led to a war with the Indians, who were finally subdued, and gave the settlers no more trouble for over twenty years.

7. In 1624 the king annulled the charter of the London Company, and Virginia became a royal province, but the colonists were permitted to elect their House of Burgesses, which made the laws and levied the taxes in the colony.

Collateral Reading. - Eggleston and Seelye's Pocahontas," 17-23.

CHAPTER VII

EARLY NEW ENGLAND SETTLEMENTS

Puritans and Separatists.-Three hundred years ago it was customary to persecute people who differed in religion from the majority of the population. Catholics persecuted Protestants, and Protestants persecuted Catholics, and one sort of Protestants persecuted another sort. Some Protestants in England did not like the prayers and other ceremonies of the established church. They wanted to reform the church, but had no idea of leaving it. These were called Puritans. There were others who disliked the ceremonies so much that they separated from the church. These were called Separatists, and they were the most persecuted of all.

The Pilgrims.-There was one congregation of Separatists in the northeast of England in a little place called Scrooby, in Nottinghamshire. In the year in which Jamestown was settled these persecuted people fled out of England and went to Holland, where they were allowed to worship God as they pleased. There they lived about thirteen years. They at last became dissatisfied with their conditions in Holland. They saw that if they should remain there their children and grandchildren would become Dutchmen. They therefore resolved to go to America and plant a colony there. These were the people whom we call the Pilgrims.

Only about one half of them could get away from Leyden (li-den), where they were then living. In July, 1620, they left Holland for England in a little ship called the

66

Speedwell," which was to have crossed the ocean in company with the "Mayflower," but was found unfit for the voyage. In September the "Mayflower" sailed from Plymouth, carrying the Holland pilgrims and others who had joined them, one hundred and two persons in all.

The voyage was a stormy one, lasting nine weeks. The Pilgrims had a charter from the Virginia Company, and they intended to settle in the region south of the Hudson River. Their captain took them to Cape Cod, which was far outside the limits of the Virginia Company's domain.

Signing the compact in the cabin of the "Mayflower"

As they were sick and ship-weary, however, they decided to settle somewhere near where they were.

The Compact.-Those persons on the ship who were not Pilgrims, but strangers who had joined themselves to the Pilgrims in England, threatened that they would not obey the authority of any government. The Pilgrims, therefore, before landing drew up a compact pledging themselves to enact from time to time such laws "as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony." To these laws nearly all the company promised "due submission and obedience."

The Landing at Plymouth.-Captain John Smith had

sailed along what is now the New England coast some years before, in an open boat, and had made a map, giving to a harbor within the Bay of Cape Cod the name of Plymouth. After exploring the coasts the Pilgrims decided to land at this point. A number of them landed on Plymouth Rock on the 21st of December, 1620.

Sufferings. The long voyage in the overcrowded ship, and the lack of good food and warm houses in so cold a climate had their natural effect. Nearly all of the colonists fell ill, and by the end of the winter forty-four of them were dead. Six more died within the year. Among these were John Carver, the governor. The first exploring party sent from the " Mayflower" had been attacked by Indians, and the Pilgrims lived in constant fear of them. The Pilgrims and the Indians.-The Indians living near Plymouth were hostile toward all white people because an English captain had treacherously carried off some Indians to Europe five or six years before. Among these captured Indians was a man named Tisquantum. He had learned to speak English, and was now back in America, near Plymouth but he kept away from

the Pilgrims.

One day, when the dreadful first winter was nearly over, an Indian came into the town alone, and greeted those he met with the words, "Welcome, Englishmen." He was a sagamore, or chief, from the coast of Maine, who had learned a little English from men on the fishing vessels. His name was Samoset. The Pilgrims treated him kindly, and he made them visits, bringing other Indians with him.

Samoset

One of those who came was Tisquantum or, as the English

called him, Squanto. He stayed in Plymouth till his death,
two years later, and was very useful to the whites. He
taught them how to catch the fish in the bay, and how to en-
rich the soil of their corn-fields by putting one or two fish
into each hill, as the Indians did. Between Cape Cod and
Narragansett Bay lived the Wampanoags. Their chief,
Mas'sasoit, became a good friend of the Pilgrims. Gov-
ernor Carver made a treaty of peace with him,
which was not broken for fifty-four years.

Miles Standish.-The military commander at Plymouth was Captain Miles Standish. He was not a Separatist in religion, but he liked the Pilgrims, and had joined his fortunes with theirs. It was his habit to deal severely with hostile Indians.

Standish's swords

Plymouth. The region in which the Pilgrims settled had been given to the Council for New England, which was chartered (1620) to succeed the Plymouth Company. When the "Mayflower got back to England in 1621 with the news that the Pilgrims were established at Plymouth, their friends got for them a patent from the Council for New England, which gave the colony one hundred acres of land for each colonist, rent free for seven years, and fifteen hundred acres for public use. It also gave them the right to govern themselves. On the death of Governor Carver, William Bradford, then only thirty-two years old, was made governor, and he was reëlected every year for the rest of his life, except when he refused the office. Elder Brewster ruled the church, and also took his turn standing guard against Indian attacks.

Progress of the Colony. For several years food was scarce, and famine often threatened the colony. The Pilgrims lived out of a common stock of supplies, as the Jamestown people did. The allotment of a small body of land to each family

*For biography, see Appendix.

in 1624 relieved all distress. The colonists were ready enough to work when each man knew that he should eat of the fruit of the labor of his hands. Meanwhile, other families came out from Holland and from England, and in 1624 there were one hundred and eighty persons in the Plymouth colony.

By 1626 the Pilgrims had begun living in houses made of hewn planks, each house having a little garden about it, while a stockade surrounded the town. On a hill now known as "Burial Hill" there was a square house, strongly built, which served the Pilgrims as a fort. Six small cannon on the flat roof commanded the country round about. The people were called together on Sunday mornings by the beat of a drum, and the men all carried their firearms to the meetinghouse, and kept them within easy reach during the service.

John White's Colony.-John White, rector of a church in Dorchester, England, being a Puritan, became concerned

that persons going on fish

ing and trading voyages to New England should be so many months without church privileges. He interested the shipowners of his town in making a settlement on the coast of New England. Only a few of the men who came over to fish were needed to take the cargo back. The rest might remain and employ themselves in hunting and cutting timber, and in the spring might plant corn. In such a settlement a minister might live and care for the souls of the