arineS. Fmzelline PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM A Short Study of Congregational Heroes who have given their lives for the New Era of Brotherhood KATHARINE S. HAZELTINE THE PILGRIM PRESS Department of Educational Publication* BOSTON CHICAGO COPYRIGHT 1919 A. W. FELL THE PILGRIM PRESS BOSTON Not of the sunlight, Not of the moonlight, Not of the starlight! young Mariner, Down to the haven, Call your companions, Launch your vessel And crowd your canvas, And, ere it vanishes Over the margin, After it, follow it, Follow the Gleam. TENNYSON. 2050998 CONTENTS PAGE I. A BOY WHO DARED FOLLOW THE GLEAM . 1 II. STEPPING-STONES 15 III. MARCHING FORWARD 34 IV. FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 49 V. FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA . (Continued) . 64 VI. INTO ALL THE WORLD 82 VII. FOR FREEDOM 97 VIII. BROTHERS ALL 117 IX. CARRY ON . 139 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM i A BOY WHO DARED FOLLOW THE GLEAM " To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Tennyson. The Gleam Today millions of men and boys dare to follow the gleam. They are French and American, English and Canadian, Belgian and Italian boys, as well as boys from Armenia, India, China, Japan, and South Africa, all eager, all glad to follow it. In the Great War, just over, it led them to the battle-fields of France and of Flanders, of Italy and of Mesopotamia. It has led them as soldiers of the cross to China, to South Africa everywhere. It has led them to cold, hunger, hardship, pain, even unto death. Yet on they follow, " to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." Why? They strive to overcome cruelty, greed, and selfishness, to destroy the belief that the will of a few men may be imposed upon all others in spite of their desire, and that a few may have prosperity and happiness while others pay the price. They are willing to dare because they hate these evils. They seek to establish justice, righteous- ness, and mercy, and to establish for all the world the principles that every man should have a voice in deciding matters which concern his welfare, that the stronger na- tions must not oppress the weak, and that men may not live only for themselves without regard for others. They 2 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM hope that, as a result of their work, men of all races and nations shall have brotherhood. Though they are sick and wounded and weary, they will not yield. They will strive on until they have made the world safe for democracy. Brotherhood, democracy, that is the vision, the gleam which shines today before a host of people of all nations and races. Yet, although it now shines before the whole world more brightly and clearly than ever before, it is not a new light which guides men on. Long, long ago wisemen saw a wondrous star in the East and in following its gleam they were led to the manger where the Christ Child lay. During his lifetime Jesus showed to men God, their Father, and taught them to call each other brother. From him has shone this gleam. At first only a few saw it and these but dimly. In the days that have succeeded, as men have followed its light, they have seen more and more of its beauty, its truth, and its power, until now to us it means establishing for all races and nations upon earth the era of brotherhood. " Not of the sunlight, Not of the moonlight, Not of the starlight!" From Jesus does this gleam still shine. To make it real, each one of us is challenged, for the accomplishment of the task depends upon us. " O young mariner, Down to the haven Call your companions, Launch your vessel And crowd your canvas/ And, ere it vanishes Over the margin, After it, follow it, Follow the Gleam." A BOY WHO DARED 3 Our Particular Heritage In some of the early followers of the gleam we people in the Congregational churches are particularly interested. We honor them, of course, because they played such an im- portant part in the beginning of this struggle for democracy, but we honor them especially for two reasons: first, be- cause it was in these early days when they struggled to gain liberty of conscience that our Congregational church had its beginning; and second, because one of the first groups of Congregationalists, the church at Scrooby, England, became the very first Congregational church in America and wonderfully carried forward God's great adventure, the establishment of his Kingdom upon earth. In 1920 we celebrate the 300th anniversary of its settlement at Plymouth. In this book you will find the story of the Pilgrims. Only by understanding their experiences can we truly honor their achievement. You will find, too, stories of other followers of the gleam, though it is possible to tell the achievements of only a very few of the great host in Congregational and other churches, whom today we honor for their work in aiding the progress of the era of brotherhood. A Struggle Begun To understand what their struggle meant, we must go back to the year 1380 and to John Wyclif. At that time there were not the many different churches we know about; there was just one church, the Roman Catholic, which considered the Pope at Rome the highest authority on earth, the one who ruled in place of Christ. Cardinals, bishops, and priests were his representatives in the different countries, and the kings as well as the people of all the lands were forced to obey his will. There was no appeal 4 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM from his laws and decrees. Every one must accept them or be excommunicated from the church, that is, become an outcast from home and friends. Wyclif, who was a pro- fessor at Oxford, translated the Bible into the English the people used every day. Up to that time, as the Bible had been only in Latin, very few people besides the priests read it. When Wyclif made known his English Bible, he declared that this book and not the Pope should be the highest authority and the only guide in showing men what they should believe and how they should act. He was even more daring. He declared that men ought not to obey the laws made by the Pope and his cardinals whenever they differed from the laws expressed in the Bible, and that, as the church was really a body of followers of Christ, men should obey him and not the Pope. Of course, you can easily see that if men followed these teachings of John Wyclif, the power of the Pope would be destroyed, and you will not be surprised that the Pope was exceedingly angry and tried to punish Wyclif. He was not able to do it, however, because at that particular time these views helped the English people to free themselves from paying a tribute to Rome. Later on when the feeling toward Wyclif had changed, the people dug up his body, burned it, and scat- tered the ashes into the river. The Lollards But what Wyclif thought lived on after him in the lives of his pupils. These were the Lollards. They too be- lieved that Christ alone should be their Master. Like the apostles, they traveled bare-foot throughout the land, clad in long robes of coarse red wool, carrying only the scrip and staff of the pilgrim. Many were the wayfarers in those days: wandering ballad singers, jesters, and A BOY WHO DARED * " tumblers," or acrobats. When any of them stopped in village or manor, folk gathered together to be entertained. Wherever the Lollards stopped, they told the story of the life of Jesus, and the commandments he gave to those who would follow him. How eagerly the little groups about them must have listened! The Lollards copied out by hand it was before the day of the printing press a great many of the stories and texts from Wyclif's Bible and gave them to those very few who were fortunate enough to be able to read. The humble folk the tradesmen, artisans, yeomen, and ploughboys thought deeply over these stories, talked about them, asked ques- tions, and learned many passages by heart. How much it must have meant to these simple people to know that Jesus believed each one of them to be a son of God and valua- ble to him; that he believed God to be a Father who loved men though they sinned, and who forgave them; that his first disciples were humble working folk like themselves; that every one of them, even the least, might go directly to his heavenly Father without the aid of any priest or saint! These truths many of them believed. But be- cause the Lollards pointed out the abuses in the church, and in those days this kind of teaching was heresy, the Lol- lards were bitterly persecuted. All suffered loss of property and were scorned by their fellows. Most of them were im- prisoned, tortured, and put to death either on the gallows or at the stake. As we look back, we realize keenly the tremendous price paid for that liberty of conscience which we today accept as a matter of course. The Puritans By and by it became possible for a steadily increasing number of people easily to behold the splendid gleam which 6 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM had led Wyclif and the Lollards. The Bible was printed. There were not many books in those times and men read eagerly the stories found in the Old and New Testaments. As they read, the people began to feel what a difference there was between the selfishness of the Pope and bishops, and the unselfishness of the Master and his apostles; between the church as they knew it and that of the New Testament times. As they found God's will there made plain, within them grew an intense longing to do away with all those ceremonies and practises which they felt were hindering them from truly following the Master Christ. This class of persons gradually came to be known as Puritans because of their desire to purify the church. Like Wyclif and the Lollards, they dared much to be loyal to the gleam of truth they saw. In Henry VIII 's time, they had no longer to struggle against the Pope, for Henry VIII had been declared the head of the church, and the church proclaimed free from the Pope's control. Yet they could not put the king in Christ's place any more than they could the Pope. Under the reign of Mary, the daughter of Henry VIII who succeeded him to the throne, the Puritans suffered bitter persecution and many went to the stake or the scaffold rather than give up their principles, for Queen Mary was a Catholic and tried to reestablish the authority of the Pope. Nor were the Puritans better off when Eliza- beth, the second daughter of Henry VIII, ascended the throne. Even though she was a Protestant, instead of beginning the reforms hoped for, she not only had Parlia- ment declare that she was the head of the church, but she also had them pass an act which compelled every minister' to use the Book of Common Prayer in every religious service. Now it is only to be expected that the Puritans, who believed that the Bible was the only authority in A BOY WHO DARED matters spiritual and that Christ only was the Head of the church, should resent these acts of Elizabeth. They could find no authority for them in the Word of God. They could not conscientiously follow them. So they were persecuted. A Boy's Hard Problem This was the state of affairs when William Bradford was about fifteen years old. The more he studied his Bible, the more sure he felt that the Puritans were right. He believed, with the small party called Separatists, that it would not do simply to stay within the Church of England and reform it, as the majority of Puritans wished, but that they had better leave the church altogether and form a church which should be more nearly like that described in the New Testament. He believed, as they did, that a church was formed by those who believed in Christ uniting of their own will in an agreement, or covenant, to obey him, that members of this church had equal rights and privileges, and that the members had the right to elect their ministers and officers. The question he had to decide was, "Shall I declare my belief and become one of these Separatists? Have I the courage to face all that these Separatists must face? " Being laughed at is no fun. Every boy hates it. So did William Bradford. He shrank from facing all the jests and scorn he had heard hurled at those who dared to belong to this small body of people. Yet ridicule he knew to be one of the very least of the hard things he must bear. One of the first things which would happen to him, if he declared his belief, as he well knew, would be that his uncles, who had cared for him ever since his babyhood, would turn him out of the house without a penny and without a hope of 8 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM ever receiving his share of his father's property. More than this, he knew he would have a hard time to earn a living. The neighbors would be slow to employ one who would now be regarded by all citizens loyal to the queen as a traitor to his country. That was how they considered the Puritans and especially the Separatists. Furthermore, he would be treated as a traitor to both country and church. He had seen these things happen to others. He would be heavily fined or imprisoned. He might even have to be- come one of those brave souls who had faced death rather than yield their privilege to follow the teachings of Christ. Had he the courage to dare all these things? The Spirit of the Man From the record of William Bradford's later life, we know it was his habit to trust in every difficulty to the strength sent him by God. Perhaps he recalled Paul's words, " If God be for us, who can be against us? " We know from his own writing that he believed unusual difficulties and dangers had to be met with " answerable courage." It was thus he faced this difficulty and danger and dared to follow the gleam. We are fortunate to have William Bradford's own account of the covenant and experiences of the group of Separatists whom he joined, that little church at Scrooby which was to be so famous. He writes, " Ye Lord's free people joyned themselves (by a covenant of the Lord) into a church estate in ye fellowship of ye gospell to walke in all his wayes, made known, or to be made known unto them, according to their best endeavours, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them. And that it cost them something this ensewing historic will declare." In 1606 the new Archbishop of York began the system- A BOY WHO DARED 9 atic suppression of these " heretics." As William Bradford tells us in his account of these days: " But after these things they could not long continue in any peaceable conditions, but were hunted and persecuted on every side, so as their former afflictions were but as flea bitings in comparison of these which now came upon them. For some were taken and clapt up in prison others had their houses besett and watcht night and day and hardly escaped their hands, and ye most were faine to flie and leave their houses and habitations, and the means of their livelihood. Yet these and many other sharper things which afterward befell them were no other than they looked for." A Momentous Decision They soon realized that they could have no comfort in England. William Brewster suggested that they go to Holland, where there was religious freedom for all men and whither many of those persecuted as they were had gone. "But to goe into a countrie they knew not (but by hearsay) where they must learne a new language, and get their livings they knew not how ... it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate . . . and a miserie worse than death. Especially seeing they were not acquainted with trade nor traffique, but had been used to a plaine countrie life. But these things did not dismay them (though they did sometime trouble them) for their desires were sett on ye ways of God and to injoye his ordinances; but they rested on his providence and knew whom they had believed." It is thus that Bradford relates their predicament, adding simply: "Yet this was not all, for though they could not stay, yet were they not suf- fered to goe, but ye ports and havens were shut against them." 10 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM Attempts to Escape Many times they tried to get away secretly, but often they were surprised and their goods were intercepted. Bradford's account gives us only two of the instances. In 1607, hi December, a large company planned to leave from Boston, a seaport about fifty miles from Scrooby, and hired a ship wholly for themselves, making arrange- ment with the master of the ship to take them and their goods in. He kept them waiting, and finally, having gotten them and then- goods aboard, he betrayed them to the officers, who put them into open boats, robbed them of their money, carried them back to town, " made them a spectackle and wonder to ye multitudes, which came flocking on all sides to behould them," and cast them into prison. This sort of treatment did not prevent their making a second attempt the following spring. They found a Dutch- man, the owner of his own ship, who agreed to take them. He agreed to meet them at a large common between Grimsby and Hull. The women and children and the goods were sent on in a large bark, while the men were to walk to the meeting place. Unfortunately, the women and children reached there a day ahead of time, and feeling very seasick, urged the seaman to put into a creek. There, next morn- ing when the ship arrived, they found that they were stranded, for it was low tide, and they could not get to her. The shipmaster sent his boat for the men and got the first load safely on board. Just as they were about to send her back for more, they saw soldiers coming after them. The Dutch captain would not wait. He hoisted sail, with the poor men on board powerless to help their distressed wives and children on the shore. They had scarce a penny nor a change of clothes. They knew only too well the troubles A BOY WHO DARED 11 their families would have to meet, " but all in vaine, ther was no remedy, they must thus sadly part." To make matters still harder they ran into a terrible storm at sea. For fourteen days or more they were tossed about, the mariners themselves often despairing of life. Bradford was probably one of this company on the ship. He tells us with what fervent prayers they cried unto the Lord in this great distress. " Even without any great distrac- tion, when ye water rane into their mouthes and ears; and the mariners cried out, we sinke, we sinke; they cried (if not with mirakelous, yet with a great light or degree of divine faith) : Yet Lord thou canst save, yet Lord thou canst save. And in the end the Lord brought them safe to their desired haven." Those who had been left were indeed in a sorry plight. The men with whom it would go hardest should they be captured, were urged to escape, the others staying to assist the women. Weeping in anxiety for their husbands, with the children clinging to them crying for fear and cold, they were placed under arrest. They were hurried from one point to another. They could not be sent home, for indeed they had no homes to go to; and to imprison them because they must go with their husbands seemed even to these judges un- reasonable. Finally the authorities were glad to be rid of them, and some in one way and some in another, " they all gott over at length . . . and mette togeather againe according to their desires, with no small rejoycing." In a Strange Land Though it was at Amsterdam that they settled first, the little company soon decided to go to Ley den. Here the first problem to be settled was that of making a living. They became carpenters, weavers, bricklayers, makers of 12 PILGRIM FOLLOWER* OF THE GLEAM furniture, glass, candles, or clocks, bakers, brewers, tailors. Such a variety of occupation was good preparation for the people who were to lay the foundations of a new state across the water. William Brewster, who had been elected by the people as elder or assistant to Pastor Robinson, taught English in a school, and later managed a printing-press. Pastor John Robinson enrolled in the University of Leyden, be- coming very well known because of his ability, breadth of mind, and sweetness of character. William Bradford himself, who was about seventeen at this time, became an apprentice to a silk dyer. Before long his marriage to Dorothy May was recorded. When they had been in Leyden only a year, the Scrooby church purchased a house and a garden in Bell Alley, or Belfry Lane, in the very heart of the city in its oldest and finest part. They gave the large house, in the chief sitting room of which they held their meeting, to Pastor Robinson. In the garden, leaving an open plot in the center, they put up about twenty little wooden houses, in which probably the whole company lived. Their neigh- bors thought highly of them. Bradford tells us in his his- tory that though they were very poor " yet none were so poor but if they were known to be of the congregation, the Dutch, either bakers or others, would trust them in any reasonable matter when they wanted money." And again, " Because they had found by experience how careful they were to keep their word and saw them so painful and diligent in their callings, yet they would strive to get their custom and to employ them above others in their work for their honesty and diligence." Robinson was held in high esteem at the University. He was put forward by A BOY WHO DARED 13 the professors publicly to defend their principles against criticisms in a great public debate held in the city. This he did several times. " The which," Bradford tells us, "as it causes many to praise God yt the trueth had so famous victory, so it procured him much honor and respect from those learned men and others which loved ye trueth." While they were in Ley den, others whose names are very familiar joined this fellowship of Christians. There was Captain Miles Standish of the English Army, who made his living by the sword, and John Carver, who was evidently a person of means and an able man of affairs. There too was Samuel Fuller, the well-loved physician, wise, tender, loyal, without whose aid in the days that followed the little company would have fared badly. Another was Edward Winslow, a gentleman who came in his travels to Ley den in 1617 and was so impressed with the real Christly living of the brotherhood that he joined his fortunes with theirs. His abilities at once made him prominent amongst them. Thomas Brewer, too, joined them. He also became a student at the University. He it was who gave Brewster the funds with which to set up as a printer. Robert Cushman, still another who joined the company, acted as their agent in their undertaking to emigrate to America. From one hundred they increased to three hundred. Many married, some within their own brotherhood, others into Dutch families. " So they grew in knowledge and other gifts and graces of ye spirite of God and lived together in peace and love and holiness and many came unto them from diverse parts of England; they grew a great congregation." Thus did they begin their adventure. 14 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM QUESTIONS 1. What is the gleam which people follow today? 2. What did following the gleam mean to John Wyclif? 3. Imagine yourself a farmer's boy or a milkmaid listening to the Lollards: which of their stories would impress you most? 4. What was the difference between the beliefs of the Puritans and those of the Separatists? 5. In what ways was it hard for William Bradford to decide to become a Separatist? 6. What kind of experiences did he have after joining the Scrooby church? 7. Is it as hard for people to become church members today? 8. What finally did the Scrooby church decide to do? 9. Why are Congregationalists interested in this Scrooby church? 10. What did other people in Leyden think of the Scrooby church? 11. How does the motto of this chapter describe their spirit? 12. If the gleam does not come from the sunlight, moonlight, or starlight, where does it come from? II STEPPING-STONES " Even as Stepping-Stones unto others for the performing of so great a work." William Bradford. Restless for a New Home These exiles, the members of the Scrooby Church, lived in Leyden about twelve years. But they never felt really at home there in Holland. They were English folk who loved English ways. They saw their children growing up, marrying into Dutch families, many of them entering into the Dutch army, as was only natural. They feared that their little community would be absorbed by the Dutch life around them. Moreover, it was so difficult for these farmer folk to make a living by the trades and handi- crafts of the time that they could not afford to conduct schools for their boys and girls; and the hard work of making a living, in which even the boys and girls had to take their part, was making them all grow old too soon, and wearing out their leaders before their time. Furthermore, they could not keep the Lord's Day as they thought right. Their children were not growing up with the same vision that had lighted their way so far, and led them on. Here in Holland surely their vision of the kingdom of Christ could not be made real. Back to England they could not go, for there prison awaited them. They longed for a place where they might begin a Christian commonwealth and give to others the gospel they so dearly loved. It was during these days that the tales of the brave adventures of Englishmen in the land across the seas stirred their 16 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM hearts. There they might find a home under the Eng- lish flag, where they could perhaps, as Bradford tells us, " lay some good foundation, or at least make some way thereto, for propagating and advancing the Kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world, yea, though they should be even as stepping-stones unto others for the performing of so great a work." A Test of Courage We can imagine how earnestly and eagerly they dis- cussed this question: Should they go to America? This was a mighty big question going to America. What did it involve? William Bradford must have been a leader in all these discussions, with John Carver, Edward Winslow, Pastor Robinson, and Elder Brewster. He tells us himself in his " Historic of Plimouth Planta- tion " that they realized the obstacles; they were not ignorant of the danger. In the first place, there were the dangers and uncertainties of a sea voyage. The little ships that sailed in those days were far, far dif- ferent from the modern steamers. The voyage would be very long, perhaps too long and hard for the women and older people to endure. Yet even if they should make the voyage safely, " the miseries of the land which they should be exposed to would be too hard to be borne." There they " should be liable to famine and nakedness and ye wante in a maner of all things. The change of aire, diate, drinking of water would infecte their bodies with sore sicknesses, and grievous diseases. And also those which should escape or overcome these difficulties should yet be in continual danger of ye savage people who are cruel, barbarous and most treach- erous." They had vivid pictures of their cannibalism. STEPPING STONES 17 They realized that great sums of money would be needed to furnish such a voyage and to buy the supplies they would need. The sale of their estates would not be enough to meet their expenses. Most folks would think that these were reasons enough for not going to America. There may have been some who said within themselves, or perhaps aloud, " We cannot accomplish this great task. Why do we keep on struggling? " But most of these men and women whom the gleam had led so far, still saw it ahead of them, leading them further. Ere it vanished and the vision splendid failed to become real, they must up and after it. Bradford goes on to tell us that " it was answered that all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties and must be both enterprised and overcome with answerable courages. . . . Their con- dition was not ordinarie, their ends were good and honourable; their calling lawfull and urgente; and therefore they might expect ye blessing of God in their proceeding." So they made, by vote of the church, the decision which has made history they would go to America. In spite of all the difficulties, they believed that they were doing right, and that " therefore they might expect the blessing of God in their proceeding." Preparing for the Venture Nearly three years, three very, very hard years it was after this great decision was made, before the Pilgrims could set sail on the great adventure, for they had to decide where they should go, next who should go, and finally how they should provide themselves with the necessary means. At last the decision was made to apply to the London Virginia Company for a grant of 18 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM land in what was then called Virginia, north of the settlements at Jamestown made by those who were of the Church of England. They sent John Carver and Robert Cushman over to England to make arrangements and get the consent of King James. The company was willing enough, but it was another matter to win King James' approval. This he gave at last, though rather ungraciously. Yet negotiations were so long that the London Virginia Company withdrew, and the Pilgrims, urged by Thomas Weston, a merchant who agreed to furnish funds, consented to go under the Plymouth Virginia Company to the northern parts of Virginia which was to be called New England. At length all was settled. As the majority of the church was to remain for the present, Pastor Robinson was to stay in Leyden, while Elder Brewster was to go with the smaller company, who were now to be called Pilgrims. They had bought and equipped the Speedwell, a craft of 60 tons, and Robert Cushman and John Carver over in London and Southampton had hired the May- flower of 180 tons. Among those who were going, to whom the Leyden folk gave a feast before they went with them to Delfshaven to see them set sail, were Edward Winslow, who afterward became governor of the Colony, Samuel Fuller, their good physician, Miles Standish, the soldier, and William Bradford. Some of the men in the company had to leave their wives and children to come on after them. Edward Winslow, in a letter to friends in London a few years later, tells us of the farewell, and that after the prayer by the pastor they were " not able to speak one to another, for the abundance of sorrow to part." " So lifting up our hearts for each other to the Lord our God, we departed STEPPING-STONES 19 and found His presence with us, in the midst of our manifold straights He carried us through." Discouragements and Delays When they reached Southampton where were the May- flower, with Robert Cushman and John Carver and others waiting to join them, they learned of changes in the agreement which Weston had forced upon Robert Cushman. They were to lose their privilege of working two days a week for themselves, and the ownership of their own houses and garden plots : it was all to be part of the common stock. They at first refused, but finally they were forced to accept the terms. Another difficulty which met them here was that, while they had understood Weston to pay certain of their debts, he had refused and left them to get on as they could. Their own means were so limited that they were forced to sell part of their precious stores to " clear things at their going away." Not until August fifth were they ready. Then John Carver read to them, before they set sail, a letter from their dearly loved Pastor Robinson. Edward Winslow wrote his friends in England: " He urged us ' to follow him no further than he followed Christ; if God should reveal anything to us by any other instru- ment of His, to be as ready to receive it as ever we were to receive any truth by his ministry, for he was very confident that the Lord had more truth and light yet to break forth out of his Holy Word.' He blessed us tenderly. Gladly he would have gone with us." Their pastor hoped to follow, but he died before his hope was realized. Before the Pilgrims had gone very far, it was dis- covered that the Speedwell leaked so badly that they must put back at once, for fear she might sink. Some time they stayed in port, while the craft was thoroughly overhauled, no doubt anxiously watching the lessening of their supplies by this time of waiting. Again they set sail. This time, too, the Speedwell proved unsea- worthy. With what despairing hearts must they have worked at the pumps trying to keep the ship afloat until she could again reach a harbor. Here they finally abandoned the ship. (It was later discovered that the Speedwell had been overmasted, perhaps intentionally, for she was later sold and with lighter masts sailed many voyages in safety.) Twenty or more of her passengers were put ashore; the others crowded into the larger ship. A Perilous Voyage At last on September 6, 1620, the Mayflower with her brave little company, about one hundred strong, sailed from Plymouth Harbor? At first they had good winds, but before long fierce storms overtook them. The vessel was strained. Some one discovered that " one of the main beams in the midship was bowed and cracked, which put them in some fear that the ship could not be able to perform the voyage." Leaks were threaten- ing. There were indeed grave and anxious hearts in that little group of leaders who had hastily to consider what was best to be done. The master of the ship declared he knew that the ship was firm and strong under water. As for the buckling of the main beam, that could be remedied; there was a great iron screw one of the passengers had brought from Holland which could raise the beam into place. How glad must have been the one who had thought to provide the screw! STEPPING-STONES 21 With this encouragement " they committed themselves " as often and always they had done and would do " to the will of God and resolved to proceed." Storm followed storm. For days together the winds were so fierce and high that no sails could be spread, and the ship had to be left to drift before the winds with the bare masts. Yet steadily they held to the westward course. The power of our Father kept that ship and crew from disaster as surely as he did the little vessel of disciples in the storm on Galilee. "Land, ho!" On Friday, November 20th, they sighted Cape Cod, " the which being made and certainly known to be it, they were not a little joyful." Indeed how great joy must theirs have been that the perils of the sea were past. That they recognized the land and knew it by name was due to the fact that Englishmen had ad- ventured up and down these coasts, especially Captain John Smith, who had explored all this region a little time before and had made a map, which no doubt these Pilgrims used. As their patent was for land nearer the Hudson river, they tried to go on, but the favorable winds failed and they found themselves among the breakers of the treacherous Nantucket shoals. Back they turned and came finally to anchor on Saturday, November 21st, in what is now the harbor of Province- town. The winds from the shore brought them the fragrance of the pine and juniper and sassafras of the woods that came down nearly to the water's edge. With grateful hearts they thanked God for all his guid- ance and protection and deliverance from dangers and miseries. 