The Puritan Twins

by Lucy Fitch Perkins

  Produced by Alicia Williams, Lesley Halamek and the OnlineDistributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net

  THE PURITAN TWINS

  By Lucy Fitch Perkins

  ILLUSTRATED BY THE AUTHOR

 

  HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

  BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO SAN FRANCISCO

  The Riverside Press Cambridge

  By Lucy Fitch Perkins

  * * * * *

  _Geographical Series_

  THE DUTCH TWINS PRIMER. _Grade I._ THE DUTCH TWINS. _Grade III._ THE ESKIMO TWINS. _Grade II._ THE FILIPINO TWINS. _Grade IV._ THE JAPANESE TWINS. _Grade IV._ THE SWISS TWINS. _Grade IV._ THE IRISH TWINS. _Grade V._ THE ITALIAN TWINS. _Grades V and VI._ THE SCOTCH TWINS. _Grades V and VI._ THE MEXICAN TWINS. _Grade VI._ THE BELGIAN TWINS. _Grade VI._ THE FRENCH TWINS. _Grade VII._

  _Historical Series_

  THE CAVE TWINS. _Grade IV._ THE SPARTAN TWINS. _Grades V-VI._ THE PURITAN TWINS. _Grades VI-VII._

  * * * * *

  _Each volume is illustrated by the author_

  * * * * *

  HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY

  The Riverside Press

  CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS

  PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.

  CONTENTS

  I. THE PEPPERELLS AND THE CAPTAIN 3

  II. TWO DAYS 39

  III. ON BOARD THE LUCY ANN 63

  IV. A FOREST TRAIL 87

  V. THE NEW HOME 113

  VI. HARVEST HOME 157

  SUGGESTIONS TO TEACHERS 181

  map]

  I

  THE PEPPERELLS AND THE CAPTAIN

  One bright warm noonday in May of the year 1638, Goodwife Pepperellopened the door of her little log cabin, and, screening her eyes fromthe sun with a toilworn hand, looked about in every direction, asif searching for some one. She was a tall, spare woman, with a firmmouth, keen blue eyes, and a look of patient endurance in her face,bred by the stern life of pioneer New England. Far away across thepasture which sloped southward from the cabin she could see longmeadow grass waving in the breeze, and beyond a thread of blue waterwhere the Charles River flowed lazily to the sea. Westward there wasalso pasture land where sheep were grazing, and in the distance aglimpse of the thatched roofs of the little village of Cambridge.

  Goodwife Pepperell gazed long and earnestly in this direction, andthen, making a trumpet of her hands, sent a call ringing across thesilent fields. "Nancy! Daniel!" she shouted.

  She was answered only by the tinkle of sheep bells. A shade of anxietyclouded the blue eyes as she went round to the back of the cabin andlooked toward the dense forest which bounded her vision on the north.Stout-hearted though she was, Goodwife Pepperell could never forgetthe terrors which lay concealed behind that mysterious rampart ofgreen. Not only were there wolves and deer and many other wildcreatures hidden in its depths, but it sheltered also the perpetualmenace of the Indians. Toward the east, at some distance from thecabin, corn-fields stretched to salt meadows, and beyond, across thebay, she could see the three hills of Boston town.[1]

  [Footnote 1: See map.]

  As no answering shout greeted her from this direction either, theGoodwife stepped quickly toward a hollow stump which stood a shortdistance from the cabin. Beside the stump a slender birch tree bentbeneath the weight of a large circular piece of wood hung to its topby a leather thong. This was the samp-mill, where their corn waspounded into meal. Seizing the birch tree with her hands, she broughtthe wooden pestle down into the hollow stump with a resounding thump.The birch tree sprang back lifting the block with it and again shepulled it down and struck the stump another blow, then paused tolisten. This time there was, beside the echo, an answering shout, andin a few moments two heads appeared above the rows of young corn justpeeping out of the ground, two pairs of lively bare feet came flyingacross the garden patch, and a breathless boy and girl stood besidetheir mother.

  They were a sturdy pair of twelve-year-olds, the boy an inch or moretaller than his sister, and both with the blue eyes, fair skin, androsy cheeks which proclaimed their English blood. There was a gleam ofpride in Goodwife Pepperell's eye as she looked a her children, butnot for the world would she have let them see it; much less would shehave owned it to herself, for she was a Puritan mother, and regardedpride of any kind as altogether sinful. "Where have you been all themorning?" she said. "You were nowhere to be seen and the corn is notyet high enough to hide you."

