Produced by Jim Ludwig
TITLE: Three Young Pioneers
BY AUTHOR: John Theodore Mueller
SUBTITLE: A Story of the Early Settlement of Our Country
CONTENTS
CHAPTERS I. On the Atlantic II. The New Home III. A New Brother IV. A Happy Surprise V. A Wonderful Journey VI. The Curse of Greed VII. In the Throes of War VIII. Pequot Indians IX. The Remains of the Log House X. Capture and Escape XI. Back Again and Agnes XII. Agnes' Story and Hartford XIII. The Victory Over the Pequots XIV. Christmas at the Trading Post
CHAPTER I
ON THE ATLANTIC
"Come to me, children," said Mrs. Bradley invitingly; "I will be a motherto you, my darlings. You shall not be a burden to the community, but Iwill take care of you myself."
Having said this, she seized the little boy and his sister and pressedthem to her heart, while tears trickled down her full, rosy cheeks.
"Now you little sweethearts," she said soothingly, "you must not beafraid of me. Let me wipe your tears, and then you will come with me tomy quarters, and I will give you something very, very good to eat. Butby all means don't cry anymore."
The children snuggled up to her and she took them by their hands, awayfrom the crowd which had frightened them by their curious stares. Therewas a sigh of relief when the woman had promised to take care of them,for all on shipboard were glad that the two orphans had found aprotector.
"God bless thee, Sister Clara," said the minister; "the Lord will rewardthee, after thy goodness, both here and hereafter. Nor will He everforsake or leave thee with the extra burden imposed on thee."
"The children are no burden," the woman replied; "but rather a godsend,for both my husband and I have longed for two little angels like theselong ago. How they will comfort our hearts in those weary hours ofwinter when the days are so short and the nights so long! And, pleaseyou, sir, there will be enough for us to eat, for the good Lord hasblessed us abundantly. But I must not delay to attend to them; sokindly excuse me, I must go."
The minister looked after her with grateful eyes, and then turned tothe men and women standing around him.
"A pious woman she is," he said; "a rich reward will be hers for hergreat kindness."
Then the congregation dispersed, each family departing for the cabinsand quarters where they lodged during the long, long voyage over theAtlantic.
Traveling at that time was not as comfortable as it is now, for theconversation that we just related took place just three hundred yearsago, to be exact in the year of our Lord 1630.
Since that time many and great changes have taken place in the world,and should the people of that time rise from their graves, they wouldbe amazed at the transformation that has taken place.
At that time the voyage across the ocean was slow and dangerous; theships were small and propelled by the wind, so that when the weather wascontrary, it took the emigrants a long time to reach America. Usuallythe food was poor, and quite often the water gave out, so that thepeople on shipboard suffered extremely. At the time of our story therewere many who wished to settle in America, and in consequence thevessels were usually crowded to the utmost of their capacity. Theresult was that sickness spread among the passengers, and many did notreach the country where they hoped to find liberty of conscience.
Among these was the mother of the two children, of whom we just spoke.The boy's name was Fred, and he was eight years old; the name of hissister was Agnes, and she was seven.
They were strong and healthy children, but their frail mother could notstand the hardships of the voyage. For six years she had lived inanxiety, for in 1624 her husband had left England to settle in theplymouth Colony, which the Pilgrims had established in 1620. He wasvery sincere in his faith, and rather than stay in good old England anddo what his conscience forbade him, he joined the sturdy emigrants wholeft their homes for the Lord's sake, as they were fully convinced.
He arrived safely in Plymouth Colony and at first sent cheering lettersto his wife. But suddenly these ceased, and she worried day and nightover her far-away husband. She toiled diligently, so that her childrendid not suffer for lack of bread, but the worry broke her heart, andwhen she had saved a little sum of money, enough to pay for her voyage,she left England and joined the colonists who in ever larger numberssought the land of freedom across the sea.
She did not live to set her foot on that strange, unknown land, but thegood Lord called her out of all trouble, and she was buried in the sea.
Fred was old enough to realize what the death of his beloved mothermeant, and Agnes, too, wept bitterly when they took away her mother andsoftly and slowly laid her away in the rolling waves.
The little band of emigrants at first worried considerably about whatto do with the children. The majority of them were poor and blessedwith large families so that they did not have any food to spare. Hencetheir joy was great when Clara Bradley volunteered to adopt the childrenas her own.
She herself was on the way to meet her husband, who two years before, in1628, had left England with the Puritans to settle in the new territorygranted by the King to the Massachusetts Company. The Puritans, as youknow, differed from the Pilgrims in many respects; in consequence, theywished to establish their own settlements far enough away from thePlymouth Colony to avoid misunderstanding and trouble.
As soon as Mr. Bradley had arrived in the new settlement he wrote a longletter to his wife in which he described the wonderful country in whichhe had found a new home. But he begged her to wait for some time untilhe had built a house, cleared a small piece of land, and made otherpreparations to welcome his young and beautiful wife.
In England Mr. Bradley had been a merchant, and his wife came from arich family so that he did not care to burden her with the hardships ofprimitive pioneer life. But she was a sensible woman, who was notafraid to work, and since she loved her husband dearly, she insistedthat she would come and share with him the woe and weal of his life.
When, therefore, in 1630, the Massachusetts Company gave the people inthe Colony the right to govern themselves, and in consequence,thousands of Puritans were willing to go to America, she would stay inEngland no longer, but sold her property, collected her belongings, andsailed with the first band of emigrants, in whose midst was also JohnWinthrop, the new governor.
