USA > Massachusetts > Barnstable County > Truro > Truro-Cape Cod; or, Land marks and sea marks > Part 6
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Wordsworth's fine ballad, Goody Blake and Harry Gill, which has been called "the genuine spirit of ancient English song, connected with most exquisite poetry," touchingly describes this want of England.
This woman dwelt in Dorsetshire, Her hut was on a cold hillside, And in that country coals are dear, For they come far by wind and tide.
While these things were going on, the Pilgrim mothers were preparing for a general washing-day on the shores of the new land. The crowded little ship offered poor accom- modations to those thrifty housewives fresh from the scru- pulous neatness of Holland, and they set about their work in earnest.
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We have not all been wont to regard washing-day as a sub- ject of poetry, but with poets nothing is impossible. I well remember when the Monday washing was regarded the live- liest day of the week. There was life and spirit, as well as work in it. Just what Margaret J. Preston has put into her " First New England Washing-Day," life and spirit. It has also been beautifully pictured by the artist as here pre- sented.
And there did the Pilgrim mothers, 'On a Monday,' the record says, Ordain for their new-found England, The first of her washing-days.
And there did the Pilgrim fathers, With matchlock and axe well slung, Keep guard o'er the smoking kettles That propt on the croches hung.
For the trail of the startled savage Was over the marshy grass, And the glint of their eyes keep peering Through cedar and sassafras.
*
For the earliest act of the heroes Whose fame has a world-wide sway, Was - to fashion a crane for a kettle, And order a washing-day.
The Pilgrims had taken with them a shallop, which they were obliged to cut down to put between-decks during the passage. As preparing her for service promised weeks instead of days, as had been hoped, it was determined to make an excursion in the meantime by land, in pursuit of a settle- ment. In sailing into the harbor they had noticed what seemed to be a river opening into this mainland.
In stretching over they had probably scen Pamet Harbor at highwater. On Wednesday, November 15, sixteen men under conduct of Captain Miles Standish, who was that day chosen Military Captain, with William Bradford, Stephen Hopkins and Edward Tilley for Council, started on their
Merrill.
THE FIRST WASHING-DAY AT CAPE COD.
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THE PILGRIMS IN TRURO.
FIRST EXPEDITION.
Clad in doublet and hose and boots of Cordovan leather, Stood with a martial air, Miles Standish the Puritan Captain.
A tableau with these twenty men armed cap-a-pic, with old-English matchlocks shouldered, heavy broad-swords dan- gling, breast and stomach covered with steel armor, marching
MILES STANDISH IN HIS BOOTS OF CORDOVAN LEATHER.
single file through the heavy sand and tangled woods at the word of command from the doughty little captain, would be a picture worth seeing. The journal says :
And when they had ordered themselves in the order of a single file, and marched about the space of a mile by the sea, they espied five or six people with a dogge coming towards them, who were savages, who when they saw them, ran into the woods and whistled their dogge after them.
These savages were the Pamet Indians, who had seen the
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Mayflower lying at anchor in the harbor from the Truro hills, as it is easy to do, and ran down, as was their custom, to see " what news." They were great runners and news-lovers. Mr. Roger Williams said he had known them to run a hun- dred miles in a day to hear the news, and then run back the next day. The paths where they ran through the woods were beaten by their horny feet hard and smooth as the Appian way.
When the Fortune touched at Cape Cod in November, 1621, on her way to Plymouth, the Pamet Indians reported her arrival to the Pilgrims long before the welcome sail of the ship appeared in sight. They had run around to Plymouth, about fifty or sixty miles, to carry the news, welcome indeed to the despairing remnant who had long watched her coming. No wonder they ran into the woods ; why, such an impres- sive military procession had never before marched on the soil of New England, and that squad of Englishmen with their fighting captain, in fair field, could have sent daylight shriek- ing through all the red-skins on Cape Cod and Nantucket, as did the blade of Luno through the gloomy ghost of Loda.
Mr. Dexter thinks this boat landed near Paine's Hill, and dots on his map their probable route to Truro; that from Paine's Hill they struck inland over Telegraph Hill, where they saw the Indians and dog.