  "I was hoeing beyond that clump of bushes," said Daniel, pointing toa group of high blueberries that had been allowed to remain in thecleared field.

  "And I was keeping away the crows," said Nancy, holding out her woodenclappers. "Only I fell asleep. It was so warm I just could n't helpit."

  "So shall thy poverty come as one that travelleth and thy want as anarmed man," quoted the mother sternly. "Night is the time for sleep.Go now and eat the porridge I have set for you in your littleporringers, and then go down to the bay with this basket and fill itwith clams. Put a layer of seaweed in the basket first and pack theclams in that. They will keep alive for some time if you bed them so,and be sure to bring back the shovel."

  This was a task that suited the Twins much better than either hoeingcorn or scaring crows, and they ran into the house at once, ate theirporridge with more haste than good manners, and dashed joyfully awayacross the fields toward the river-mouth, a mile away. They followed apath across the wide stretch of pasture, where wild blackberry vinesand tall blueberry bushes grew, then through a strip of meadow land,and at last ran out on the bare stretch of sand and weed left by theebb tide toward the narrow channel cut by the clear water of theCharles.

  Here they set down the basket and began looking about for the littleholes which betray the hiding-places of clams.

  "Oh, look, Dan," cried Nancy, stopping to admire the long line offoot-prints which they had left behind them. "Dost see what a prettyborder we have made? 'T is just like a pattern." She walked along theedge of the stream with her toes turned well out, leaving a track inthe sand like this:

  Then the delightful flat surface tempted her to further exploits. Shepicked up a splinter of driftwood and, making a wide flourish, beganto draw a picture. "See," she called rapturously to Dan, "this isgoing to be a pig! Here 's his nose, and here 's his curly tail, andhere are his little fat legs." She clapped her hands with admiration."Now I shall do something else," she announced as she finished the pigwith a round red pebble stuck in for the eye. "Let me see. What shallI draw? Oh, I know! A picture of Gran'ther Wattles! Look, Dan." Shemade a careful stroke. "Here 's his nose, and here 's his chin. They aremonstrous near together because he has nothing but gums between! Andhere 's his long tithing-stick with the squirrel-tail on the end!"

  "It doth bear a likeness to him!" admitted Dan, laughing in spite ofhimself, "but, sister, thou shouldst not mock him. He is an old man,and we should pay respect to gray hairs. Father says so."

  "Truly I have as much of respect as he hath of hair," answered naughtyNancy. "His poll is nearly as bald as an egg."

  "I know the cause of thy displeasure," declared Dan. "Gran'therWattles poked thee for bouncing about during the sermon last Sunday.But it is unseemly to bounce in the meeting-house, and besides, is henot the tithing-man? 'T is his duty to see that people behave as theyshould."

  "He would mayhap have bounced himself if a bee had been buzzing abouthis nose as it did about mine," said Nancy, and, giving a viciousdab at the pictured features, she drew a bee perched on the end ofGran'ther Wattles's nose. "Here now
are all the gray hairs he hath,"she added, making three little scratches above the ear.

  "Nancy Pepperell!" cried her brother, aghast, "dost thou not rememberwhat happened to the forty and two children that said 'Go up, thoubald head' to Elijah? It would be no marvel if bears were to come outof the woods this moment to eat thee up!"

  "'T was n't Elijah, 't was Elisha," Nancy retorted with spirit, "but itmatters little whether 't was one or t' other, for I don't believe twobears could possibly hold so much, and besides dost thou not think ita deal worse to cause a bear to eat up forty and two children than tosay 'Go up, thou bald head'?"

  "Nancy!" exclaimed her horrified brother, glancing fearfully towardthe forest and clapping his hand on her mouth to prevent furtherimpiety, "thou art a wicked, wicked girl! Dost thou not know that theeye of the Lord is in every place? Without doubt his ear is too, andHe can hear every word thy saucy tongue sayeth. Come, let us rub outthis naughty picture quickly, and mayhap God will take no notice thistime." He ran across Gran'ther Wattles's portrait from brow to chin,covering it with foot-prints. "Besides," he went on as he trotted backand forth, "thou hast broken a commandment! Thou hast made a likenessof something that 's in the earth, and that 's Gran'ther Wattles! Nancy,thou dost take fearful chances with thy soul."

