So, Grandfather talked about the Puritans, as those persons were called who thought it sinful to practise the religious forms and ceremonies which the Church of England had borrowed from the Roman Catholics. These Puritans suffered so much persecution2 in England that, in 1607, many of them went over to Holland, and lived ten or twelve years at Amsterdam and Leyden. But they feared that, if they continued there much longer, they should cease to be English, and should adopt all the manners and ideas and feelings of the Dutch. For this and other reasons, in the year 1620, they embarked3 on board of the ship Mayflower, and crossed the ocean to the shores of Cape4 Cod5. There they made a settlement, and called it Plymouth; which, though now a part of Massachusetts, was for a long time a colony by itself. And thus was formed the earliest settlement of the Puritans in America.
Meantime, those of the Puritans who remained in [pg 006] England continued to suffer grievous persecution on account of their religious opinions. They began to look around them for some spot where they might worship God, not as the king and bishops6 thought fit, but according to the dictates7 of their own consciences. When their brethren had gone from Holland to America, they bethought themselves that they likewise might find refuge from persecution there. Several gentlemen among them purchased a tract8 of country on the coast of Massachusetts Bay, and obtained a charter from King Charles, which authorized9 them to make laws for the settlers. In the year 1628, they sent over a few people, with John Endicott at their head, to commence a plantation10 at Salem. Peter Palfrey, Roger Conant, and one or two more, had built houses there in 1626, and may be considered as the first settlers of that ancient town. Many other Puritans prepared to follow Endicott.
"And now we come to the chair, my dear children," said Grandfather. "This chair is supposed to have been made of an oak tree which grew in the park of the English earl of Lincoln, between two and three centuries ago. In its younger days it used, probably, to stand in the hall of the earl's castle. Do not you see the coat of arms of the family of Lincoln, carved in the open work of the back? But when his daughter, the Lady Arbella, was married to a certain Mr. Johnson, the earl gave her this valuable chair." [pg 007]
"Who was Mr. Johnson?" inquired Clara.
"He was a gentleman of great wealth, who agreed with the Puritans in their religious opinions," answered Grandfather. "And as his belief was the same as theirs, he resolved that he would live and die with them. Accordingly, in the month of April, 1630, he left his pleasant abode11 and all his comforts in England, and embarked with the Lady Arbella, on board of a ship bound for America."
As Grandfather was frequently impeded12 by the questions and observations of his young auditors13, we deem it advisable to omit all such prattle14 as is not essential to the story. We have taken some pains to find out exactly what Grandfather said, and here offer to our readers, as nearly as possible in his own words, the story of
THE LADY ARBELLA
The ship in which Mr. Johnson and his lady embarked, taking Grandfather's chair along with them, was called the Arbella, in honor of the lady herself. A fleet of ten or twelve vessels16, with many hundred passengers, left England about the same time; for a multitude of people, who were discontented with the king's government and oppressed by the bishops, were flocking over to the new world. One of the vessels in the fleet was that same Mayflower which had carried the Puritan pilgrims to Plymouth. And now, my children, I would have you fancy yourselves in the cabin of the good ship Arbella; because if [pg 008] you could behold17 the passengers aboard that vessel15, you would feel what a blessing18 and honor it was for New England to have such settlers. They were the best men and women of their day.
Among the passengers was John Winthrop, who had sold the estate of his forefathers19, and was going to prepare a new home for his wife and children in the wilderness20. He had the king's charter in his keeping, and was appointed the first Governor of Massachusetts. Imagine him a person of grave and benevolent21 aspect, dressed in a black velvet22 suit, with a broad ruff around his neck and a peaked beard upon his chin. There was likewise a minister of the Gospel, whom the English bishops had forbidden to preach, but who knew that he should have liberty both to preach and pray in the forests of America. He wore a black cloak, called a Geneva cloak, and had a black velvet cap, fitting close to his head, as was the fashion of almost all the Puritan clergymen. In their company came Sir Richard Saltonstall, who had been one of the five first projectors23 of the new colony. He soon returned to his native country. But his descendants still remain in New England; and the good old family name is as much respected in our days as it was in those of Sir Richard.
Not only these, but several other men of wealth and pious24 ministers, were in the cabin of the Arbella. One had banished25 himself for ever from the old hall where his ancestors had lived for hundreds of years. [pg 009] Another had left his quiet parsonage, in a country town of England. Others had come from the universities of Oxford26 or Cambridge, where they had gained great fame for their learning. And here they all were, tossing upon the uncertain and dangerous sea, and bound for a home that was more dangerous than even the sea itself. In the cabin, likewise, sat the Lady Arbella in her chair, with a gentle and sweet expression on her face, but looking too pale and feeble to endure the hardships of the wilderness.
Every morning and evening the Lady Arbella gave up her great chair to one of the ministers, who took his place in it and read passages from the Bible to his companions. And thus, with prayers and pious conversation, and frequent singing of hymns27, which the breezes caught from their lips and scattered28 far over the desolate29 waves, they prosecuted30 their voyage, and sailed into the harbor of Salem in the month of June.