22 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM The Mayflower Compact The peril of the journey was behind them; now new problems faced them, and to these they turned. On the Saturday morning as they entered the Harbor, a group of them all the responsible men met in the cabin of the Mayflower to decide one of the great questions. The}' were not going to settle in the land to which their patent gave them the right. Then what should be their govern- ment? Some of those who were not of the Scrooby Church from Leyden, who had been sent out by Weston and the other merchant adventurers, talked largely of how they would use their freedom once they were ashore. The rest realized that no one could be free to do as he pleased with- out regard for the welfare of the others. If every one did that, their undertaking would fail. They must cooperate. So they thought that by meeting together and agreeing upon a law for themselves they would have the necessary authority to govern all the company. To agree upon this law, the leaders and these were Carver and Elder Brewster, Bradford, and Winslow, Standish and Fuller called the rest together in the cabin. There they drew up that morning the Mayflower Compact. By this docu- ment these men established for all equal laws and gave to all equal opportunity. Thus, many years before the Constitution of the United States was drawn up, this agreement made every one feel that the little new colony was to be a real human brotherhood. Each man had individual liberty and a voice in regulating the common interests. Yet he must not abuse his liberty by putting his own selfish interest? before the common good. Every one had his own rights, yes, but he had also his obligations to the rest of the com- pany. These must not conflict. This compact was signed STEPPING-STONES 23 by forty-one of the people. Then they chose John Carver for their governor. Exploring Parties That afternoon about fifteen or sixteen could wait no longer to explore the shore. The ship could get no nearer than three-quarters of a mile, " so that they were forced to wade a bowshot or two which caused many to get colds and coughs." They found the land all wooded with oaks, pines, sassafras, juniper, birch, holly, vines, ash and wal- nut. How good the land seemed, even though it was rather bleak that late November Saturday afternoon! They got wood, juniper, which they sorely needed, and returned. Sunday, eager as they were to explore the land that was to be their new home, they kept the day holy. The next day, Monday, more went ashore, the young folks to refresh themselves, the women to do the washing. We can just imagine the bustle with which the men put swords, muskets and armor into condition for use, and made handles for the various tools they would need. How eager must have been their talk of all that they would do! Who wonders that the men were eager to explore, that they were impatient of delay, while their small boat, the shallop, was being made usable? It is therefore no surprise to learn that though the shallop was not ready, by Wednesday sixteen men led by Standish and Bradford were permitted in their impatience to go forth in search of the spot which might be fit for their settlement. We may realize their eagerness for this sort of cross-country hiking and camping out when we realize that it was winter, that they had to wade nearly waist- deep to reach the shore and that they spent two nights in just a rough shelter, sleeping in their wet clothes. It 24 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM was hardly, camping-out .weather! They saw six Indians, who ran at their approach, and though they followed their footprints for some distance, they could not overtake them. However, they made some interesting discoveries of some Indian graves, in which were a small old basket and a " faire new basket round and narrowed at the top " con- taining maise or Indian corn, and a great iron ship's kettle, "out of Europe" evidently a bit of wreckage. They took the kettle and as much of the corn as they could, plan- ning to return the kettle and pay for the corn when they met the owners. (This they were able to do about six months later.) They found four springs of delicious water and plenty of fowl and deer. The third day of their trip, while they were on the way back, Bradford had an amusing experience. He was caught in a trap for deer made by the Indians by simply bending a sapling. Though they had many interesting things to tell on their return think how those boys and girls on the ship must have listened they could not report that they had found a place for a settlement. Their second exploring trip brought them no nearer a decision. Ten days later the third exploring party left the May- flower. There were eighteen of them in all, ten of whom were Pilgrims who, though they " were appointed," " of themselves were willing to go " Standish, Carver, Bradford, Winslow, Howland and others, besides two sea- men, two mates, the master gunner and three sailors. It was so cold that the spray froze on the clothes of the party and " made them many times like coats of iron." They landed for the night. The next day they spent exploring, but found nothing. The third morning as they were about to set out in the shallop, they were startled by loud war- whoops, a cry of " Men, Indians! Indians! " and a shower STEPPING-STONES 25 of arrows. Captain Standish quickly fired off his musket, and after a few anxious minutes, the Indians vanished as suddenly as they had come. No harm was done, except to the coats hanging up in their shelter; these were shot through and through with arrows. After they had gone some little distance in the shallop, it began to snow and rain and the wind grew stronger. By the afternoon the sea was very rough indeed. To make matters worse, the rudder broke and two men had to steer the boat with oars. The mast split into three pieces and had to be cut loose from the ship lest it capsize. It grew darker and darker. They were being driven before the wind, whither they could not see. The sound of breakers warned them they were near the shore. They thought they were indeed lost. Here, Bradford tells us, that " a lusty seaman which steered bade those that rowed if they were men about with her, or else they were all cast away, the which they did with speed. So he bid them be of good cheer and row lustily; for there was a faire wind before them and he doubted not but that they should find one place or other where they might ride in safety. And tho it was very dark and rained sore, yet in the end they got under the lee of a small island and remained there all night in safety." Of this same event Winslow writes, " Still the Lord kept us, and we bare up for an island before us; and recovering that island, being compassed about with many rocks, and dark night growing upon us, it pleased divine Providence that we fall upon a piece of sandy ground where our shallop did ride safe and secure all that night." Bradford's account goes on : " Tho this had been a day and a night of much trouble and danger unto them, yet God gave them a morning of comfort and refreshing as usually He does to His children for the next day was 26 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM a fair, sunshining day and they found themselves to be on an island secure from the Indians where they might dry their stuff, fix their pieces and rest themselves. . . . This being the last day of the week, they prepared there to keep the Sabbath." It would surely seem as though these people might have been pardoned had they continued to explore instead of observing Sunday. Captain Jones did not approve of spending so much time and being so critical of the places where they must settle, and was threatening to put them and their goods ashore and return to England. They must work quickly for every day was precious and their supplies were rapidly growing less. Winter was upon them ; they must get their houses built. Many of their friends were ill, some had died. The land they had come to ex- plore lay right before them. They had rested in the warm, bright sunshine of Saturday and made everything ready for their further going on. No one would know even if they should not observe the day. Yet they quietly and loyally lived up to their convictions. Building New Homes On Monday morning, December 21, they explored the mainland. It is not hard to imagine the joy with which they discovered that the harbor was fit for shipping, that there was a great quantity of land already cleared where corn had once been planted, and that there were many little running brooks that would give good drinking water. Captain Standish, of course, would be the one to notice that this location was protected on the east by the harbor, on the south by a great brook in a deep ravine, and on the west by a steep hill where, by planting their cannon, they could protect the harbor. Tuesday they set forth for the STEPPING-STONES 27 ship, eager to tell the good news. How the hearts of the men must have been full with the thoughts of the homes they would now begin to build! Poor William Bradford! The first news they learned on their return was that Mistress Dorothy Bradford had fallen overboard and been drowned. It was a sad return for him. He met it with an " answera- ble courage." On consulting their map, it was found that this place had been called Plymouth by Captain John Smith. Here they decided to go, and on Saturday, December 26th, they anchored in the harbor and called it " New Plymouth." After resting on Sunday they spent Monday and Tuesday in further exploring. Though some rather favored the island and others a site further up on the river, they de- cided on settling on the land because of the " high ground," the " deal of cleared land," the "good harbor," the " de- licious springs " and " sweet brooks " which " promised much good fish in their season." They found plenty of fowl too. That night a party decided to stay ashore and have those on the ship join them in the morning and begin work at once, but severe storms kept them apart so that it was Saturday, January 2, before all could go ashore and begin to cut down and carry the trees with which they were to build their houses, and gather other material for building. It was hard work, a very commonplace sort of daily drudgery, this. Yet it was the next thing they had to do. Probably they did not think they were doing a momentously great work; they thought they were just at last really going to build their homes. Yet in fact they were laying the foundations of a great nation, becoming indeed as Brad- ford told us they had hoped they might, "as stepping-stones unto others for the performing of a great work." 28 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM They planned to build eighteen or nineteen houses, on either side of a street running back from the shore to the hill. Each family was to build its own house, and the single men were assigned to different families. Besides this there was to be a common house to be used as a shelter, a meeting-place, and a storehouse for their goods. They set about putting this up at once. It was twenty feet square, built of logs and thatched. This caught fire and was burned. It took them a month to complete it on account of all the accidents and sickness that followed. Only seven of the houses were built that winter, for the first had to be used as a hospital. A Winter of Suffering Sickness came suddenly upon them. During Decem- ber six died; in January, eight; in February, seventeen; in March, thirteen. Out of the one hundred and one people there had been at first, including women and children, fifty-one were left at the end of the winter. It is not hard to understand why. In the first place, their life had been hard while they were crowded to- gether on the ship. Then had followed all the exposures and hardships of landing on an uninhabited shore in the winter. They were unused to outdoor life, for during their stay in Holland they had worked indoors. Be- sides all this, they had not been well fed, nor were they sufficiently clothed, and they had waded ashore from the ship each time they had landed, had tramped the snow in rain and sleet, and slept out of doors in wet clothes. The houses were not well enough built to be really comfortable and warm. There were so many of them sick at a time that often only seven were well enough to care for the rest. Elder Brewster, Miles STEPPING-STONES 29 Standish, and Dr. Fuller were their great comfort. One of the saddest parts of their tale is the fact that of the eighteen mothers and wives, only five lived through the year. This giving of themselves by these Pilgrim mothers must be remembered with the heroism of their husbands. The five who survived bore the burden of caring for the children and the men, performing the daily tasks, and making beautiful homes; by their quiet courage and devotion they win our love and admiration. New Neighbors There was great anxiety too on account of their In- dian neighbors. They levelled off and trampled the burial places of their companions, lest the Indians see how great had been their losses, and how few people remained. Frequent glimpses were reported of Indians skulking on the outskirts of the clearing. One day some tools which the men had left in the woods were taken by the Indians. Captain Standish was glad when finally the platform had been built on the hill above the settlement and the cannon mounted on it. With this fear constantly before them, their surprise may be imagined when one day an Indian walked into their midst saying, in English, " Welcome, Englishmen." This was Samoset. To the men crowding about him in amazement, he said that he had learned a little English from the sailors who had been fishing along the coast and that the place where the Pilgrims had settled had be- longed to the Patuxets, a tribe which had been wiped out by a plague several years before. He told them of Massasoit, the grand sachem of the Cape Cod Indians. In a day or two Samoset returned bringing with him five Indians of Massasoit's tribe who brought beaver skins 30 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM to sell and a message that Massasoit planned a visit to the colony. A few days later, he came again, bring- ing with him Squanto, the only survivor of the Patuxet tribe. He had been kidnapped and taken to England, where he had learned a little English, and he had re- turned by and by with another expedition. Samoset said that Massasoit was on his way. There was great anxiety. Finally Winslow volunteered to go to confer with him, even though all felt he was going into great danger. Cordially inviting Massasoit to visit the set- tlement, he stayed with the Indians beyond the brook while the chief went on to the town with some of his warriors. The colonists treated him most courteously. Then they made a treaty that was kept faithfully, promising that they would aid each other in time of war, and that individuals of either side who should harm any ofVthe other should be punished. Good-bye to the Mayflower By this time it was April and the Mayflower was ready to return to England. Not one of those who had endured so much, and who must still face so much, asked to go back. From the hill back of the town, this brave company watched the little ship hoist anchor and set sail for England. Sickness, death, hunger, cold, hard work, unceasing work, loneliness, lack of comfort were not sufficient to compel them to cease following the gleam which had led them to that place. They had again " committed themselves unto the Lord and re- solved to proceed." They turned quietly back to their daily tasks. Later on in the month John Carver died, and William Bradford, though still weak and sick with the fever, was chosen governor in his place. Except for STEPPING-STONES 31 a few years, he continued to be their governor till his death. An Indian Friend Squanto now came to live with them. He seemed to take them under his protection, teaching them much that was of great aid. He showed them how to catch fish and eels in the Town brook, how and when to plant the Indian corn they had found in November. Without his aid they would have died. During the summer Winslow and Hopkins, guided by Squanto, visited Mas- sasoit and further won his friendship, and later Standish under the same guidance explored Massachusetts Bay, as Boston harbor was then called. Squanto long re- mained their friend and years afterward, when dying, asked them to pray that he might go to the white man's God. Struggling, yet Giving Thanks In the fall they harvested their small crop and laid up supplies for winter, at the same time preparing wood to send back to England. During this first year they had laid the foundations of a democratic state. They had chosen their governor and made laws, begun to trade with the Indians, made treaties with them, and begun to train a militia. Their crops, thanks to Squanto, had been fairly successful. No wonder then that Gover- nor Bradford set aside a time for giving thanks for all the goodness of God to them. He sent four men out after fowl and invited Massasoit and some ninety men to share their feast. While the warriors looked on, the men drilled and enjoyed games of strength. This was the first Thanksgiving. 32 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM Dauntless Heroes The account of the later struggles and successes of this little colony is extremely interesting. It would be inspiring to follow it. However, the experiences of the first year are enough to show the dauntless spirit of these Pilgrims. They were indeed stepping-stones unto others performing a great work. No doubt the Puritans would have come to New England eventually; they were the readier to embark because the Pilgrims had succeeded in their undertaking. Some one has said that while seeking religious freedom, they established civil liberty " meaning only to found a church, gave birth to a nation, and in settling a town, commenced an empire." TO THE PUPIL You will find William Bradford's Historic of Plimouth Plantation a very interesting account of the adventures of the Pilgrims. The quotations in this chapter are from that book. QUESTIONS 1. What made Bradford and his friends leave Holland? 2. What made going to America such an adventure? 3. What difficulties did the Pilgrims have in preparing for their journey? 4. Tell their experiences on the voyage. 5. With what spirit did the Pilgrims meet danger and difficulty? Would this make them good pioneers in a great adventure? 6. How did the Pilgrims decide to govern their colony? In what way is their form of government like that of the Boy Scouts or Camp Fire Girls? 7. Pretending you were one of the people on the first exploring party, tell of your adventures as you might have reported them that night on your return to the Mayflower cabin. 8. What adventures did the third party have? For what do you admire these men? STEPPING-STONES 33 9. Why did the Pilgrims settle at Plymouth? 10. How did they begin to carry out the plans for the colony? 11. What hard things did they endure that winter? 12. Why did they not give up and go back to England? 13. How did they make friends with the Indians? 14. Can you tell how it was that the Pilgrims did indeed become, as Bradford hoped they would, " stepping-stones to others "? Ill MARCHING FORWARD " One who never turned his back but marched breast forward ; Never doubted clouds would break." Brmoning. While the Pilgrims at Plymouth were busy about the humdrum daily tasks by which they were nevertheless laying the foundations of a new state, the great ad- venture for democracy was going forward in England also. John Winthrop Traitor? John Winthrop was surely one " who never turned his back but marched breast forward." He became leader of a great enterprise for which today he is greatly honored. Yet in his own time because he chose to follow this way of life, the majority of people thought of him otherwise. " All experience tells me," he wrote, " that in this way there is least companie, and those who doe walk openlye in this way shal be despised, pointed at, hated of the world, made a byeword, re- viled, slandered, rebuked, made a gazinge-stock, called puritans, nice fools, hipocrites, hairbrainde fellows, rashe, indiscreet, vain-glorious, and all that naught is." John Winthrop had chosen to be a Puritan. In his time it was a term of reproach, equal almost to traitor. He, with others who agreed with him, dared to defy the power of the king. The king decreed that, just as it was blasphemous to dispute God's power, so it was pre- MARCHING FORWARD 35 sumptuous for a subject to dispute a king's power. They dared to say that his power on earth was not the same as God's, and that he had no divine right to rule. They declared that all power and authority were from the people and that it was their right to act as their consciences and the law of God directed. The judges declared that such disputes would lead to rebellion and must be forbidden. It was the subject's duty to obey; the people had no power and authority. The University of Oxford even went so far as to state that it was never lawful to take up arms against princes. The Puritans, however, kept on demanding reforms whenever Parliament met. As Parliament included many Puritans in its membership, it refused to vote supplies until reforms were granted. The king finally tried to get on without Parliament. Needing money, however, and kings by divine right seemed to need a great deal, the king was compelled to summon it, but forbade it to discuss affairs of state. Then the Puritans became more fearless than before and boldly announced that they had the right to speak freely. When the king tried to raise money in illegal ways, the Puritans re- fused to pay these taxes. For doing this and for pub- licly declaring their principles, they were fined and im- prisoned. John Winthrop burned with indignation over the cruel and unjust treatment given to his friend, Sir John Eliot. Their ministers suffered too. They were compelled to leave their pulpits and forbidden to preach either in open fields or private houses, to teach school, to practise medicine, or engage in business. Yet facing all this, they never turned their backs but marched breast forward. John Winthrop began to feel that something more must be done. He longed for a way of 36 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM escape, the opportunity to build up a state whose laws were based upon those of the Bible. There seemed no possibility of gaining this in England. Why not go elsewhere, to Ireland, perhaps, and there lay the founda- tions? Yet, no, not to Ireland. Why not to America? Three years before the Separatists had gone. News had come of their success in beginning anew. Might they not do the same? Others to whom he spoke of his plan agreed that the adventure might be wise. Pioneers The very first Puritan settlement was made by a company of fishermen on Cape Ann. This was begun in 1624 with Roger Conant as superintendent for the Dorchester Company. In the second year, the company gave it up and most of them went back to England. Roger Conant then wrote to John White, a Puritan minister who was the chief patron of the company, that a better place for a colony was Naumkeag (afterwards called Salem). So to Salem in September, 1628, came Captain John Endecott with his wife and forty others sent out by the " Company of Massachusetts Bay," which under White's leadership had been organized that year in England. Their first winter was very hard. There was not sufficient shelter, nor food, and conse- quently there was severe sickness. Captain Endecott sent to Plymouth for help and Governor William Brad- ford responded by sending their kind Dr. Fuller. The letter of thanks which Governor Endecott wrote Gover- nor Bradford when Dr. Fuller returned in the spring has fortunately been preserved. In it he tells of his gratitude for Dr. Fuller's comfort and care. Moreover he added that Dr. Fuller's explanation of their form of MARCHING FORWARD 37 church worship and government had convinced him that it was right. Thus the colony of the Puritans at Salem and that of Separatists at Plymouth were brought to understand each other. The next year the Massachusetts Company sent out six vessels bearing nearly four hundred persons, besides live stock and equipment. Four ministers were of the com- pany, for the Massachusetts Bay Company was planting a Christian colony and hoping to Christianize the Indians. When it came time to form a church, the people elected Mr. Shelton as pastor and Mr. Higginson as leader and entered into a covenant with each other which read, so far as it has been preserved, as follows: "We covenant with the Lord and one with another, and do bind ourselves in the presence of God to walk together in all His ways according as He is pleased to reveal Himself unto us in His blessed Word of Truth." This church was founded just as the Scrooby Church had been. This was the second Congregational Church in America, the first one which was organized here. On the day set apart for publicly installing the ministers by prayer and laying hands on them, Governor Bradford and others from Plymouth came up to extend the " right hand of fellowship." A Daring Plan Shortly after the Salem colony had left England, John Winthrop made a new proposal. This was that, provided the charter of the Massachusetts Company could be taken across the seas with them, certain of the chief men of the company and their families themselves should undertake a settlement. He was willing to be one of the adventurers. After much discussion it was decided that the charter could be carried to America and Winthrop's suggestion 38 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM should be followed. He was chosen governor of the company. A storm of protest now rose from Winthrop's less brave and far-seeing friends: "Your church and your country need you at home. You are one of our leaders here, and here all your friends wish you to remain. Besides you are now more than forty years old, quite too old to under- take so uncertain an enterprise. Consider now. You have lived in wealth and ease; have not been brought up to a life in the wilderness. You are risking your whole fortune, too, and surely you will not be selfishly unmindful of your family and let them endure the hardships which you will certainly meet." A Man of Courage But John Winthrop, in spite of all these arguments, renewed over and over again, remained loyal to his convic- tion that God would have him lead this people across the sea where a state and a church might be established ac- cording to his holy laws. Yet he carried a very heavy heart. His dear wife Margaret could not go with him. They must be separated for a time. They hoped she soon might follow him. They trusted in God's care. He wrote her: " Seeinge he calls me into his worke, he will have care of thee and all ours and our affairs in my absence ; there fore I must send thee to him for all thou lackest; goe boldly (sweet wife) to the throne of Grace; if anything trouble thee acquainte the Lord with it." In reply Margaret wrote : " My good Husband cheare up thy hart in the expectation of God's goodness to us, and let nothing dismay and discourage thee; if the Lord be with us, who can be against us." It is not any wonder that Winthrop replied, " Blessed be God who hath given me a wife who is such a MARCHING FORWARD 39 helpe and incouragement to me in this greate worke." Margaret's encouragement and the loyalty of his eldest son John and the feeling that he was obedient to God's will helped him in all the busy days of the five months that were left before the company was to set sail. He had funds to raise, ships to provide, supplies to purchase, ministers and a doctor to choose, his own estate to sell and his affairs to settle, and consultations of the Massachusetts Bay Com- pany to hold so that he would be able to govern well when they at length reached Salem. At last all preparations were completed and with Mar- garet's two little boys, Stephen and Adam, he set forth. From the ship, the Arbelia, while they were at anchor at Cowes just before they left, he sent Margaret his farewell: " And now, my sweet soul, I must again take my last fare- well of thee in Old England. It goeth very near my heart to leave thee, but I know to whom I have committed thee even to Him who loves thee better than any husband can, who can, and (if it be for his glory) will bring us together again with peace and comfort. Oh how it refresheth my heart to think I shall yet again see thy sweet face in the land of the living. . . . Therefore I will only take thee now and my sweet children in mine arms, and kiss and embrace you all and so leave you with God." These quotations from the letters of John Winthrop reveal the spirit of the man, his high faith, unfaltering courage, tenderness, and thought for others. Who were the Puritans ? It was such folk as he who followed the gleam that shone across the sea. They represented the rank, wealth, beauty, chivalry, learning, accomplishment, and genius of the time. They were not as a class rude or ungraceful. 