USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > Popular history of Boston > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18
He shut the door and fastened it against her, which seems rather ungracious treatment. The squaw went away from her poor home in the rain, and the governor gladly sought his own home as soon as it was light.
The white people of both the Plymouth and Massachu- setts Bay Colonies always found friends in the Indians in their troubles at this early period, and when any one lost his way, a good Indian guide would be found to leave his own way and lead him home. We will close this chapter with one of the many stories of Indian friendliness that at this time were told by the winter firesides of the two colonies : -
THE LOST BOY.
Aspinet, sagamore of the Nausets, was the first open enemy encountered by the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony.
He had suffered a grievous wrong at the hands of the English, before the Pilgrims came, and this was the cause of his hostility.
In 1614 one Hunt, a trader, sailing along the coast in search of fish, kidnapped twenty-four Indians belonging to Patuxet or Plymouth. He enticed them to his vessel by
76
Young Folks' History of Boston.
false pretences and promises, and caused them to be secured in a very brutal manner. Twelve of these Indians were Nau- sets, under the sachemship of Aspinet.
In the summer of 1621, a little boy belonging to one of the families of Plymouth Colony strayed into the forests that then covered Massachusetts, and lost his way.
He at last met an old Indian, and indicated his distress to him by his gestures and his tears. The Indian treated him kindly, and gave him food, and took him along with him, till they came to a most lovely expanse of water that lay by the sea.
There was great excitement in Plymouth Colony when it became certain that the boy was lost. The colonists were very suspicious of the Indians, well knowing how much cause for hostile feeling towards the English. had been given them by Hunt and by other early adventurers.
A company of colonists, under the leadership of Edward Winslow, set out from Plymouth in search of the lost boy. They hoped to find him among the friendly natives near the settlement, but much feared that he had fallen into the hands of Aspinet, who, they believed, would kill him, in retaliation for the injuries that the coast Indians had suffered.
The party sailed along the coast until they came to Cum- maquid, where they anchored in a sheltered body of water, near the fishing huts of the Mattakees. The chief of this territory was a young man named Gyanough. His manners were so courteous and gentle, and his disposition so amiable and pacific, that he made himself greatly beloved by his own people and by the neighboring tribes. The English, who were his neighbors, bestowed upon him the appellation, " The Courteous Sachem of Cummaquid." His sachemship extended over the Indians inhabiting the country known now as the eastern part of Barnstable, and the western part of Yarmouth, in Massachusetts.
A LOST SETTLER FOUND.
79
The Lost Boy.
1621.
During the night, the tide fell so low as to leave them aground. In the morning they discovered some of Gyan- ough's Indians on the shore, and they sent Squanto, an Indian interpreter, to them, to inform them of the object of their visit, and of their friendly disposition.
" Have you any tidings of a lost English boy?" asked Squanto.
" We have heard of him. He was found wandering in the woods by a fisherman. He is well."
" Where is he now ?"
" At Nauset, with Aspinet."
The English now thought it prudent to land, and to make Gyanough a visit. The Indians seemed greatly delighted . with the proposal, and a part of them voluntarily remained with the boatmen as hostages, while the others conducted the strangers to the rural palace.
Gyanough received them in a very courteous manner, and ordered a feast to be spread for them. He assured them of the safety of the missing boy, and did not seem to doubt that Aspinet would receive the English kindly, and deal with them justly.
The English spent a few hours with Gyanough, and then sailed for Nauset, to recover the missing boy.
Nauset, or Namskeket, was a favorite resort of the Wam- panoag Indians, who came there to gather shell-fish from the immense quantities that filled the picturesque shores. As soon as the English arrived, which was on a lovely summer afternoon, they sent Squanto to the royal residence of As- pinet, to acquaint the chief with their errand, and to ask the favor of a friendly interview.
Aspinet received Squanto kindly, and, as he was too noble an Indian to take advantage of an accident or a misfortune for the purpose of revenge, he at once promised to pay the English a friendly visit at a place near the coast.
80
Young Folks' History of Boston.
It was sunset, and the fair summer light was fading on the calm sea. Just as the shadows were growing dark on the eastern slopes of the hills, Aspinet appeared, followed by a
Tary
INDIANS RETURNING A LOST CHILD.
great train of warriors. He was richly ornamented, and his followers were bedecked with all the insignia of barbarian splendor. Upon his great shoulders, glittering with beads and wampum, the noble-hearted chief carried the little boy.
