/^ 

 Colonists, perhaps, that pestilence had almost de- 

 populated the shores of the Bay of Masathuset some 

 time before the arrival there of the first comers. It 

 left them less exposed to danger from the few Indians 

 who remained, as well as afforded them ready-made 

 clearings in which to establish their settlements. But 

 what was an advantage in one way — the lesser, pos- 

 sibly — was a distinct disadvantage in another; where 



