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 