81
The Lost Boy.
1621.
The child's heart was filled with joy, and he held his hands aloft with emotion, when he saw from the glimmering hill- top the English sail on the beautiful sea.
Aspinet came down to the water's edge, bearing the delighted child, and followed by a hundred braves. The English were waiting to receive him in their boat, that was anchored in the shallow water near the shore. The chieftain did not stop for a canoe to convey him to them. He came wading through the water until he reached the English, then taking the boy from his shoulders, he placed him upon the deck. The boy wore on his neck a most beautiful ornament of Indian beads.
Malden tr
The Harbour of BOSTON
Charlesgta Tonn
5
Node
5
A 39, 10:
Bolton
Pulling Pt
RoxBury
89 10
7
Shu
Dor chefter H
Lovels L
+
5
9
6 Ship Channel
4
67 9
Milton
F.P.Alderton
Braintrey Bay
Braintrey
Menetecut
Weymouth
Concufiet
Hingham E
A Scale of 10 Miles
10
Cafele I
Pelick
" THE hand that cut
The Red Cross from the colors of the king,
Can cut the red heart from this heresy."
CHAPTER VI.
WHEREIN IS GIVEN SOME ACCOUNT OF SIR HENRY VANE, ANNE HUTCHINSON, AND THOSE RELIGIOUS PERSECUTIONS OUT OF WHICH GREW LIBERTY OF CONSCIENCE AND OPINION.
BOSTON grew. All of the settlements on the borders of Massachusetts Bay rapidly increased. Ships bringing emi- grants came constantly into Boston harbor.
Stores and inns were opened in Boston. Boats were built on the Mystic. Ferry-boats were run between Boston and Charlestown.
John Cotton, the learned Dissenter of St. Botolph's Church, preached to the people. The Church governed politics, and the ministers to a large extent governed the Church.
In 1635 a notable event happened in Boston. It was the arrival of Mr. Henry Vane, a young man about twenty-three years of age. He has been called " one of the greatest and purest men that ever walked the earth."
He was the son of Sir Henry Vane, was educated at Ox- ford, and had become an enthusiastic republican in politics, and a Non-conformist in religion. He had travelled in France and Switzerland, and was well schooled in politics and the knowledge of statesmanship.
He was received in Boston with public demonstrations of joy, and in a few months after his arrival, when only twenty- four years of age, was chosen governor of the colony.
86
Young Folks' History of Boston.
About this time dissenters from the Puritans' doctrines began to agitate the colony. The Puritans dissented from the rituals of the Episcopal Church. The new dissenters objected to the Levitical Law, which was virtually made the
HENRY VANE.
government of the church and colony. They were called Antinomians. They taught that Christians were no longer under the law but under grace, and should be governed by the Holy Spirit in all things, and whatever they did or might do was right. Each man was a law unto himself.
87
Anne Hutchinson.
1635.
The leader of this dissension was an accomplished and brilliant woman, the daughter of an English clergyman and the wife of an influential colonist. Her name was Anne Hutchinson.
She was accustomed to hold religious meetings for women. These were attended by some seventy or eighty persons. She prayed, gave expositions of Scripture, and lectures on the ser- mons of Wilson and Cotton.
The leading men of the colony resolved to silence this woman, but Governor Vane had no sympathy with the attacks on Mrs. Hutchinson. The gallant Sir Henry espoused her cause, and was the first person to lay down with precision the doctrine that religious opinion ought to be exempted from all civil authority.
This position of Vane made him unpopular, and the next year he failed of an election as governor. He returned to England in disappointment. Mrs. Hutchinson, being banished, went to Rhode Island, and afterwards to New York, where she was killed by the Indians in one of the attacks on the Dutch colonies. She was a good woman, but the tendency of her doctrines, as the reader can see, was towards too great free- dom in government and religious conduct. In the matter of the rights of conscience, she was in the main correct, but the people were not quite prepared for this new principle.
Sir Henry Vane became a leader in England in the strug- gle for civil and religious liberty. He carried into the House of Peers the articles of impeachment against Archbishop Laud, whose persecutions had driven the Puritans to Boston. He helped bring Charles I. to the block, but he was jealous of the rising power of Cromwell. On the establishment of the Commonwealth in 1649, he became one of the Council of State.
