COMPOSITION SUBJECTS

1. Describe the trip up Chesapeake Bay by the founders of Maryland. They observe the woods, the red men, the great rivers. The Indians bring them game and fish. One of the white men has a vision of the commercial future of this inlet of the sea.

2. An Indian who is accustomed to trading in Jamestown has visited St. Mary's. He makes a report to his chief in which he shows the differences he has observed in the colonies.

3. Let each member of the class give a different imaginary incident in the life of a Huguenot settler of South Carolina. These incidents may have to do with the selection of a location for the building of the home, the clearing of the soil, the first planting, the first harvest, a strange adventure with wild beasts, a surprising adventure with the Indians, a letter from France.

CHAPTER OUTLINE

1. Maryland, a refuge for the oppressed.

2. Character of early settlers of Maryland.

3. Two classes of people in Carolina.

4. Georgia, a refuge for poor people.

5. Relation of settlers of Georgia to the Spanish.

CHAPTER IX

THE NEW ENGLAND COLONIES

73. John Smith names New England. Several years after the founding of Jamestown, Captain John Smith went from England on a fishing and fur-trading voyage to the coast known in that day as " North Virginia," and owned by the Plymouth Company. He found there only Indians, but named the country "New England," which it has ever since been called; and he gave to many of its harbors the names of English seaport towns. This region soon attracted settlers who left their homes in England because they there suffered persecution for their religious beliefs.

74. Struggle for religious liberty. In our day most civilized nations allow their citizens entire freedom of thought and worship; but three centuries ago, as we have already seen, very few men of the governing class were tolerant in these matters. The people were compelled to worship in accordance with the wishes of their rulers. Large numbers of the people of England bitterly resented this treatment, saying that theirs was a free country, where men ought to be allowed to worship as they pleased.

or

75. Puritans and Separatists. Roman Catholics were not the only people to be treated in this manner. There were also many Protestants, called "Dissenters " "Nonconformists," whose opinions differed from those of the Church of England - which was the established, or state, religion- and who consequently suffered persecution. They were for the most part divided into two classes:

(a) The "Puritans." These people wanted to remain in the Church of England, but they sought to purify it of certain ceremonies which they said were too much like those of the Roman Church, from which the Church of England had long been separated.

(b) The Separatists," who were not so numerous as the "Puritans," thought it impossible to bring about reforms in the church; they therefore wanted to separate from it and form independent congregations. The church officials, however, would not consent to this; indeed, it was contrary to the law of the land.

76. The Pilgrims. Several Separatists lived in and about the quaint little English village of Scrooby,1 and secretly

formed themselves into an independent congregation. For the most part, they were of the working class-sturdy men, poor of purse, but of high character, who lived simply and were deeply religious in their thought. A few, however, were educated and fairly well-to-do people. All of them were respectable, peaceable citizens; but they were

breaking the law in thus meeting secretly and worshiping God after their own manner. King James I therefore treated them as rebels, casting some into prison and persecuting all in one way or another. The King had said, "I will make them conform, or I will harry them out of the land." As they did not intend to conform to the church, the Scrooby Separatists decided to get out of the land before they were further harried. So in 1608 they escaped to Holland, in which little country they would be granted more liberty than in England. These poor fugitives were called "Pilgrims,”

1 Scrooby to-day has not more than one hundred and fifty inhabitants, yet it is probably as large as it was three hundred years ago. Each year it is visited by many Americans, who go to see the old home of several of the Pilgrim Fathers. It lies nearly one hundred and fifty miles north of London and some ainety miles east of Liverpool.

because of their wanderings and the hardships they suffered for the sake of their religion.

77. The Pilgrims in Holland. Holland was then the only nation in Europe that opened its doors to Christians of every belief. Nevertheless, the Pilgrims soon discovered the following drawbacks to their remaining in that country:

(a) It seemed likely that war would soon break out again between Spain and Holland, and in that event the Pilgrims might be forced to take part in it.

(b) Their children were becoming Dutch in speech and

manners.

(c) The Pilgrims found it difficult to obtain employment in that small and thickly settled country.

Accordingly, after much thought and prayer they finally decided to move to America. In that far-away wilderness, they said, they would build a new England, where Separatists might be free to worship as they wished.

78. Sailing of the Mayflower. King James I was asked whether he would permit these obstinate people to dwell in America. He did not actually consent, but promised that so long as they behaved properly over there, he would not disturb them.1

In July, 1620, the little sailing ship Speedwell took about a hundred and fifty of the Pilgrims from Holland to the English port of Southampton, where her sister vessel, the Mayflower, was waiting for them.2 The people were now divided between the two ships, which started from South

1 Having little money of their own, they were obliged to borrow, on very hard terms, from a company of merchants in London. In return for the loan the settlers promised that for seven years they would devote all their time, except Sundays, to farming, fishing, fur trading, etc., for the benefit of this company, and would keep all of their property in common. At the end of that time everything was to be divided, half and half, between the company and the settlers, and after this every man must work for himself. Fortunately, after a few years the settlers found themselves able, by great sacrifices, to purchase the shares of the company. In this way they themselves became owners of the colony, with the right to manage their own affairs.

2 Not all of the congregation were on the Speedwell, for some remained in Holland to see how the American experiment prospered, before going to that country themselves.

ampton with their precious cargoes; but the Speedwell soon sprung a leak and put in at Plymouth, England, where she was abandoned. As the Mayflower could not hold over a hundred and two men, women, and children, together with their furniture and other property, the leaders selected that number of the strongest of their party, who seemed the

deep; displacement, 120 tons

best suited to life in a new colony, and they only were allowed to go to America.

For reasons not now known, the captain of the Mayflower pretended that contrary midwinter winds would not allow him to sail as far south as the Hudson River, where the Pilgrims had planned to settle. He therefore headed his ship for the country that John Smith had

The Mayflower was 82 feet long, 22 feet wide, and 14 feet named New England. After a stormy voyage

of nearly two months they sighted Cape Cod, whose lowlying shore hems in Massachusetts Bay on the east, and spent more than a month in exploring the region for a proper spot at which to settle.

79. Landing at Plymouth. Massachusetts Bay was fringed with ice, and the forests of cedar and pine were shrouded with deep snow. The poor immigrants must have thought it a very dreary place for their future home. No doubt many a faint heart in the Mayflower's company was by this time yearning for the comforts and more genial climate of Holland or of their own motherland. Finally, on December 22, 1620, the Pilgrims went ashore and settled at a place called, on Smith's map of New England, Plymouth, which,