profits above expenses to go to a common fund which should be divided, at the end of seven years, according to the shares held. Arrangements were then made for the departure. The youngest and strongest were to go first to prepare a place for the others. The depar- In September, 1620, they set out in the Mayflower, a ture hired ship. They left behind them their beloved pastor, the faithful Robinson, who remained with the weak and aged until he could go with them to America. They never saw him again. The hearts of those who set forth were heavy, but they took comfort from the thought that they were under the care of God. One of them wrote: "They knew they were pilgrimes, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest countrie, and quieted their spirits." They are called "Pilgrims" to this day.

After sailing nine weeks the Mayflower sighted land at Cape Cod. She turned southward to pass that point, but ran into shoal Arrival at water, and the captain put back and came to anchor Plymouth at what is now Provincetown. The weather was bad and he refused to go to Virginia as he had intended. The Pilgrims decided to seek a proper place and plant the colony in New England. A small boat was sent out and returned after many days reporting that a place fit for settlement was found. It was a small harbor which Captain John Smith had visited several years before and named Plymouth. Here the company landed on December 16, Old Style, 1620. Near the landing place was a great boulder which has become famous as "Plymouth Rock."

First winter

The weather was very cold, and the women and children remained on the Mayflower while the men worked hard on the shore to build log houses and to land the supplies. It was soon seen that there was not enough food to last until a supply could be raised; and it was necessary to put the people on half rations. This produced much suffering; and after a while sickness visited them. When spring came, half of the Pilgrims had died, among them fourteen of the eighteen women who had

sailed with the party. Those who were still alive were so weak that they could hardly plant the grain and build the houses that remained to be built. But not one was discouraged or wished to go back to England.

The first year at Plymouth was a hard one. Enough corn was raised to feed the people during the winter, but another ship came with passengers who had little food, and again The Indians there was want. As it happened, the Indians gave no

trouble. A few years earlier all those living near Plymouth had been carried off by a plague, probably smallpox. One morning

in 1621 a single brave walked into the town crying "Welcome!" in English. It was Samoset, who came from Monhegan, where he had learned the English language from the English fishermen who visited that island. He proved a valuable friend to the colony. He brought to them another Indian, Squanto, who taught the whites many useful facts about planting corn and other crops and about catching fish in this region. North of Plymouth lived the Wampanoags, who showed that they wished to be friendly. Their chieftain was Massasoit, and in 1621 he made a treaty of friendship between his people and the men of Plymouth. To the westward lived a stronger tribe, the Narragansetts. They were jealous of the Wampanoags and distrusted the English. So they sent to Plymouth a bundle of arrows wrapped in Narraganthe skin of a snake. It signified war. The whites setts were not frightened and returned the skin stuffed full of bullets, a hint of what the Narragansetts could expect if they attacked. The Indians understood, and there was no more trouble from them.

The governor of Plymouth was William Bradford, a man of great courage and wisdom. He ruled the colony many years, although he was elected yearly, and might have been Bradford replaced by another man, if the people had found him and

Standish

a bad governor. He was much helped by Captain Miles Standish, who had been an English soldier. Standish

commanded a company formed out of the men who could bear arms. He and his soldiers were of great service; for though they did not have to fight a serious war, they showed the Indians and some rude white men that the men of Plymouth were able to make themselves respected. Bradford wrote an excellent history of the colony.

common a failure

We have seen that before they sailed the colonists promised to labor in common for seven years and to give the proceeds to Property in the company. Experience showed that this system of labor was as bad in Plymouth as in Virginia. Those who worked wished to have the advantage of their industry. The married men complained because their wives had to cook, wash, and mend for other men. It was not on account of the labor itself; for everybody must work in Plymouth. But the men could not stand having their wives made common drudges for other men. Thus it happened that in 1623 a new agreement was made with the company. First, the town assumed the debt to the company and arranged to pay it out of the proceeds of the fur trade, a plan which resulted in the early payment of the debt. In the next place, each colonist was given a small farm with the understanding that he should have what he made. But he must pay his part of the town's taxes. This system proved to be a great deal better than the common fund.

The land around Plymouth was poor, but the people were very industrious and by hard work raised all they needed. After a while they discovered more fertile lands not far away

New towns and groups of them moved off and founded several

towns. But for all this the settlements grew slowly. Plymouth Colony was important because it showed Englishmen what New England was like. But the real work of settling the country was done by another colony.

When the Pilgrims decided to settle at Plymouth, they realized that the charter they had received from the London Company was valueless. They were within the limits of the Plymouth