He criticised the ambition of Cromwell so severely as to cause the Protector much vexation and chagrin.
88
Young Folks' History of Boston.
" The Lord deliver me from Sir Harry Vane !" exclaimed Cromwell on one occasion, after having been assailed by the fiery-minded republican.
After the restoration of the Stuarts to the throne, this · apostle of liberty, this " thorn in the flesh to kings and to Crom- well," lost his influence. He was accused of high treason, tried, condemned, and executed on Tower Hill.
BURIAL OF THE KING.
His deportment at the hour of execution was full of dignity. His last prayer was wonderful. He died like a martyr and a victor. The principles that he taught have their best memorial in the political and religious freedom of our own country, and the republican sentiment of the world.
In February, 1631, there had come to Boston from Wales a Non-conformist minister, by the name of Roger Williams. He had been educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
91
Oliver Cromwell.
1631.
He was chosen assistant to Mr. Skelton in the ministry at Salem. Here he asserted the principle that the Church
/
OLIVER CROMWELL.
should be separated from the State, and that a man's con- science should not be subject to the civil law. For these opinions, which all true Americans hold to-day, he was
92
Young Folks' History of Boston.
obliged to leave Salem. He went to Plymouth, but after- wards returned to Salem, and became the pastor of the church. In 1635 he was banished, for again asserting his views of religious toleration and freedom. He went to Rhode Island ; was sheltered by the good chief Massasoit, who showed himself as much a Christian at heart as the magistrates of Salem had shown themselves bigots in spirit and conduct ; he founded the State of Rhode Island, the happiest and most prosperous of all the early New England Christian Commonwealths, and one of which the civilization of the world has never been ashamed. Rhode Island is the smallest State in the Union, and the richest, according to the number of inhabitants, and it has, perhaps, the fairest history of all.
Roger Williams studied the Indian language, and en- deavored to teach the Indians. As he was a man of peace, his influence over them was great. Hearing that a council of war was to be held by the leaders of the tribes for the destruction of the towns that had sent him into exile, he suddenly appeared among the Indians, and tried to prevent the alliance.
He visited England, and was a friend of Milton, Cromwell, and Sir Henry Vane. He died at Providence in 1683.
In 1649 Governor Winthrop died. He was succeeded by John Endicott, the founder of Salem, a very stern, resolute, inflexible man.
There were strange doings in Governor Endicott's day, as you shall presently be told. He felt that it was his pre- rogative as governor to make all the people think as he did, and to punish any who should not. What was the use of a governor if it were not to control the opinions of men ?
Endicott had left England because he differed in opinion from the state Church, but it does not seem to have occurred
-
-
95
John Endicott.
1656.
to him that any one had the right to be so perverse as to dissent from him and from his church, and for this reason he left a very dark history, as we shall see. He cut the red cross out of the English flag one training-day, because he regard- ed it an emblem of idolatry ; and he was unwilling to march his company of soldiers under it, - an act which much dis- turbed Governor Winthrop, whose heart was loyal to the banner associated with Eng- land's historic greatness and glory.
In 1656 Governor Endicott learned with surprise that some Quaker books had been brought CUTTING OUT THE RED CROSS. into the colony ; his surprise was soon after doubled by hearing that a vessel from Barbadoes had landed two Quaker women in Boston.
Two Quaker women ! What was to be done? Endicott summoned Deputy-Governor Bellingham, a man of a cloudy, severe, and quick temper, and Rev. John Norton, the Bos- ton pastor, a man of austere and melancholy temperament, to a consultation. The three were not long in deciding that the two women should be arrested and sent to jail until they could be carried out of the jurisdiction of the colony.
There was an open space before the meeting-house which contained some corrective implements that would look rather odd in an open space before a meeting-house to-day. There were the stocks and pillory and whipping-post, and we know not what other means of discipline and grace. Here a pile of fagots was made, and the dangerous Quaker
96
Young Folks' History of Boston.
books were burned, after which the magistrates for a short time rested from their resolute efforts to secure uniformity of opinion.
But not long : another vessel came, bringing eight Quakers, four men and four women. Here was trouble, indeed. The officers, however, were not delinquent; they arrested them
-
KILBURN
THE STOCKS.
all as soon as they arrived, and marched them off to jail. What an interesting procession that must have been ! They were sent back in the same vessel that brought them, and judicial old Governor Endicott had time to breathe freely once more.