40 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM They enjoyed good music and art and the harmless gaiety and sport of English country life. Their sternness was the result of their struggle to maintain truth and establish righteousness. They stood for godly living and condemned only what they came to feel would prevent that. They had very high ideals for the good of the state. For them they would sacrifice much. There was never a group of colon- ists among whom were so many university-trained men who were the very choicest spirits of their times. Beginning to Build Their voyage was not without excitement. Those were days of conflict on the sea, and when eight strange sails bore down upon them, the women and children went below, while the decks were made ready for action. It was a false alarm, however. At last on the seventy-second day of their voyage, signs of land began to appear the warm fra- grance of cedar and sweet fern, " a smell of the shore like the smell of a garden." Four days later they arrived and most of the people went ashore and " gathered store of fine strawberries." When they reached Salem, however, they found to their dismay a state of things not at all like that which the en- thusiastic reports of the colony the year before had led them to expect. They learned that eighty of them had died during the winter, that those who were alive were weak and sick, and that there was food enough to last them all for only two weeks. Now Governor Winthrop thought of the thousand people with him who must be fed, and for whom shelters must be built before winter. He acted promptly, sending the ship Lyon back to England for pro- visions. " And the governor presently fell to worke with his owne hands and thereby soe encouraged the rest that MARCHING FORWARD 41 there was not an idle person to be found in the whole plantation." This is the entry he records in his journal. Facing Disaster Governor Winthrop did not like the location at Salem. After exploring a little he and his company moved down to Massachusetts Bay, settling in different small groups at Charlestown, Watertown, Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mai- den. Then began the clearing of the land and the building of rude houses and shelters. Sickness unfortunately soon broke out, and the work of making ready for winter was sadly interrupted. By December, twenty people had died. Winter came on. The piercing east winds, the frosts, and the heavy snows chilled them. Before them lay the dreary ocean, in back of them and on either hand was the forest. Provisions lessened. At low tide they gathered clams and mussels; with these and acorns, they tried to make their scanty corn-meal last. No doubt they wondered where were the plentiful fowl and game and fish and corn of which such glowing reports had been made. No wonder that some went home to England. To add to their distress there was but one spring at Charlestown and this could not be reached except at low tide. At last, at the invitation of an Englishman who had been living all alone on the penin- sula then called Shawmut (now Boston), where there were plenty of springs, Winthrop and the colonists moved over. A Strong Man of God The hard winter wore on. Governor Winthrop was the stay of the colony. Many are the stories told by his fellow sufferers of his unselfishness and bravery, of his courage and endurance, of his devotion to them all and to their common cause in this tragic time. Yet not a word 42 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM of all this appears in Governor Winthrop's letters or journal. He writes Margaret courageously, " I thank God I like so well to be here as I do not repent my coming, and if I were to come again I would not have altered my course though I had foreseen all." Others fortunately tell us of the Governor's deeds, among them the story that the Governor gave the very last of his own stores to a needy man. Fortunately it was on the very day when the sail of the Lyon returning from England was later seen coming up the harbor. One Thomas Wiggin writes thus of him: " As for the Governor himselfe, I have observed him to be a discreete and sober man, givinge good example to all the planters, wearing plaine apparell such as may well beseeme a plane man, drinking ordinarilie water, and when he is not conversant with matters of justice, putting his hand to any ordinarye labour with his servants, ruling with much mildness." He was evidently the man of a thousand to be leader of the colony. The Colony's Church Two events of this first winter, besides their removal from Charlestown to the site which is now called Boston, must be recorded. Just after they had reached Charles- town, Governor John Winthrop, Deputy-Governor Dudley, the Rev. John Wilson and Isaac Johnson by entering into a covenant with each other organized a church, and a few days later all its members entered into the covenant and chose Mr. Wilson teacher. This was practically what the Salem folk had done the year before, in organizing a church as the Separatists had done. The other plantations or- ganized churches in the same way. Thus it came about that all the early churches of Massachusetts were like the church organized at Scrooby and now at Plymouth. They MARCHING FORWARD 43 had not been, as the Pilgrims had been, Separatists on principle, but they became like them by the very fact of their emigrating to America and adjusting themselves to the new conditions. From this time on the churches were neither Separatist nor Puritan. All were Congre- gational. By 1632 there were seven in the colony of Massachusetts Bay. A " Bible Commonwealth " Just as prompt were these settlers to establish the civil government. John Winthrop, though holding the office of governor under the charter and patent, was elected their governor, and the Court of Assistants was put into opera- tion. Some of their early law-making was important. So many of the colonists, 118, applied for admission to the list of freemen that there was great dismay at this great number of voters. So they decided that the free men might elect the Assistants and the Assistants the Governor and Deputy-Governor, and that this body was to govern. Next year (1631) a rule was made that the Assistants in office should keep their office until they were removed for a cause, and that " to the end that the body of commons may be preserved of good and honest men, for time to come no man shall be admitted of the freedom of this body politic but such as are members of some of the churches." The people agreed to this because their leaders and ministers thought it was right and necessary. And indeed those who planned it were most sincere and unselfish in thinking it necessary if they were to accomplish their purpose of founding a " Bible Commonwealth." A Day of Thanksgiving In the Governor's journal for 1631 we find these entries : 44 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM " Nov. 2. The ship Lyon, William Peirce, Master, arrived at Natascot. There came in her the Governor's wife, his eldest son, and his wife, and others of his children, and Mr. Eliot, a minister, and other families, being in all about sixty persons, who all arrived in good health, having been ten weeks at sea, and lost none of their company but two children, whereof one was the Governor's daughter Ann, about one year and a half old, who died about a week after they came to sea. " Nov. 4. The Governor, his wife and children went on shore with Mr. Peirce in his ship's boat. The ship gave them six or seven pieces. At their landing, the captains, with their companions in arms, entertained them with guard, and divers vollies of shot and three drakes; and divers of the assistants and most of the people, of the near plantations came to welcome them, and brought and sent, for divers days, great store of provisions, as fat hogs, kid, venison, poultry, geese, partridges, so as the like joy and manifestation of love had never been seen in New England. It was a great marvel, that so many people and such a store of pro- visions could be gathered together at so few hours' warning. " Nov. 11. We kept a day of Thanksgiving at Boston." Indeed it was a time of thanksgiving and rejoicing. From Plymouth came Governor Bradford with his con- gratulations and sympathy in person. Educational Ventures Although to follow the details of the lives of John and Margaret Winthrop in Boston and to recount the history of the colony in the later years would be in- MARCHING FORWARD 45 spiring, only one or two points may be especially men- tioned. One of the splendid achievements of this colony was the founding of Harvard College. Only six years after the first colonists had arrived, they voted the amount of four hundred pounds for the founding of a college. Though the idea had probably originated with the ministers, this generosity shows that all must have been eager to give the young men the opportunities of education which so many of them had enjoyed, and which so many more wished to make possible for their sons. One of the earliest benefactors of the college was John Harvard, and for him, in 1638, the college was named. It was situated at Newtowne, which later was called Cambridge in honor of the University where so many of the men in the colony had studied. That this college was organized so soon and that in those years of hardship they should set aside so compara- tively large a sum is remarkable enough, but it becomes the more remarkable when we realize that this year of 1636 was the year when the Massachusetts Bay Colony lost over a fourth of its population by emigration to Connecticut. Founding a college at a time like this proves how greatly they valued education. The leaders of the colony also planned for the educa- tion of all the children in the colony. They realized that the success of their undertaking would depend on the intelligence of the people. They were convinced that, as every individual was of great value to God, every individual should have a chance to become his best. It was an all-important matter that each in- dividual, therefore, should read God's word. So very early in the days of the colony they decreed that in every town where there were fifty families all the chil- 46 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM dren should be taught to read and write. After the college was started, they decreed that in every town where there were one hundred families there must be a grammar school which should prepare for the university. In these schools the children of their Indian neighbors were freely taught, for the Puritans ever felt a responsi- bility for their welfare. The results of such a system of general education were important. Because everyone was well informed and intelligent, he could and did take an interest in their common affairs. In the town meet- ings all freely discussed these mutual interests. In these town meetings where all had a voice can be found the beginning of the democratic government which we prize today. A Dark Chapter Another matter that must be mentioned is the treat- ment given by the Puritan settlers to Roger Williams, Mrs. Anne Hutchinson, the Quakers, and the so-called witches. For this the Puritans are called bigoted, in- tolerant, and inconsistent, as indeed they were. We deeply regret their action, yet if we call to mind their purpose in coming to America, we shall see how it came to pass. They had crossed the ocean to set up a state in which God's laws as revealed to them in the Bible were to be supreme. They did not allow for other in- terpretations. They felt that they rightly excluded from their colony all those persons who might disturb the welfare of the colony as a whole. On this basis Roger Williams, Mrs. Hutchinson, and the Quakers were dealt with. As for witchcraft, their belief was not peculiar to New England; they shared in the common errors of the time. MARCHING FORWARD 47 The Leaders of the Colony In a commonwealth founded for such a purpose as was the colony of Massachusetts Bay, it is quite natural that among the leaders of public opinion the ministers of the Congregational churches should have hadfan im- portant place. They were most highly educated and brilliant men, actively concerned in the welfare of the people by establishing a system of education and a democratic form of government, as well as by building up a church. Their sermons show how boldly they declared the rights and duties of free men. In the struggle against England which came to a climax in the War of Independence, the ministers took a leading part. Congregationalism was essentially democratic. As men formed themselves into churches and governed them, so they had formed themselves into states and governed them. As the ministers led, the people fol- lowed. In 1770, out of 339 churches in New England 294 were Congregational, and at the close of the war there were 330 to 89 of all others. It seems evident that these Congregational churches helped to foster the intense love of freedom. The influence of the Congre- gational church was felt, too, in the formation of a federation of the colonies into one republic. As early as 1766 Jonathan Mayhew wrote to James Otis that as he had been thinking of the communion of the churches, he began to think of the great value there would be in a similar " communion of colonies." The Puritan Spirit While the great contribution made by the Pilgrims who loyally followed their gleam was the establishing of a democratic church organization, the great achieve- 48 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM ment of the Puritans, originating from the same deeply earnest purpose to obey God's laws in all their details, was the founding of a state whose laws should be just and beneficial to all the people, and in accord with those of God. Though far from complete, yet this story surely makes plain the splendid loyalty of the Puritans to their ideals, their shining courage, their dauntless marching forward, in spite of obstacles, never turning back, their faith that never held though the right were worsted wrong would triumph. TO THE PUPIL John Winthrop, by Joseph Hopkins Twitchell, and Margaret Win- throp, by Alice Morse Earle, give accounts of these two brave- hearted Puritans and the stirring times in which they lived. Read them if you want further information about old Boston, too. QUESTIONS 1. Why did people call John Winthrop " traitor "? 2. How were Puritans treated? 3. Tell about the first Puritan settlement. 4. Where was the first Congregational church organized in Am- erica located? 5. What plan did John Winthrop propose for carrying out their ideal? 6. In what ways was it hard for him to carry out his plan? 7. What kind of people came with Winthrop? 8. How did they spend their first winter in Massachusetts Bay? 9. Do you think John Winthrop made a good leader? Why? 10. How did Puritans and Separatists finally come to agree? 11. How did the Puritans govern their colony? In what way was their form of government different from that of the Pilgrims? 12. Suppose you were one of the Governor's sons, Stephen or Adam; tell about the first Thanksgiving in Boston and why you were thankful. 13. Why did the Puritans believe in education and how did they how they thought it was so important? 14. What made the Puritans so intolerant? 15. What was the spirit of the Puritans? IV FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA " Oh, beautiful for pilgrim feet Whose stern, impassioned stress A thoroughfare for freedom beat Across the wilderness! " " America! America! God shed his grace on thee And crown thy good with brotherhood From sea to shining sea." Katharine Lee Bates. The Puritans' Grant When King James of England gave the " Great Patent " under which the Pilgrims came to America, thus giving the land " in length, by all the breadth aforesaid, throughout the main land from sea to sea," little did he dream that this strip of land extended thousands of miles. We are often much amused at the comparison of the portion of land settled by the Pil- grims themselves with that which by this title they claimed. Yet do you know that, although it is amazing, it is nevertheless true that the Pilgrims and the Puritans through their descendants really do possess the land from sea to sea? Wherever they went, you see, they took their love of liberty, their desire for education, their love of good government, their desire to serve mankind. Their ideals became those of this great land. It would be quite impossible in so short a space to tell the full story of their march westward, to recount 50 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM all the brave deeds done, the hard things patiently endured, the splendid things accomplished; but America is indeed beautiful because these pilgrims beat a thor- oughfare for freedom across the wilderness. In this chapter and the next, the stories of only a few of these brave adventurers can be told. Westward ho! In 1633 the people of Newtowne (the town which later was named Cambridge) wanted to move west. " We have not enough land," they explained, " nor sufficient meadow in which to pasture our cattle. Let us go west. Let us go to Connecticut. That is larger and more fruitful than it is here on the bank of the Charles. Besides it would be very dangerous to have the Dutch or the English church party settle there. Let us move! " Their neighbors in Boston and Charles- town were amazed. " Move west! " they exclaimed. " Don't do that. We'll give you more land if that is all you want." Thus they were persuaded to let the matter drop for a while. " But," as one of the writers of that early day tells us, " the strong bent of their spirits to remove thither did not disappear." Other reasons than the lack of land " did more secretly and powerfully drive on the business." The real reason was this. It was the belief of Thomas Hooker, their min- ister, that all the people should have a voice in deciding matters that concerned them, that is, that all the people should have the right of voting for those who made the laws. This was not the case in the colony of Massa- chusetts Bay of which Newtowne was a part. Only members of the church could be voters. But neither Governor Winthrop nor John Cotton, the famous min- FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 51 ister of Boston, could persuade Hooker that such govern- ment as this was the kind required by God's will for men. He was ready to dare and do anything to carry out God's will, and his church believed with him and were willing to follow him. Courageous Pioneers So again in the winter of 1635 and 1636 Hooker and the Newtowne people petitioned to be allowed to move. This time permission was granted and all began to make preparations for the adventure. One bitter cold day the dwellers in Newtowne were startled by the appear- ance of a band of twelve strangers who came down the Indian trail from the westward. Almost exhausted they sank in the snow on the steps of the meeting-house. When they picked them up, they were amazed to find they were some of their friends who had gone the sum- mer before from Watertown to begin life in the far- away Connecticut. Warmed and fed and somewhat restored to strength, they were led to Hooker's cabin, and there, before the glow and warmth of the fire, told their tale of the awful hardships the colony had en- dured. " Exceeding difficult it was," they said, " to cross the mountains, to pass over the swamps, to ford the rivers with our horses, cattle, and swine. So long were we in this miserable task of getting the cattle across that winter overtook us. Snow lay deep; the rivers were frozen. We were without huts or houses and had little time to prepare them or to build sheds for our cattle. Our furniture and extra provisions, which, you recall, we had not carried with us through the pathless wilderness, but had sent round by sea, never came. We waited for them anxiously. Before Decem- 52 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM ber was over all our provisions failed. It was famine and death we faced if we waited there, or, again, the difficulty of the long, long trail back to the colony. Driven by hunger, some of us started back, and helped by kindly Indians, we twelve, of all those who set forth with us, are here. May God keep the rest! " A deep hush fell upon those who listened, and their hearts were heavy with sorrow for their friends. Later on during the winter came still others of the party, who told how they had endured the hunger as long as pos- sible, yet how they too had reached a day when they had been forced to set out, going down the river to meet the provision ships. Though they had not found these, they fortunately had come upon an abandoned ship, ice-bound near the mouth of the river. On her they had escaped. Some few they had left behind. These might even now be dead starved or killed by the Indians. This would seem to be enough to dishearten the New- towne people, yet they went right on with their prep- arations for departure. " It is not with us," Bradford had written of the Pilgrims and their enterprise, " as with men whom small things can discourage." So Hooker might have written of his people as they packed up their goods and sold their houses to newcomers in the colony in preparation for their adventure. In early spring, as soon as traveling would permit, those who had wandered back during the winter, dauntlessly set forth again, and " many who had not removed the last year prepared, with all convenient dispatch, for a journey to the new settlements." Danger and difficulty only challenged their spirits to greater effort and more heroic endurance. FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 58 The Hartford Settlement It was the last of May before Hooker and his party, about one hundred men, women and children, set out through the wilderness along the old Indian trail to the west. Probably this is the very route now traveled in three hours by the railroad from Boston to Springfield and down the Connecticut River to Hartford, but it took Hooker's party two weeks. During the day, guided by a compass they made their way through the woods over the mountains, through swamps and thickets, and across rivers. By night they camped in the woods. Very careful guard had to be set, for at any time hostile Indians might break through the thickets upon them with their fearful war-whoops and murderous tomahawks. Always, also, was there danger of wild beasts. They had with them 160 head of cattle, and glad as they must have been of having the milk to use, they must have found them no end of trouble. Every- one had to take a turn at driving them as well as at carrying the packs and utensils. It was especially hard for these people, for they were men and women used to all the ease and refinement of that period, unaccustomed to such fatigue as they now endured and unused to danger. Mrs. Hooker herself was so ill that she had to be carried on a litter. Yet at length they reached Hart- ford, where they settled, the other comers going to the settlements that are now Windsor and Wethersfield. Glad they must have been to have arrived. Their hard work was not over, however; in fact the hardest part of it was just beginning. First of all, of course, the woods had to be cleared and timber made ready out of which to build their log cabins and the shelters for the cattle. Then the soil had to be culti- 54 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM vated and crops planted, while roads connecting the three settlements had to be built. Besides this, the men had to organize themselves into militia and drill. They were in constant fear of the Indians, keeping watch day and night and carrying their arms to work and to church. They could not hunt or fish or work in the fields or travel except at the peril of their lives. " They lay down and rose up in fear and in danger." Although during that first year they suffered from exposure to cold in their poorly built houses and from lack of food as well as from attacks by the Indians against whom they had finally to make war, nothing could discourage them. A Famous Sermon Although at first the Connecticut colony remained under the government of Massachusetts Bay, the settlers did not forget why they had come or why they endured the hardships of these early years. By January, 1639, about two years after their arrival, all the settlers gathered at Hartford to draw up a constitution under the provisions of which they could draw up a govern- ment of their own. What an anxious heart must have been Thomas Hooker's as he stood before the Con- vention to preach the sermon. Would they base the laws of this new colony upon those principles for which he and they had dared and endured so much? In the fearless, straightforward manner in which he preached, he set forth what he considered those principles to be. Fortunately the record of Thomas Hooker's sermon that day has been preserved for us. One young man there present, Henry Wolcott, Jr., set down in his diary the outline of the address and some of Hooker's great state- ments. Here are some of them: FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 55 " The foundation of authority is laid in the free con- sent of the people." " The choice of the magistrates belongs to the people by God's own allowance." " They who have the power to appoint officers and magistrates have the right to set the bounds and limitations of the power and place of those who are called." " The privilege of election which belongs to the people, there- fore, must not be exercised according to their humors, but according to the blessed will and law of God." The Father of American Democracy Happy indeed Thomas Hooker must have been when these principles of government became those on which the Constitution of the Connecticut Colony was founded. He had not labored in vain. But his sermon that day had even greater influence than this. Hooker had done just what he considered right. Little did he think that later ages would call him "The Father of American Democracy." Yet that is the title he deserves. " The government of the United States today is in lineal descent more nearly related to that of Connecticut than to any other of the thirteen colonies." So says the historian John Fiske, and this Constitution of Con- necticut in 1639 " marked the beginning of American Democracy, of which Thomas Hooker deserves more than any other man to be called the father." So you see the courageous Puritan minister one hundred and fifty years before the American Revolution stated the principles of government which underlie the Constitu- tion of the United States. His courageous endurance of danger and hardship in journeying west in order that he might express the beliefs about government he so strongly held, made possible, you see, that form of 56 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM government which is the strength and the glory of America today democracy. A Fighting Parson June 14, 1775, Manasseh Cutler sat down in his study to enter the events of the day in his diary. " This day on Bunker Hill was fought an engagement between our forces and the British. The Redcoats were driven back with great losses. The sound of cannon could be dis- tinctly heard." Then his pen stopped, and he gazed out of the window, his thoughts intent upon the great events of the day. Recalling himself with a great effort, he returned to his diary. " Not disposed for study," he wrote. Then he closed the book and left the room. Who could wonder that he felt so? Those were stirring times when great issues were at stake. Before he reached the door, he heard steps outside and neighbors' voices. Several members of his parish were .there, eager to discuss with the minister the events of the day. For four years, ever since young Mr. Cutler had come to Ipswich, they had talked over with him the great ques- tions of those times. Much as they hated to fight against the mother country which all looked upon lovingly, still they knew that their rights as men to govern themselves were at stake. What had been the belief of a few brave men in Thomas Hooker's time was now the belief of all. England had taxed them without their consent. She had tried to force laws upon them which they had had no share in making. It was not right. They could not submit to such injustice. There was no course open to them now but warfare. Ever since that April day when the militia had driven back FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 57 Lord Percy's men from Concord and Lexington, they had known that they must fight on until they won their point. " Well, friends," began the minister. " Is it true, sir, as report goes, that our militia had but little ammunition at this engagement? " " Only too true, I am sorry to say," was Mr. Cutler's reply. " Then, sir, more must be supplied. What shall we do to aid? We have come to talk this over with you." That had been the very question which had bothered Mr. Cutler. Soon they were in deep discussion and many a day's entry in the minister's diary after that records that much of his time and money was spent in the manufacture of bullets. Often too he harnessed up his mare to the gig and drove into Boston to talk with the soldiers and en- courage them. Sometimes he preached to them. It is not surprising therefore to find him serving in two campaigns as army chaplain. In whatever way he could he did everything possible to help make victorious the struggle for democratic government. He believed heart and soul that it was the kind of government re- quired by God's will for men. When his parish grew so poor during those war times that it had hard work to pay his salary, he took up the study of medicine, supporting himself by his physician's practise while continuing his duties as minister. His greatest service however to the cause of democracy was rendered a little later. The Petition of the Soldiers You remember that Congress was poor, too, and had no money to pay the soldiers? How these men who 58 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM had given their all in the fight should be cared for or rewarded perplexed many a man besides Dr. Cutler. Many of the officers