1184 
Tht RURAL. NEW-YORKER 
THE PILGRIM SPIRIT 
Part III. 
To my mind the most impressive scene 
in the entire pageant was “The March 
of the Dutch Cities of Charity,” in 1G09. 
The field before us was in absolute 
darkness. Then small lights began to 
twinkle at various parts of the field. 
There were little groups as though small 
parties were marching with lanterns and 
torches. They came nearer and nearer, 
until we could see that each group repre¬ 
sented a company of people from some 
Dutch town. These groups ranged them¬ 
selves in a great half circle. Then six 
horsemen came galloping into the field 
shouting "The Truce.” It made one 
think of Robert Browning’s poem. “How 
We Brought the News from Ghent to 
Aix.” One horseman, the English herald, 
rides to the center and reads a paper— 
two lantern bearers holding their lights 
for him. “Peace guaranteed for 12 years! 
Religious freedom !” Then all the people 
burst into a great shout. The younger 
people start dancing and the older people 
fall in. The torch and standard bearers 
stand in the center and the great crowd 
dances around them. The powerful col¬ 
ored lights play upon them, making a 
wonderful picture. This truce meant life 
to the Dutch people, who for years had 
been made utterly miserable by war. It 
also represented a turning point in the 
history of the Pilgrims, for they found 
in Holland what was denied them in Eng¬ 
land. The evident object of these pictures 
of life in Ho’land was to show how these 
Pilgr’ms were made stronger and more 
useful through transplanting. Plants and 
trees, when dug from the place where 
they started and planted anew, with 
I’oots pruned and tops cut back, make 
better and more productive specimens as 
a result of such work. It is clear that 
their experience in Holland made these 
men and women better fitted to serve as 
successful pioneers. It is not likely that 
the Pilgrims could have gone directly 
from England to America and made a 
success of their venture. 
# * * * if 
The next picture showed a conference 
at Leyden in the year 1620. The Pil¬ 
grims have gathered to take a vote as to 
whether they shall stay in Holland or 
start for the new world. As the ballots 
are passed out sounds of trumpets are 
-heard. The Dutch are drilling, in the 
fear that war will be renewed. There 
seems to be a general belief that all the 
people of this church gladly made the 
voyage in the Mayflower. The truth is 
that less than half of them voted to go. 
Standish. Winslow, Robinson — practi¬ 
cally a 1 ! the leaders—were anxious to cross 
the water and find a new home, yet their 
arguments could not convince a majority. 
Some of the peonle were frankly afraid 
of the - voyage and what it would disclose 
in the “new world.” Others were not 
satisfied with the terms under which they 
must work. These Pilgrims were mostly 
poor men. and in order to borrow the 
money for their equipment and transpor¬ 
tation they were forced to make a hard 
bargain. Under the contract there could 
be no personal profits for at least seven 
years. All the profits from any source 
coming from their enterprise must be 
used to pay the debts of the community. 
These men. in their desire to be free and 
to find a new state where they might live 
as they pleased, tied themselves hand and 
foot, by a contract which made them vir¬ 
tually industrial slaves for a long term 
of years. They paid their debt several 
times over, and never once considered re¬ 
pudiation. They willingly held out their 
arms for the handcuffs of debt, and finally 
melted those handcuffs off bv the flame 
of faith and the power of labor. Those 
who criticize these men for their strict 
laws and sober practices should remem¬ 
ber this honorable side of their charac¬ 
ter The vote in Leyden sorted out less 
than half their number and those who 
finally came were a sort of Gideon’s band 
who could not see any lions in the way. 
* * * * 
Following the voting scene came the 
departure of the Pilgrims from Delfts- 
haven. Morning dawns, and a group of 
Pilgrims are discovered waiting to be 
carried to the ship. A concealed choir 
sang the words of Hebrews 11:13. 
"These not haring received the prom¬ 
ises hut persuaded of them confess lhat 
they were strangers and pilgrims on the 
earth. They desire a better country, 
wherefore God is not ashamed to he called 
their God , for he hath prepared for them 
a city." 
John Robinson, the spiritual leader, 
makes an address to his people. He must 
have been a man of sense as well as of 
the spirit, for among other wise things 
he said : 
“There being some to come among you 
newly .in England, at first you will be, 
many of you. strangers as to the persons 
and infirmities one of another. Be watch¬ 
ful lest, when such things fall out in men 
and women as you suspected not. you be 
inordinately affected with them !” 