He must have been glad when they were gone, for one Sunday, when he was returning from church in great dignity, and had reached the place opposite the jail, he heard a sharp voice exclaiming, -
U
JOHN ENDICOTT.
1
1656.
Persecution of the Quakers.
99
" Woe, woe to the oppressor ! Woe, woe !" or words to this import.
He was greatly shocked that his office was not more re- spected. The voice was one of the imprisoned Quakers.
THE PILLORY.
" Have her silenced," he ordered, and then proceeded on his way, wondering that there were such unreasonable people in the world.
The General Court now passed an act forbidding Quakers to come into the colony. But they continued to come. The magistrates had them whipped and sent away, and when they returned had them whipped again. Whipping at the cart-tail was a common mode of punishment. The clothes of the Quaker were stripped down to the loins, and the lash was applied to his bare back. We give a picture of one of these unhappy scenes.
100
Young Folks' .History of Boston.
A number of Quakers in England, hearing of the persecu- tions of their sect in New England, thought they were bound in duty to come to America, and after the manner of the an- cient prophets to denounce the "bloody magistrates " for laying hands on the "people of the Lord." Governor Endi- cott, as you may well believe, attended to their cases as fast as they arrived ; he caused them to be imprisoned, whipped, and some of the more persistent ones to lose their ears. It was at last enacted that any Quaker who returned to the col- ony three times should have his "tongue burned through with a hot iron." We must confess that we do not very · greatly love Governor Endicott, and should not be inclined to urge one to subscribe over-liberally for a monument to him. He is not one of the characters that improve with history.
Yet he thought he did right. The Quakers themselves were sometimes to blame ; some of them sought martyrdom, and they often said and did unwise things, - interrupting meetings and disturbing the public peace, calling the clergy " hypocrites," the "seed of the serpent," " hirelings," and other names disagreeable to hear.
Some of them were executed. Three of a company who had been banished returned to suffer, one of the women bringing " winding-sheets " with them. What a strange spec- tacle that must have been !
But the people at last sickened of scenes like these. Gov- ernor Endicott and the melancholy Norton were compelled by public sentiment to pause and consider what they were doing. The General Court repealed the law for capital punishment of Quakers, and the excitement gradually died away.
IO3
The Story of Mary Dyer.
1656.
THE STORY OF MARY DYER.
The people have gathered on Boston Common to witness an execution. From the jail to the Common the highway is full of excited men, some sullen, some indignant, that people who have committed no crime should be condemned to die ; some upholding the magistrates, others excusing them ; all is rancor ; every one's heart is moved.
Soldiers are distributed here and there to preserve order, and prevent an outbreak. There are a hundred soldiers about the jail.
Three condemned Quakers come forth from the prison. Look at them. They walk hand in hand, - two men, one woman.
They pass firmly along, a great crowd following.
On the Common there was a gallows ; some say that the Old Elm was used for the purpose. It was near the " end of the Common," and the great tree marked the end of the Common then.
The victims go up to it, and bow their necks calmly to the hangman's nervous hands.
A shudder passes through the crowd .. The two men are swung into the air, - a dreadful sight, -but the woman stands unharmed, as though still awaiting her doom.
The men die ; then the magistrates order the woman to be taken away.
The crowd are joyful that she is spared. There is a feeling of relief in the hearts of the people surging under the trees.
" Why dost thou not let me die with my brethren? " she demands.
"Your son has come to the city, and has interceded for your life. We made you stand by the condemned and wit-
104
Young Folks' History of Boston.
ness their death that you might see their sufferings and your peril, and never return to Boston again."
She went away with her son. But she was sorry she could not have been a martyr. Her dissatisfaction grew.
Not long after she returned to Boston, and denounced the magistrates for their unholy deeds.
" Woe, woe, woe !" she said, and followed it with the awful language of the prophets, when condemning the bloody .cities of old for their sins.
She was again condemned to death.
Again a great crowd gathered on the Common. It was not then the beautiful park that it is now. The Charles River marshes came almost to the hill where the Soldiers' Monu- ment now stands. The Great Elm stood at the end of the town, on the border of the marshes.
" We will release you," said the magistrates, "if you will promise to go away, and never return again."