It is reasonable that they had determined before leaving the ship, to visit and reconnoiter the high mainland to the southeast. As the circling shore lay open to view, they naturally would have landed as far east as possible, to have saved foot journey. Fifty years ago the banks almost crowded the shore west of the Eastern schoolhouse.
Suppose they landed in this vicinity, "about the space of a mile to the sea" would have carried them to the flat land east of the town ; this would have been directly on their jour- ney. Here they met the Indians, who with their dog were coming from Truro, and when they ran into the woods and whistled the dog after them, they ran into the wood on these hills to the castward, where the deep cut now is, where Stand- ish pursued them, " till they ran away with might and main,
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THE PILGRIMS IN TRURO.
and our men pursued them out of the wood, for it was the way they intended to go." The journal continues :
"They followed them that night about ten miles by the trace of their footsteps, and said they had come the same way they went."
As for the ten miles, Mr. Dexter sensibly remarks: "It is safe to judge, that a man be he Pilgrim or otherwise, who with a heavy matchlock, sword and corselet runs half a mile on Cape Cod, even in its best estate, would feel as if he had run a mile, and estimate distances accordingly."
They pursued their march till night came upon them, when they halted and held their rendezvous, setting three sentinels gathering wood and kindling a fire. I think the first night was spent nearer the "Wading Place," where the eastern causeway now stands, than Stout's Creek, which was just east of the bridge. The hills compare with the journal. This would have given them about four miles' journey in direct line. At ten o'clock the next morning they were at East Harbor, having marched around the Head of the Meadow, and as they say, "through boughs and bushes, and under hills and valleys, which tore our very armor in pieces."
East Harbor proper is the pond enclosed by the causeway or railroad bridge to Beach Point. Previously it was a tide harbor. Boats used to pass up to the Head of the Meadow east of High Head, and up to the head of Moon-poon Pond west of High Head, during high tides. I have seen a dozen vessels hauled up for winter on the clean sand beach, just south of the bridge, where now a heavy marsh extends. East Harbor, as generally used in this history, means the former village of East Harbor, and embraced all north of the Pond Village, excepting, I think, High Head and Back Side.
Here they entered a deep valley after passing a long creek, which so accurately describes East Harbor as to leave no doubt of the place. Says the journal :
" There we saw a deer and found springs of fresh water, of which we were heartily glad, and set us down and drunk our first New England water with as much delight as ever we drank in all our lives,"
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There is to this day an unfailing spring of pure water near the marsh, just north of the Head of the Meadow. As there is no other spring in this neighborhood, it is the same undoubtedly, from whence the Pilgrims drank water first in America.
January 29, 1878, in company with Barnabas Paine, I visited this place, and found a clear bubbling spring, sweet, cool, and crystal as that November day, 1620, when Captain Miles Standish and his wearied guard drank thereof with so much delight.
And coolly they sat on an Indian mound, In that moment of history's dawn - the brink Of a future we worshipped as past ! hallowed ground, And of the pure fluid they took their first drink.
From East Harbor they marched about southwest to the shore or bank, where they built a fire as an agreed signal to the ship, now distant say four miles west-northwest across the Harbor. Again they marched on "towards this sup- posed river," when they came to another valley with a clear pond of fresh water, about two musket shot long and broad, where they found vines, and fowl, and deer, and sassafras. This was the present Pond Village. Marching south, they found about fifty acres of plain ground fit for the plough, and some signs where the Indians had planted corn. This " cleared land " was one of the Indian cornfields, and was a part of that fine tableland of good loamy soil, perhaps a quarter of a mile west of the old graveyard.
From this point they struck again for the shore, but find- ing " the sea sand heavy and our men tired and lagged behind, we gathered them up and struck into the land again." They now came up Great Hollow, where they discovered an Indian grave, or place of graves. They opened one, over which was a mat, a wooden mortar, an earthen pot, and at the end, a bow, and arrows.
It was the custom of the Indians to spread over the graves of their friends the mat on which they died, the dish out of which they ate, etc. These were for their use beyond the
..... 1.1
W. BROWN. SC.
THE MONUMENT TO THE MEMORY OF MILES STANDISH, NOW BUILDING ON CAPTAIN'S ISLAND, DUXBURY.
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THE PILGRIMS IN TRURO.