  Nancy began to look a little anxious as she considered her conduct."At any rate," she said defensively, "it is n't a graven image, and Ihave neither bowed down to it nor served it! I do try to be good, Dan,but it seemeth that the devil is ever at my elbow."

  "'T is because thou art idle," said Dan, shaking his head as gravelyas Gran'ther Wattles himself. "Busy thyself with the clams, and Satanwill have less chance at thy idle hands, and thy idle tongue too."

  Nancy obediently took hold of the basket which Dan thrust into herhands, and together they walked for some distance over the sandystretches. Suddenly a tiny stream of water spouted up beside Dan'sfeet. "Here they be!" he shouted, plunging his shovel into the sand,"and what big ones!" Nancy surveyed the clams with disfavor. They werethrusting pale thick muscles out between the lobes of their shells."They look as if they were sticking out their tongues at us," saidNancy as she picked one up gingerly and dropped it into the basket."But, Dan, Mother said we were to bed them in seaweed!"

  "I see none here," said Dan, leaning on his shovel and looking abouthim. "The tide hath swept everything as clean as a floor."

  "I 'll seek for some while thou art busy with the digging," said Nancy,glad to escape the duty of picking up the clams, and off she trottedwithout another word. The flats, seamed and grooved with channelswhere pools of water still lingered, sloped gently down to the lowerlevel of the bay, and farther out a range of rocks lifted themselvesabove the sandy waste.

  "I 'll surely find seaweed on the rocks," thought Nancy to herself asshe sped along, and in a few moments she had reached them, had tossedup the basket, and was climbing their rugged sides.

  "There 's a mort o' seaweed here," she said, nodding her head wisely asshe picked up a long string of kelp; "I can fill my basket in no timeat all." There was no need for haste, she thought, so she sat downbeside a pool of water left in a hollow of the rocks, to explore itscontents. The first thing she found was a group of tiny barnacles, andfor a while she amused herself by washing salt water over them to seethem open their tiny cups of shell. In the pool itself a beautifullavender-colored jelly-fish was floating about, and just beyond lay astar-fish clinging to a bunch of seaweed. She found other treasuresscattered about by the largess of the tide--tiny spiral shells, stonesof all colors, and a horseshoe crab, besides seaweed with prettylittle pods which popped delightfully when she squeezed them with herfingers. Then she heard the cries of gulls overhead and watched themas they wheeled and circled between her and the sky. When they flewout to sea she sat with her hands clasping her knees and gazed acrossthe bay at the three hills of Boston town. She could see quite plainlythe tall beacon standing like a ship's mast on top of Beacon Hill, andfarther north she strained her eyes to pick out Governor Winthrop'sdwelling from the cluster of houses which straggled up the slope ofCopp's Hill and which made all there was of the city of Boston in thatearly day.

  For some time she sat there hugging her knees and thinking long, longthoughts, and it was not until the sound of little waves lappingagainst the rocks roused her that she woke from her day dream andrealized with terror that the tide had turned. The channels and lowerlevels of the bay were already brimming over, and the water was deepabout the rocks on which she perched. At almost the same moment Danhad been surprised by a cold wave which washed over his bare feet,and, turning about, was dismayed to find a sheet of blue watercovering the bay and to see Nancy standing on the topmost rockshouting "Dan! Dan!" at the top of her lungs. For one astonishedinstant he looked at her, then, throwing down his shovel, he plungedunhesitatingly into the icy bath. And now Nancy, realizing that therewas not a moment to lose if she hoped to reach the shore in safety,let herself slowly down off the rocks, leaving the basket behind her,and started toward her brother.

  The water was already so deep in the channels that their progresstoward each other was slow, but they ploughed bravely on, feeling thebottom carefully at each step lest they sink in some sand-pocket orhollow washed out by the tide. Some distance away toward Charlestowna fishing schooner rocked on the deeper water of the bay, and afisherman in a small boat, attracted by the shouting, looked up, and,seeing the two struggling figures, instantly bent to his oars andstarted toward them. Though he rowed rapidly, it was some minutesbefore he could reach the children, who were now floundering about inwater nearly up to their necks.