" No. In obedience to the will of God I came, and in obedience to His will I will now remain, faithful unto death."
The executioner performed his office, and Mary Dyer died the death she had sought, as though it was the greatest bless- ing the heart could desire. In her own view she was thus enabled to surrender her life to the Lord.
The people turned away from the Common, sick at heart, wondering if, indeed, Governor Endicott or Mary Dyer was right, or both alike wrong.
The Quakers who were executed were buried " in an en- closed place " on the Common. If we knew where the spot is, we would tell you. We think it was near the place of the Old Elm.
2
5
А,
" No one is so accursed by fate, No one so utterly desolate, But some heart, though unknown, Responds unto his own."
CHAPTER VII.
WHEREIN ARE RELATED SOME STORIES OF A NER- VOUS DISEASE, CALLED WITCHCRAFT.
THE belief in witches was common in Europe at the time of the early settlement of the towns of New Eng- land. The Puritan fathers brought it with them, and the severity of their lives and the awful mysterious- ness of the forests, peopled by wild men, and made perilous by wild beasts, favored the impression that there were spirits of evil in the air, earth, and sea, and in the very hearts of men.
The strange picture at the head of this chapter WITCHES. represents not a reality, but the unseen world, as it some- times appeared to the Puritans' disordered fancy.
Much has been said about the witchcraft delusion of Bos- ton and Salem, as though it was a thing peculiar to the colonies. The same delusion was prevalent in both England and Scotland at the same time as in New England. Witch-
IIO
Young Folks' History of Boston.
finding became a profession in England, and witch-finders were regarded as people of remarkable genius and spiritual insight, and the office was held in honor.
More than two hundred years ago there lived in England a rough, brutal old man, who took for his name, “ Witch- Finder General."
His real name was Matthew Hopkins. He lived when there were numerous prosecutions for witchcraft in England, during 1645 and 1646.
The title, by which he was generally known, indicates the part he acted. He seems to have been a privileged agent under the protection of the government. The expenses he incurred in travelling over the country were paid from the public treasury, and he also received a specified sum for every witch he found.
You may be certain he discovered many, when such en- couragement was given him.
It was a favorite practice with the witch-finders of those days, to prick the body of the suspected person with some sharp instrument, like an awl or penknife, to find the " witch- mark," as it was called.
Suspected persons were obliged to have their bodies pricked over with this instrument, by those chosen for the purpose, and if a callous or hard place was found, which was most often the case with hard-working or aged persons, they were at once condemned as witches.
" Does not Satan always make his mark upon those who sell themselves to him? " argued the witch-finder.
Hopkins was not satisfied with this test, but contrived others far more cruel:
For instance, he compelled his aged and decrepit victims to sit on high stools with their limbs crossed, and would not allow them to go to sleep till they had confessed their intimacy with the devil.
III
Stories of Witchcraft.
1645.
He would also take some worn-out old man, and compel him to walk barefoot over rough ground until the wretched victim fell dead from exhaustion and exposure.
Hopkins's most common mode of torture was this : having tied the thumb of the right hand to the great toe of the left foot, he threw the miserable victim into a pond or river, and caused her to be dragged to and fro. If the accused persons floated, as they probably would in this posi- tion, he said it was proof of their guilt. If they sank, they died in innocence. It must have been a dreadful misfor- tune to incur the suspicion of such a man.
It has been said, on good authority, that he caused to be put to death, in one county in England, in one year, more than three times as many as suffered at Salem, during the whole delusion, half a century later.
You may find reference to this monster, Hopkins, in the following lines from Butler's Hudibras : -
" Has not this present Parliament A leiger to the devil sent, Fully empowered to treat about Finding revolted witches out, And has he not within a year Hanged threescore of them in one shire ?"
His success was accounted for, by believing that in an en- counter with Satan he had wrested from him his private memorandum book, in which were kept the names and ad- dresses of those in his employ.
Among those put to death was an aged man named Lewis. He had been a minister of the Established Church for fifty years, and was over eighty when he was brought to trial, or rather to torture, for witchcraft.
He was subjected to the cruel tortures of the day, even to being dragged through the pond.
-
II2
Young Folks' History of Boston.
The intrepid old man maintained his innocence through the whole, but was at last condemned to die the death of a felon, without the rite of burial. He was obliged to read his own burial service on the scaffold.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.