hoped to get grants of land in what they called the Northwest Territory. This was the land, you know, which had been given the Federal authorities by the various colonies of New England and New York, for it had been discovered that all, by their original charters, laid claim to the same strip of country. Congress, on the other hand, did not grant the soldiers their request, for it hoped to sell this land and thus gain the money they so much needed to fill the Treasury. This was a discouragement, of course, yet when the army mustered out, officers and men alike kept on dreaming, of building a new state out in the great un- known Northwest. Yet being men of action, they did more than dream. As soon as they were able, they sent out one of their number to explore the land and report on it. He returned with such enthusiastic accounts, that at once they organized into the " Ohio Company of Associates " and turned to various prominent men, among whom was Dr. Cutler, to assist them. Enlisting Aid Dr. Cutler, naturally, took a great interest in any plans that were to benefit those men who had fought to secure the liberties of them all. He gave them the best of his time and energy and influence. His efforts in raising money toward the fund they needed to start their enterprise were untiring, and he was glad he could contribute so much. In recognition of his ability and power for leadership, his friendship for them, and sympathy with their principles, the Ohio Company made him their agent in going before Congress with their plan. FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 59 Delighted to be of service, Dr. Cutler drove in his gig down to New York, where Congress then was assembled. The problem of paying the Revolutionary soldiers, and the problem of a form of government for this Northwest Territory vexed the delegates to Congress exceedingly. It is not hard to imagine the discouraged delegates sitting up in amazement as they listened to Dr. Cutler's proposals. " Gentlemen," we can imagine him saying very quietly, " I am agent for the Ohio Company of Associates, composed, as you may know, of officers and men of the Continental Army. Our pro- posal is this: We stand ready to buy six or seven million acres of land in the Northwest Territory and go there ourselves to build up a new state. But we cannot go, sirs, ignorant of the laws which are to govern that new land. We have fought and helped to secure freedom. We are willing to begin over again in that unknown country, but we wish to be sure that our efforts will not be in vain, and that the new state there formed will be governed by those principles for which we risked our all." The Struggle with Congress Quite naturally, when confronted by this unusual offer, Congress undertook with new energy the forming of an ordinance. Many plans had been made previously and dropped. Now, the new laws were shown to Dr. Cutler. Though they were good, he said they did not include enough, and he suggested several amendments. These were provisions for the support of education and religion and those which forbade holding slaves. Dr. Cutler insisted on these amendments. One thirty-sixth of the land was to be used for supporting the church and the ministers; two townships were set aside as a foundation 60 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM for a college and other means were to be provided in addition for other schools. " We cannot," Dr. Cutler asserted, " undertake this scheme until these matters are made sure, for we cannot build a state without God-fearing and educated men, and how shall our chil- dren become such without the church and the school?" Equally positive was he that no slaves should be owned in that new land. These men who had fought for free- dom were not willing to own other people. The First Blow Against Slavery Just at this point the plan met opposition. The dele- gates to the Congress from the Southern colonies, where at that time slaves were held, refused to consider this prohibition of slavery. Many times it looked as if this scheme of the " Ohio Company " would have to be given up. Dr. Cutler insisted, in spite of opposition, that this amendment must be adopted, or they could not consider going. Although greatly discouraged about the final outcome, he kept right at his work of visiting the del- egates and pointing out to them the advantages of the scheme. To the Virginia delegates particularly, he was careful to emphasize the advantage it would be to their state to have its frontiers well protected by a thriving colony northward. Naturally he had little difficulty in interesting General Washington, who was eager to further a plan that would benefit his brave soldiers. Yet though the diary which Dr. Cutler kept during this time records all his perseverance and his skill in winning friends for his project, between the lines can be easily read his great discouragement. He could not seem to push this under- taking through to success. Of course he could if he would give in about the slavery question, but he would FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 61 not compromise his principles and those of the men who were trusting him as leader. He would pack his bag and start back to Boston. Perhaps the Ohio Company could purchase frontier land in one of the New England colonies and there carry out their project. He went to bed that night, disconsolate at his failure. Next morn- ing, just as he was about to start on his journey, one of his friends cdme hurrying toward him, smiling and eager. " Congress has passed the ordinance, sir," he ex- claimed, " with all the amendments you have urged." An Important Victory Dr. Cutler was delighted. He knew how much it would mean to these ex-soldiers. His friend explained that the Virginia delegates and other interested and patriotic men had succeeded at last in convincing the other members of Congress. The Ordinance of 1787, as the set of laws governing the Northwest Territory was called, was an accomplished fact. Back to Boston he journeyed, rejoicing at the good news he was carrying to his soldier friends. The adventures of this Ohio Company, as they traveled from New England by coach and down the Ohio River in a craft they called The Mayflower in honor of the earliest adventurers for freedom, are full of interest. So, too, are their experiences in building up their settlement, Marietta. They were the first of the new pioneers who were to carry the ideals of the older pioneers, the Pilgrims and the Puritans, beyond New England, on through the land to the far western sea. Hosts of people followed them into this new terri- tory, sure that when governed by such laws as the 62 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM Ordinance of 1787 provided, they could share in the building of noble states. In due time these became those we call Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan. But our story is not with these pioneers, thrilling as their experiences are, for Dr. Cutler never shared their ad- ventures, and our story is concerned with him. Though he visited the colony he had done so much to prosper, and always served it well, he remained a citizen of Massachusetts. His work did not include the adventure of the pioneer as did Thomas Hooker's, yet to Dr. Manasseh Cutler the United States owes an equal debt of honor. The Ordinance of 1787, with its notable amendment prohibiting slavery, was passed largely through his efforts. It proved of vast importance. Daniel Webster said of this Ordinance of 1787 that he did not know whether one single law of any law-giver, ancient or modern, had produced effects that were more distinct and lasting. The states formed out of the territory governed by this Ordinance worked valiantly to build up and preserve the Union and set free the enslaved race. Suppose Dr. Cutler had flinched and compromised his principles, thinking that his struggle to uphold them would not matter much! What then? Those states might have become slave states, and real democracy would have had still greater struggles to encounter. It was a national crisis. He did not know that it was so. He knew only that he must be loyal to his conviction at all cost and do what was his duty. Quietly and steadily he did it. His work was not picturesque nor of compelling interest. In fact it was quite humdrum, yet through his loyalty to his duty another stride for- ward for democracy was made. The first blow was FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 63 struck against the slavery of one human being by another. Honor truly is due to these two Congregational heroes whose loyalty to their convictions was responsible for these two great contributions to the growth of democ- racy. A cheap and easy way to honor them would be erecting statues to commemorate their deeds. A far better way would be an imitation of their loyalty to high ideals and of their courage in carrying them out, and an equal willingness to serve at all hazards the cause of human brotherhood. TO THE PUPIL You would like to read parts of Dr. Cutler's diary and letters, especially about his trip to Philadelphia and New York. See The Isife, Journals and Correspondence of Dr. Manasseh Cutler, edited by his grandchildren. An interesting book about Thomas Hooker is written by George Leon Walker and is called Thomas Hooker. QUESTIONS 1. In what sense did the Puritans and Pilgrims " possess the land from sea to sea " which their charters gave them? 2. What reasons persuaded the Newtowne people to go West? 3. What discouragements and difficulties did they face? 4. What was Thomas Hooker's great sermon about? 5. How did the Connecticut Colony carry out Hooker's beliefs? 6. Why was this very important for the United States? 7. What great contest for democracy began in 1775? 8. How did Dr. Manasseh Cutler " do his bit "? 9. What plans did the Revolutionary soldiers have after the war? 10. What were the three provisions of the Ordinance of 1787 which Dr. Cutler proposed to Congress? 11. What struggle did Dr. Cutler have for the law forbidding slavery? 12. Why was it so important for the United States that Dr. Cutler did not give up his belief? FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA (Continued) An Immortal Eleven Let me tell you about a college eleven which has done more for our country than any football eleven in any of our colleges today. The game they played was a great game, too, requiring even more grit and all-around manliness and team-work than any daring play on the gridiron. One of their number in looking back after twenty-five years of service tells the story of the " Iowa Band," the Immortal Eleven of the Congregational Church. Organizing the Team This is how the " team " was organized. At Andover Seminary a student sat at chapel thinking what he should do after graduation. He had been sick. Even his seminary study seemed too much for him. How could he ever manage the real work of a minister? Should he have to give up his cherished plan? The thought came that perhaps a different climate would help him fight against ill-health. He thought of the west. That would be missionary work. Should he go there? He came out of the meeting with the prayer in his heart, " Lord, prepare me for whatever field thou hast before me. Prepare me for it, and make me will- ing to enter it." Saturday afternoons the students took long tramps over the hills, talking of where their future work should FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 65 lie. Should they stay in New England? Should they go to the foreign field? Should they go to the far west as home missionaries? One day one friend said to this young student, " If we and some others of our class could only go out together, what a grand thing that would be." The others heartily Agreed. Eagerly they talked and planned, as they hurried back to the Seminary for supper. Shortly after that these students began to think of going to the far west. One night they listened to a discussion of the needs there. Said one student to him- self, " Shall I go out of New England to a place where I am more needed? If I go out of New England to a place where I am more needed, then why not go to the place where I am most needed? " All night he struggled to answer the problem, for in those days going west meant a great deal. One left behind comfortable living, friends and fellowship with them, and the opportunities of books and libraries. One faced a land of which very little was known, a great loneliness, and the hard life of the frontier. But the people needing God were there, and God was there. Some one was needed to bring them together. In the morning his decision was, " I will go to the west." Next day he told the others; they had come to similar decisions. Now they began to speak of their plan to other friends, and as one or another of these joined the group and they were united in a common purpose, it was very natural that they should meet together for prayer. In the dark because the rules forbade lights in one corner of the Seminary library, they met on Tuesday evening, week by week, and earnestly asked God to guide them where to go. After the prayer, discussion of the needs of the different states 66 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM followed. Should they go to Ohio? Michigan? Illinois? Missouri? By and by all had come to the conclusion to go to Iowa, one of the newest of territories, lying just across the Mississippi the frontier in those days of which less was known at that time than we know today of China. After this decision they began cor- responding with the American Home Missionary Society and the Reverend Asa Turner, who was its agent in the Iowa territory, asking all sorts of questions about climate and health and conditions. For so long had he hoped for help in this great field and so often had he been disappointed that he could hardly believe it when he heard that twelve young ministers were planning to come out all at the same time. He wrote them that he couldn't believe this good news. Finally he was persuaded that they were in earnest, and invited them to come directly to his home in Denmark, Iowa. Then they could be assigned to special places. Before long came their commissioning by the American Home Mis- sionary Society and a farewell meeting in the Andover Church. At graduation they agreed to meet at Albany on Tuesday, the third of October. When that time came, however, only eleven of them were able to set forth. Beginning to Play the Game From Albany they journeyed to Buffalo by train, which in those days, 1843, was as far as the railroad extended. The journey to Chicago, at that time a tiny prairie town, was made by boat down the lakes. The last part of the journey they made in canvas-covered wagons over the prairie and they crossed the Mississippi to Denmark in a canoe. FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 67 On the morning of their ordination all the town was early astir to behold the young ministers fresh from the east. Seven of them were ordained that day. The joy of this to " Father " Turner, who had been a pioneer missionary in the state, was too great for words. But before this ordination day, the last meeting of the Band had been held. " Father " Turner and Mr. Gaylord had told them of the places which they thought were most needing them, and then had left them to decide among themselves where each would settle. Monday morning all was a-bustle with preparation for going to their chosen work. Brave good-byes were said as they shook hands with their comrades. " Remember Tuesday night," was the reminder that each one would keep that old familiar time in prayer for all the Band. The Team at Work Glimpses into their life are given in the story of the Band told by one of their members. He had planned to have a study and a library and write two sermons a week. He lived the first year in the house of a kindly Christian, who partitioned off with a quilt one corner of his only room. This was the minister's bedroom and study; his study-chair was a saddle. Here is the record in a diary for July 23: " This day's ride on my faithful pony, for I've for- gotten to say that I now own one price forty-five dollars has brought me to T. Here found Brother A. He has a study, a little ground room right on the street in the ' lean-to ' of a store, over which live the family. Horses stand around, these hot days, kicking the flies, and, when he is out, the pigs run in unless he is careful to shut the door. Poor place, I should think, for writing sermons. Partition so thin that all the store-talk, es- pecially when the doors are open, is plainly heard. " It being Tuesday evening, we of course wished to remember the Tuesday evening prayer-meeting but wanted a more private place for it: so went in search of one. Came to a two-story log-dwelling used for a jail, which happened to be empty with the doors open. Went up by an outside stairway to the upper room and there, with the moon sailing over the prairies, had our meeting; prayed for each other, for the brethren, for Iowa, for home. Not exactly like the old Andover meetings in the library, but something like them. Coming down again to the ground, Brother A. looked up in his queer way: 'There/ said he, 'I guess that's the first time that old building ever had a prayer in it.' Just as cheerful and funny as ever; but he's doing a good work here and getting hold of the hearts of everybody. Indeed, he is becoming quite a bishop of the county. ' The first time there was ever a prayer in it! ' I wonder in how many places and ways we shall do the first things for Christ in this new country." And here is an account of a church organized in a nine-pin alley. That this had been offered for the series of religious meetings to be held in the town was a sur- prise, for its owner was the keeper of the saloon next door; but that it was offered rent free when the daily income from it was about ten dollars was even more surprising. Rough seats of boards were arranged across the alley for nearly the whole length; the speaker's desk was a billiard table. During the services could be heard the noise of conversation and clatter of glasses from the saloon next door; yet so earnest were the meetings that at their close a church was formed and FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 69 he record states that it was " organized on ... day fcf . . . in Mr. 's nine-pin alley." Other glimpses of the work given in this diary show how the mothers and daughters bore their share in building Iowa. A young man in the first year of his ministry went to the house of a fellow minister with whom he wished to become acquainted. " It was made of logs," he said, " with a single room below, and the usual loft. As I remember, it was about sixteen feet square with a passage through it by a door on each side. At one side of the room was a stove, on the other a bed, with the usual display of kettles, dishes, hats, clothing, etc., found in such houses. The brother was not at home. His wife, I was told, was above and sick. I was invited to go up and see her. I did so, ascending a ladder in one corner. There, sitting on her bed, was the missionary's wife. . . . Her constitution was evi- dently fragile, and, to her, bodily suffering was no stranger. I shall never forget how she looked, nor with what womanly courtesy she received me. . . . Not a murmur did she utter and scarcely an apology for any- thing. An air of peace and contentment characterized her. I noticed that the whole roof was a little askew, as though it had been lifted up and turned around and let down again, with articles of clothing caught in the cracks. " ' That,' said she, ' was done by a hurricane we had a few days ago. The wind blew terribly for a while. I was here all alone, and thought once the house was going, but somehow I felt safe.' Her husband, she said, had gone to the river to get a load of lumber. She was sorry he had to work so hard. He was lame and not strong." The young minister spent the night there with 70 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM the brave young people. As he talked with them, he realized how much this sick woman helped her husband by her sympathy and interest in his work. Later, when he knew them better and she was stronger, he saw many other things that she did to help. She and others like her bore cheerfully all the many inconveniences and discomforts of making the house a home in the new country, by making furniture out of boxes and contriving this or that other way to make living pleasant. They entered heartily into the work for the children and the young people and the activities of the church sewing circles. At one " association " time when the ministers with their wives and children poured into the town far beyond its ability to give them room, the minister's wife called for a farm wagon and scoured the country for straw until beds were provided for all, even though they filled the bedroom, parlor, and entry of the parsonage. One Great Victory One of the greatest monuments to the Iowa Band is Grinnell College, first located at Davenport, but later moved to Grinnell. " If each one of us can only plant one good permanent church, and all together build a college, what a work that would be! " So said one of the Band while they were still only thinking about their western work. In believing thus, they were living up to the ideal of their Puritan ancestors, the founders of Harvard and other colleges, that education must be provided if both church and state are to be prosperous. In March, 1844, hardly a year after they had reached the field, a meeting of ministers and other folk " interested in founding a college " was held. Plans were proposed FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 71 and beginnings made without " even a dime or a prom- ise save as there was faith in prayer and toil." It was one of the Band that, in 1846, put down a dollar on the table and said, " Now appoint your trustees to take care of that dollar for Iowa College." By 1848 a school was opened. How they toiled and prayed for its success! Four hundred and forty-two dollars was subscribed by the twenty-one ministers in 1849 and this out of their salaries of about $400 a year. The next year they pledged the same amount, and the wives, too, took their part, fourteen of them subscribing $70. Stories such as these might be multiplied, but the following will illus- trate the spirit of all: "He was a plain man, and his home of the olden stamp, somewhat old-fashioned in its air, but ample in comfort, without extravagance or dis- play. Riding about the village one afternoon in the old family carriage, he reined up his horse where a towns- man was building a residence of elegance and cost. Surveying it for a moment, ' There/ said he, ' I might take my money, and build me a house just like that; but then, if I should, I should not have it to give to Iowa College/ ' The one man built a house, but the other built men and women. This spirit of service conquered all obstacles. How proud the Iowa Band would be of their successors, the " Grinnell Band," now at work in China helping to build 'there the kingdom of God! In this way they are a living monument to the spirit of those who helped to build Iowa and found the college. They have seen the gleam which led their ancestors, and followed it across the shining sea. Now they are striving there that others in that far-away land also may see its light and carry it on into all the world. 72 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM A Work that Goes Forward Merely founding this college would have been great enough to win lasting honor. But what besides was the service of the Band? In Iowa, the Congregational min- isters and churches took an uncompromising stand against slavery when other denominations were divided, and that helped mightily to bring Iowa into the Union as a free state. At the time of the Civil War, their love of freedom and their bold preaching of the rights of man sent many a man into the Union Army. They were responsible, also, for introducing the annual celebration of Thanksgiving. To the Congregational denomination, the Band showed that Congregationalism was as well suited to the west as to the east, and from that time on, the Congregational churches have grown stronger and stronger throughout the west. Their earnest re- ports of the necessity for help in building up the strug- gling new churches proved in time to be a powerful factor in forming one of the most important of Con- gregational societies today, the Church Building Society. " At the State Capitol, not long ago, was unveiled the portrait of a man thought worthy of such honor. Who was this man? An old pioneer preacher, one of the Band, Dr. William Salter of Burlington. The Governor said, ' Men of his character and of his class are the men that have made Iowa what she is, a great, noble, peerless, Christian commonwealth.' ' A Dangerous Ride Before the door of the log cabin, not far from Walla Walla, in the Oregon country, stands Dr. Marcus Whit- man saying good-bye to his wife and his fellow mis- FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 73 sionaries and his Indian friends. He leaps to his horse and is off. With him ride a young man, Amos Lawrence Lovejoy, and an Indian guide. Several Indian friends mount their horses to go with him on this first day's trip, urging on the mules laden with supplies. It is early October. There in the mountains, the air is fresh with the feeling of coming fall. Through forests flecked here and there with red and gold, they ride. Starting up the partridge, frightening the deer, up and into the mountains they climb. The horses are tethered, the camp-fire built, supper cooked and eaten. Soundly they sleep until morning; they have come forty miles that day. Before sunrise they are up, kindling the fire, boiling the coffee. This done and breakfast eaten, the horses are saddled, the pack animals made ready and off they ride again. In eleven days they have reached Fort Hall, stopping only for rest at night and a quiet Sunday. Day after day Indians have passed them. When they have heard where Doctor Whitman is going, they have shaken their heads and told him not to go on. But Doctor Whitman has gone on. He is not one who turns back. Here at Fort Hall, however, Captain Grant of the trading post gives disturbing information. " The Pawnees and the Sioux are on the warpath. You will lose your life if you go on through their country. The snow in the mountains, too, is very deep. Turn back, or at least wait till spring." But Doctor Whitman will not turn back. Instead he turns his horse to a more southerly course through the " Spanish country " toward Santa F6, although this will make nearly a thousand miles more to travel. As they ride up into the mountains, blinding snowstorms and 74 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM deep snow keep them back, yet they push on to Fort Uintah. There they rest a while and change guides, before traveling on to their next stopping place at Fort Uncompahgre in what is now the state of Colorado. Young Lovejoy in letters has described their expe- rience in crossing the Rocky Mountains in winter. Hear his story: " When we had been out four or five days and were passing over high tablelands, we encountered a most terrific snow-storm, which forced us to seek shelter at once. A deep ravine being near by, we quickly made for it, but the snow fell so rapidly and the wind blew with such potence, that it was almost impossible to reach it. After reaching the ravine and cutting some cottonwood trees for our animals, we attempted such arrangements for camp as best we could under the circumstances, and remained snowed in for some three or four days, when the storm subsided, and it cleared off intensely cold. It was with much difficulty that we made our way up upon the highlands; the snow was so deep and the wind so piercing and cold, that we felt compelled to return to camp and wait a few days for a change of weather. " Our next effort was more successful, and after spend- ing several days wandering round in the snow without making much headway and greatly fatiguing our ani- mals to little or no purpose, our guide informed us that the deep snows had so changed the face of the country, that he was completely lost and could take us no farther. " This was a terrible blow to the Doctor. He was determined not to give up without another effort. And we at once agreed that the Doctor should take the guide and make his way back to the fort and procure a new FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 75 guide, and that I should remain in camp with the ani- mals until his return." For a whole week Lovejoy waited in that snow-bound camp, alone except for the pack animals and his faithful dog. The pass was unfrequented. It was possible that Dr. Whitman might not be able to reach the fort. It was possible, too, that returning he could not find him! Yet he did come at last, and Lovejoy goes on with his story thus: " We were soon under way on our route, traveling through the snows at rather a snail's pace. Nothing occurred of much importance other than hard and slow traveling until we reached, as our guide informed us, the Grand River, which was frozen, on either side, about one-third across. The current was so very rapid that the center of the stream remained open, although the weather was intensely cold. " This stream was one hundred and fifty or two hundred yards wide and looked upon by our guide as very dangerous to cross in its present condition. But the Doctor, nothing daunted, was the first to take the water. He mounted his horse, and the guide and my- self pushed them off the ice into the boiling, foaming stream. Away they went completely under water, horse and all, but directly came up and after buffeting the waves and foaming current, he made his way to the ice on the opposite side, a long way down the stream, and leaped from his horse upon the ice, and soon had his noble animal by his side. The guide and myself forced in the pack animals, followed the Doctor's ex- ample, and were soon drying our frozen clothes by a comfortable fire." l 'Quoted as in Mowry's " Marcus Whitman," p. 159. 