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October 15, 1921 
The RURAL NEW-YORKER 
HOPE FARM NOTES 
THE PJLGHIM SPIKIT 
PABT V. 
One of the most affecting scenes in the 
entire pageant was “The Return of the 
Mayflower.” While the Pilgrims landed 
on December 20, it was not until the fol¬ 
lowing April 15 that the little vessel start¬ 
ed back. Many of the crew were sick, 
and some of them died. The captain did 
not quite dare to venture out during the 
Winter. When at length the Mayflower 
started, all that were left of the little 
baud gathered to .see her go. Half of the 
company had died during the Winter. 
Those who were left were feeble and half 
sick from exposure. These men seemed 
to invite sickness when they first came by 
plunging into the cold water and exposing 
themselves in every way. It is one of the 
wonders of history that this little band of 
sick and lonely people did not desert their 
post and go back to England. Other col¬ 
onists before them had abandoned their 
enterprise under easier circumstances. 
At the opening of this scene the com¬ 
bination of strong lights were turned on 
the Mayflower as she swung at anchor, 
ready to depart. There was shown a 
group of all the surviving Pilgrims gath¬ 
ered at the waterside. Bradford, the 
leader, says: 
"It is ill to wish death, hut worse to 
fear it.” 
Brewster, the spiritual guide, adds: 
"The future is ours!” 
Stout Myles Standish, the military cap¬ 
tain : 
"Here we must stand, a bulwark.” 
Winslow, the lawyer: 
“Better our nearest neighbor hundreds 
of miles away than rivalry and quarrels 
close at hand!” 
It. was characteristic of these men and 
women and of their descendants to put all 
such questions to a popular vote, after a 
full discussion. That was their idea of 
democracy, and in this case the entire 
who knew just what was needed and could 
influence the others. In one way or an¬ 
other every form of government comes, 
sooner or later, to be a control by a small 
group of strong men. So long as men 
differ in mental ability and commanding 
power, every group of people—they may 
call themselves township or State or na¬ 
tion—will sooner or later find itself di¬ 
rected by the strongest minds. The nat¬ 
ural leaders will rise like cream out of the 
milk, or they will be violently separated 
out by revolution or political power. The 
Pilgrims came here to establish a democ¬ 
racy wherein all should be equal. Follow¬ 
ing the most powerful natural law of so¬ 
ciety. a few strong men dominated the sit¬ 
uation. It is well for history that this 
was so, for had Plymouth been a pure de¬ 
mocracy, without strong leaders, and 
each man privileged to do as he pleased, 
the colony never could have endured. 
Through strict and stern discipline men 
like Bradford, Winslow and Standish 
compelled the weaker minds to follow a 
definite path until the colony was strong 
enough to endure. The experiment suc¬ 
ceeded because these leaders, were not 
only strong, but they were straight, with 
little ambition except to serve their peo¬ 
ple. It is very easy to call them bigots 
and hypocrites and blue-nosed fanatics, 
and to call their religion a form of bitter 
oppression. The fact remains, however, 
that their method of government proved 
successful, not only in its foundation, but in 
the vast edifice that has been reared upon 
it. During the 300 years since this first 
co-operative experiment in farming and 
fishing was started there have been thou¬ 
sands of similar attempts to combine men 
for some sort of government. It is safe 
to say that each one of them has at some 
time passed away from a pure democracy 
into the control of a small group of su¬ 
perior minds. There have been more fail¬ 
ures than successes, because it is human 
nature for men. trusting in their own 
strength alone, finally to manipulate the 
power of such organizations for their 
own benefit. There comes a time when 
the organization becomes so highly organ¬ 
ized that the leaders are more iriterested 
in maintaining the organization than in 
sails were spread, the anchor lifted, and 
she sailed slowly out of the harbor. 
company, fully understanding what was _ ____ _ ul6 „ u „ tt u U u L1 ,« u 
before them, voted to remain. 1 hen a ^lielping’ its individual members. The sue- 
gun was fired from the Mayflower, nei cesses among such enterprises are found 
only where the group of leaders are guid¬ 
ed by some religious feeling which makes 
them desire to be honest and makes them 
fear to be otherwise. From 1620 down 
through history no true co-operative en¬ 
terprise can prosper unless it have some 
strong religious feeling behind it. 
Those of us who sat watching this 
beautiful picture felt that we were look¬ 
ing upon one of the great turning points 
of history. It was a solemn spectacle, 
and it seemed to all of us the most nat¬ 
ural thing to do when Brewster stood be¬ 
fore them and said : 
"Let us go to the Fort and pray for 
the safe passage of this ship and our 
dying Governor.” 
' They fell quickly into position, the 
armed men in advance and at the sides, 
with the women and children at the cen¬ 
ter. Thus grouped they marched slowly 
away as the lights faded out. The next 
day' we saw a procession of Plymouth 
people representing this call to worship. 
Each day during the Summer this proces¬ 
sion started from Plymouth Rock and 
marched slowly up Leyden Street to the 
old church and burying ground. The men 
and women who made up this group were 
direct descendants of the Mayflower peo¬ 
ple. They were dressed in what is sup¬ 
posed to have been Pilgrims’ garb. The 
men carried old-fashioned muskets and 
swords. Some of the women led little 
children, while others carried babies in 
their arms. Slowly and steadily they 
marched on, an impressive group. Most 
of them were clad in sober black, but sev¬ 
eral of the women wore cloaks lined with 
red or green—a touch of color in the grim 
picture. Some of the women wore their 
white caps a little rakishly at one side, 
showing waves of bright curling hair, as 
though nature had determined to put a lit¬ 
tle touch of careless beauty into the stern, 
hard life which stretched before these 
pioneers. I saw this procession while 
standing before the First Church, in 
Town Square. Close beside us was a 
group all too typical of our modern 
American life; a big man with a hard, 
brutal face, and the evidences of coarse 
wealth standing out all over him. With 
him were three women, with painted and 
powdered faces and skirts too short for a 
bathing suit. It would be impossible to 
imagine a greater contrast than was pre¬ 
sented between these butterflies and par¬ 
asites and the serious men and women 
who marched past us. They had made it 
Do You Look Forward To a 
Good Night’s Restf 
Do you regularly antici¬ 
pate a refreshing sleep? 