  "Hold fast to my shoulder, Nancy," he heard Dan cry. "I can float, andI can swim a little. Keep thy nose above water and let thy feet gowhere they will." Nancy, spluttering and gurgling, was trying hard tofollow Dan's directions, when the boat shot alongside, and a cheeryvoice cried, "Ahoy, there! Come aboard, you young porpoises!"

  To the children it was like a voice straight from heaven. Danimmediately helped Nancy to get into the boat, and then she balancedit while he climbed aboard.

  When they were safely bestowed among the lobster-pots with which theboat was laden, the man leaned on his oars and eyed them critically."Short of sense, ain't ye?" he remarked genially. "Nigh about drowndedthat time or I 'm no skipper! If ye ain't bent on destruction ye 'dbetter get into dry clothes. Ye 're as wet as a mess of drowndedkittens. Tell me where you live and I 'll take you home."

  He flung a tarpaulin over the shivering figures and tucked it aroundthem as he scolded. "'T is all my fault," sobbed poor Nancy. "Dan camein just to get me out."

  "Very commendable of him, I 'm sure," said the stranger, noddingapprovingly at Dan, "and just what he 'd ought to do, and doubtlessyou 're worth saving at that, though a hen-headeder young miss I neversee in all my days!"

  "She went to find seaweed to bed the clams," explained Dan, coming tohis sister's defense, "and the tide caught her. Thou art kind indeedto pick us up, sir."

  "Oh," groaned remorseful Nancy, her teeth chattering, "it 's allbecause I 'm such a sinner! I made a likeness of Gran'ther Wattles inthe sand and said dreadful things about the prophet Elijah, or mayhap't was Elisha, and Dan said a bear might come to eat me up just likethe forty and two children, and instead of a bear we both were almostswallowed by the tide!"

  "Well, now," said the stranger, comfortingly, "ye see instead ofsending bears the Lord sent me along to fish ye out, just the same asHe sent the whale to swallow Jonah when he was acting contrary! Lookslike He meant to let ye off with a scare this time. Come now, my lass,there 's salt water enough aboard and if ye cry into the boat, ye 'llhave to bail her out. Besides," he added whimsically, looking up atthe sky, "there 's another squall coming on, and two at a time is toomany for any sailor. If I 'm to cast you up on the shore same as thewhale, ye 'll have to tell me which way to go, and who ye are."

  "Our father is Josiah Pepperell," answered Dan, "and our house isalmost a mile back from shore near Cambridge."


  "So you 're Josiah Pepperell's children! To be sure, to be sure! Mighthave known it. Ye do favor him some," said the fisherman. "Well! well!The ways of the Lord are surely past finding out! Why, I knew yourfather way back in England. He came over here for religion and I camefor fish. Not that I ain't a God-fearing man," he added hastily,noticing a look of horror on Nancy's face, "but I ain't so piousas some. I 'm a seafaring man, Captain Sanders of the Lucy Ann,Marblehead. Ye can see her riding at anchor out there in the bay. Ihave n't set eyes on your father since he left Boston and settled inthe back woods up yonder."

  He sent the boat flying through the water with swift, sure strokesas he talked, and brought it ashore at the first landing-placethey found. Here they drew it up on the bank and, taking out thelobster-pots, turned it upside down so the rain would not fill it. Twogreat green lobsters with goblin-like eyes were hidden away under thepots, and when the boat was overturned they tumbled out and started ata lively pace for the water.

  "Hi, there!" shouted the Captain, seizing them by their tails, "whereare your manners? By jolly, I like to forgot ye! Come along now andtake supper with the Pepperells. I invite ye! They 're short of clamsand they 'll be pleased to see ye, or I miss my reckoning." There werepegs stuck in the scissor-like claws, so the creatures were harmless,and, swinging along with one kicking vigorously in each hand, theCaptain plunged into the long meadow grass, the children followingclose at his heels.

  The clouds grew darker and darker; there was a rumble of thunder,and streaks of lightning tore great rents in the sky as they hurriedacross the open meadow and struck into the pasture land beyond.

  "Head into the wind there and keep going," shouted the Captain as thechildren struggled along, impeded by their wet clothing. "It 's fromthe north, and we 're pointed straight into it."