76 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM At another time the Doctor, who had attempted to go on one morning, was forced by the blinding snow to find his camp, as the only hope of saving their lives. " But the drifting snow had totally obliterated every trace, and the air becoming almost as dark as night by the maddening storm, the Doctor saw that it would be impossible for any human being to find camp, and com- mending himself and his distant wife to his covenant- keeping God, he gave himself and his faithful guide and animals up to their snowy grave which was fast closing in on them, when the guide, observing the ears of one of the mules intently bent forward, sprang upon him, giving him the reins, exclaiming : ' This mule will find camp if he can live to reach it.' The Doctor mounted another and followed; the faithful animal kept down the divide a short distance, and then turned square down the steep mountain. Through deep snow- drifts, over frightful precipices, down, down he pushed, unguided and unurged as if he knew the lives of the two men and the fate of the great expedition depended upon his endurance and faithfulness and into the thick timber, and stopped suddenly over a bare spot, and , as the Doctor dismounted the Mexican was too far gone behold the very fireplace of their morning camp! Two brands of fire were yet alive and smoking. " At another time, with another guide, on the head- waters of the Arkansas, after traveling all day in a terrible storm, they reached a small river for camp, but without a stick of wood anywhere to be had except on the other side of the stream, which was covered with ice too thin^ to support a man erect. The storm cleared away, and the night bade fair to be intensely cold; besides they must have fire to prepare bread and FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 77 food. The Doctor took his axe in one hand and a willow stick in the other, laid himself upon the thin ice, and spreading his legs and arms he worked himself over on his breast, cut his wood and slid it over, and re- turned the same way. " That was the last time the Doctor enjoyed the luxury of his axe so indispensable at that season of the year in such a country. That night a wolf poked his nose under the foot of the bed where the axe had been placed for safe keeping, and took it off for a leather string that had been wrapped around the split helve." * The Indians 1 Appeal Several years before Dr. Marcus Whitman made this difficult journey four Nez Perces Indians walked from Oregon to St. Louis to ask for the white man's " Book of Heaven " and a " man near to God." At the end of the winter, with one instead of three braves, the chief started back along the trail. These were his words as he left: "I came to you over a trail of many moons from the setting sun. You were the friend of my fathers, who have all gone the long way. I came with one eye partly opened, for more light for my people who sit in darkness. I go back with both eyes closed. How can I go back blind to my blind people? I made my way to you with strong arms, through many ene- mies and strange lands, that I might carry back much to them. I go back with both arms broken and empty. The two fathers who came with me the braves of many winters and wars we leave asleep here by your great water. They were tired in many moons and their moccasins wore out. My people sent me to get the 1 Quoted as in Mowry'i "Marcus Whitman," pp. 159-160. 78 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM white man's Book from Heaven. You took me where you allow your women to dance as we do not ours, and the Book was not there. You took me where they worship the Great Spirit with candles, and the Book was not there. You showed me images of good spirits and pictures of the good land beyond, but the Book was not among them. I am going back the long, sad trail to my people of the dark land. You make my feet heavy with burdens of gifts and my moccasins will grow old in carrying them, but the Book is not among them. When I tell my poor blind people, after one more snow, in the big council, that I did not bring the Book, no word will be spoken by our old men or by our young braves. One by one they will rise up and go the long path to the other hunting grounds. No white man will go with them and no white man's Book to make the way plain. I have no more words." These men had seen the gleam and longed to follow it, yet they had no one to " go with them and no white man's Book to make the way plain." It is not hard to see why a man like Whitman answered their plea. He and his wife and the Rev. Mr. Spalding and Mrs. Spalding had been sent out to this Oregon country by the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions. Strange as it may seem to us, Oregon was then the foreign field. Seven years before they had gone the long trail over the plains and across the Great Divide. For seven years they had labored to make the way plain from " the white man's Book " to their Indian brothers. Now they were asked to leave them. Word had come from the Board at Boston asking that part of their work be discontinued. Whitman felt earnestly that, if the affairs of the mission were thoroughly understood, this FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 79 limitation of their work would not have to take place. He would ride across the continent and set the matter straight if he could. The Patriotic Purpose On the other hand, Marcus Whitman was a patriot. He believed that the Oregon country, so beautiful, fertile, and rich in resources, should belong to the United States, and that because so little was known of it there w T as danger that it would fall into the possession of Great Britain. If only people knew the value of the country, they would come to live in it, and if enough Americans settled in the territory, then it would strengthen the claim of the United States. He would ride in the winter so that he could return in the spring, bringing with him as many immigrants as he could. He would do all he could to persuade our national government not to give up Oregon to the British. If he waited until spring it might be too late. What Came of the Ride To accomplish these two purposes he endured all the peril and hardship of the ride. That the American Board reconsidered its decision regarding the Oregon Mission as a result of Dr. Whitman's visit is very clear. That Dr. Whitman did anything at all to win Oregon for the United States has been disputed. However, the best authorities believe that Marcus Whitman was the one who did most in winning the Oregon country, although he was not, of course, wholly responsible for the great stream of immigration that passed into Oregon the summer of 1843. Many people had thought of going to Oregon before this, but they had not gone, 80 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM because they had heard that it was impossible to take wagons over the mountains the other side of Fort Hall down to the valleys of the Willamette and the Columbia rivers. If they could not take wagons, they could not take their wives and children and supplies over the mountains. Consequently settlements would be out of the question. Here Whitman's testimony that he had taken his wagon over the mountains seven years before and his word that he was going to return by that route in the spring proved of vast importance. Because of his word, many were encouraged to make the attempt. Everywhere Whitman went he talked about Oregon and the outlook for prosperity there. Certain it was that he guided nearly one thousand immigrants, with their wagons, cattle and sheep, across the divide and into the new country, proving that reaching Oregon by wagon was possible. Other caravans of pioneers followed until the presence of so many Americans in the territory made it true American soil. In 1846 by treaty with Great Britain, the Oregon territory south of the forty-ninth parallel came into possession of the United States. Pilgrims and Puritans, through their descendants, had at last established their claim to pos- sess the land " from sea to sea." Surely the heroic missionary and Christian patriot, Marcus Whitman, deserves a place of honor among all followers of the gleam, these builders of states whose good shall be indeed crowned with brotherhood and become the king- dom of God. TO THE PUPIL The story of the Iowa Band is told by one of their number, Ephraim Adams. The life of Marcus Whitman written by Mowry is full of fascinating adventures. FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA 81 QUESTIONS 1. What qualities make a good football or basket-ball player? 2. Why do athletic teams practise and train before a contest? 3. Why do athletic teams need team work? 4. What was the contest the Iowa Band played? 5. How was it trained for work? 6. How did it carry on its team work? 7. What was one great victory? 8. Show why you think their game was worth winning. 9. What experiences did Dr. Marcus Whitman have on liis ride from Oregon? 10. What were his two reasons for taking the ride? 11. What kind of man do you think Dr. Whitman was? 12. What was Dr. Whitman's vision of Oregon's future? 13. What did Dr. Whitman's daring ride accomplish? 14. Why was the work of the Iowa Band and Dr. Whitman im- portant for the extension of democracy? VI INTO ALL THE WORLD " Though you and I are very little beings, we must not rest satisfied till we have made our influence extend to the remotest corner of this ruined world." Samuel J. Mills. The A. B. C. F. M.! What does this row of letters signify? Do you know? Marcus Whitman knew, and knew that they stood for a way by which our influence could extend to the remotest corner of the world. Does that seem impossible? This chapter will show you that it is not; that Samuel Mills did do it; that we can. A Man with a Vision Samuel J. Mills, though only a freshman at Williams College in the year 1806, became a leader amongst his fellows within a few weeks after his entrance. He was not handsome. His skin was sallow, his voice hoarse, his figure awkward, and his manners unattractive. He did not win prominence in scholarship. He took no honors at graduation. He was not an eloquent speaker. Yet he was a leader, and his influence has extended into the whole world. Why? He was a man with a vision. A college friend wrote of him, " He has a great heart and great designs." He was filled with enthusiasm for this ideal. He not only gave himself loyally to following it, but he also helped others to see this gleam and follow it too. What was it? Under the Haystack With certain of his friends it was his habit to meet for prayer. On one particularly hot August Saturday INTO ALL THE WORLD 83 afternoon only five men came to the grove of maples near the river for their weekly circle of prayer. Besides Samuel Mills there were James Richards and Harvey Loomis, who were also freshmen, and Francis L. Robbins and Byram Green, who were sophomores. Heavy black clouds piled up in the west; soon it lightened and thundered. Quickly leaving the grove they found shelter from the driving rain under a haystack in the neighboring field, and waiting there for the storm to pass, they talked of Asia. They had been studying it in their regular course in geography, which in those days was a college subject, and all were much interested in it and in the East India Company, which was just opening up that great continent for trade. They discussed the great darkness of that land and the degradation of the people. Here was just the opportunity Samuel Mills had been waiting for. Now he would tell them of his ideal. " Why not send India the story of the love of God in Jesus Christ and let the people know how he is able to save men from misery and sin? " he asked. He talked long and eagerly, for they raised all kinds of objections. Finally he said in answer to their objec- tions, " We can do it, if we will! " The Brethren This was the vision that shone before Samuel Mills: he would have all men everywhere know God through Jesus Christ. This vision he would give his life to making real. " We can do it if we will." Did he succeed? Well, what followed? First of all, immediately, there under the haystack, as the five friends talked it over, three agreed with him; yet one argued that before missionaries were sent, civilization ought to be carried; otherwise the missionaries 84 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM might be murdered. At last Mills said, " Come, let us make it a subject of prayer under the haystack, while the dark clouds are going and the clear sky is coming." All believed in prayer, and one after another prayed that God would make real their vision. Week by week these prayer meetings went on, during the pleasant days out of doors, during the winter in a kindly neighbor's kitchen. With the others who joined their group, all the scraps of information about foreign missions were eagerly sought and discussed. What they knew of William Carey, the first missionary in India, who had been there only about fourteen years, must have been eagerly talked of as they sat in each other's rooms on the campus, or took long tramps in the woods. Eventually there grew up the first missionary society, " The Brethren," a very different society from those which we know about today, for the members of this society had as their purpose not sending others but going themselves. They not only prayed that God would make their vision real ; they gave him their lives to use in bringing it about. As Mills and others of the Brethren at Williams, in order to carry out their purpose of becoming missionaries, must study for the ministry, they went to Andover Seminary. There they found others, especially Adoniram Judson of Brown, Samuel Nott of Union, and Samuel Newell of Harvard, who, like themselves, had thought of the needs of Asia. Since they had made carrying forward this work of foreign missions their life purpose too, they admitted them into the Society of the Brethren. These young men often wondered, though, " How they should preach except they be sent? " Judson thought of applying to one of the two British societies which sent out missionaries, but Mills felt it would be a disgrace to America not to support its INTO ALL THE WORLD 85 own foreign missionaries. He would have the leaders of the churches, " the fathers, rise up and take the business of missions into their own hands." Advised by their seminary professors, they laid their plan before the General Association of Congregational Churches of Massachusetts. Only four names, those of Adoniram Judson, Jr., Samuel Nott, Jr., Samuel J. Mills, and Samuel Newell, appeared on the petition. Luther Rice and James Richards wished to sign it, but they were advised not to because it was feared the sight of so many names might alarm the associa- tion. Stating their purpose they asked whether they had best abandon it or whether the churches would form a missionary society to send them out. This query was answered by the formation of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1810. Into all the World On February 8, 1812, at Salem, five missionaries were ordained, Samuel Nott, Adoniram Judson, Gordon Hall, Samuel Newell, and Luther Rice. Where was Samuel Mills, that first volunteer for Foreign Missionary Service? Surely he would be one of the first to go. How did this happen? In the first place, his friends tell us that he be- lieved Gordon Hall to be better fitted than he to have the honor of going to the field; in the second place, we know that the Brethren believed Mills specially fitted to stay at home and interest the people in the churches so that they would support those who would go out to the field, and also urge other young men to give their lives to this work. Bravely and quietly, sacrificing the dearest dream of his life, an active part in carrying the gospel to other lands, in order that the vision itself might be more splendidly real- ized, he stayed at home. In his sacrifice, by his absolute 86 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM devotion to this purpose, he became a mighty power in carrying forward the work of foreign missions, and greatly aroused America at home to the needs of missionary work in the frontier states and the cities. Truly the influence of his life as it touched and influenced other lives has been felt all around the world to the " remotest corner." The Work They Started For over a hundred years the American Board of Com- missioners for Foreign Missions has been at work. In 1812 they sent out five missionaries; in 1916 there were six hundred sixty-one missionaries on the field; forty-six were appointed to go for a lifetime of service and six others were sent to serve for a term of years; in all a total of seven hundred thirteen. In 1812 the churches raised $13,611.50; in 1916 the total sum was $1,207,126.54. In 1813 there was one mission established; in 1916 the Board had nine- teen missions in which there are 106 stations with 1,461 out-stations. Associated today with the American Board are the three women's boards, the Woman's Board of Mis- sions, with its headquarters in Boston, the Woman's Board of Missions of the Interior, with headquarters at Chicago, and the Woman's Board of Missions for the Pacific, with its headquarters in San Francisco. Early in its years of service the American Board discovered that there was work which only women could do for the women and chil- dren in these non-Christian lands, work which the mis- sionary wives had not time and strength to undertake. Therefore the Board asked the women and children of the Congregational churches to undertake this work as specially theirs. So the Woman's Boards were organized, pledging themselves each year to raise a certain part of the money needed by the American Board. This amounts to one INTO ALL THE WORLD 87 third of the whole sum expended by the American Board each year. Thus the Woman's Boards and the children support the unmarried women who go out as missionaries under the American Board, and support the work they do in the schools for girls, in kindergartens, in hospitals for women, and in carrying into their homes the good news of the love God has for women as well as men and his will for them. Missions and Democracy Now statistics showing the results of foreign missions mean nothing until we realize that each unit represented in the total is a person with all that person's love, courage, hope, strength and service, or their opposites, hate, fear, weakness, selfishness, laziness. It is only when we begin to see the difference made in individual lives by knowing Jesus, and then through them the difference wrought in whole communities, that we begin to appreciate what the figures mean and understand something of the great ac- complishment of foreign missions. Then we see that it is not by chance that the least progressive nations are those which are not Christian. We become convinced that there is, in fellowship with Jesus and in following his program for the life of men, a power which transforms men and brings the kingdom of God to earth. The rest of this chapter will attempt to show this transforming power of the gleam. If You were an African Girl Let us visit South Africa first, and enter the hut which a Zulu boy or girl calls home. It is round and made of thatch. Down you must go on your knees and crawl in on the hard dirt floor. You cough and sneeze with the smoke from the fire in the center. There is only one 88 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM opening, the door by which you have entered. All the light there is comes from this and from the fire. As your eyes grow accustomed to the dark you may see in the corner a hen with her chickens. A low " moo " may frighten you a bit and, as you look about startled, there in another dark corner you may discover a calf. On mats on the floor are the children, squatting around the fire waiting for their supper. If you are an African girl, you have hard work to do; you have the meal to grind and the food to prepare for the men and boys; you have the wood and water to fetch; all the garden to plant and care for. It is work, work, work. Never will there be any end of it for you! You cannot do anything else if you wish, for you are the property of your father or brother and he may sell you in exchange for cattle at any time to be one of the wives of some neighbor. There it will be just more hard work. Life is always full of fear. In the dark are many evil spirits who will do you harm. If you are sick and you often are because no one tells you, and you do not know, the simple, every-day ways of keeping well then the witch doctor must come, and though he does all sorts of things to frighten away the spirit which brings the pain, he cannot make it any less. Sometimes it goes away by it- self, but often it does not. There's just no use! Now, would it make any difference to you, if you were an African girl, to know that there are no spirits in the dark to harm you, that the only spirit round about us all is the loving God who cares for every one? Wouldn't it make a differ- ence to you if you could go to the mission school? There life would be very different from your old home, for it would be happy and full of love. You would have to work, of course, in order to learn how to care for yourself and your clothes, to sew, to wash, to cook, and to work in the INTO ALL THE WORLD 89 fields. Yet you would learn to read, so that for yourself you could read the stories of Jesus, and there would be songs and games and all sorts of happy times. Then you would not mind the work, for you would remember that even though you were a girl, there was love for you, and hope for better things, and a way to be strong to conquer yourself. Perhaps when you grew older, you would become a teacher of other girls like the girl you once were, and help them to understand all the love you now know. Per- haps you would one day have a home of your own one, oh, so different from that in which you lived as a little girl. Life for you then would be sweet. You would have seen the gleam and following it, would let it shine forth to others, that it might guide them, too. If You were a Boy of India Now suppose you were a boy, in India. Would you go to school? You might, if there were a school to which you could go, but more probably you wouldn't, for there are not schools enough for all the children, especially out in the country districts. You might not even know what one was. However, one day you and your friends might be surprised to find a " school " opened by the stranger who had recently come to your village. How you would flock there, and, squatting in a circle on the floor, how you would listen to all his stories! Day after day you would go. But there would come a time when you would know all that your young teacher could teach you, and then how you would long to go to the distant city where he had been taught. Perhaps some day you would follow this gleam. You would set out on this great adventure with your precious treasures carried in a bundle on your back. You might have to walk as many as ten days before you could 90 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM stand at the gate of the " School " and tell them you had come. Yet when at last you did, why did they not swing wide the gates? What was this they said to you? " What have you brought to pay for your school days? " Alas! you had brought nothing. Then they might say sad words. The school was already more than full; there was no way in which you could be cared for. Then back you must trudge, heartbroken, to your village because there was no room. Just suppose you were this boy! But perhaps you are allowed to enter the new life of the school. What is it you study? What does the school work mean? Of course, all study English. Now this means more than just mastering the alphabet and pronouncing words properly, for the words stand for ideas, you know, so that, by studying English and read- ing English books, these school boys and girls too are learning English ideas and ideals. They come upon the words patriotism, freedom, citizenship, congress, rep- resentatives. Learning what these mean makes them think. To learn English, you see, means to come into touch with the ideas which have made the world prog- ress. Perhaps this Hindu boy who has always been taught that educating a girl is like putting a knife in the hands of a monkey, comes upon this in his reading, " The woman's cause is man's; they rise or fall together bond or free." That is a startling idea to him. He has to think hard over it. The study of science and geog- raphy upset some rather curious notions about the sacredness of the Ganges. He has thought that, as it has its source in the left foot of one of the gods, it is therefore a sacred stream which will sanctify all who bathe in it. Every day in school it is as if many new windows and doors are opened before him through which INTO ALL THE WORLD 91 he can look at the world. Not only the eyes and brains but the hands also are being trained. Boys have thought that labor with the hands was for women, that as men they must not so degrade themselves. Yet in these mission schools they are taught to work, to make good roads, to build houses and furniture, to take better care of farms and get better crops, to make clothes and shoes, to run printing-presses, to do all kinds of work, and feel that work is honorable. Opening Doors There are three ways in which this side of their school life is important. The first is the practical relief this training gives to the every-day life of the people. The greatest number of the people whom our missionaries reach are very poor. Most of them in Africa and India and a great many of them in Turkey make their living in agriculture, and as they do not know some of the best methods, their crops are not very large. Whenever a bad year causes a failure of their crops, they are near famine and starvation. So they are shown that simply using an American steel plough, which does more than merely scratch the surface as the native plough does, will make the same field bear three times as much wheat, and that ploughing before the rain comes, to break up the hard-baked surface of the ground so that the mois- ture will sink deep, also does much to increase the yield. Methods of dry farming and silage are taught, too. By all of these ways much is done to prevent the famines which so often sweep over the country. Boys and girls trained in these schools are better equipped to face the problems of earning their living and becoming inde- pendent self-respecting men and women. The second 92 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM way in which this industrial training is important is that it helps to build Christian character. Legs of chairs and tables must be exactly right or they will wobble uncomfortably. " Near enough " won't do. Machinery is mercilessly accurate; the witness of the yardstick and the clock is not to be disputed. Thus these boys and girls of the lands where " near enough " has long been the custom, are brought to realize the beauty of absolute accuracy, truthfulness, and honor. They are helped to form habits of work and overcome the liking for inactivity and selfish ease. But the most important aspect of their school life is that through it they gain a new idea of what God is, and what he wishes them to be. They learn to think of him as a Father who loves them, who is pure and righteous, and who desires all men to love him, to become like him, and to love and serve their fellowmen. They learn what God is because they learn to know Jesus. They accept Jesus as their master, and loyally they follow him, trying in their lives to show his spirit. They find strength to overcome their selfishness, their fear, their untruthfulness, their anger. They behold the gleam which has led the mis- sionaries over there God's love for men and his will that all men should serve each other lovingly. They follow the gleam, too; and so they go out from the schools back into their own places letting the love of God shine through them so that in their lives and by their service others may catch its gleam and follow too. In this way all the world shall become radiant with God's spirit. Thus you see that the third great service of these mission schools in the non-Christian lands, the greatest service of all, is that through these leaders who are trained to carry on for Jesus the work just begun INTO ALL THE WORLD 93 are built the new little Christian homes which will make by and by the Christian towns and villages, and finally the Christian states. Thus God's kingdom is established. A Ministry of Healing But there is still another kind of missionary work. Just suppose you had a very bad pain indeed, a stomach ache, or maybe more serious than that, a case of ap- pendicitis. If you were in China, the Chinese doctor would come and finding out where your pain was, would run a long needle into the spot so that the devil who was making all the trouble there might get out. Or suppose you were an Indian boy and fell boys some- times do and broke your arm or leg. Perhaps your arm or leg would mend by itself, but more likely it would not, and you could not use it again. You would then have to beg for a living. If you were a girl, you would be the servant of all in the house. Or, suppose that like ever and ever so many boys and girls in these non-Christian lands you were blind, just because your mother had not known how to keep your eyes clean when you were a tiny baby. And blind boys and girls in those non-Christian lands have nothing to look for- ward to but beggary or slavery. Surely it would make some difference to you would it not? if you could go to the missionaries' hospitals and there be cared for tenderly and made well again if that were possible. In India, for example, ninety out of every hundred people die without being able to go to a doctor, and people are sick chiefly because they do not know the simplest rules for health. Besides, before the Christian doctors came themselves and trained other doctors and nurses, the only doctors they knew were of no real use, 94 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM and often made matters worse, for most of their remedies were based on the idea that evil spirits were causing the pain and would have to be frightened off. Nothing was done for the blind, the deaf, the cripples, the little orphan children, not until the people in the non-Chris- tian lands followed the example set by the Christian missionaries. These deeds of theirs speak of love in a language that people could not fail to understand. The tale is told of a rough Kurdish chief in Turkey who had a very sore foot. He finally went to Dr. Shepard's hospital in Aintab. There the dirty wrappings were removed by a trained nurse. His foot was bathed. The hands of the doctor himself removed the sore and kept the foot clean until it was well. Why had these stran- gers done for him what no one of his own family would stoop to do? He could not solve the riddle. While getting well, he listened to the tales they told him of one, Jesus, who on earth went about doing good. Then he learned why, and he is not likely to forget that they did it for him because they loved Jesus. In the hos- pitals, therefore, hurt bodies are healed, and to each one is given also the good news Jesus brought of the love which will heal the heart and make new and joyous the life. It would be interesting to go on with accounts of the other work done by those who have followed the gleam into all the world; how they are establishing training schools for doctors and nurses, how they are preventing the spread of plagues and epidemics of disease by quar- antine and vaccination, and even preventing disease itself, by teaching the laws of health and right living and the importance of clean cities and towns; how they are busy at work in the larger cities through settle- INTO ALL THE WORLD 95 ments and clubs for the boys and girls as well as older people employed in the factories; how they have led and do lead in all sorts of reforms, against the slave trade, the opium traffic, foot-binding, infanticide; and how the people of the non-Christian nations, even though they do not accept Jesus as their Lord, are imitating his loving care for the aged, the sick, the blind, the deaf, the lepers. A Roll of Honor The adventures of our missionary leaders thrill us. Do you know how Cyrus Hamlin baked bread for an army? Do you know how Joseph Hardy Neesima came to America as a stowaway and returned to Japan to found a Christian College? Do you know how Eli Smith and Harrison Gray Otis Dwight disguised in oriental robes, turbans, and enormous Tartar stockings and boots, set out from Constantinople and traveled eastward through Persia, on a tour of exploration lasting a year and a quarter, having all sorts of exciting ex- periences and bringing back with them such a fund of information about the region they had visited that it is of practical value today? Do you know of David Churchill's loom in India which makes three times as much cloth an hour as its nearest competitor and thus enables these native weavers to compete somewhat more successfully with the cloths imported from England and Scotland? There's the story of Mrs. Mary K. Edwards, too, the first missionary of the Woman's Board, who in South Africa has long been an authority on crops and fertilizers, has installed an irrigation system, and when over seventy took a correspondence course in nursing in order to help her girls. Do you know the story of 96 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM how Peter Parker, the first distinctively medical mis- sionary ever sent to the field by any American or English-speaking society, " opened China at the point of the lancet "? Do you know how out of gratitude the native princes of India have built a wonderful hos- pital in Madura where Dr. Frank Van Allen carries on his work? But we cannot go on with this list for the roll of honor is long indeed. You will have to explore for yourselves and learn the rest of this glorious story. Perhaps, however, enough has been told to show the splendor of the gleam which Samuel J. Mills and these others have followed, and which through them shines into all the world. TO THE PUPIL The inspiring story of Mills is told by Thomas C. Richards in Samuel J. Mitts Missionary, Pathfinder, Pioneer and Promoter. QUESTIONS 1. What was the vision which came to Samuel J. Mills? 