Or do you dread going to 
bed, only to stare, sleep¬ 
less, at the walls? The 
difference between sleep¬ 
ing and staring is simply 
a matter of nerves. 
When your nervous 
system is in a sound con¬ 
dition, you are certain to 
sleep well. But when 
your nerves are worn out 
and beyond your control, 
your rest is broken and 
your awakening leaves 
you languid and irritable. 
Doctors know that 
much of the nerve dis¬ 
orders result from tea 
and coffee drinking. The 
drugs in these drinks 
over-stimulate,oftencaus- 
ing the serious ills which 
result from disturbing the 
regular bodily functions. It 
is for your health’s sake 
that many doctors now 
say you should quit tea 
and coffee. Drink Postum, 
the delicious meal-time 
beverage instead! In fla¬ 
vor it is much like coffee. 
Postum is fundamen¬ 
tally a nerve strengthener 
because it lets you get 
sound, restful sleep. 
Postum is a skilfully-made 
cereal beverage, and the 
secret of its popularity is 
its protection to health 
and its delicious flavor. 
Ask your grocer for 
Postum. Drink this hot, 
refreshing beverage in 
place of tea or coffee for 
10 days and see what a 
wonderful difference it 
will make in the way you 
feel. 
Postum comes in two 
forms: Instant Postum (in tins) 
made instantly in the cup by 
the addition of boiling water- 
Postum Cereal (in packages of 
larger bulk, for those who pre¬ 
fer to make the drink while the 
meal is being prepared) made 
by boiling for 20 minutes. 
Postum for Health 
“There’s a Reason” 
One scene in this pageant showed the 
first organized group of “kickers” or 
“soreheads” which appeared at Plymouth. 
Any community without such a group 
would be a dull place to live in. Most 
of these “kickers” came in the ship For¬ 
tune, which arrived about one year after 
the Mayflower. She brought 35 persons, 
but no provisions for them. That meant 
a shortage of food for the Winter, and 
these newcomers complained because, in 
stead of beef and beer, they were obliged 
to eat “strange fish and drink water. 
They kept “fat and slick” on this new 
diet, but it made the basis for a growl, 
and that in time developed into a grouch. 
We shall see a little later how the Pil 
grims handled the leaders of this revolt. 
When they were put out of mischief the 
rest subsided, for a rebellion is like an 
organized government in the fact that it 
must be engineered and pushed through 
by a few strong minds. In every case 
where the majority is thought to rule, the 
invisible government is really a small 
minority, and when this minority is clean 
and patriotic it is probably the most capa¬ 
ble form of government yet devised. 
For “sundrie years,” as Bradford puts 
it, Plymouth was conducted on a form 
of socialism—there being au equal divis¬ 
ion of property and crops and all con¬ 
tributing to the payment of the general 
debt. This plan proved a failure, as it 
always will in any community where there 
are differences in ability and desire. Brad¬ 
ford in his history tells why this form of 
socialism failed. 
“The yong-men that were most able 
to and fitte for labor and service did re¬ 
pine that they should spend their time 
and strength to work for other men’s 
wives and children without recompense.” 
The strong men complained that while 
they did the work they got no more out of 
it than those who did little or nothing. 
The older men “thought it some indignite 
possible that this bloated personage might and disrespect unto 'them” to have no 
make a vulgar display of his wealth in “ 
front of the church ! I think the man felt 
■something of this, for as the slow proces¬ 
sion passed him he took a big cigar out 
of his mouth and uncovered his fat. bald 
head. I wonder if for the moment he 
thought that ther sober and quaint “back 
numbers” possessed a treasure of life 
which all his money could not buy? I 
wonder if he thought as he stood there 
that if this country is to endure as a Re¬ 
public it must be sustained by what 
these sober pioneers stood for, rather than 
what he could buy. Perhaps he is not 
much interested in what happens to the 
country after his life job of trying to ex¬ 
tract selfish pleasure has come to an end. 
The remainder of the pageant had to 
do almost entirely with the social or busi¬ 
ness life of the Pilgrims and their polit¬ 
ical troubles. The original Mayflower 
company were mostly of one mind, con¬ 
trolled by a little group of master spirits 
more than the meaner and younger sort. 
And the women, too. 
“For men’s wives to be commanded to 
do service for other men, as dressing 
their meat, washing their clothes, etc.. 
they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither 
would many husbands well brooke it.” 
Industrial socialism proved a failure 
and <the leaders decided that “they should 
set come every man for his own particular 
and in that regard trust to themselves.” 
They therefore assigned to each family a 
parcel of land, in size according to the 
size of the family, eac-h member to pay 
into the common store at least one bushel 
of corn. This arrangement worked well. 
Then, as now. the women had much to do 
with farm life. 
“The women now went willingly into 
the field and tooke their little-ons with 
them to set corne—which before would 
aledg weakness and inability; whom to 
have compelled would have been thought 
great tiranie and oppression.” 
Bradford seems to ithink this change 
“then you'll 
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