Great Water, where they had found a much better hunting ground than this world offered. They always make their graves on high and pleasant places, which could be kept dry all seasons of the year.
His bow for action ready bent, And arrows with a head of bone, By midnight moons, o'er moistening dews, In vestments for the chase arrayed, The hunter still the deer pursues. The hunter and the deer - a shade.
The whole vicinity of Great Hollow to Little Harbor was famous Indian quarters. Only a few years since, where the wind had blown away the sand near the bank on Cornhill, several Indian skeletons were discovered, one in perfect con- dition, with every tooth white and sound. Indians' graves containing sculls and bones, abundance of arrow heads, and stone hatchets, have been found within a few years. Great deposits of shells marked by a darker belt of green, tell where stood their old wigwams.
Further on they discovered where the Indians had lately gathered corn ; here were heavy walnut (hickory) trees full of nuts, and strawberries and vines. These strawberries and vines, in December, have puzzled the reader. Strawberries were then not much, if at all known in England, and it is altogether probable that cranberries were meant, which grow spontaneously on the Cape.
The abundant and spontaneous growth of strawberries in New England delighted the early settlers. Roger Williams said, "This berry is the wonder of all the fruits growing in these parts ; it is of itself excellent, so that one of the chiefest doctors of England was wont to say, 'That God could have made, but God never did make, a better berry.' In some parts where the natives have planted, I have many times seen as many as would fill a good sized ship. The Indians bruise them in mortars and mix them with meal, making strawberry bread." Our popular strawberry short-cake probably is only an improvement on the Indian mode. The high hill ending
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with the bank now called " Captain Sam's Hill," and formerly " Hopkin's Cliff," was named by the Pilgrims " Cornhill," a name that never should have lapsed, and should receive a fresh baptism of "Cornhill," for all times to come. Since writing the above, we clip from an interesting report the following to this point. "The superintendent of the Coast Survey respecting geographical nomenclature, reports that it was very important that the old names of places should be preserved both in orthography and original application, and that capricious changes of names should be discouraged and prevented."
Here had been an old house ; here were also a few planks and a large kettle ; probably belonged to the Friendship, cast away two or three years before. Captain Dermer redeemed some of these men the year before ; the rest were murdered by the Indians in retaliation for carrying away the Indians by Captain Hunt. In fresh made graves they found baskets filled with " goodly eares of corne; some of yellow, some of red, and some mixed with blue, which was a goodly sight." The baskets held three or four bushels ; as much as two men could lift, and were "handsomely and cunningly made."
They filled the baskets and the big kettle with corn, which two men bore away upon a staff, as did Moses' spies the great clusters of grapes from the brook Eshcol, to the chil- dren of Israel.
The clusters of grapes, the figs and the pomegranates, were probably no more a welcome sight to the forty-year pilgrims in the wilderness of Paran, than this Indian corn to these English Pilgrims in the wilderness of America. Before taking the corn they consulted, and concluded that when they should meet the Indians and "parley" with them, the kettle should be returned and they should be satisfied for their corn.
This spirit of rendering a compensation was honorable, but it was the Anglo-Saxon argument of first possessing and then parleying. Be it said, however, to the honor of the Pil- grims, that Mr. Winslow afterwards says "the Indians that dwelt thereabout were they who were owners of the corn
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which we found in the canes (caves), for which we have given them full content, and are in great league with them."
The Indian season for planting corn was "when the leaf of the white oak was as big as a mouse's ear." The Pale Face cannot improve on that observation. Not far from the corn they found "an old fort or palisade which we conceived to have been made by some Christians." Probably those of the old wreck before referred to, built by Captain Dermer. A short march from Cornhill brought them to the expected river, "into which we went and found it so to be, dividing itself into two arms by a high bank. Standing right by the cut or mouth which came from the sea, that which was next to us was the less; the other arm was more than twice as big, and not unlike to be an harbor for ships."
