As the leaders moved out of range, Drew saw Jenny’s shallop approach shore. He went to greet her and steer her clear of the two; he didn’t want her to overhear what they were saying.
Jenny and Drew, along with most of the other new settlers, toured the settlement. Thatched huts of various sizes were scattered along the shore, separated only by mud and mire. The few children Drew and Jenny saw were dirty and wore ragged clothing. They were somber and quiet, with none of the excitement one would expect on the arrival of three new ships. The residents of Salem greeted the newcomers with genuine warmth; there was joy on their lips, but not in their eyes. The sunken and dark eyes of Salem revealed injured souls—they were tired of the hardships, tired from the lack of food, tired of attending the funerals of their friends. The people of Salem were beaten down and discouraged, and a shipload of fresh faces wasn’t about to change that. Last year a similar shipload had arrived; most of them were now buried in the woods.
Jenny’s face, normally innocent and cheerful, was white with shock. She looked as though she were walking through a graveyard and finding a headstone with her name on it. Drew tried to cheer her up, but with little success.
The only positive diversion of the day was the discovery of strawberry plants in full bloom. The fruit was large, red, and juicy. After so many days of salted meat, picking and eating the berries provided some festivity in an otherwise disappointing day. To get her mind off the condition of the settlement, Drew suggested that he and Jenny pick some berries for Nell and take them to her aboard ship to cheer her up.
That first night all the new arrivals slept on board ship, including Governor Winthrop and a native guest. The Indian chief, a friend of Endecott, was fascinated with the large sailing ship and asked if he could sleep aboard the Arbella.
Permission was given, and the Indian slept alone on the deck. On his last night of watch as a crewman, Drew studied the native while he slept. It was more than just curiosity, since Captain Milbourne had given specific instructions to the night watch to guard the Indian. He wanted no surprise guests joining the chief in the middle of the night. The Indian was dark and muscular, and his clothing of skins and shells reflected his habitat. When he first came on board, he was wide eyed and all smiles. After a tour of the ship, he lay down on the deck and slept contentedly. And why shouldn’t he? He wasn’t the one who had just walked away from civilization to live in the wild.
Already, Drew had heard some of the colonists say they were returning to England with the ship. This was no New Jerusalem, it was Hades—the realm of the dead. Drew was quick to agree with them. Had he come alone, it would be one thing. But he wasn’t alone—he was responsible for two women. He’d given his pledge to ensure the safety of Jenny and Nell. He knew Christopher Matthews had never intended for his daughters to live in this … this.… The word came to mind and Drew didn’t want to say it … wilderness. This was a wilderness. He didn’t want to use the word because it argued against him. Wasn’t it the exact word the curate used?
It’s time for God’s people to fly to the wilderness.
His instincts told him to take Jenny and Nell back to England for their own safety. Yet he couldn’t get the curate’s words out of his mind. Did Christopher Matthews really think God’s people belonged here?
As the new governor of Massachusetts Bay, John Winthrop called a meeting for one hour before noon the following day. Every able bodied man and woman was ordered to attend. Only those who were needed to care for the sick were excused. Drew used this exclusion to insist that Jenny stay on board ship. It was better that she not hear some of the things that would be said.
Winthrop arrived wearing worn boots, breeches, and a soiled and frayed shirt. He looked more like a servant than a gentleman of breeding and wealth. He strode to the center of town, one of the muddier spots among the loosely situated huts, and addressed the people.
“I don’t have to tell you that this is not how we pictured life in the New World.”
There were a few nervous chuckles. No one spoke up to dispute the statement.
“But by fall, each of you will have a proper dwelling, and come summer of next year, we will turn this wilderness into a community. I’ll not mislead you. Supplies are low, far below our expectations. We’ll need to plant corn immediately and pray for a sufficient fall harvest. At the earliest possible date, we’ll send a ship back to England for more supplies.”
“I’ll be on that ship!”
The man who spoke up wore a white shirt with a ruff and sported a sharply trimmed, fashionable beard. Drew didn’t know much about him, only that he brought his wife and three sons with him and that his name was Worthington.
