O strong hearts and true! not one went back in the "May

flower"!

No, not one looked back, who had set his hand to this plough

ing!

Soon were heard on board the shouts and songs of the

sailors

120

Heaving the windlass round, and hoisting the ponderous

anchor.

Then the yards were braced, and all sails set to the west wind, Blowing steady and strong; and the "Mayflower" sailed from the harbor,

Rounded the point of the Gurnet,' and leaving far to the southward

Island and cape of sand, and the Field of the First Encounter,2 125

Took the wind on her quarter, and stood for the open Atlan

tic,

Borne on the send of the sea, and the swelling hearts of the Pilgrims.

Long in silence they watched the receding sail of the vessel, Much endeared to them all, as something living and hu

man;

Then, as if filled with the spirit, and wrapt in a vision pro

phetic,

130

Baring his hoary head, the excellent Elder of Plymouth
Said, "Let us pray!" and they prayed, and thanked the
Lord and took courage.'

Mournfully sobbed the waves at the base of the rock, and above them

1 The headland at the entrance to Plymouth Harbor, seven miles from Marshfield.

2 Before the Pilgrims all landed, a party was sent ashore in a shallop to explore the country, and here they first encountered a body of Indians on Dec. 8, 1620. See Young's Chronicles, p. 159.

3 Acts of the Apostles, xxviii, 15.

Bowed and whispered the wheat on the hill of death, and their kindred

Seemed to awake in their graves, and to join in the prayer

that they uttered. 135 Sun-illumined and white, on the eastern verge of the ocean Gleamed the departing sail, like a marble slab in a graveyard; Buried beneath it lay forever all hope of escaping.

Lo! as they turned to depart, they saw the form of an Indian, Watching them from the hill; but while they spake with each other,

140

Pointing with outstretched hands, and saying, "Look!" he had vanished.

So they returned to their homes; but Alden lingered a little, Musing alone on the shore, and watching the wash of the

billows

Round the base of the rock, and the sparkle and flash of the sunshine,

Like the spirit of God, moving visibly over the waters.1 145

VI.

PRISCILLA.

THUS for a while he stood, and mused by the shore of the

ocean,

Thinking of many things, and most of all of Priscilla;

And as if thought had the power to draw to itself, like the

loadstone,

Whatsoever it touches, by subtle laws of its nature,

Lo! as he turned to depart, Priscilla was standing beside

him.

5

"Are you so much offended, you will not speak to me?"

said she.

1 Genesis, i. 2.

"Am I so much to blame, that yesterday, when you were

pleading

Warmly the cause of another, my heart, impulsive and way

ward,

Pleaded your own, and spake out, forgetful perhaps of deco

rum?

Certainly you can forgive me for speaking so frankly, for say

10

ing What I ought not to have said, yet now I can never unsay it; For there are moments in life, when the heart is so full of emotion,

That if by chance it be shaken, or into its depths like a pebble Drops some careless word, it overflows, and its secret,

Spilt on the ground like water, can never be gathered to

gether.

15

Yesterday I was shocked, when I heard you speak of Miles

Standish,

Praising his virtues, transforming his very defects into vir

tues,

Praising his courage and strength, and even his fighting in

Flanders,

As if by fighting alone you could win the heart of a

woman,

Quite overlooking yourself and the rest, in exalting your

hero.

Therefore I spake as I did, by an irresistible impulse.

20

You will forgive me, I hope, for the sake of the friendship

between us,

Which is too true and too sacred to be so easily broken!" Thereupon answered John Alden, the scholar, the friend of Miles Standish:

"I was not angry with you, with myself alone I was angry, 25 Seeing how badly I managed the matter I had in my keeping." "No!" interrupted the maiden, with answer prompt and decisive;