spend the remainder in doing them a yet greater benefit." "I know what that was! cried Laurence.

"He sat down in his study," continued Grandfather, "and began a translation of the Bible into the Indian tongue. It was while he was engaged in this pious work that the mintmaster gave him our great chair. His toil needed it and deserved it."

"O Grandfather, tell us all about that Indian Bible!" exclaimed Laurence. "I have seen it in the library of the Athenæum; and the tears came into my eyes to think that there were no Indians left to read it."

IT

THE PILGRIMS

ROBERT MACKENZIE

T was a bleak looking and discouraging coast which lay before them. Nothing met the eye but low sandhills, covered with ill-grown wood down to the margin of

were sent to explore. At first no suitable locality could be found. The men had great hardships to endure. The cold

was so excessive that the spray froze upon their clothes and they resembled men cased in armor. At length a spot was fixed upon. The soil appeared to be good, and abounded in "delicate springs" of water. On the 23d of December the Pilgrims landed, stepping ashore upon a huge bowlder of granite which is still reverently preserved by their descendants. Here they resolved to found their settlement, which they agreed to call New Plymouth.

The winter was severe, and the infant colony was brought very near to extinction. They had been badly fed on board the Mayflower, and for some time after going ashore, there was very imperfect shelter from the weather. Sickness fell heavily upon the worn-out Pilgrims. Every second day a grave had to be dug in the frozen ground. By the time spring came in there were only fifty survivors, and these sadly enfeebled and dispirited.

But all through this dismal winter the Pilgrims labored at their heavy task. The care of the sick, the burying of the dead, sadly hindered their work; but the building of their little town went on. They found that nineteen houses would contain their diminished numbers. These they built. Then they surrounded them with a palisade. Upon an eminence beside their town they erected a structure which served a double purpose. Above it was a fort, on which they mounted six cannon; below it was their church. Hitherto, the Indians had been a cause of anxiety, but had done them no harm. Now they felt safe. Indeed, there had never been much risk. A recent epidemic had swept off nine tenths of the Indians who inhabited that region, and the discouraged survivors could ill afford to incur the hostility of their formidable visitors.

The Pilgrims had been careful to provide for themselves a government. They had drawn up and signed, in the cabin of the Mayflower, a document forming themselves into a body politic, and promising obedience to all laws. framed for the general good. Under this constitution they appointed John Carver to be their governor. They dutifully acknowledged King James, but they left no very large place for his authority. They were essentially a self-governing people. They knew what despotism was, and they were very sure that democracy could by no possibility be as bad.

The welcome spring came at length, and "the birds sung in the woods most pleasantly." The health of the colony began somewhat to improve, but there was still much suffering to endure. The summer passed not unprosperously. They had taken possession of the deserted clearings of the Indians, and had no difficulty in providing themselves with food. But in the autumn came a ship with a new company of Pilgrims. This was very encouraging; but unhappily the ship brought no provisions, and the supplies of the colonists were not sufficient for this unexpected addition. For six months there was only half allowance to each. Such straits recurred frequently during the first two or three years. Often the colonists knew not at night "where to have a bit in the morning." Once or twice the opportune arrival of a ship saved them from famishing. They suffered much, but their cheerful trust in Providence and in their own final triumph never wavered. They faced the difficulties of their position with undaunted hearts. Slowly but surely the little colony struck its roots and began to grow.

THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS

FELICIA D. HEMANS

Mrs. Felicia D. Hemans was born in Liverpool in 1794. She developed very early a remarkable talent for poetical composition. Her first volume of poems was published when she was only fifteen years old. She died at the early age of forty-one. She wrote a great number of poems, some possessing great beauty of expression, others noted for their sentiment. The one given is the one most widely known.

HE breaking waves dashed high

THE

On a stern and rock-bound coast,
And the woods against a stormy sky

Their giant branches tossed;

And the heavy night hung dark

The hills and waters o'er,

When a band of exiles moored their bark

On a wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,

They, the true-hearted, came;
Not with the roll of stirring drums,

And the trumpet that sings of fame;

Not as the flying come,

In silence and in fear;

They shook the depths of the desert's gloom

With their hymns of lofty cheer.

Amid the storm they sang,

And the stars heard, and the sea;

And the sounding aisles of the dim woods rang

To the anthem of the free.

The ocean eagle soared

From his nest by the white wave's foam, And the rocky pines of the forest roared; This was their welcome home.

There were men with hoary hair
Amid that pilgrim band;

Why had they come to wither there,
Away from their childhood's land?

There was woman's fearless eye,

Lit by her deep love's truth;

There was manhood's brow, serenely high,
And the fiery heart of youth.

What sought they thus afar?

Bright jewels of the mine?

The wealth of seas, the spoils of war?
They sought a faith's pure shrine.

Ay, call it holy ground,

The soil where first they trod!

They have left unstained what there they found, Freedom to worship God!