Such was the impression made upon the Pilgrims at their first sight of Pamet Harbor. A better description could not well be written. The high bank dividing the two arms well describes old Tom's Hill, or Indian Neck. Sturdy forests, then to the bank, gave a bolder look perhaps and helped the prospect. They saw a savage on each side of the river ; but as the two days would be up by the time they could return to the ship, which they had liberty to remain, and having deter- mined to revisit in their shallop, they turned their steps north- ward, making their rendezvous that night at the Pond, where they built a " barricade" and a great fire, and kept a good watch all night with three sentinels. It was a rainy night and wet their matchlocks so they could not go off. Great trust in Providence had these Bible-reading and God-fearing men, but knew very well they could not keep their match- locks dry in a rainy night. Theirs was working faith. They never turned their camel loose and committed him to Provi- dence, laying themselves down to sleep ; but having first tied the camel and set a watch, then they committed themselves and their camel to Providence. In the morning they sunk the kettle in the pond as a safe place, and trimmed their mus- kets for the day's march, but some lost their way in the dense woods. They must have come out of the dense woods very near where now stands the Life Saving Station.
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Here William Bradford was caught in a deer trap set by the Indians. Stephen Hopkins, who had not much book-learn- ing, but seems always to have had a good store of all kinds of trap learning, had warned them what it was. “ It was a very pretty device, made with a rope of their own making, and having a noose as artificially made as any roper in England can make, and as like ours as can be, which we brought away with us."
They finally found their way out of the wood about a mile above the Head of the Meadow, or as the journal says, "A myle too high abouve the creake." On their way they saw three bucks, " but had rather have one of them," three couple of partridges, great flocks of wild geese and ducks. Their return was likely when the tide was in, as they marched some- times in the woods, sometimes in the sand, and sometimes in the water up to their knees. Having come to the ship, weary and welcome home, their corn was held with great gladness for seed.
The route of their return has also been considerably dis- cussed. Dr. Dexter unquestionably takes the practical view, that they returned essentially as they went. The tide being in, the deep lagoons that penetrated the beach and the marshes would have made a roundabout march at the best.
THE SECOND DISCOVERY.
A few days after the shallop was ready. Master Jones (captain of the Mayflower) " to gratify his kindness and for- wardness," was made the leader. He took such of his men to manage the shallop as he thought best, making up the whole number to thirty-four.
Touching the antecedents of Master Jones, I have found the following bit of history : "September 17, 1617, while in command of the Lion, a ship of Lord Warwick's, sent out under the Duke of Savoy a foreign friend. The Lion and Falcon gave chase to the Queen Mother's Junk, and had not the English fleet arrived, would have rifled her." For this attempt at piracy, Jones was sent home a prisoner on the
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THE PILGRIMS IN TRURO.
Bull, and Lord Rich called attention of the King and Council to the seizure of his ships.
Their destination was the river, but owing to "crosse windes," they were obliged to land near the end of Beach Point, when the long boat returned to the ship, and Master Jones making an appointment to meet the company as soon as the weather would permit, made a harbor that night inside the point.
The company having waded ashore up to their knees, marched toward the river, " six or seven miles," perhaps three or four, which would have taken them in the vicinity of Great Hollow. Snow accompanied the wind all day; at night it froze. They were without shelter or protection that winter night. None but iron men could have endured such hard- ships. Canon Kingsley says : -
'Tis the hard gray weather Breeds hard Englishmen, But the bleak north-easter Through the snow-storm hurled, Drives our English hearts of oak Seaward round the world.
But continued exposures will break down the hardiest. It is not surprising that nearly half their number contracted colds and coughs, ending in scurvy and quick consumption. Before the song of the turtle was heard in the land forty-four were resting in new made graves. Had it not been, "in the providence of God," a remarkably mild winter and early spring, all must have perished in the wilderness. We are forced to believe that they were improvident of their health, and that much of the exposure and suffering was needless.
The next day at eleven o'clock the shallop took them all on board. "With a good wind we sailed to the river we for- merly discovered, which we named Cold Harbor, to which when we came we found it not navigable for ships, yet we thought it might be a good harbor for boats, for it flows there twelve feet at highwater."
They landed " between the two creakes," probably on the beach south of the hill, and marched till night, up the steep
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hills and down the deep valleys, the snow lying six inches deep. The shallop followed in the river. Probably the first boat except the canoe of the Indian, that ever entered that stream was this shallop from the Mayflower.
They lodged that night under a few pine-trees, and made their supper "on three fat geese and six ducks which we ate with souldiers' stomachs, for we had eaten little all that day."