It was by accident that she met the poor mother with her two littlechildren, and when she heard her story, she pitied her very much. She,too, made friends with the children, and later when their mother wasconfined to her cabin, she took them on deck and told them manyinteresting stories of land and sea, and of kings and queens, and ofthe Indians that roved in the forests of their new country.
As she was blessed with sufficient funds, she had richly providedherself with special and delectable food so that the children receivedmany a dainty morsel which they had never tasted in their lives.
In this way the children very soon became attached to the strange, finelady, who wore such rich clothes and had such winning ways; and whileshe could never take the place of their mother, they nevertheless werecomforted when their mother grew so ill that they were not allowed tosee her.
When finally she died, they clung with cordial confidence to their newfriend, who now taught them to call her mother.
At night Mrs. Bradley would point them to the heavens, when the skieswere clear, and told them of the blessedness of their mother who wasnow with the holy angels and beheld the glory of the Lord Jesus.
"You see the beautiful stars up there?" she asked them. "Oh, how manythere are! When I was young my mother told me that each was a windowin heaven through which the angels looked to see whether all was wellwith God's people. Every time a star twinkled, she
said, an angellooked down, and it was the glory of his face that shone so brightly."
"But is that true?" Fred asked, for he was well instructed, as allPuritans were, in the Bible. "Our teacher told us that the angels areministering Spirits. That is what the Bible says, and we must not addthereunto." He said it almost sternly and quite reprovingly, for thePuritans were very religious and followed the Bible closely. Mrs.Bradley had been raised in a rich home, and although her parents hadjoined the Puritans, they remained much more genial than were theirsterner brethren.
"Well, yes," the lady admitted; "perhaps you are right, but isn't it agood story, nevertheless? I love to think of the stars as being somany messengers of God watching over me in this poor life. But theangels are much nearer to us than the stars, and our Lord is still muchnearer than they."
"Is He here on the ocean, too?" asked little Agnes who was a brightgirl and very mature for her age. "It seems to me that we are here all,all alone with nothing but water around us, and it never ends, never!"
"Yes," said the good woman, "Jesus is here, too, though we cannot seeHim. He is here at our services and prayer meetings, and He is in ourhearts. When we pray, He hears us, and when we sing, our songs rise upto His throne. Every thought in our heart He knows. So we need notfear, my dear children."
Then she would kiss them tenderly, and give them a piece of ginger breador some other dainty, so that they would forget all their sorrows andtroubles.
On board the ship her solicitude for the children was soon noticed byeverybody, and even Governor Winthrop at times turned to Mrs. Bradleyand spoke to her about the children.
"You are doing very well as a mother, Mrs. Bradley," he teased her;"the children are very happy under your care, and they are not a whitsorrowful any more. The Lord bless you for your kindness! It ischeering to know that we have such pious folk in our company. Godbless us all that His name may be glorified."
Mrs. Bradley blushed deeply when she perceived that her good work wasthus graciously acknowledged. She cared for no praise, and insistedthat the children were only a blessing sent to her by the Lord tocomfort her and assign to her a worthy task.
As often as the emigrants gathered for worship, she was present withthe children, and joined in the singing, for she had a fine, melodiousvoice. There was no organ on board the ship, neither did the colonistshave musical instruments. Yet they sang so wondrously that it was apleasure to listen to them. The hymns were learned by heart, not onlyby the older members, but also by the children, who joined their clearyoung voices with those of their fathers and mothers. So also theylearned the Bible, and while not all had copies of that holy Book, themajority of them knew whole portions by heart; especially the psalmswhich they sang every day. Furthermore, there was instruction in theCatechism each day, so that the children were well occupied, as werealso their elders. For when they were not worshiping God by song andprayer, they served Him by doing useful work, of which there was muchto do.
The colonists, knowing that they would settle in a primitive country,had brought plenty of wool, which the women spun into cloth from whichto make garments. At that time there were no readymade clothes.Everything had to be made at home. This kept the women busy almost allday, and kept them from brooding over their trials and difficulties.
After all, it was not easy for them to leave their homes and settle in anew, uncivilized country. There, as they knew, the winters were muchlonger and harder; the woods were filled with Indians, who at times werehostile, and before the soil could be tilled, trees had to be cut downand stones had to be removed. The future, therefore, was not promising.The life that awaited them, was not one of ease. Yet they were resolvedto carry out their plan and secure a home in inhospitable America, whereat least they were not persecuted on account of their religious beliefs.
But also the men were busy in various ways. Some of them were skilfulin weaving and spinning, and these helped the women in providingnecessary garments. Very often father and mother with their childrenlabored at one piece of work, and there was much jollity, as the parentsrelated many a good story to their children. Others who were skilled incarpentering, made implements which could be used on the farm, in thewoods, or in the homes. Others again attended to the sick, of whomthere were many at all times, while still others joined in instructingthe young.
In short, each emigrant was given some task to do, and the wholeactivity was superintended by Governor Winthrop, who led the men inwisely employing their time.
He was genial and affable, and even the humblest could go and speak tohim. Though he was still a young man, yet he was like a father to everyone. In spite of storms and many unpleasant things, the voyage was notaltogether dreary, and when the emigrants finally landed, they thankedGod heartily for the innumerable blessings bestowed upon them.
Yet they were glad when land was in sight and when the ship passed outof the region of tumultuous waves into the quiet and peaceful harbor ofMassachusetts Bay.