Which means be charitable and forget 
most of your neighbor’s faults. That is 
sound advice for any community, but I 
imagine that these 101 peonle crowded 
into the little Mayflower for three months 
learned about all there was to know about 
their neighbors. It was a powerful and 
striking scene, and I venture to say that 
everyone among that great throng of 
spectators who had ever left home, or 
who had seen their friends depart, felt a 
powerful hand tugging at the heart. Rob¬ 
inson drops on his knees in prayer, the 
others grouping about him, while the con¬ 
cealed choir sang “The Pilgrim’s Chorus.” 
The last verse of this runs as follows: 
“We are free to be the first who are to 
bear the coming harvest, 
Over leagues that are between us and 
the fields that are unsown, 
And though God may leave the reaping 
unto others who come after, 
He has called us, and we follow to the 
new and the unknown.” 
Then the lights slowly faded out and 
then suddenly turned in full brilliance 
upon Plymouth Rock, and the strong 
voice which opened the pageant was 
heard once more: 
Then? artisan-farmers—these Pilgrims— 
Steadied by precepts of Robinson, 
Trained by their leaders. 
Who studied the Bible for guidance, 
Shaped here at Plymouth 
Liberty’s fabric. 
Grappled in small way 
Problems of State. 
Because of their wisdom, 
Trusting in God, believing in man. 
Knew not the havoc of Indian warfare 
Taught the newcomer 
Gain must be theirs 
At the price of their labor. 
Punished the traitor. 
Yet pitied the culprit. 
This is your heritage, 
All you Americans. 
Ho ye maintain it? 
# * * # 
The next scene was entitled “The Com¬ 
pact in the Cabin of the Mayflower.” As 
we looked at the little vessel gently toss¬ 
ing in the harbor it did not seem possible 
that all this company could crowd into 
her cabin, but these Pilgrims must have 
learned the secret of close association 
during their long voyage. I think this 
“compact” may well be called the germ 
from which grew our American constitu¬ 
tion. The most striking thing about it 
is: 
“Now we do covenant and combine our¬ 
selves that our governing in this new 
world may be by us and for us for the 
greatest good of all. By virtue hereof to 
enact, constitute and frame such just and 
equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions 
and offices from time to time as shall be 
thought most meet and convenient for the 
general good of the colony unto which we 
all promise due submission and obedi¬ 
ence.” 
Here we have in essence a co-operative 
society stripped of all frills and orna¬ 
ments, founded through necessity upon 
obedience and submission. Read Lin¬ 
coln’s Gettysburg speech and you are re¬ 
minded of part of this “compact.” One 
by one the men signed this document. The 
women did not sign it, and some of the 
men had servants or bondmen. For in¬ 
stance, John Carver, the first governor, 
signed “for myself, my wife Catherine 
and six others.” There was, as is the 
case with every enterprise of this sort, a 
little band of “kickers” or “soreheads.” 
These were led by John Billington. He 
finally signed, but not with good-will, 
grumbling about his “liberty.” Brewster, 
who presided at the meeting, answered 
him : 
“They only enjoy full liberty, John 
October 1, 1921 
Billington, who know how to use it 
right.” 
It is strange how this Billington ever 
came to join the party. He must have 
been a surly and mischief-making man. 
Later, he was the first man of Plymouth 
to be hung. He was thus punished for 
killing a man. We shall see, when we 
come to analyze history, that this “com¬ 
pact” worked out because there were sev¬ 
eral strong men who guided the colony 
and ruled it strictly. While on its face a 
purely democratic document, it resulted 
in rule by a minority of individuals who 
held a majority of power and character. 
A few strong men directed the affairs of 
Plymouth. I shall try to show next week 
how this “compact” led to the New Eng¬ 
land system of “town meetings”—prob¬ 
ably the nearest approach to a pure de¬ 
mocracy, at least in principle, that Amer¬ 
ica has ever seen. There was one remark¬ 
able thing about this pageant—that was 
the wide range in nationality of the peo¬ 
ple who presented it. In this old Pil¬ 
grim town you might imagine that the 
actors would all bear the names of Stand¬ 
ish, Carver, Bradford, Brewster or other 
Mayflower names. Yet here are some of 
the names, taken from the program: Au- 
toniotta, Giovanneti, McDuffie. Behring, 
Hickey, O’Brien, Krueger. Pederzine, 
Murphy, Donovan, Bonfiazni, Strocchi, 
Goldstein, Lamborghini and Kaplowitz. 
There they were, lined up as Pilgrims 
beside plain Brown and Bradford. 
Holmes, Drew, Sampson, Morton, Bates 
and Howland. Surely if some of the old 
Pilgrims were wandering about that 
night, they must have had strange 
thoughts. II. W. C. 
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