The journal says they marched four or five miles that day, but as they did not reach the head of the river, as they intended, nor very near it, they reasonably ate their three fat geese and six ducks and rested for the night, near where Dr. Noble's house now stands.
As this is a sheltered place, and discouraging hills were still before them, Master Jones was content to tarry there. It was then their intention to go up to the head of the river in the morning, thinking it would furnish fresh water. "But in the morning our resolution held not, because many liked not the hilliness of the soil and badness of the harbor."
Having abandoned their designs of following the river, they concluded, with the English sagacity of looking after the main chance, to secure more seed corn, pursuing their steps to Cold Harbor. From a flock of geese they killed a brace at a single shot, and crossed over, seven or eight at once, in the canoe which they had seen on their first visit. They soon came to the place where they had secured the corn, "which place we called Cornhill." So cold had it been that the ground was frozen a foot deep, and covered with snow, and they were obliged to use their courtlaxes and short swords to dig and pry up the frosty doors to the Indian treasures. "And sure it was God's good providence that we found the corn, for else we know not how we should have done. Also, we had never in all likelyhood seen a grain of it, if we had not made our first journey."
Master Jones who was so forward to accompany them, was now as forward to return to the ship ; but the Pilgrims meant business, and were determined to push their discoveries and make a thorough examination So Captain Jones and fifteen of the company left in the shallop for the ship, promising to return in the morning with spades and mattocks. The
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remaining eighteen lodged that night in the immediate vicin- ity of Cornhill. The next morning they followed Indian paths into the wood, which led them to a broad beaten path, which they supposed would bring them to the Indian houses; so they lighted their matches ready for an attack, but it proved a deer track. Having marched several miles (the journal says five or six) and no signs of people, they returned by another route to the " plain ground " west of the graveyard.
The route of this march, the best we can calculate, was up Long Nook and the sandy road to the northeast, which by the cross paths to the northwest would have carried them into the deep valley leading near to the "plain ground," or where the mile-board now stands, south of the graveyard.
Our calculations are more than conjectured. Our old roads through the valleys and crossing to other valleys, were evi- dently old Indian paths that perhaps had been trodden by the dusky generations for a thousand years. In some parts of the country Indian trails extending sometimes hundreds of miles, were sized by army engineers for military roads, later becoming our great national highways and turnpikes.
All railroad engineers follow the valleys and river-beds as near as possible, nature thus indicating with scientific accuracy, the great channels of travel. Few are bold enough to make arbitrary lines. Sir Isam. K. Brunel, who built the Crystal Palace and the Great Eastern, laid out the "Great Western Railway" like the Roman roads. The result was a staggering. cost to the company and ruin to the great engineer. In sixty miles he built fifty-seven tunnels, forty- three viaducts, some one hundred and fifty feet high, and half a mile long. The "Royal Albert" bridge over the Tamar at Plymouth, reaching from the heights of Devon to Cornwall, is perhaps the finest arch of masonry in the world.
Near the plain ground they discovered a grave, in which were mats and bows, a carved and painted board, and bowls, and trays, dishes and trinkets. Also two bundles containing a great quantity of "fine and perfect red powder." In the larger bundle, bound up in a canvas cassock or frock, with cloth breeches and knife and pack-needle, were the bones and scull of a man with fine yellow hair. The small bundle con-
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tained the head and bones of a child, bound with bracelets of fine white beads. The red powder proved to be a strong "embalmment" in which the remains were preserved, but who they were has ever been a riddle. In the absence of any better reason, it is quite possible they were cast on shore from some wreck - may have been brought more than a hun- dred miles from the scene of disaster. The canvas jacket, cloth breeches, knife and pack-needle would naturally enough be found on a sailor, and the beads on the child.
Ocean currents have ways past finding out. The brig St. John from Galway to Boston, with emigrants, was wrecked on Cohasset rocks, October, 1849. One hundred and forty-five lives were lost. The bodies of a man and woman were picked up near the Highland Lighthouse, that must have been carried from this wreck. When the Commerce's crew of ten men were lost from the skiff on a calm, clear night in Sep- tember, 1844, not a mile from the shore, the bodies of the unfortunate crew were all found, but scattered from Beach Point, Truro, to Barnstable, a distance of thirty to forty miles.
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