Mary of Plymouth: A Story of the Pilgrim Settlement

Yes, we have sugar in plenty now, and, strange as it may seem, it comes from the trees. It was Squanto, that true friend of ours, who showed us how to take it from the maples, of which there are scores and scores growing everywhere around us.

To get it one has only to make a hole in a maple tree, and put therein a small wooden spigot shaped like a spout, and straight-way, when the first warm weather comes in the spring, the sap of the tree, mounting from the roots to the branches, will run out of the hole through the spout into whatsoever vessels we place beneath.

After that we boil it in kettles until it becomes thick like molasses, or yet more, until it is real sugar, after having been poured in pans of birch-bark to cool. It has a certain flavor such as is not to be found in the sugar of England; but answers our purpose so well that it can be used to sweeten the meal made from the corn, or eaten as a dainty.

DECORATING THE INSIDE OF THE HOUSE

You must know that our house is not now as rough on the inside as it would appear from what I first wrote. Father has saved the skins of all the animals he has caught, and prepared them in the same way as do the Indians, which makes the fleshy side look like fine leather. These we have hung on the walls, and they not only serve to keep out the wind, but are really beautiful. With the rough logs and the chinking of clay hidden from view, it is easy to fancy that ours is a real house, such as would be found in England.

We have many fox skins, for father has shot large numbers of foxes, and in what seems to me a curious fashion. He saves all the fishes' heads that can be come at, and on moonlight nights throws them among the trees, where the foxes, getting the scent, give him a fair opportunity for shooting.

Once he killed four in less than two hours, and we have hung them in that corner of the kitchen which we call mother's. Thus it is that she can sit leaning her shoulders against the warm fur, through which the wind cannot come.

There is no need for me to tell you that we have more wolf skins than any other kind, for our people find it necessary to kill such animals in order to save their own lives. One night before all the snow had melted from the ground, Degory Priest was coming through the forest after attending to his traps, and was followed by five hungry wolves, who kept close at his heels, and would have eaten the poor man but for his industry in swinging a long pole that he carried to help himself across the streams.

Fortunately for Degory Priest, Captain Standish heard his outcries while he was yet a long distance from the village, and went out with three armed men to give him aid.

TRAPPING WOLVES AND BAGGING PIGEONS

Our fathers dig deep pits, which are covered with light brushwood, in such portions of the forest as the wolves are most plenty, and many a one has fallen therein, being held prisoner until some of the people can kill him by means of axes fastened to long poles. Father has built many traps of logs; but I cannot describe how because of never having seen one.

Thomas Williams killed seven wolves in four days by tying four or five mackerel hooks together, covering them with fat, and leaving them exposed where the ravening creatures could get at them.

Twice before the snow was melted, the men of the village had what they called a "wolf-drive," when all made a ring around a certain portion of the forest where the animals lurked, and, by walking toward a given center, drove the creatures together where they could be shot or killed with axes.

Sarah and I do not dare venture very far from the village because of the ferocious animals, and if the time ever comes when we are no longer in deadly fear of being carried away and eaten by the dreadful creatures, this new world of ours will seem more like a real home.

I wish it might be possible for you to see the flocks and flocks of pigeons which come here when the weather grows warm. It is as if they shut out the light of the sun, so great are the numbers, and father says that again and again do they break down the branches of the trees, when so many try to roost in one place. Any person who so chooses may go out in the night after the pigeons have gone to sleep, and gather as many bags full as he can carry, so stupid are the birds in the dark, and even when they are not the most plentiful, we can buy them at the rate of one penny for twelve.

ELDER BREWSTER

I must tell you that there is being made a stout fort where we can all go in case any wicked savages should come against us, and when that has been finished, we shall have a real meeting-house, for one is to be put up inside the walls.

Mother says she is certain Mistress Brewster will be relieved, for now we meet each Sabbath Day at her home. It must be a real hardship for her when Elder Brewster preaches an unusually long sermon, for many a time have the pine knots been lighted before he had come to an end, and, of course, the evening meal could not be cooked until we who had come to meeting had gone to our homes.

Father has told me that Elder Brewster was a postmaster of Scrooby when he first knew him; that his belief in our faith was so strong as to make him one of the Non-Conformists, and so earnestly did he strive to perform whatsoever he believed the Lord had for him to do, that his was the house in Scrooby where our people listened to the expounding of the word of God.

When he, with the others of our friends, went to Leyden, Master Brewster was chosen as assistant to our preacher Robinson, and was made an elder.

It is not seemly that a child so young as I should speak even in praise of what my elders have done; but surely a girl can realize when a man is watchful for the comfort of others, heeding not his own troubles or pains, so that those around him may be soothed, and, next to Captain Standish, Elder Brewster was the one to whom we children could go for advice or assistance.

When the sickness was upon us, he, hardly able to be out of his bed, ministered in turn to those who were dying, and to us who were nigh to starvation, in as kindly, fatherly a manner as when he had sufficient of the goods of this world to make himself comfortable both in body and mind.

THE VISIT TO MASSASOIT

That which gave mother and me a great fright was Governor Bradford's command that Edward Winslow and Master Hopkins visit the village of the Indian chief, Massasoit, in order to carry as presents from our settlement of Plymouth a suit of English clothing, a horseman's coat of red cotton, and three pewter dishes.