At that period there were but six or eight dwellings32 in the town; and these were miserable33 hovels, with roofs of straw and wooden chimneys. The passengers in the fleet either built huts with bark and branches of trees, or erected34 tents of cloth till they could provide themselves with better shelter. Many of them went to form a settlement at Charlestown. It was thought fit that the Lady Arbella should tarry in Salem for a time; she was probably received as a guest into the family of John Endicott. [pg 010] He was the chief person in the plantation, and had the only comfortable house which the new comers had beheld35 since they left England. So now, children, you must imagine Grandfather's chair in the midst of a new scene.
Suppose it a hot summer's day, and the lattice-windows of a chamber36 in Mr. Endicott's house thrown wide open. The Lady Arbella, looking paler than she did on shipboard, is sitting in her chair, and thinking mournfully of far-off England. She rises and goes to the window. There, amid patches of garden ground and cornfield, she sees the few wretched hovels of the settlers, with the still ruder wigwams and cloth tents of the passengers who had arrived in the same fleet with herself. Far and near stretches the dismal37 forest of pine trees, which throw their black shadows over the whole land, and likewise over the heart of this poor lady.
All the inhabitants of the little village are busy. One is clearing a spot on the verge38 of the forest for his homestead; another is hewing39 the trunk of a fallen pine tree, in order to build himself a dwelling31; a third is hoeing in his field of Indian corn. Here comes a huntsman out of the woods, dragging a bear which he has shot, and shouting to the neighbors to lend him a hand. There goes a man to the sea-shore, with a spade and a bucket, to dig a mess of clams40, which were a principal article of food with the first settlers. Scattered here and there are two or three dusky figures, clad in mantles41 of fur, with [pg 011] ornaments42 of bone hanging from their ears, and the feathers of wild birds in their coal black hair. They have belts of shell-work slung43 across their shoulders, and are armed with bows and arrows and flint-headed spears. These are an Indian Sagamore and his attendants, who have come to gaze at the labors44 of the white men. And now rises a cry, that a pack of wolves have seized a young calf45 in the pasture; and every man snatches up his gun or pike, and runs in chase of the marauding beasts.
Poor Lady Arbella watches all these sights, and feels that this new world is fit only for rough and hardy46 people. None should be here but those who can struggle with wild beasts and wild men, and can toil47 in the heat or cold, and can keep their hearts firm against all difficulties and dangers. But she is not one of these. Her gentle and timid spirit sinks within her; and turning away from the window she sits down in the great chair, and wonders thereabouts in the wilderness her friends will dig her grave.
Mr. Johnson had gone, with Governor Winthrop and most of the other passengers, to Boston, where he intended to build a house for Lady Arbella and himself. Boston was then covered with wild woods, and had fewer inhabitants even than Salem. During her husband's absence, poor Lady Arbella felt herself growing ill, and was hardly able to stir from the great chair. Whenever John Endicott noticed her despondency, he doubtless addressed her with words [pg 012] of comfort. "Cheer up, my good lady!" he would say. "In a little time, you will love this rude life of the wilderness as I do." But Endicott's heart was as bold and resolute48 as iron, and he could not understand why a woman's heart should not be of iron too.
Still, however, he spoke49 kindly50 to the lady, and then hastened forth51 to till his corn-field and set out fruit trees, or to bargain with the Indians for furs, or perchance to oversee52 the building of a fort. Also being a magistrate53, he had often to punish some idler or evil-doer, by ordering him to be set in the stocks or scourged54 at the whipping-post. Often, too, as was the custom of the times, he and Mr. Higginson, the minister of Salem, held long religious talks together. Thus John Endicott was a man of multifarious business, and had no time to look back regretfully to his native land. He felt himself fit for the new world, and for the work that he had to do, and set himself resolutely55 to accomplish it.
What a contrast, my dear children, between this bold, rough, active man, and the gentle Lady Arbella, who was fading away, like a pale English flower, in the shadow of the forest! And now the great chair was often empty, because Lady Arbella grew too weak to arise from bed.
Meantime, her husband had pitched upon a spot for their new home. He returned from Boston to Salem, travelling through the woods on foot, and leaning on his pilgrim's staff. His heart yearned56 [pg 013] within him; for he was eager to tell his wife of the new home which he had chosen. But when he beheld her pale and hollow cheek, and found how her strength was wasted, he must have known that her appointed home was in a better land. Happy for him then,—happy both for him and her,—if they remembered that there was a path to heaven, as well from this heathen wilderness as from the Christian57 land whence they had come. And so, in one short month from her arrival, the gentle Lady Arbella faded away and died. They dug a grave for her in the new soil, where the roots of the pine trees impeded their spades; and when her bones had rested there nearly two hundred years, and a city had sprung up around them, a church of stone was built upon the spot.
Charley, almost at the commencement of the foregoing narrative58, had galloped59 away with a prodigious60 clatter61, upon Grandfather's stick, and was not yet returned. So large a boy should have been ashamed to ride upon a stick. But Laurence and Clara had listened attentively62, and were affected63 by this true story of the gentle lady, who had come so far to die so soon. Grandfather had supposed that little Alice was asleep, but, towards the close of the story, happening to look down upon her, he saw that her blue eyes were wide open, and fixed64 earnestly upon his face. The tears had gathered in them, like dew upon a delicate flower; but when Grandfather [pg 014] ceased to speak, the sunshine of her smile broke forth again.