2. What happened at a Haystack in Williamstown to make it famous all over the world? 3. How did the "Brethren " carry out their plans? 4. How did the A. B. C. F. M. begin? 5. Pretend you were an African girl; tell what going to a mission school and learning to know Jesus would mean to you. 6. Suppose you were a boy in India; tell about your adventures at school and what you would like to do afterward. 7. Imagine yourself a blind girl or a crippled boy at a hospital; what would you tell your family after you reached home? 8. Tell the story of a missionary you admire. 9. How are missionaries helping to establish democracy and the era of brotherhood in all the world? 10. How can a person's influence reach the farthest corner of the world? VII FOR FREEDOM " Isn't it jolly to be a mounted soldier in the service of the Lord?" General Samuel C. Armstrong. Wartimes When Samuel Armstrong was in college he said he thought he would become either a missionary or a pirate. Instead he became a but read the story and see. During one spring vacation while visiting his brother in New York, he wrote to his home in Hawaii: "It is no easy thing to compose oneself at this time. War is the only thing talked about, and almost the only thing done is getting up regiments and making uniforms for the soldiers. Thousands wear badges of one kind and another on their breast, indicating allegiance to the flag. The infants in the nurses' arms hold in their tiny hands the Stars and Stripes, and small boys stick little flags all over themselves; the drays and carts of all descriptions display the Union flag, and in every imaginable place the star- spangled banner is ' flung to the breeze.' " Though not written in 1917 it sounds very mjuch like those days just after the United States joined the Allies in the Great War to win the victory for democracy. This was written in 1861, when there was going on in the United States, between two sections of its people, a struggle to preserve the Union, a test whether a nation based on demo- cratic principles could endure. Armstrong's letter home goes on: "I shall go to the war if I am needed, but not till then; were I an American as I am a Hawaiian, I should be off in a hurry. Next term 98 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM it will be hard to remain at Williamstown, and harder yet to study." So Samuel Armstrong returned to Williamstown and Williams College, whither he had come from Hawaii the January before. His father and mother were missionaries of the American Board of Hawaii, and Armstrong had been born and brought up there. You would like to hear his account of those wonderfully happy days of his boyhood, the sailing and swimming and camping out and all the other good times, but that, as Kipling tells us, is another story. Perhaps you will read it for yourselves. At any rate, as Armstrong did not consider himself a citizen of the United States, he went back to college to prepare for his future work. Just what that was going to be he did not know. Laughingly he said he would turn out to be a missionary or a pirate. But underneath all his fun there was a serious purpose, for in another letter we find him writing: " I look forward with joy to a life of doing good." He went on with his college duties in the midst of all the war discussion and excitement. Just as the college stu- dents of 1917 did, so did those of 1861. " I haven't told you," he wrote, " that the students are all drilling in military maneuvers. Each class is formed into a company and drills once or twice a day it's good fun. We sent to Governor Andrews for muskets, but he won't let us have any at present." With the Colors By and by, especially toward the close of his senior year, he began to feel the excitement of the war more keenly. General McClellan had met the Confederates in two battles, Fair Oaks on May 31st and Gaines's Mills on June 30th, and the Union Army had been severely defeated. Those FOR FREEDOM 99 of you who have studied the history of these days of Civil War, remember that General McClellan declared the rea- son for his defeat was lack of support, and demanded more soldiers. You remember, too, that when President Lincoln issued his call for troops, all over the country young men responded, " We're coming, Father Abraham, three hun- dred thousand strong." After graduation, Sam Armstrong was one of these. As educated young men were much needed for officers, he followed the suggestion made by a classmate and went to Troy, New York, to recruit. He built a shanty on one of the public squares, and had a large sign stuck up, put posters around, and began to enlist men for a company which he would command as captain. He gained his quota first, so he was sworn in as Senior Captain of the 125th New York. " August 9, 1862. " I am in sole charge of a regiment of men! The regi- ment is not yet completed by far, but I am officer of the day; the adjutant and colonel have left. It is nine o'clock P. M., and I am in command. I am Captain Armstrong, not yet commissioned, but hope to be when my company is filled up. I have now fifty odd men eighty-five is the minimum. I am seated in the Commander's tent; my chair rests on the ground; I write by the light of a lantern. I have on a sword and sash and military overcoat. The tents stretch across the field at a little distance and look beautiful. This is strange enough for me. I have secured my position by the fairest means. Such a life I never led before how this recruiting business lets one into human nature it is the best school I ever had." By the end of August they were off. Armstrong thor- oughly enjoyed this sort of life. He was a good captain 100 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM too, as this little incident which his brother tells shows. While he was talking with him as they were camped in City Hall Park on their way through New York, one of his men asked, " I say, Captain, where can I get a drink of water? " Armstrong started off to get it. When his brother said he didn't think it was very good military discipline for the captain to be running round for water for his men, Armstrong answered, " The men must have water. I'm bound to see that they get it." He shared all the difficulties and hardships of his men. In a dangerous place he thought only of them and took the most dangerous place himself. He looked out for their comfort in every way, finding the best places possible for them to spend the night, getting them hot coffee wherever he could, and stay- ing with them in hard times, not scooting off with other captains to find more pleasant quarters. He exacted strict discipline, but the men obeyed him and followed him loyally. The Young Captain's Purpose The first engagement in which Armstrong and his men took part was that in which " Stonewall " Jackson captured Harper's Ferry. After some months on parole he was back in Virginia as part of the Reserves of the Army of the Potomac. After the defeat of General Burnside at Fred- ericksburg, December 17, there were anxious times. He frequently changed camp, and knew the discomfort of cold and snow and night marches, as well as the pleasanter side of camp life with his comrades round the campfire. The constant danger he faced made him grow more serious, and he began to feel more sure of his own part in the great struggle. Up to this time men had been fighting to pre- serve the Union of the States, but with Abraham Lincoln's proclamation that after January 1, 1863, all the negro race FOR FREEDOM 101 should be freed from slavery, men fought to preserve a union of states in which there was no slavery, in which " all men were born free and equal." That Christmas Eve of 1862, just before the Emancipa- tion Proclamation was to have effect, Armstrong sat in his tent writing on an old box-cover his letter home. Out- side snow was falling; men were busy building huts and fires, laughing and shouting at their work. " What to do as things now look I don't know what am I fighting for? But the first day of January is at hand possibly the greatest day in American history when the sons of Africa shall be free. To wait until that day I am content and then I shall know for what I am contending for freedom and for the oppressed. I shall then be willing to go into the fight, and you will feel less grieved if I fall for such a cause. You and I will then have occasion to con- gratulate ourselves that our family is represented in the greatest struggle of modern times for the most sacred principles." That last sentence has in it the spirit of the boys of 1917. About the same time he wrote a college friend: " Chum, I am a sort of abolitionist, but I haven't learned to love the negro. I believe in universal freedom; I believe the whole world cannot buy a single soul. The Almighty has set or rather limited the price of one man, and until worlds can be paid for a single negro, I don't believe in selling or buying them. I go in then for freeing them, more on account of their souls than their bodies, I assure you." Under Fire Armstrong's first trial of real warfare was the Battle of Gettysburg. The events of the battle and its important results we know from history. Armstrong's part in it we 102 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM learn from his letters to his mother. You will want to hear him tell about it. " Battlefield near Gettysburg. " The night before the battle we lay out in the woods, five miles from Gettysburg. All was quiet, and as I was lying on my back in the open air, looking up into the sky through the tall and leafy oak trees, I wondered what would happen on the morrow. ... I felt no quaking, but an anxiety for my own future condition and for those who loved me on earth. I soon fell asleep and slept soundly. " On the 2nd of July we were drawn up between two batteries (one Confederate, one Union) and sustained a severe cannonade, lying on our faces in an orchard that is, most of us. I preferred to take my chance standing and watching the fight and seeing the skirmishers and sharp- shooters pick each other off. After some time, about five P.M., our brigade was marched off to the left center, formed into line and charged into a valley full of Rebs, who were sheltered by a dense growth of underbrush. " As we advanced with fixed bayonets and began to fire, they yelled out from among the trees, ' Don't fire on your own men! ' We ceased firing, and the Rebs who had so deceived us gave us ' Hail Columbia ' and dropped some of our best men. Those fellows were the famous ' Louisi- ana Tigers ' but we rushed at them with fixed bayonets, drove them out of the brush and then plunged our fire into them as they ran. . . . The bullets whistled by me by scores, but I didn't mind them, though all the while per- fectly conscious of what might happen. Well, we peppered away at them and charged furiously and drove them like sheep. But we were ordered to fall back . . . and re- turned in order to our old ground. " This was our first fight my first; a long and great FOR FREEDOM 103 curiosity was satisfied. Men fell dead all around me. The sergeant who stands behind me when in line was killed and heaps were wounded. In the charge after the Rebs I was pleasantly, though perhaps dangerously, situated. I did not allow a man to get ahead of me. " Next day I was sent to the line of skirmishers with my division (two companies). It was an ugly place - the two lines lay about one hundred yards apart, rather less in some places, and the sharpshooters were butchering each other to no purpose whatever. Both were crouched down flat on their faces behind fences or in the grass, and away they popped all the morning; I took position on the advanced line, lying down behind some rails; but I was often on my feet to give orders, and then I would always hear bullets whistle over and past me. Finally we were ordered to charge the Rebel skirmishers. It was a foolish order a fatal one. I led that charge, if anyone did, jumping to my feet and waving my sword for the men to follow, and rushing toward the sharpshooters, some of whom ran on our approach, while others waited to pick off a few of us. There were four captains in that charge; two were killed near me and one wounded. I escaped though I was within fifty yards of the Rebs. We drove them and broke their line, but they rallied in great force and de- liberately advanced. Then it was hot. The bullets flew like hail over my head and it was not safe lying down. Many were hit near me, and after nearly all our men had fallen back, I ran back to the former line, which we held. . . . Finally the Rebels came out of the woods in three long lines several hundred yards apart, with glittering bayonets and battle flags flying. [This was Pickett's charge.] It was grand to see those 104 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM masses coming up, and I trembled for our cause. I rushed to the skirmish line, saw our opportunity (I was then with the reserves) returned and assembled the reserves, and with the men and officers of the Eighth Ohio Volunteers hurried toward the flank of the Rebel lines and gave them fits. Then it was grand. I'll tell you my fix. I was exposed to the fire of our own artillery from the rear, from the Rebel batteries in front, and from the musketry of their line of battle. Many around me were hit, but Providence spared me, although I was in advance and, if anybody did, led that attack. . . . But I cannot describe the battlefield. ... I may say here to you that I have made what inward prep- aration I can for death. I keep a little volume of Psalms with me and strive to act the soldier of Christ. Don't be anxious for me. The God above does all things well. There are more battles to be fought and I must fight. My sensations in battle are not strange. I feel simply resolved to do my best, to lead my men, and to accept my fate like a man." A Colonel of Colored Troops This battle was a turning-point in history. It was also a crisis in Armstrong's life. The great battle showed him a deeper side of life. Of the five officers in his charge on the Rebel flank, he alone returned. For what had he been spared? It tested his will-power, his ability to plan and carry out an action, and to control himself when in great danger. He became more devoted than ever to the cause of the black man's freedom. " There are more battles to be fought and I must fight." Before long, while he was north on recruiting service, the idea of commanding black troops took firm FOR FREEDOM 105 hold of his mind. In November he passed the exam- inations, one of four out of the eighty-five who took them, which entitled him to be a colonel of colored troops. He and the other officers, in undertaking this work, believed in the negroes; others did not. They risked their reputation as generals if the negroes failed to make good troops. Besides this, in battle, as the popular way of wording the decree of the Confederate Congress went, " no quarter would be given to ' nigger ' officers." On the last night which he spent with his old regi- ment he wrote of his new work as follows: " I go to untried scenes, but with no fear to meet the future. The negro troops have not yet entirely proved themselves good soldiers, but if the negroes can be made to fight well, then is the question of their freedom settled. " I tell you the present is the grandest time the world ever saw. The African race is before the world, unex- pectedly to all, and all mankind are looking to see whether the African will show himself equal to the op- portunity before him. And what is the opportunity? It is to demonstrate to the world that he is a man, that he has the highest elements of manhood, courage, perseverance and honor; that he is not only worthy of freedom, but able to win it, so he has a chance." Armstrong was eager that the African should have his chance. He knew how all men respected heroism and military success. He felt sure that if the negroes could show they had these qualities they would be made free; they would show they were too noble for slaves. Nations would despise a country for enslaving men who had saved her own independence. For these reasons he con- 106 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM eluded, " I gladly lend myself to the experiment, to this issue. It will yet be a grand thing to have been identified with this negro movement." In December he took charge of six companies of the Ninth Regiment United States Colored Troops and ,worked hard. He insisted on a high standard of neatness in the camp and in individual quarters. He always made his tent look as attractive as possible and his men naturally followed his example. Trees were set out to shade the company streets, which were kept nicely sanded. When his men went to the hospital he visited them there. At Christ- mas the officers subscribed money to purchase an ox, which was roasted whole for the regiment. In those days there were no Y. M. C. A. huts for the soldiers, so the officers organized games and sports, such as sack racing, climbing a greased pole, a greased pig chase, trials of strength at rope pulling, etc. " My regiment," says Armstrong, " won all the prizes and had during the day three times as much sport as any other. The men said they had never had such a Christmas before. The roast ox was eaten for supper. During the after- noon I had most of the officers get horses. Some got horses, some got colts, some got mules, and I drilled the squad at parade ground, also ran races and cut up gen- erally; had a high old time. " I feel more in my element since being a mounted officer. [In Hawaii as a boy Armstrong was exceedingly fond of long gallops on his horse.] I have got along finely with my regiment. Have the finest camp in the brigade, and the Ninth is acknowledged to lead the rest. The regiment next us had six weeks' start of us and today they are not over one week ahead of us in drill and far behind us in everything else. We expect to FOR FREEDOM 107 beat everything around in everything, and we are in a fair way to do it." Soon after this a school was opened for these colored soldiers, and Colonel Armstrong was made president of the " college." " An old secesh tobacco barn, cleaned out, ventilated, and illuminated by a few tallow candles; well seated and holds five hundred men " that was his description of it. The school was held two hours by day and two hours in the evening. The soldiers groped after the very least bit of knowledge. Most were only learning their letters, but they made remarkable progress. " At such time," Armstrong wrote, " one realizes the curse that has been upon them. Slavery makes brutes of men and then refuses to give them freedom because they are so brutish." Armstrong became more and more enthusiastic over his work. "It is no sacrifice for me to be here; it is rather a glorious opportunity, and I would be nowhere else than here if I could, and nothing else than an officer of colored troops if I could. ... I have felt, and do feel, like a very apostle of human liberty strik- ing the deadliest possible blow at oppression; and what duty is more glorious than. that?" A New Challenge Led by such a commander, it is no wonder that the troops proved themselves all he hoped they would be. The more he saw of them and the better he understood them, the more he came to value their good qualities. Often and often he pondered over the question of their future. It would not be enough to free their bodies. He was fighting to free their souls. Whining this war would free their bodies, but if there were nothing more 108 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM than this done for them, they would be in an even greater slavery. They had not learned that control, that mastery of self, which makes men really free. Nor could they earn their own livings; they were apt to be lazy and happy-go-lucky. They were ignorant. They would not be able to take an intelligent part in the affairs of the community, the state, and the nation. They would still be slaves to their own worst selves. Surely they deserved a chance. He had tested their courage in battle. He had proved their loyalty and devotion. He had learned the strength of their affec- tion. No wonder the young colonel was proud of their splendid showing in an engagement where, owing to his enforced absence in the hospital, they were led by another. He wrote to his mother about it thus: " My regiment was sent alone and unsupported to attack a tremendously powerful fort supported by two other strong forts, and also by a heavy line of breastworks [This was Fort Gilman, one of the main defenses of Richmond, which the Union armies were at that time besieging], and before the immense line was a very large, deep ditch and slashed timber for over half a mile, making it almost impossible even to get to the enemy's lines. The Ninth went in nobly, was raked and cut to pieces, and finally fell back before a hellish fire of grape, canister, shrapnel, and shell from these forts. To go forward would have been certain destruction. The negroes never turned their backs, but walked steadily ' into the mouth of hell ' until the commanding officer ordered a retreat. About one-third of the regiment wa hors de combat. No men were ever braver than these slaves of Maryland. I was, of course, absent, but the officers of the regiment were heard, after they came FOR FREEDOM 109 back, to curse the general who managed them so badly and to ' thank God Colonel Armstrong was not there, for if he had been there they would all have been in hell or in Richmond/ They don't expect to get the order from me to retreat." Do you wonder that the young soldier longed to do something for men who had such capabilities as these? He not only longed to do it, he determined to do it. What and how he could best help them was his question. For the Souls of the Negroes The colored troops were not disbanded immediately, at the close of the war. Shortly after, Armstrong, who was now a general, was sent as commander of the Eighth United States Colored Troops down to the border in Texas to se- cure the boundary lines during trouble in Mexico. Years afterwards he tells that it was on this trip that there came to him the great plan by which he felt sure the African race could be made really free. He was fond of sitting at sunset on one of the huge paddle-boxes watching the western sky, delighting in the gorgeous coloring of sea and sky. Below him on the decks were the men, enjoying just now the music of their regimental band, happy and full of life, very much like children. As the nights were warm, many of them also slept on deck. As Armstrong watched them one evening while the sunset colors faded and the stars came out, he was often reminded of the Hawaiians among whom he had grown up as a boy. They were very much alike, these two races, yet the Africans had a future ahead of them; they were not, like the Hawaiians, a declining race. He thought of home, too, and as he watched the stars he counted them, as he had done in childhood. He smiled at the recol- lection. Then he had counted the stars in quite a different 110 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM spirit, for he had been obliged to continue to hoe melons or corn or summer squash until he could count seven stars. How he had hated that manual labor drill! But it had helped make a man of him, and he knew it had helped many an Hawaiian lad to become strong, self-reliant, and independent. Then like a gleam of light, there came to him the thought: Why not give this kind of training to the African race? Is it not just the kind which will help to make men and women out of them? Up till now their drudgery has been the sign of their slavery; they will need to learn that labor is honorable. He lay there on the deck a long time that evening, thinking over this plan. How to carry it out was now the question. When the negro troops were mustered out, General Armstrong had to decide what his next work was to be. Many were his plans. He was offered a lieutenant-colonelcy in the First United States Colored Cavalry; his brothers suggested business openings; he himself had thoughts of entering the Freedmen's Bureau, just then becoming prominent in the work for the negro. " There may be a place for me in the struggle for right and wrong in this country," he thought. " I have not given myself to arms, although I have been one of the most fortunate of soldiers. ... I shall seek some chance of usefulness where I can use my talents to the most advantage and for the cause of humanity. My purpose is to serve the Great Master hi some way as well as I can; to be of use to my fellow men, to give the life so marvelously spared and wonderfully blessed to the source of all mercy and blessing." An Enlistment for Peace When he first applied to the Freedmen's Bureau, he was told that there was no vacancy. So after visiting friends FOR FREEDOM 111 in Washington, he decided to return to New York. Satchel in hand, on his way to the train, he called again at the offices of the Bureau, just to see if by chance any opening had occurred. As he opened the door, he was greeted with: " We've a great lot of contrabands (negroes) down on the Virginia Peninsula and can't manage them; no one has had success in keeping them straight. General Howard thinks you might try it." It was part of Armstrong's nature to like to overcome obstacles. This opening ap- pealed to him for many reasons. He accepted a double appointment, Agent of the Bureau and Superintendent of Schools of a district in Virginia. Armstrong's post was at the village of Hampton, a few miles from Fort Monroe. He said it was a glorious field of labor. This was it: " Congregated in little villages some five thousand colored people crowded, squalid, poor and idle. It is my work to scatter and renovate them. . . . I have about a dozen officers under me, though I am a civilian [he had received his discharge from the Army] and have a glorious field of labor. " This place is historic. A little above here is James- town, in my district, where the first settlers came, and the ruins of their church are standing. In my field were fought many hard battles, and some of my own. " This Hampton has been the city of refuge of the negroes throughout the war. Here they came from all Virginia to seek freedom, food and a home; hither caravans daily poured in for months with young, old and helpless, and here they built their little cabins and did what they could. " Here were raised several colored regiments, which took the men and left the women helpless and oh, the misery there has been it can never be told. But the worst is over. The men came not back, since most were killed, 112 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM disabled, or died, and here are their families in my charge; and they are a great care; we issue eighteen thousand rations a day to those who would die of starvation were it not for this, and keep their children at school, and get them work and prevent injustice. Take us away and the negroes might as well all be hanged at once. " Providence seemed to put me in just the place I wanted. " The work is splendid, and if God leads me as he has done I shall have nothing to fear all will be well." Besides the work of meeting the needs of the war suffer- ers and laying plans for their future help, Armstrong took long horseback rides out through the Virginia pine woods and tours of several days in his boat, with only a negro boy as helper, for the purpose of looking after the schools. Many faithful missionary teachers there were, and many eager African pupils too, in the little log schoolhouses. The more he saw of the work, the more firmly he believed that the greatest need of this newly freed race, who were yet in a bondage to ignorance and weakness, was training in common morality and habits of work and foresight. " The North generally thinks that the great thing is to free the negro from his former owners; the real thing is to save him from himself." He agreed with the former slaveholder that to put a covering of learning over the negro would be dangerous and foolish. He agreed with the Northerner that, as a human being, the negro deserved a fair chance. He saw how to give him that chance. The plan of a school where industrial training had a large place formed in his mind. This is such a well established part of our public-school work today, that it is hard for us to realize what a novelty it was when Armstrong proposed it. In the few schools in the North where it had been tried, it FOR FREEDOM 113 had not proved successful. People did not believe in this sort of school. An Institute for the Building of Men In the early part of the year 1867 he wrote an important letter to the American Missionary Association, one of the Congregational Societies, at the time the wealthiest or- ganization interested in helping the negro, particularly in educating him. He suggested that there at Hampton was just the place to establish a permanent work, and recom- mended that the Association buy a certain tract of land on Hampton River, a valuable estate. The Association very promptly decided that a school should be placed there under its direction. Armstrong did not expect to have charge of it, but only to help. However, when the Associa- tion asked him to be its principal, he said, " Yes. Till then my future had been blind; it had only been clear that there was a work to be done for the ex-slave and where and how to do it." He threw himself with all his splendid energy into this work of building up Hampton Normal and Industrial Institute. Armstrong's struggles were not all over. He might have written, as he wrote after the battle of Gettys- burg, " There are still battles to be fought, and I must fight." It was uphill work raising money to put up the buildings and make them ready for the students, to provide support and tools for the manual training work, and books for study. He wanted to send them out strong in the strength of Christ, able to earn their living by a trade, and able to teach their fellows how to help themselves. Before long the towers of the Hampton buildings could be seen for miles around. This meant more than the fact that there was here a normal school for negroes. These towers 114 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM stood for the faith in their race of one man who dared risk financial reputation as well as social position in their be- half. Armstrong often called the first building " my monument." For the next twenty years his story is that of the growth of the Hampton School. There was always money to raise to carry on the work and enlarge it. More- over there was the harder task of making people believe in the form of industrial education for the negro. Before long Indian students came too. The story of Hampton and Armstrong's conquest of obstacles is fascinating. But he said, " Isn't it jolly to be a mounted soldier in the service of the Lord," and kept on? You will perhaps some day find out for yourselves all that story. What Hampton meant to the boys and girls who went there is shown most clearly in the life of one of its best known graduates, Booker T. Washington. He had been born a slave. As a little boy he had heard of this wonderful school and walked miles and miles to enter it. When he died he was the president of a similar great institution for his race, The Tuskegee Institute. Reading his own story, Up from Slavery, you will realize what Samuel Armstrong's life meant to him, and when you think that Booker T. Washington was just one of the many people General Arm- strong helped, you will realize how far and how deep his influence has gone, how greatly he has helped to make the African and the Indian races truly free, and how gloriously victorious he has been as a soldier of Jesus. How Congregationalists Carry On You will be glad to learn that this great task of freeing the souls of these races from ignorance and from sin is going on through other schools besides Hampton and Tuskegee, which are now no longer partly helped by FOR FREEDOM 115 the American Missionary Association. Besides them, there are many, many others. Congregational people, through the American Missionary Association, have for the African race alone six colleges, forty preparatory schools, seventeen of which are farm schools, and three more for the special training of ministers. Besides this, the Association has work for the Indians, and the Eskimos, the Orientals out on the western coast, the Spanish- speaking people along the southwestern borders, and the Highlanders in the mountains of the south, Abraham Lincoln's people. All of these races belong to the United States, but need to be given freedom in its very highest sense, the freedom which comes from owning Jesus Christ as Master and devoting one's life to his service. We Congregationalists have yet to help win the victory for these people for whom the American Mis- sionary Association is working. General Armstrong felt that the work at Hampton was given him as a trust from the nation. He felt that making men and women out of the individuals of these backward races was a work which God's Providence had especially given to this nation to be done. The work we Congregation- alists do through the American Missionary Association is splendidly patriotic, both for our nation and that new era of world brotherhood which is to be. How splendid are General Armstrong's words: " It would be wrong to humanity to fail, and the way is clear God has not darkened the way, but his hand points to a steep and craggy height; it must be climbed. I will climb it. " There are more battles to be fought, and I must fight." 