It seemed to my mother and me as though it was much like going to certain death; but Squanto, who was to act as guide, claimed that no harm could come to them. I trust not these savages, who look so cruel, and cried heartily when our people set out; but God allowed them to return in safety, although they were not overly well pleased with the visit.

Massasoit treated them in the most friendly manner, and seemed to be well pleased with the gifts; but he set before them only the very smallest quantity of parched corn, no more than two spoonfuls to each one, and failed to offer anything else when that had been eaten.

Except that they were hungry during all the five days of the stay, the savages treated them kindly, and my father believes that we need have no fear this tribe will do us any harm; but there are other Indians in the land who may be tempted to work mischief.

KEEPING THE SABBATH HOLY

As soon as the fields had been planted, it was decided that six men of the company should spend all their time at fishing, to the end that we might lay up a store of sea food for the coming winter; therefore they go out in the shallop every day, except the Sabbath, which begins at three o'clock on Saturday afternoon. At that time we children gather in one house or another, but mostly at Elder Brewster's, where we study the Bible, or listen to lectures by Governor Bradford.

We are not allowed to walk around the village after the Bible lessons are finished, but must run directly home, and remain there until we go to meeting in Elder Brewster's house next morning.

Captain Standish says he does not favor such long Sabbaths, while we have so much work on hand; but he is not listened to on such matters, for his duty in the village is only that of a military leader.

MAKING CLAPBOARDS

It is true indeed that there is very much work to be done. First comes the planting and tending of the crops. Then there is the fishing and the hunting that we may have meat. Lastly is the making of clapboards, which task was begun soon after the seed had been put in the ground, for Governor Bradford believed we should make enough with which to load the first vessel that came to us from England.

It was all we could do, just then, in the way of getting together that which might be sold to the people in the old country, and father said the men of Plymouth must be earning money in some other way than by trying to gather furs, for already were the animals growing more timid and scarce.

It is not easy work, this clapboard-making, and I cannot wonder that the men complain at being forced to continue it day after day. First an oak tree is cut by saws into the length necessary for clapboards, which, so father tells me, should be about four feet long. Then a tool called a "frow" is used to split the trunk of the tree into slabs, or clapboards, making them thin at one edge and half an inch or more thick at the other.

This "frow" is shaped something like a butcher's cleaver, and a wooden mallet is used to drive it into the log until the splint is forced off.

Our people made many clapboards during the time between planting and harvest, so that we had enormous stacks under the trees ready to put on board the first vessel that should sail for England.

COOKING PUMPKINS

When the first pumpkins were ripe, Squanto showed us how to cook them, and most of us find the fruit an agreeable change from sweet puddings, parched corn, and fish.

This is the way that Squanto cooked pumpkins. First he was careful to find one that was wholly ripe. In the top of the yellow globe he cut a small hole through which it was possible for him to take out the seeds, of which there are many. Then the whole pumpkin was put into the iron oven and baked until the pulp on the inside was soft, after which the shell could be broken open, and the meat of the fruit eaten with the sugar which we get from the trees.

Mistress Bradford invented the plan of mixing the baked pumpkin pulp with meal of the Indian corn, and made of the whole a queer looking bread, which some like exceeding well, but father says he is forced to shut his eyes while eating it.

A NEW OVEN

Perhaps I have not told you how we happen to have an oven, when there is only the big fireplace in which to cook our food. Mistress White and Mistress Tilley each brought from Leyden, in Holland, what some people call "roasting kitchens," and you can think of nothing more convenient. The oven or kitchen is made of thin iron like unto a box, the front of which is open, and the back rounded as is a log. It is near to a yard long, and stands so high as to take all the heat from the fire which would otherwise be thrown out into the room.

In this oven we put our bread, pumpkins, or meat and set it in front of, and close against, a roaring fire. The back, or rounded part is then heaped high with hot ashes or live embers, and that which is inside must of a necessity be cooked. At the very top of the oven is a small door, which can be opened for the cook to look inside, and one may see just how the food is getting on, without disturbing the embers that have been heaped against the outer portion.

We often borrow of Mistress Tilley her oven, and father has promised to send by the first ship that comes to this harbor, for one that shall be our very own. When it arrives, I am certain mother will be very glad, for there is no kitchen article which can save so much labor for the housewife.

MAKING SPOONS AND DISHES

I wish you might see how greatly I added to our store of spoons during the first summer we were here in Plymouth. Sarah and I gathered from the shore clam shells that had been washed clean and white by the sea, and Squanto cut many smooth sticks, with a cleft in one end so that they might be pushed firmly on the shell, thus making a most beautiful spoon.

Sarah says that they are most to her liking, because it is not necessary to spend very much time each week polishing them, as we are forced to do with the pewter spoons.

Some day, after we own cows, we can use the large, flat clam shells with which to skim milk, and when we make our own butter and cheese, we shall be rich indeed.

After the pumpkins ripened, and when the gourds in the Indian village were hardened, we added to our store of bowls and cups until the kitchen was much the same as littered with them, and all formed of the pumpkin and gourd shells.