"O, the lady must have been so glad to get to heaven!" exclaimed little Alice.
"Grandfather, what became of Mr. Johnson?" asked Clara.
"His heart appears to have been quite broken," answered Grandfather; "for he died at Boston within a month after the death of his wife. He was buried in the very same tract of ground, where he had intended to build a dwelling for Lady Arbella and himself. Where their house would have stood there was his grave.
"I never heard any thing so melancholy65!" said Clara.
"The people loved and respected Mr. Johnson so much," continued Grandfather, "that it was the last request of many of them, when they died, that they might be buried as near as possible to this good man's grave. And so the field became the first burial-ground in Boston. When you pass through Tremont street, along by King's Chapel66, you see a burial-ground, containing many old grave-stones and monuments. That was Mr. Johnson's field."
"How sad is the thought," observed Clara, "that one of the first things which the settlers had to do, when they came to the new world, was to set apart a burial-ground!"
"Perhaps," said Laurence, "if they had found no need of burial-grounds here, they would have [pg 015] been glad, after a few years, to go back to England."
Grandfather looked at Laurence, to discover whether he knew how profound and true a thing he had said.
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1
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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2
persecution
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| n. 迫害,烦扰 | |
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3
embarked
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| 乘船( embark的过去式和过去分词 )； 装载； 从事 | |
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4
cape
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| n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风 | |
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cod
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| n.鳕鱼；v.愚弄；哄骗 | |
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6
bishops
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| （基督教某些教派管辖大教区的）主教( bishop的名词复数 )； （国际象棋的）象 | |
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dictates
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| n.命令，规定，要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 )；口授；支配；摆布 | |
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tract
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| n.传单，小册子，大片(土地或森林) | |
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authorized
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| a.委任的，许可的 | |
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plantation
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| n.种植园，大农场 | |
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abode
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| n.住处，住所 | |
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impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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13
auditors
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| n.审计员，稽核员( auditor的名词复数 )；（大学课程的）旁听生 | |
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14
prattle
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| n.闲谈；v.（小孩般）天真无邪地说话；发出连续而无意义的声音 | |
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15
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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17
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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blessing
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| n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿 | |
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forefathers
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| n.祖先，先人；祖先，祖宗( forefather的名词复数 )；列祖列宗；前人 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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21
benevolent
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| adj.仁慈的，乐善好施的 | |
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velvet
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| n.丝绒，天鹅绒；adj.丝绒制的，柔软的 | |
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projectors
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| 电影放映机，幻灯机( projector的名词复数 ) | |
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pious
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| adj.虔诚的；道貌岸然的 | |
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25
banished
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| v.放逐，驱逐( banish的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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hymns
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| n.赞美诗，圣歌，颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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28
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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desolate
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| adj.荒凉的，荒芜的；孤独的，凄凉的；v.使荒芜，使孤寂 | |
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prosecuted
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| a.被起诉的 | |
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dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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dwellings
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| n.住处，处所( dwelling的名词复数 ) | |
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miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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35
beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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chamber
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| n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所 | |
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dismal
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| adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的 | |
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38
verge
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| n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临 | |
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39
hewing
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| v.（用斧、刀等）砍、劈( hew的现在分词 )；砍成；劈出；开辟 | |
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clams
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| n.蛤；蚌，蛤( clam的名词复数 )v.（在沙滩上）挖蛤( clam的第三人称单数 ) | |
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mantles
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| vt.&vi.覆盖（mantle的第三人称单数形式） | |
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ornaments
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| n.装饰( ornament的名词复数 )；点缀；装饰品；首饰v.装饰，点缀，美化( ornament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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43
slung
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| 抛( sling的过去式和过去分词 )； 吊挂； 遣送； 押往 | |
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labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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calf
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| n.小牛，犊，幼仔，小牛皮 | |
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hardy
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| adj.勇敢的，果断的，吃苦的；耐寒的 | |
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toil
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| vi.辛劳工作，艰难地行动；n.苦工，难事 | |
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48
resolute
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| adj.坚决的，果敢的 | |
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49
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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50
kindly
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| adj.和蔼的，温和的，爽快的；adv.温和地，亲切地 | |
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51
forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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52
oversee
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| vt.监督，管理 | |
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53
magistrate
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| n.地方行政官，地方法官，治安官 | |
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54
scourged
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| 鞭打( scourge的过去式和过去分词 )； 惩罚，压迫 | |
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resolutely
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| adj.坚决地，果断地 | |
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56
yearned
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| 渴望，切盼，向往( yearn的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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narrative
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| n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的 | |
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galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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61
clatter
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| v./n.(使)发出连续而清脆的撞击声 | |
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62
attentively
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| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
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affected
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| adj.不自然的，假装的 | |
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64
fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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65
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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chapel
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| n.小教堂，殡仪馆 | |
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