  Past bushes waving distractedly in the wind, under the boughs of youngoak trees, over stones and through briars they sped, and at last theycame in sight of the cabin just as the storm broke. Goodwife Pepperellwas standing in the door gazing anxiously toward the river, when theydashed out of the bushes and, scudding past her, stood dripping onthe hearth-stone. Her husband was just hanging his gun over thechimney-piece, and the noise of their entrance was drowned out by aclap of thunder; so when he turned about and saw the three drenchedfigures it was no wonder that for an instant he was too surprised tospeak.

  "Well, of all things!" he said at last, holding out his hand toCaptain Sanders. "What in God's providence brings thee here, Thomas?Thou art welcome indeed. 'T is a long time since I have seen thee."

  "God's providence ye may call it," answered the Captain, shaking theGoodman's hand as if he were pumping out the hold of a sinking ship,"and I 'll not gainsay it. The truth is I overhauled these small craftfloundering around in the tide-wash with water over their scuppers 'n'all but wrecked, so I took 'em in tow and brought 'em ashore!"

  Their mother, meanwhile, had not waited for explanations. Seeing howchilled they were, she had hurried the children to the loft abovethe one room of the cabin and was already giving them a rub-down andgetting out dry clean clothes while they told her their adventure.

  "Thank God you are safe," she said, clasping them both in her arms,when the tale was told.

  "Thank Captain Sanders as well, Mother," said Daniel. "Had it not beenfor him, I doubt if we could have reached the shore."

  "Let this be a lesson to you, then," said the Goodwife, loosening herclasp and picking up the wet clothing. "You know well about the tide!Nancy, child, why art thou so wild and reckless? Thou art the cause ofmuch anxiety."

  At her mother's reproof, gentle though it was, poor Nancy flopped overon her stomach, and, burying her face in her hands, gave way to tears.

  "It 's all because I am so wicked," she moaned. "My sins are asscarlet! Oh, Mother, dost think God will cause the lightning to strikeus dead to punish me?" She shuddered with fear as a flash shonethrough the chinks of the logs and for an instant lighted the dimloft.

  Her mother put down the wet clothes and, lifting her little daughtertenderly in her arms, laid her on her bed. "God maketh the rain tofall on both the just and the unjust," she said soothingly. "Rest herewhile I go down and get supper."

  She covered her warmly with a homespun blanket, and, accompanied byDan, made her way down the ladder. She found her husband putting freshlogs on the fire and stirring the coals to a blaze, while the Captainhung his coat on the corner of the mantel-shelf to dry. She went up tohim and held out her hand. "Captain Sanders," she said, "but for theethis might be a desolate household indeed this night."

  The Captain's red face turned a deeper shade, and he fidgeted withembarrassment, as he took her hand in his great red paw, then droppedit suddenly as if it were hot. "Oh, stow it, ma'am, stow it," hebegged. "That is, I mean to say--why, by jolly, ma'am, a pirate coulddo no less when he see a fine bit of cargo like that going to thebottom!"

  To the Captain's great relief the lobsters at this moment created adiversion. He had dropped them on the hearth when he came in, and theywere now clattering briskly about the room, butting into anything thatcame in their way in an effort to escape. He made a sudden dash afterthem and held them out toward Goodwife Pepperell.

  "Here they be, ma'am," he said. "I 'd saved them for my supper, and I'd take it kindly if ye 'd cook them for me, and help eat them, too.It 's raining cats and dogs, and if I was to start out now, I 'd have ahard time finding the Lucy Ann. Ye can't see a rod ahead of ye in sucha downpour."

  "We shall be glad to have thee stay as long as thou wilt," said theGoodwife heartily. "Put the lobsters in this while I set the kettle toboil." She held out a wooden puncheon as she spoke, and the Captaindropped them in. Then he sat down with Goodman Pepperell on the settlebeside the fireplace, and the two men talked of their boyhood inEngland, while she hung the kettle on the crane over the fire andbegan to prepare the evening meal.

  "Daniel, sit thee down by the fire and get a good bed of coals readywhile I mix the johnny-cake," she said as she stepped briskly aboutthe room, and Daniel, nothing loath, drew a stool to the Captain'sside and fed the fire with chips and corn-cobs while he listened withall his ears to the talk of the two men.

