1208 
f HOPE FARM NOTES ~[ 
The Pilgrim Spirit 
Pabt IV. 
On November 23, 1G20, the Pilgrims 
made their first landing at a point on 
Cap* 1 Cod. not far from what is now 
Provineetown. They had been cooped 
np in their little vessel so long that they 
were ready to settle almost anywhere on 
dry land. The next scene in the pageant 
showed a group of Pilgrims on the shore. 
They were doing the things which plain 
people would be most likely to do when 
given opportunity. About a dozen wom¬ 
en stood at tubs, washing their clothes. 
Put it down as a fact that the first act of 
the Pilgrim mothers was to start a laun¬ 
dry. The water was heated in big kot- 
ile-* hung over fires of driftwood. Chil¬ 
dren were playing about as children al¬ 
ways have and always will play. A 
group of men stood on guard, while others 
worked on a boat or made ax handles. A 
little army of 10 men, commanded by 
Standish, armed with guns and swords, 
inarched off to "spy out the land.” Among 
these marchers was Win. Bradford, later 
elected governor. His wife, Dorothy, 
stood at the front and watched her hus¬ 
band pass out of sight, while the concealed 
ehoir sang “The Song of the Pilgrim 
Women,” the final chorus being: 
“Forgive our blind amaze 
Through all these blindfold days. 
Thou knowest them—thou wilt see 
Beyond our poor discerning. 
All of our treasury 
We offer here to thee. 
We the unreturning.” 
Many jokes, some funny and others 
quite the reverse, have been written about 
the “Pilgrim Mothers.” There was noth 
ing laughable about this human picture. 
There was something pathetic beyond de¬ 
scription about the silent figure of Dor¬ 
othy Bradford standing in front of that j 
busy group as she watched her husband 
inarching over the sand hills into the in¬ 
terior. I think these Pilgrim women were 
as a class not strong or rugged, but rather 
delicate and not accustomed to the rude 
life into which they were suddenly 
plunged. 
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This expedition evidently convinced j 
the Pilgrims that they could not find what 
they desired on Capo Cod. The soil was 
too light, and on that narrow neck of 
land they could not readily reach the in¬ 
terior. Then, as now. it might he said 
that Cape Cod is the finest place on earth 
to go away from-—and look hack to. We 
must remember that when the Pi’grims 
landed it was generally thought that what 
we call the Pacific Ocean was located just 
beyond the Hudson River! No one could 
imagine the vast country which stretched 
away to the west. On this trip the Pil¬ 
grims found several places where the In¬ 
dians had hidden corn and beans. While 
corn or maize Wns known in Europe from 
the time of Columbus, it had never be¬ 
come a popular food. The Indians grew 
it in various colors, and seemed to have 
shown some little skill as plant breeders. 
At first the white men were forced to buy 
corn from the Indians, but in five or six 
years they produced such crops that they 
sold large quantities of the grain—selling 
it to the improvident Indians in ex¬ 
change for skins and furs, which were 
sent to Europe in payment of the com¬ 
pany debt. This shows in a striking way 
the difference in mental equipment between 
the civilized white man and the savage. 
Through long centuries the white man 
had been taught self-denial and discipline 
—or rather these qualities had been forced 
upon him. Very few men seem able or 
willing to “provide for the morrow” un¬ 
til they are forced to do so. The Indian 
was satisfied with today. Tf Ik* had a 
skin to cover him and a handful of corn 
and a fish to eat he had “a suit and a 
balanced ration.” so what did tomorrow 
or next year signify? Of course, the sav¬ 
age lost in the contest with men who rec¬ 
ognized tomorrow as a day to be provided 
for. There were men and women in that 
great throng at Plymouth who have not 
fully grown away from the elemental lack 
of thrift which belongs to the savage. 
During the war wages were high and 
money came to factory workers in great 
chunks. That was really the time for 
living the simple life, cutting out lux¬ 
uries and debts and providing for the to¬ 
morrow which is sure to come. T know 
plenty of people who. instead of doing 
that, spent all they earned and contracted 
obligations which they must settle new in 
HOrceut dollars. Tf you tell them they are 
like these savages, handing their monop¬ 
oly in corn production right over to the 
white men. you will get yourself into | 
trouble at once. Yet the statement would j 
be true. 
$ 4c tf 4: tf 
The Pilgrims helped themselves to the 
corn and beans which they found in the 
Indian storehouses. Six months later 
they paid the Indian in full, as Bradford 
says in his history: 
“And here is to be noted a spetialo j 
providence of God. and a great mercic to 
this poore people that hear they gott seed 
to plant them come the next year or els 
they might have starved.” 