116 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM TO THE PUPIL You will surely like to know more about this gallant soldier than this story tells. Read Samuel Chapman Armstrong, by Edith Arm- strong Talbot. Up from Slavery is a thrilling tale of progress. You would like that, too. QUESTIONS 1. Tell how Samuel Armstrong joined the colors in the fight for freedom. 2. Why would you have been glad to follow a captain like him? 3. What was Samuel Armstrong fighting to win? 4. What part did he have in the Battle of Gettysburg? 5. What sort of man does this battle show him to be? 6. Why did he become an officer of colored troops? Why was this a hard thing to do? 7. How did he train his regiment? 8. How did his men prove good soldiers? 9. Why did he not stop fighting for the freedom of the African race when the war was over? 10. How did he carry on his next campaign for their freedom? 11. In what ways has he won some great battles in this campaign? 12. How do Congregationalists carry forward this campaign today? VIII BROTHERS ALL " As ye did it unto one of these my brothers, even these least, ye did it unto me." Malt. 25: 40. Edward's Puzzle Edward Steiner did not go to the service in the syna- gogue that Sabbath morning. He ran away, instead, to the meadows near the river where all was sunshine and flowers. It was more fun to help the goose-girl look after the goslings, or else make willow whistles with the other boys and girls and share their games. It was glorious June. The creek, the willows, the flowers, the birds, the fluffy yellow goslings all these seemed to welcome him. But the children, with yells and shouts and brandishings of sticks drove him back. " Go off, little schid! Go back where you belong, Christ-killer! " And Edward, remembering the bloody nose one of them had given him only the day before because he would not bow to the cross where hung the wooden figure of a man, turned sadly away. What did it all mean? No one ever explained to him, yet he dimly felt that it was in some way because of the One on the cross that he so suffered and was hurt. Back he trudged up the hill. He would have to go back to the dusty cob- blestones of the village street. Behind him he could hear the shouts of the boys at play in the sunshine and flowers of the river meadows. He used to play with them once. Why could he not now share with them? Only last winter when one of his playmates became a 118 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM helper in the household of the Protestant pastor, he had assisted him in the work, pumping the organ, polishing the communion set, or ringing the bells for Christian worship as often as he. At the last Christmas time, two others of his friends, who were choir boys at the Catholic church, invited him to take the part of one of the Three Wise Men who should travel about the town in search of the star, the crib, and the child. He had spent all his pocket money for gilt paper to make the crowns and the star. Well he remembered the kicks and beatings they had received. But then Edward smiled a bit as he remembered, too, how kind the pany's sister had been to take him in, wash his face and smooth his clothes, and fill his pockets with nuts and apples and sweets, saying as she kissed him goodbye, " Our Lord was once a little Jewish boy just like you." He paused here under the acacia trees, and threw himself on the ground to rest. It was very strange. Edward shook his head sadly. Why had they so changed? He was just as ready to give them his slices of rye bread and butter as ever before. Yes, even though he should be punished for it again. How his brother had beaten him for giving away his bread that day he had run away from home! Even the goose-girl had changed since then, for that very day she and her friends had met him on the road, and she had pulled him up be- side her on the wagon, inviting him to go along with them to visit the Mother of God in the town of Maria's Bosom not far away, where there was a pool of water in which the sick bathed and were made well by the blessing of Mary the Virgin. Such crowds of people as they had seen; such honey cakes in various forms they had to eat! The goose-girl had bought the Twelve BROTHERS ALL 119 Apostles, and each had eaten six. Yet he recalled too how the driver had thrown him off before they were half-way home, and how his stern uncle had found him on the road, sobbing and limping along, and had brought him home. Yes, it was from this time that the dif- ference had been felt. Next day it was that he had begun the study of Hebrew with his uncle and been forbidden to play with the Gentile children. It was hard to understand. The Soldier from America But by this time he felt rested and he trudged on into the town. Entering the square before the Black Eagle Inn, he saw the crowds gathered to greet the arrival of the omnibus, that every day came from the world outside beyond the high hill, bringing the news of the great world and sometimes some passengers, who, worn and sleepy, had traveled all night on this springless vehicle. He forgot about his troubles as he hurried to join the crowd, for it was great fun watching the pas- sengers arrive. They had to crawl feet first out of the narrow window, which was also the only means of exit. Already the clatter of hoofs and rattle of wheels told of its approach. Through the great clouds of dust Edward could see the lumbering old omnibus sway from side to side of the rough road. The driver lashed his horses to one last attempt at a gallop, until they came to a stop, steaming with heat, before the door of the Inn. The driver descended and threw back the leather cur- tains of the window. " How many passengers today? " called one of the crowd. " Three-quarters of a man/' laughed the driver in reply. 120 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM The crowd gasped. Edward almost forgot to breathe as he watched first a wooden leg appear, then a real leg follow and feel for the step, after that a back covered with a blue coat, loom up, and finally the man stand before him, three-quarters of a man to be sure, for one sleeve of the blue coat hung empty. A queer looking soft hat shaded his face. As the driver pulled out a marvelous brass-bound trunk, the stranger waved his cane at the crowd, who stood gaping at him, cried, " Right about, face! March! " and hobbled to the Inn. Edward followed at his heels and, when the man was finally seated, stood as near him as he dared. At length the stranger noticed Edward. " Why are you looking at me, youngster? " he said. " Have you never seen three-quarters of a man before? What's your name? " and he took a long pull at his bottle of palenka, the peasants' drink. Edward told him. " Come here," and he patted Edward's curly fair hair. " I am a Jew myself." " Oh, no! " answered Edward. " You cannot be. No Jew ever drinks palenka." " Boy," he answered, " I am three-quarters of a man, but not even one-quarter of a Jew. I have been to war, where I lost my arm and my leg, and I have been in America, where I lost my religion." Then he ordered a pork roast for dinner, which was contrary to Jewish custom. Edward stared at him in amazement. He had come from that far-away land of America. Only last fort- night two wonderful things had come from there to Edward's home in that Hungarian town, the sewing- machine and the oil lamp. Now this man was come from Ameiica! He'd heard the teacher tell about the BROTHERS ALL 121 land across the great sea ever and ever so far: one day by omnibus, four days and nights by the railroad, and then fourteen days across the yam (the great sea) in a ship that bobbed about like a nutshell on the pottock (the creek), and that at any moment might spill you out to be eaten by the fish, which were especially fond of curly-headed boys. That's what the teacher had told him when he'd asked him how to go to America, long ago, when he had been just a little boy, and the parrot who had told his fortune had said he was to travel a great distance and marry a rich wife. He knew! And now here was this three-quarters of a man who had come back across the great yam. He was a Jew, too, and was going to eat roast pork. To save him from that sin, to save even the one-quarter Jew in him, he said, " Come home with me, sir, and eat a good kosher Sabbath dinner." Edward felt sure that his mother would not object, especially if he explained that he had saved the man from eating roast pork, and that he had come from America. Proudly the boy conducted the Jewish soldier through the streets to his home. Many doors and windows were opened, while many heads peered out to get a glimpse of the stranger. " Who was he? Who was he? Where had he been? " Edward's Hero Edward's house became the center of interest, for this old townsman had run away from home years ago and after many adventures reached America. Here he had fought in the war to save the Union, and when he had been discharged, pensioned, he had come home to die. They brought the brass-bound trunk to his house 122 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM too, for Edward's mother kept old " Uncle Joe " there. " No doubt this holds his treasures," the neighbors ex- plained to Edward. Treasures they were, to be sure! What Edward liked best were the flag a wonderful flag of red and white stripes and white stars on a blue field a picture of a sad-faced man whom " Uncle Joe " called Father Abraham, even though he was not a Jew, and two books: one was in German, the history of the Civil War, and this Edward soon knew by heart; the other was Uncle Tom's Cabin, which " Uncle Joe " translated to him over and over. Every day he heard about this land of freedom from one who had been there, and soon he too learned to love the flag and Abraham Lincoln, who, though born a poor boy in a log cabin, became a president and led a great African race out of slavery. He longed to do a great deed such as this. The peasants in his country suffered much and were heavily taxed. At school he gathered together a group of boys and preached to them about the troubles of these people and the harshness of the government as they knew it in the persons of the wicked judge and the cruel police. He urged them to help him free these peasant slaves and, if need be, fight for them. Instead, they laughed and told the teacher of Edward's queer ideas. The teacher tried to whip them out of him. Then it was, when he came home too sore to walk, that he found comfort in looking at Abraham Lincoln's face. For years he treasured this picture which Uncle Joe gave him at his death, because it reminded him of the good will he longed to show and the benefits he wished to give to the common people and because it inspired him with hope and courage. The desire grew strong within him to go to America himself. BROTHERS ALL 123 At the Passover Feast This desire was made all the greater by another happen- ing of those days. It was Passover time, and Edward, instead of going to the services in the synagogue with his cousins and uncle, had remained at home to help his mother make ready for the Passover feast. After the windows were shuttered and barred, the shining brass candlesticks were placed on the table, the pewter platter filled with un- leavened bread, the bitter herbs portioned out, and all the silver goblets made ready for the wine, Edward set the most beautiful cup of all at the place nearest the door; that was for the Prophet Elijah. " Do you suppose he'll come, mother? " he asked anxiously. " Yes, I am sure he will, though I have never seen him." Just then the shouts of the crowd outside grew more angry and a stone crashed against the shutters, breaking several panes of glass in the windows. Edward was a bit afraid, though he would not admit it. " We shall have more need of him than ever," his mother went on, and Edward noticed that even more earnestly than usual she said the prayer as she lighted the fire to burn up all the scraps of leaven. Soon came the uncle and cous- ins with tales of stones crashing through the windows of the synagogue, and the ever increasing anger of an ever larger mob. Nevertheless Uncle Isaac prepared for the solemn service of prayer and praise that commemorated the deliverance of their people under the guidance of Moses from the bondage in Egypt. Jubilantly he chanted the ancient psalms, but more and more tremblingly did Edward murmur the responses, for the noise and tumult outside grew greater and greater, and the stones crashed against the shutters more often. At last, just as it came time for a door to be set open to let the Prophet Elijah 124 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM enter, the duty which was Edward's, it seemed as if the crowd outside were making ready an assault upon the front door, with crowbars prying at the hinges. Edward felt cold all over and quite unable to move from his seat to fulfil the task. Just then a cheery, strong voice was heard above the shouts, " Hello, good Christians, is this the way you celebrate Easter? Is this the way our risen Lord taught you to treat your neighbors? " There was a silence. Then he heard one reply, " Sir, they have stolen away Anushka and killed her, and now they drink her blood." " That's not true," answered the voice again. " Go to the Black Eagle Inn. There you will find Anushka! Drop that stone, you youngster. Here, man, lay down that crowbar. Go to the Inn and see if I do not speak truly." Slowly, with mutterings they within the house could not understand, the crowd left. " Open the door, my son," said the mother in the quiet that followed, " for the Prophet Elijah." Not a whit afraid now, Edward quickly sprang to obey. In walked a gentle-faced man, at whom all looked in amazement. "It is the pastor," said the mother smiling gratefully. " Be seated, sir." He sat down in the only empty chair, the one kept for the Prophet. " Drink," the mother invited. He raised to his lips the beautiful cup, from which no mortal had ever drunk, and set it reverently down. Edward was astonished. He watched his uncle anxiously, but evidently he did not know what to do. Here sat a Christian pastor in the seat sacred to the Prophet! He had drunk from the Prophet's cup. Then the pastor, rising, explained what had brought BROTHERS ALL 125 him, and how he had tried to prevent the people from gathering, and how he had searched long and at last found the girl whose sudden running away had caused all the trouble. " You know," he said, " our religion does not teach hatred of the Jews." " But there is hate," gasped Uncle Isaac. " They are ready to kill us." " That may be true, Isaac Bolsover," replied the gentle man. " Yet I have faced a dozen mobs today to save your people because a Prophet greater than Elijah has taught me to love my neighbors and even my enemies. I am here tonight because I have tried to obey that com- mand. Some day all men will obey that command, too." " You did that! You did that for our sakes! " exclaimed the uncle. " Then, sir, be seated." " Again the pastor took the chair of the Prophet. Yet when Uncle Isaac's eye fell upon the cup of the Prophet, his face looked troubled. " But, your reverence," he said, " you have drunk out of the cup of the Prophet." The pastor smiled. " At every Passover celebration in my church," he answered, " I drink out of a cup made sacred by one greater than your Prophet Elijah, one who gave his life that there should be no hate among God's children. Some day I hope we shall both drink out of the same cup in the kingdom of God." While all this was going on, Edward sat very still, with wide-open eyes watching this man who spoke such kindly words. He wanted to ask him questions, yet his uncle went on. " The kingdom of God! Sir, what mean you by that?" " I mean," returned the pastor, " that a day will come when there shall be no barriers between men; when the strong shall care for the weak, and the rich serve the poor, 126 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM and all men shall delight to do the will of God, when nation shall not lift up sword against nation, ' neither shall they learn war any more.' ' The Promised Nation of Brotherhood " Ah, you quote our prophet Isaiah," exclaimed Uncle Isaac. " Do you know what our rabbis say is tht reason this great day has not come? I will tell you." And Uncle Isaac began the tale which Edward had listened to many times before, how the Lord God summoned all the nations to appear before him so that the nation which was worthiest might receive the reward and lead the nations of the world so that they might become one. First came the Assyrians, but the Lord God refused the reward to them because they had broken other nations to exult in their own strength. After them followed the Romans, but though they had built great cities and heaped up much silver and gold, they had done it for the sake of their own pleasure and riches. The Greeks, too, were turned away, in spite of the treasures of wisdom and beauty they had gathered, for they too, had not been mindful of God. So the Lord God could not find one nation which had done anything to fulfil the law of God. " And," his uncle concluded, " those words of the Prophet shall not be fulfilled until a nation does come which will live to do his will, and obey his law; which will build cities for his glory, and bridges in order to serve him better; and which, if it goes to war, will go to set free those that are oppressed." To Edward's great astonish- ment, and joy too, the pastor replied, " Oh, but there is such a nation just one. It has fought a war to set free the slaves." (Here Edward's heart gave a great leap as he remembered " Uncle Joe's " stories of Abraham Lincoln; he was sure of what the pastor BROTHERS ALL 127 would say next.) " It is America! Though it is far away and you do not know much about it, I am sure it will be the nation to lead the other nations of the world into brotherhood. But now, good-night. May your Passover be peaceful! Remember that the Prophet's word shall be fulfilled." With that he was gone. Edward hardly recalled what happened next. He was so very busy thinking of what the pastor had just said, and putting together this with all he had learned about Abraham Lincoln. " To lead the nations of the world to brother- hood." That's what he had said. That's what he wanted to have a share in doing. Oh, he must go to America and share their task. Toward the New Land With this great desire in his heart and mind, it is not strange, is it, that Edward tried to run away, to attempt to reach America? Once he ran after the omnibus which carried back to that wonderful land a family who had come home from America for a visit. He clung to the steps of the omnibus, begging to be taken too. Yet when it reached the toll-gate, back he had to go. On another occasion, with a poor half-witted boy, he succeeded in getting as far away as the railroad. But there they were thrown into jail with gypsies and thieves and tramps, and there they were found by Edward's older brother and carried home in disgrace. Finally, however, after several years, Edward Steiner did go to America, and did carry out his task of expressing brotherliness and helping weak and discouraged and op- pressed people. This is how his going came about. It happened while Edward was a student in the University. He had never outgrown his desire to help the people who were in trouble. He felt particularly the wrongs done 128 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM to the Slavic people with whom, as a boy, he had played. He could not bear to see them beaten and imprisoned and insulted by the ruling class. Perhaps he spoke too freely of their wrongs and the evils of the government. At all events, one vacation when Edward was at home, an official told his mother that if she paid him a sum of money he could keep the boy from being punished. He advised her to have him leave the country. So hurriedly and secretly Edward made ready to go to America, and almost before he knew it he was on board a ship that did indeed behave like a nutshell on the creek. It made him a very miserable boy indeed, down there in the steerage, for he was both seasick and homesick. A Stranger Within the Gates On reaching New York there began a wonderfully in- teresting life for Edward Steiner. Imagine all he thought and felt when he saw the Statue of Liberty enlightening the world as he sailed into New York harbor. What hope for the new days of brotherhood did he feel, as he stepped forth into the great city, hearing all about him the clamor of a language he did not understand. He spent five cents of his small amount of money for a banana and ate it, skin and all. One of the many men gathered at the landing- place secured him and led him away in triumph to a board- ing house. He also introduced him to a place called saloon. When Edward discovered what this was, he wanted to retreat. He wandered up and down Broadway after din- ner, looking for work, followed by many a small boy, who called after him, " Greenhorn! " Edward soon learned what that meant. That was the second English word he learned. When he had paid for his supper that night and for his night's lodging, he had not a cent left. Next BROTHERS ALL 129 day he had nothing to eat except water: that, fortunately for him, was free. Up and down the streets he walked, looking for work. Bartenders, barbers, bakers, butchers, too, and clothing-cutters were all in demand, but there seemed to be no place for a university man who had special skill in languages. As night came on, he recalled that his mother had given him an address of a distant relative who, years ago, had come to New York. Although it was over eighty blocks away, he walked the whole distance. He was cordially welcomed. The First Job Another day he passed in looking for work, again without success. The only opening he could find was in the cloak trade the refuge of all those who are unfit for harder tasks so next day this college-trained lad went to work in a sweatshop as a presser of cloaks. Before noon the iron seemed to him to weigh a ton, and the hour allowed them for lunch ended much too quickly. With ten cents from some money borrowed for use that first week, he set out to buy his meal. The mysterious word " sandwich " attracted his eye, but the article proved to be a great disappointment only two pieces of bread and butter with a slice of cheese between. That afternoon he scorched the hem of a garment, and earned a scolding from the Irish forelady. Though he could not understand a word she said, he could not fail to understand her gestures or her look. Homesick and miserably weary he felt that night. The same friends who had aided him to secure work, now arranged for him to attend night school and learn English for he then knew the following words: down-town, up-town, mirror, boss, knock-out drops, banana, elevated, figure 130 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM cloak, presser, mince pie, sandwich, saloon, greenhorn, and forelady. Within the first week he was enrolled as a student in Cooper Union. After class he walked home with some men who had acquired other English out of school, and taught it to him. One disastrous day all innocently he used this in a conversation with his Irish forelady and, as a result, he found himself without his job. Again there was a hunt for work, and again friends were kind; this time he worked as a cutter. Though he labored ten hours a day, he went regularly to night school. Soon he had learned enough English to read David Copperfield, which he drew from the Public Library. At the end of a month disaster fell again. He was " laid off/' for it was " slack time." There was nothing to do but to walk the streets and hunt for work. He tried it in a baker's shop and in a sausage factory, but he earned hardly enough to keep alive. At last he determined to go West. Accordingly, he set out across the ferry to New Jersey, bought a ticket as far west as his money would carry him, and arrived that night at Princeton, N. J. A Quiet Home For a time he worked for a farmer near there; then he walked on to Philadelphia, where he again spent all his money for a ticket westward. This time he was carried to a lonely little spot in the heart of Pennsyl- vania. Here a simple, friendly farmer sheltered and fed him. In this beautiful Christian home he lived and worked until autumn came, seeing daily the power of Christ to beautify and raise their lives. Yet on Edward Steiner felt he must go; this time he reached Pitts- burg. BROTHERS ALL 131 In the Steel Mills It was not difficult to find work in the steel mills, and soon he was pushing a chaldron of molten iron from a room out to a shed. After ten hours of this, however, he was too exhausted to do anything but sleep, although his mind and heart were still hungry for better things, and he knew within him that he must climb out of the pit. Worse than this weariness, however, was the fact that he had to live, one of twenty, in two stuffy, unaired rooms, without any conveniences at all, for the workers in the factories were regarded as " cattle," unused to any other kind of living and not desiring a change. Sundays he had to work sometimes, but more often he was too exhausted to do more than write a letter home. At last his work there was ended by a flood that tem- porarily closed the mill. To add to this distress, dis- ease and pestilence followed. In the Coal Mines From Pittsburg he went on to Connelsville to work in the coal mines, walking all the way along the rail- road tracks. A miner engaged him as helper. It was a dark, black world into which he descended, this world of the coal mine, full of toiling men and mules. There he shoveled coal into numerous cars which came and went in rapid succession until at last they ascended from the darkness of the mine to the night 'above. Then his boss escorted him to a saloon, where with several of his friends, he drank Edward's health at his ex- pense. All along the street that led to his lodging he passed saloon after saloon. How he hated them! The street was filled with half -drunk men and women, none who could be to him a real friend. For a week he kept 132 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM at this work, although each succeeding day it became more difficult to reach the mine. Men who spoke English tried to keep them back, for there was a " strike." One day as they reached the top of the mine, lumps of coal were hurled at them and they had to run for their lives. Next day, before they could reach the mine, they were surrounded by men armed with sticks and guns. Edward tried to take shelter behind a water tank, but a crowd of men seized him and beat him until he knew no more. Unjust Imprisonment When he came to himself he found that he was in jail, for what offense he did not know. For six weeks there he stayed, enduring various small tortures, without a hearing and without knowing why he was kept there. Then he was taken before the judge. At first he was charged with shooting to kill. Edward protested his innocence in the best English he could. Yet the officers had found upon him a revolver. Ah! He remembered. That had been given him by one of those mates of his in the Pittsburg boarding house, one of those who had died there of smallpox. He told them about it. Then, when the revolver was discovered to be too rusty for use, the charge was changed to " carrying concealed weapons." He was sentenced to a fine of one hundred dollars and three months in jail. Within ten minutes he was re- turned to his quarters. It is no wonder that he burned with a fierce sense of injustice. Was this the land of Abraham Lincoln, the nation which would lead the nations of the world to brotherhood? For over six months he had to remain in jail, for his fine had to be worked out. No one came to explain or to help him. BROTHERS ALL 133 Such unjust treatment has often made anarchists. Fortunately it did not result so in this case. On the contrary, Edward Steiner left that county jail with a more