  "Well, Thomas, how hast thou prospered since I saw thee last?" askedGoodman Pepperell.

  "Tolerable, tolerable, Josiah," answered the Captain. "I 've beenmining for sea gold." Daniel wondered what in the world sea goldmight be. "Ye see," he went on, turning to include Daniel in theconversation, "my father was a sea captain before me, and my gran'thertoo. Why, my gran'ther helped send the Spanish Armada to the bottomwhere it belonged. Many and many 's the time I 've heard him tellabout it, and I judge from what he said he must have done most of thejob himself, though I reckon old Cap'n Drake may have helped some."(Here the Captain chuckled.) "He never came back from his lastvoyage,--overhauled by pirates more 'n likely. That was twenty yearsago, and I 've been following the sea myself ever since. I was wreckedoff the Spanish Main on my first voyage, and I 've run afoul ofpirates and come near walking the plank more times than one, I 'mtelling ye, but somehow I always had the luck to get away! And here Ibe, safe and sound."

  At this point the lobsters made a commotion in the wooden puncheon,and the Captain turned his attention to them. "Jest spilin' to getout, ain't ye?" he inquired genially. "Look here, boy," to Daniel,"that water's bilin'. Heave 'em in."

  Daniel held his squirming victims over the pot, and not without aqualm of pity dropped them into the boiling water. Then he ventured toask a question. "What is sea gold, Captain Sanders?"

  "Things like them," answered the Captain, jerking his thumb at thelobsters, which were already beginning to turn a beautiful red coloras they boiled in the pot; "as good gold as any that was ever dug outof mines ye can get for fish, and there never was such fishing in allthe seas as there is along this coast! My! my! I 've seen schools ofcod off the Cape making a solid floor of fish on the water so ye couldwalk on it if ye were so minded, and as for lobsters, I 've caught 'emthat measured six and seven f
eet long! Farther down the coast thereare oysters so big one of 'em will make a square meal for four or fivepeople. It 's the truth I 'm telling ye."

  Goodman Pepperell smiled. "Thomas," he said, "thou hast not lost thypower of narration!"

  Captain Sanders for an instant looked a bit dashed, then he said,"Well, believe it or not, Josiah, it 's the truth for all that. Why,talk about the land of Canaan flowin' with milk and honey! This herewater 's just alive with money! Any boy could go out and haul up ashilling on his own hook any time he liked."

  Daniel, his eyes shining and his lips parted, was just making up hismind that he would rather be the captain of a fishing-smack thananything else in the world, since he knew he could n't be a pirate,when his mother came to the fireplace with a layer of corn-meal doughspread on a baking-board. She placed the board in a slanting positionagainst an iron trivet before the glowing bed of coals, and set a potof beans in the ashes to warm. "Keep an eye on that johnny-cake," shesaid to Daniel, "and don't let it burn." Then she turned away to setthe table.

  This task took but little time, for in those days there were fewthings to put on it. She spread a snowy cloth of homespun linen onthe plank which served as a table, and laid a knife and spoon at eachplace; there were no forks, and for plates only a square of wood witha shallow depression in the middle. Beside each of these trenchers sheplaced a napkin and a mug, and at the Captain's place, as a specialhonor, she set a beautiful tankard of wrought silver. It was one ofthe few valuable things she had brought with her from her Englishhome, and it was used only on great occasions.

  When these preparations were complete, she took the lobsters fromthe pot, poured the beans into a pewter dish, heaped the goldenjohnny-cake high upon a trencher, and, sending Dan to fetch Nancy,called the men to supper. The storm was over by this time, the lastrays of the setting sun were throwing long shadows over the fields,and the robins were singing their evening song. The Goodwife steppedto the window and threw open the wooden shutters. "See," she said."There 's a rainbow."

  "The sign of promise," murmured Goodman Pepperell, rising and lookingover his wife's shoulder.

  "Fine day to-morrow," said the Captain. "Maybe I can plant mylobster-pots after all."

  Nancy, looking pale and a little subdued, crept down the ladder andtook her place with Daniel at the foot of the board. Then they allstood, while Goodman Pepperell asked a blessing on the food, andthanked God for his mercy in delivering them from danger and bringingthem together in health and safety to partake of his bounty.