In all their dealings with the Indians 
the Pilgrims of Plymouth seem to have 
been fair and honorable. I have no doubt 
they made good bargains with them for 
furs or coni, but they paid for wliat they 
Jht RURAL NEW-YORKER 
took. Some of the famous paintings rep¬ 
resenting the “landing” show Indians in 
the group, these red men having come to 
welcome their new neighbors. That is 
what you may call “artistic license.” The 
Indians never came near the white people 
for months. Some years later it. is record¬ 
ed that the chief Massasoit fell sick. Ed¬ 
ward Winslow of Plymouth went through 
the woods to Mount Hope, where the sav¬ 
age chief lay in a filthy hut or wigwam, 
no doubt with “medicine men” pounding 
drums and making a hideous noise to 
drive away the evil spirits. Winslow 
seems to have been the lawyer of the col¬ 
ony. lie induced these medicine men to 
take a rest and gave the chief such sim¬ 
ple remedies as b<> had. I have no doubt 
the chief was suffering from fever and 
what we now call “malnutrition.” One 
story is that Winslow sent an Indian run¬ 
ner through the woods to Plymouth and 
had him bring back a chicken. This was 
made into a broth which helped the sav¬ 
age to recovery. That chicken helps d to 
preserve the peace, for Massasoit felt that 
lie owed his life to the white men. and re¬ 
mained their friend. The bird must have 
been one of the far distant ancestors of 
the Plymouth Rock breed, or perhaps 
more appropriately of the “Reds.” At 
any rate, we may say that the chicken slid 
as much to save Plymouth as the famous 
geese did to save Rome. 
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This Indian question was of such im¬ 
portance to the Pilgrims that one of the 
most impressive pictures in the pageant 
was grouped about the first treaty with 
Massasoit. The light was thrown upon a 
group of Pilgrims, the men standing ready 
with their guns. The Indians appear in 
the distance and decline to come nearer 
until some “white chief’ comes to them 
as a hostage. Edward Winslow volun¬ 
teers and goes over to stand among them. 
Then Massasoit, trembling with fear, 
comes forward and sits on a green rug, 
with John Carver and Bradford. I must 
record the fact that the first thing done 
was to offer the savage a good-sized glass 
of mm. He made very short work of it. 
Then Governor Carver reads the proposed 
treaty of peace and Squanto translates it, 
sentence by sentence, to the Indians. This 
treaty was an agreement for peace and 
mutual protection. It is doubtful if the 
Indians understood much about it, but 
Massasoit made his mark on the paper, 
with many a grunt of approval, lie was 
held to his promise as closely as any 
farmer who puts his name on the dotted 
line of a contract which he docs not un¬ 
derstand. It must have been a remark¬ 
able experience for this savage, with no 
knowledge of a written language, to see 
the white man stand up and read a long 
paper at him. There was a form of “dis¬ 
armament” connected with this treaty. 
The Indians agreed to leave their bows 
and arrows when they came among the 
white men, and the latter promised to 
leave their guns when they visited the 
Indians. Of course, both sides had sense 
enough to know that the mere fact of dis¬ 
armament will not prevent war—not with 
human nature as it was in 1(520 or as it 
is now. Later—just before King Philip’s 
War—the Pilgrims, or their descendants, 
tried to compel the Indians to give up 
their muskets. Some 7.1 were handed 
over, but the French and Dutch kept the 
Indians well supplied. The greatest fear 
which the early white settlers had was 
that the red men might learn the use of 
gunpowder and obtain muskets. No won¬ 
der they punished with death all who 
were caught selling firearms to the sav¬ 
ages. Something of that very spirit was 
shown by the old barons and lords when 
gunpowder was first invented. These old 
monopolists knew that when the common 
people could have this new and mighty 
power in their own hands the walls that 
separated society into classes would soon 
be blown down. For myself. I think the 
development of powerful explosives is go¬ 
ing ahead too fast for the ordinary human 
mind. As I watched that big red savage 
make his mark on the paper and then 
October S, 1921 
walk off, mystified and yet happy, I 
thought of other cases in history where 
men of inferior mind had failed to grasp 
an opportunity to save their race, or at 
least to delay its final decay. In 323 
R. C., Alexander the Great, with his 
army, marched for seven days through a 
hostile country, every one of them drunk 
and practically incapable of defense. It 
is said that 1,000 resolute and sober men 
might have fallen upon them and killed 
every one. Yet the barbarians to whom 
the country belonged dared not attack 
this disorderly crew, and thus were made 
slaves. Again, in 1.534, at Cuzco, in Peru, 
two bands of Spaniards fought for the 
mastery in a wide valley. All around 
them on the hills thousands of Indians 
stood and watched this fight between their 
masters. Here was their chance to be 
free. They might fall upon the remnant 
of white men after this fierce battle and 
kill them and obtain their dreaded weap¬ 
ons. But they lacked the courage to 
strike the blow and thus remained in 
slavery. In like manner Massasoit and 
his Indians passed by their chance to 
drive off these white men, and made a 
treaty which surely meant the final end 
of their race. Prescott says that this 
battle at Cuzco shows the wonderful pow¬ 
er' which the mind of the white man 
gained over that of the native. In mod¬ 
ern language, the white man had the 
“psychological drop” on the red man— 
just as the trained and educated mind 
always gains over the untrained and su¬ 
perstitious form of ignorance. And I 
thought of another thing that night. In 
order to control men you must know their 
language and methods of thought. -You 
can only gain these things by living 
among people and being one of them. In 
1(533 Roger Williams came to Plymouth, 
and among other things devoted himself 
to studying the Indian language and hab¬ 
its. ITe went to their wigwams and lived 
their life. The result was that they un¬ 
derstood him, and had such faith in him 
that lie probably kept peace between the 
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