intense desire than before to right the wrongs against the spirit of brotherhood under which men suffer. Wandering in Search of Work He now became a tramp, not because he chose to be, but because he desired to reach Chicago, and that was the only way to get there. On his way he occasionally was taken into the homes of really Christian people, who welcomed him to their family prayers and tried to help him by word and deed. At last he reached the great city. While he was studying out the posters of various labor agencies, a man stopped him, spoke of an attractive situation, and invited him into the saloon to talk it over. Eager for work, Edward quickly fol- lowed him in, but as he accepted the invitation to step in front of the bar, he felt something give way beneath him and he was hurled into darkness. Late at night, he felt himself dragged out into the alley and left. He called feebly for help, but no one answered. After a long time he summoned all the strength he possessed and crawled on hands and knees back to the street. As he staggered to his feet, a policeman caught him by the collar and dragged him to the lamp-post. Before Edward realized it, he was roughly pushed into the patrol wagon that carried him to the police station. There he spent a horrible night among men who cursed and fought for space enough to stretch out in for sleep. After this experience, he drifted into that section of the city where the comers from Bohemia had gathered. He knew their language and was soon at home and at work 134 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM among them. A year of " hard times " it proved to be. Even temporary occupations failed him at last, and he set forth for the farm lands of Minnesota, walking the railroad tracks to the city limits, then " jumping a freight." Crossing the Mississippi on the trestle, he and his companion were caught by a train. Only the foaming river was below them, so they squeezed through the ties, and clung desperately to the beam while the train thundered overhead. A Harvest Hand Finally Edward was hired as a harvest hand. Here he was most fortunate, for it was a friendly Christian household, and in their play as well as in their work, he had a share. At evening, too, he shared the worship in family prayers; the hymn, the prayer and the reading from the English Bible impressed him deeply. It was one of those homes which had carried out to the West the ideals of the Puritans and the Pilgrims, and the beauty and dignity of it made a great impression on this Jewish lad from far away Hungary. Here was that brotherly life for which he had longed. He planned a future for himself on a farm with a home such as this. Now he was quite ready to forget the sufferings, the injustice, the hunger, the sweatshop, the steel mill, the mine, and the jail. He had not found much brother- liness in these. But this was not to be. When frosts came, the year's work was done. His wages were given him, and he was again homeless and in search of work. A Transforming Discovery These were some of Edward Steiner's first experiences in America. It would take too long to recount all of BROTHERS ALL 135 his many adventures and the steps by which he was at last led to go back East. Starting for a Jewish Theo- logical Seminary to become a rabbi, he entered at last the Christian Theological Seminary in Oberlin and be- came a Congregational minister. To reach the Jewish Seminary, he worked his passage by traveling on a cattle train. One night, in running along the top of the train to his cars, a fellow worker tripped him up, causing him to fall overboard with a twisted leg. This changed his plans. In the town where he then found refuge he was well cared for. Here he came in contact with more Christian homes, as well as with Jewish, for the Jews and Christians lived on brotherly terms and not on such terms as they had lived in his boyhood home in Hun- gary. He went quite frequently to the Christian church, for a warm friendship grew between him and the pastor and his wife. In their lives, as in the lives of others, he saw Christ walking among men, and began to feel his power. " If lives like these were projected into the world of strife and injustice, would they not accomplish more than those which hurl back the hate with which they have been pelted? " This was his question. At last he decided to follow Him who was the champion of the weak, the oppressed, and the outcast, who was the loving Brother of all men, whatever might be their race. Under His leadership he would strive to be a brother to all. It will not surprise you to learn that during Dr. Steiner's work as a Congregational pastor, he took special interest in those who, like himself, had come and were coming from other lands to America; or that now, while he is Professor of Applied Christianity in Grinnell College, Iowa, he still does all he can to express his brotherly love and interest for them. He longs that these newcomers, what- 136 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM ever may have been the gleam they have followed in coming to America, may have a fair chance to become their best. He has striven earnestly to change the evil conditions which surrounded them in sweatshop, mill, and mine; to have near them, instead of the saloon and brothel, friendly forces by which they may be lifted up; and to let them learn the real brotherliness of America, instead of injustice and cruelty. In this way, you see, he is making real the ideal which long ago shone before him in Hungary in the life-story of Abraham Lincoln ; he is endeavoring to lead to freedom the oppressed races, to show that in fellowship with Jesus Christ and service for him is the true democracy and internationalism, for which today men have given their lives on the battlefields of Europe. Isn't the story of this one man's life inspiring! Yet, as he says himself, his story does not differ from that of many others. All the influences for good or for evil which sur- rounded him, the sweatshop, the mills, the mines, the lower courts, the jails, the unemployment, the tramp life, the American home, the Christian church these surround all the others, for what happened to him has happened, is happening, to some and ought to happen to others. While there are many who are helped, there are millions who never are reached, who are made brutal by their hard, grinding work, and who are starved for lack of friendly sympathy. Countless ones die, not knowing the brotherly America that Edward Steiner found. Our Welcome to Our Later Pilgrims Our Congregational Home Missionary Society carries on work in twenty-three different foreign languages, so that even before the newcomer can understand English, he can hear the message of Jesus. At the very gateway BROTHERS ALL 137 to America where these later pilgrims land, friendly folk who speak their own language help smooth out all per- plexities and give them brotherly welcome. Through this society in the cities there are settlements where clubs and classes give the young people and the boys and girls a chance to learn American ways and American ideas and ideals, and make real friends. In the country districts, where now-a-days many modern pilgrims from foreign lands find their way to the farms, there are home missionaries at work. Out into the frontiers, just like those to which the " Iowa Band " went, are going men and women to do the same sort of work in the same spirit. The Congrega- tional Home Missionary Society was founded long ago by men who saw that the real greatness of this nation would depend upon its greatness of character and the nobility of its ideals. They knew this greatness of character could be developed only in the sincere following of Jesus and carrying out his ideals for the world. They labored to make their dreams come true, and so men since their time have " carried on." In all its work today, the Home Missionary Society seeks to do for all these people what we see was done for Edward Steiner. Now in a special sense it is more necessary than ever that this work be done. America must become really Christian, if she is to lead the nations of the world into a true brotherhood. It is for us to take up their work and " carry on! " TO THE PUPIL Read Dr. Edward A. Steiner's own story of his experiences, if you wish to know more about his boyhood. These books are Against the Current and From Alien to Citizen. From them this story of his life has been taken. Two other books which will help you understand our brothers from foreign lands are The Making of an American, by Jacob Riis, and The Promised Land, by Mary Antin. 138 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM QUESTIONS 1. How did Edward Steiner first learn about America? 2. Why did Lincoln become his hero? 3. What other event made him eager to go to America? 4. How did he finally set out? 5. Tell about his first days in New York. 6. Relate his adventures in sweatshop, mill, mine, and jail. 7. Is this the real America which Edward Steiner saw? 8. What knowledge of Christian people did he have? 9. How did he find true brotherliness? 10. How does he serve Jesus today? 11. Why is Dr. Steiner's story important? 12. What makes being brothers to foreigners hard work? 13. How do Congregationalists express the best of America to the newcomers and others? 14. How do you think the C. H. M. S. helps the cause of democ- racy and the era of brotherhood? IX CARRY ON " What are Christians put in this world for, but to do the impos- sible in the strength of God! " General Samuel C. Armstrong. On the Hilltop All of us, at some time or other, have stood on the top of a hill. Do you remember how the long climb up from the valley beneath looked? Ahead of you lay another valley to explore, and beyond that were more hills to climb. Let us stand on such a hilltop and look back. Let us see how each one of these Congregational heroes has helped to advance the cause which is so near our hearts today the progress of brotherhood in the world. Then let us look at the valley just below us and catch a glimpse of the higher mountains which lie beyond the valley and the mountains where lie our adventure. The Beginning of the Journey Away off in the distance more than five hundred years ago there were John Wyclif and the Lollards, who, as they studied the life of Jesus and his first followers, saw that certain ways of life in their own day were wrong. They refused to call the Pope and his representatives their mas- ters. They resolved to obey Jesus and call only him their Lord. In spite of suffering they followed the gleam. As their influence spread, you remember, and as more people through the pages of the printed Bible saw the gleam that they had followed, there came to be the body of people 140 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM known as Puritans, because they wished to purify the Church of England of those customs and beliefs which they considered not in keeping with the commands of Jesus. Like the Lollards, they too refused to believe that any human being, whether the Pope or the king of the country, had the right to say how an individual person should obey God. The Bible told them how to do this, and Jesus was their Master. Yet some Puritans went even further than this. These were the Separatists, who determined that it was right to leave the Church of England and organize a church more like that of the first followers of Jesus. Pilgrims and Puritans William Bradford and the other members of the church at Scrooby, which became the first Congregational Church in America, belonged to this group of Separatists. We learned from William Bradford's own account all that their loyalty to their principles cost them in personal suffering, hardship, sacrifice, and life. We were thrilled at their daring, their patience, their persistence, their heroism. When we remember all it cost them and the many others like them whose stories have not been told, we place greater value on our liberty of conscience. In the story of John Winthrop, we saw what a valiant struggle the Puritans carried on. At first they also con- tended for liberty of conscience, but in their fight liberty began to have a further meaning. They declared the right of freedom of speech and the authority of the people to rule. They declared that the laws under which they lived ought to be in keeping with those in the Bible. Every man was a citizen in God's kingdom. They began to struggle for civil liberty. We saw how under John Win- throp the Puritans adventured to America and there laid CARRY ON 141 the foundation of a state which expressed their beliefs, the beginning of the first democracy. Not all the Puritans, however, came to America. Many remained in England and continued the contest there, winning at last for their country a form of government in which the people had a part. Two Fearless Builders We remember Thomas Hooker's great service to the progress of democratic government, how he faced hard- ship and death as a pioneer to Connecticut that he and his church might put into practise their convictions that the authority to govern lay with all the people and not with a few chosen men, and how this Constitution of Connecticut was the true ancestor of the Constitution of the United States. Then there came still another step forward up the hill, the conquest of slavery. Dr. Manasseh Cutler struck a first blow against the continuation of slavery when he insisted that a law forbidding it be a part of the Ordinance in 1787. General Armstrong carried on the work by his gallant fight in the Civil War for freeing the bodies of the African race, and by his equally gallant fight as a soldier in the service of the Lord in his work at Hampton for freeing their souls from bondage to their worst selves. His aid was extended to the Indian race also. Today the American Missionary Association is carrying on this great campaign against the bondage of these and many less fortunate races to sin and ignorance. For freedom did Christ set them free. How proud Congregationalists should be that in the great campaign against slavery for the black race, the denomination was never divided, North from South. 142 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM Laborers for World Brotherhood In a marvelous way the Pilgrims and the Puritans, through their descendants, inherited the land from sea to sea which their charters from King James had given them. The ideals for which they lived became those of the whole country. The Iowa Band was one of several bands who went out to the frontiers, pioneers in transforming them into Christian democracies. Besides these bands there were hosts of others of whose achievements we are proud, and there are today also hosts of others who under the Congre- gational Home Missionary Society are striving to make America a real Christian Brotherhood. The story of Edward A. Steiner shows how other races look to America as a leader in making this dream come true for all the world. Into all the world, too, Congregationalists have gone in their efforts to advance the new day of brotherhood. The ways in which the missionaries have served the boys and girls and men and women in other lands, make us understand more clearly how important a work they have done and are still doing in making the world safe for democracy. And the vast importance of their work stirs even greater admiration for Samuel Mills and his friends who have followed this gleam from the life of Jesus Christ. Isn't it a splendid record, this story of these few of all the followers of the gleam in only our Congregational churches! Many others in other churches there are. Our High Responsibility We wish to honor our own heroes as we celebrate the anniversary of the coming of the first Congregationalists to America three hundred years ago. How may we do this? Before this question is answered, remind yourselves CARRY ON 143 of the words Abraham Lincoln used when a portion of the battlefield of Gettysburg was set apart as a resting-place for those " who there gave their lives that the nation might live." " It is for us the living rather to be here consecrated to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, and that the nation under God shall have a new birth for freedom." With this in mind can you see how we today may most truly honor those heroes of whom we have been studying? Words will not express our gratitude. That can be shown only by increased devo- tion to the cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion, and the resolution that those who have lived before us shall not have lived and died in vain. We must in our own day, as loyally, as bravely as our ancestors did, devote our lives to carrying on the cause of brotherhood. Pioneers in Democracy In order to carry on their work so well begun, let us sum up the things for which our ancestors in the Congrega- tional churches have stood. Perhaps we notice first that our ancestors stood for democratic government. Hooker's belief that the people have authority to elect rulers and make the laws which are to govern them has become the belief of everyone in our nation. Today the Great War has been fought to determine whether or not the people of every nation on the earth shall have that authority. Hooker further declared that: "The privilege of election which belongs to the people therefore must not be exercised according to their humors, but according to the blessed will and law of God." This reverence for the power to vote ought to be cultivated. To have right laws is our responsibility. Every Christian, and surely every 144 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM descendant of these pioneer Congregationalists, ought to further in every way real democratic government for this nation and for all the nations. Pioneers in Missions These ancestors of ours were pioneers in missions. The Scrooby Church came to America to carry out this missionary desire. They wanted to extend their faith. Very soon they undertook to bring their Indian neighbors to Jesus. In 1793 the first home missionary society, the Connecticut Home Missionary Society, was founded to carry to their friends who had gone out to the frontiers the privileges of fellowship with Jesus. The American Board, which was organized in 1810, was the first foreign missionary organization in the United States. The deeds of our ancestors are their splendid monument. They achieved much. So must we. The work is not all done. As Congregationalists we are responsible for telling 75,- 000,000 people in non-Christian lands that they are the children of God their Father, who loves them, and that he wills us all to dwell together as brothers; in other words our Congregational churches, unaided by others, must reach almost as many people as live in the United States. In Mexico, for instance, our share of the territory in which to work, so that our efforts and those of other denominations will not overlap, is as large as all New England plus New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Mary- land, Delaware, and Virginia. The population of the territory is 750,000 people; our force of missionaries is eleven one missionary to more than 68,000 people. Adding together the number of people reached in churches and Sunday schools in our work for foreign missions, we find we are reaching about 360,000 people. This means CARRY ON 145 that we are accomplishing one twenty-five hundredth part of our task in foreign fields. In the United States there is one minister to 594 people, and one doctor to 625 people. In China there is one minister to 476,000 people, and one doctor to about 2,250,000 people; that would be at the rate of one doctor and five ministers to a city the size of Chicago. In India nine out of every ten persons who die have been unable to receive any medical care, yet all the thirty-three hospitals of our American Board could be made self-supporting with a fund that would be hardly enough to meet the expenses of one of our many city hospitals. We have yet to accomplish 2,499 parts of our task. Who says, " It's impossible "? Some one said that to General Armstrong once when he proposed a certain advance. The General sprang to his feet, saying, " What are Chris- tians put into the world for but to do the impossible in the strength of God! " Samuel Mills was just one man. In his day not even one six hundred millionth part of this task had been accomplished. Yet he said, " We can do it if we will." From his beginning what great deeds have been accomplished! But some one has said and very truly, that we must Christianize America if we are to Christianize the world. This does not mean that we must Christianize America before we try to Christianize the world. It means that the two tasks are part of one big task, so related that neither one can be neglected. Out from our shores to the non-Christian lands go sewing-machine missionaries, Stand- ard Oil missionaries, tobacco missionaries, rum missionaries, factory-machinery missionaries, government missionaries, merchant missionaries, and a crowd of others. " But these aren't missionaries? " Oh, yes, they are. A mis- sionary is one who is sent, and all these people are sent 146 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM to the non-Christian lands to sell goods to the people, or buy goods from them to send back to America. If these others go, why not send missionaries of Jesus Christ to give to the people of these lands the very best thing we have, the knowledge of Jesus Christ? It was because men knew him and followed him that the Pilgrims and Puritans came to America, that democracy began, that slavery was conquered, and that America is as great as she is today. We cannot refuse our best to the other lands, especially when these missionaries are those who are doing the most of all to make of these non-Christian lands real brotherhoods in Jesus Christ and making sure the foundations of democ- racy for the world. On the other hand, since these non- Christian lands are receiving in great numbers all these other kinds of missionaries we must bend every effort to make all these other influences Christian too. The rum missionaries certainly are not. Many merchant mis- sionaries cheat and deceive and wrong these people in order that their own selfish interests may be advanced. To make all these other missionaries Christian is the task of home missions and the church at home. They must learn to be brothers to men of all races here at home and across the seas if that new day of world brotherhood is to be won. Our soldiers have beaten the armies of autocracy with the armies of democracy. They cannot conquer the spirit of selfishness, cruelty, and greed which makes autocracy, except by the spirit which makes democracy, and that is the spirit which comes to us from Jesus Christ, the spirit of love and brotherhood, of service for the welfare of others. You see, we are challenged to a greater task than ever before. It is for us to make really Christian every relationship of our lives, whether social, or commercial, or industrial, or national. We must carry on everywhere a campaign of good will. CARRY ON 147 Wherever the spirit that makes for autocracy is at work in our own land we must overcome it; wherever greed and selfishness and indifference and cruelty are grinding down men and women and little children in our own land and others, we must overcome these forces. We must see to it, for example, that down in the south- land the thousands of children, black and white, picking cotton or working in the factories day after day, may have their chance. Moreover through no fault of theirs many children are forced by industrial conditions to take their places in the work of the world, handicapped by the lack of training in mind, body, and spirit. Yet Jesus said, " Of such is the kingdom of heaven." In the second place we must see to it that the foreigners who came to America in such great numbers those last ten years before the war, and the others before them, have the opportunity to learn the real America. We are apt to look down upon them because they are foreigners. We blame them for remaining foreign to American ideals and ways. Are we fair? Do we give them the proper chance to know the best in America? The story of Dr. Edward A. Steiner, one of the millions, shows the obstacles in their lives, and the glory it will be to us to overcome them in their behalf. What a privilege has been given to this nation of ours to serve the other races here in our own land and lead them in the way of brotherhood. Then we can truly lead the nations. President Wilson has said, " If you could hear some of the touching dispatches which come through official channels for even through these channels there come voices which are infinitely pathetic if you could catch some of these voices that I hear, the utter longing of the oppressed and helpless peoples all over the world 148 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM to hear something like the Battle Hymn of the Republic, to hear the feet of the great hosts of Liberty going to set them free, to set their minds free, you would know what comes into the hearts of those who are trying to contribute all the brains and power they have to this great enterprise of liberty. I summon you to com- radeship." The Canadian Army on the western front has given us a splendid phrase. It is " Carry On! " They were tired, wounded men, broken in body, but their spirits were aflame with courage and determination to carry on the work begun, the work for which so many had given, and for which they, too, would give their all. We have looked back down the hill, we have seen the conquests of our ancestors on the field of missions. Forward into the valley we have looked ; there lies our task. Impossible? " What are Christians put into the world for but to do the impossible in the strength of God? " Beyond the valley lie the mountains; beyond this struggle is the era of brotherhood. Let us " Carry On! " Pioneers in Cooperation Our ancestors have always stood for cooperation and team work. Here, too, they are pioneers. When home missionary work began in the West, Congregationalists and Presbyterians worked in partnership. The American Board was originally supported by the Baptist, Pres- byterian, and Reformed Churches, as well as the Con- gregational. Samuel J. Mills was a prime mover in the forming of the American Bible Society, in which all denominations of Christians have a part. Today we Congregationalists show this same spirit in our support of the Y. M. C. A. and the Y. W. C. A., both in their CARRY ON 149 work at home and abroad, as well as their work in Army and Navy. We must honor our ancestors by carrying on this same sort of team-work in the common task of all the churches that lies before us. It will be more necessary than ever. Pioneers in Education Our ancestors have always valued highly oppor- tunities for education. They believed that, as man is capable of being a son of God, he must have every opportunity to become his best in mind, body and spirit. Within the first years of the Puritan colony, public schools were founded. Wherever their descen- dants went, they carried this desire for education and made plans and sacrificed much to give their children good schools. Harvard, Yale, Williams, Dartmouth, Mt. Holyoke, Smith, Wellesley, Oberlin, Michigan, Grinnell, Marietta, Rollins, Yorktown, Colorado, Whit- man these are just a few of those colleges which were founded directly or indirectly by our Congregational ancestors. The Doshisha in Japan, the Union College at Pekin, the International College in Smyrna these are a few of those which have been planted overseas. We must " Carry On " in this field of education, es- pecially through the schools and colleges of the A. M. A., the C. H. M. S., and the A. B. C. F. M. What do all these letters stand for? Guess. Then " Carry On! " Our ancestors emphasized Bible study. It was through their earnest study of the life of Jesus that they gained the inspiration for each forward step in making possible the era of brotherhood. It was Jesus who taught that all men were brothers. How he would have men live together as brothers, all of us children of our heavenly Father, we must study our Bibles the harder to find out; we are learning more and more each day. Do you now see that the gleam is: " Not of the sunlight, Not of the moonlight, Not of the starlight." Do you not see that the light of the world is Jesus? Do you not see that from him shines the gleam? " Oh, young Mariner, Down to the haven Call your companions, Launch your vessel And crowd your canvas, And, ere it vanishes Over the margin, After it, follow it, Follow the Gleam! " Pioneers of Truth Our ancestors have been pioneers of truth. They have stood for the spirit of progress. In 1620 Pastor John Robinson wrote the Scrooby Church that " he was very confident that there is yet more light and truth to break forth from His Holy Word." That willingness to see new truth and light in God's Holy Word and to follow wherever its gleam led, has always been the spirit of our Congregational ancestors. Through this Great War new truths have been revealed. All men are seeing that the root of all our troubles lies in narrow selfish ideas of patriotism and nationality, We are seeing that we have imperfectly followed Jesus Christ. We are learning that greatness " consists not in pos- sessions or power or dominion, but in a desire to serve." CARRY ON 151 We are beginning to see that " there are no frontiers to friendship and that the language of love is a uni- versal language. . . . The new patriotism will sow for a harvest and will reap a harvest of brotherhood and good- will." l Victor Hugo dreamed of a United States of Europe. We dream of a United States of the World. The Hills Ahead This ending of warfare and establishing the new day of the brotherhood of nations, this dream of the ages, may now be brought to reality. It is impossible? " What are Christians put in the world for but to do the impossible in the strength of God! " In our day this is the new gleam of truth which shines before us. We shall be unworthy of our pioneer ancestors if we fail to follow it. " England was not made by her states- men but by her adventurers," said General Gordon. This has held true of America too. It is true of the world. Today we stand on the hilltop, before us in the valley lies our task. To us there comes this call: " Be not like those Who sit at home and there dream and dally, Raking the embers of the long dead years. But go ye down to the haunted valley, Light-hearted Pioneers. They have forgotten they were ever young, They hear your song in an unknown tongue, But one gleam of God through your spirit shines, Adventurers! O adventurers! " QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW 1. Tell what each of the following did to help on the new era of brotherhood: Wyclif, the Lollards, the Scrooby Church, John Quoted from a sermon by Dr. Raymond Calkins printed in the WfUraley College .V*i* for June 13. 1018. 152 PILGRIM FOLLOWERS OF THE GLEAM Wlnthrop and the Puritans, Hooker, Dr. Cutler, the Iowa Band, Dr. Marcus Whitman, Gen. Samuel Armstrong, Dr. Edward A. Steiner, and Samuel J. Mills. 2. Find six things for which our Congregational ancestors have stood. 3. For what great purposes do these groups of letters stand: A. B. C. F. M., C. H. M. S., and A. M. A.? 4. What is our future task in foreign missions? 5. What is our future task in home missions? 6. In what new ways in the future shall we too have to be loyal to newly revealed truth if we would stand, as our ancestors have, for progress?