“I pray you’ll reconsider, Peter,” Winthrop said.
“I didn’t sign on to live in the mud like a pig,” Worthington replied. “Nor did I bring my family all this way to bury them in the forest!”
Several other men voiced similar sentiments. Winthrop had to raise both hands over his head to regain their attention. He didn’t continue until everyone was quiet.
Endecott was standing next to him. The new governor held out his hand, and Endecott handed him several sheets of paper.
“While sailing here, I asked myself some questions about who we are and what we are attempting to do in this New World. I recorded my thoughts on these papers. Last night, just like you, I wondered whether we had made a mistake in leaving England. Then I reread my writing. Now more than ever, I believe God has a plan for us. And God’s plan is for us to remain here, not to return to England. I read these thoughts to you, hoping they will have the same effect on you that they had on me.”
Winthrop lifted the papers and began reading. Drew looked around him at his fellow colonists. The folded arms, the set jaws, the tight lips told him the governor was fighting a losing battle. Yet he continued.
“I have titled my thoughts, ‘A Model of Christian Charity.’”
Following a lengthy discussion of the scriptural basis of Christian love as it would apply to the new community, Winthrop proceeded to the application of the principles—
Now to make some application of this discourse by the design, which gave the occasion of writing of it. Herein are four things to be propounded: first, the persons; secondly, the work; thirdly, the end; fourthly, the means.
First, for the persons. We are a company professing ourselves fellow members of Christ.… We ought to account ourselves knit together by this bond of love, and live in the exercise of it, if we would have comfort of our being in Christ.…
Secondly, for the work we have in hand. It is by a mutual consent through a special overvaluing providence and a more than ordinary appropriation of the churches of Christ, to seek out a place of cohabitation and consortship under a due form of government both civil and ecclesiastical.…
Thirdly, the end is to improve our lives to do more service to the Lord; the comfort and encrease of the body of Christ whereof we are members; that ourselves and our posterity may be the better preserved from the common corruptions of this evil world.…
Fourthly … the work and end we aim at. These we see are extraordinary; therefore we must not content ourselves with usual ordinary means. Whatsoever we did or ought to have done when we lived in England, the same must we do, and more also, where we go.…
But if we shall neglect the observation of these articles which are the ends we have propounded and, dissembling with our God, shall fall to embrace this present world and prosecute our carnal intentions, seeking great things for ourselves and our posterity, the Lord will surely break out in wrath against us, be revenged of such a perjured people, and make us know the price of the breach of such a covenant.
Now the only way to avoid this shipwreck, and to provide for our posterity, is to follow the counsel of Micah, to do justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. For this end, we must be knit together in this work as one man. We must entertain each other in brotherly affection; we must be willing to abridge ourselves of our
superfluities, for the supply of others’ necessities. We must uphold a familiar commerce together in all meekness, gentleness, patience, and liberality. We must delight in each other, make others’ conditions our own, rejoice together, mourn together, labor and suffer together, always having before our eyes our commission and community in the work, our community as members of the same body.
So shall we keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us as His own people, and will command a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, power, goodness, and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of Israel is among us when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, “The Lord make it like that of New England.” For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.
Winthrop lowered the papers.
“Our task is not an easy one,” he said. “Winter is near at hand. And if Plymouth Plantation and last winter in Salem are any indication, some of us will not survive. But dying for a dream is not a vain thing. The sacrifice we make—whether that sacrifice comes through living or dying—will be the foundation of a new community. A community that will be a blessing to our children and our children’s children for ages to come. Each family must decide for themselves. As for me, I choose to live here and to send for my wife and family to join me at the earliest possible date. England holds nothing for me but persecution and the sword. I would rather battle the elements of the wilderness than to battle the bishops of England. For the glory has departed from old England; it is just beginning in New England.”
Some were unmoved; they chose to return to England. However, John Winthrop won many converts that day. One of them was Drew Morgan.
The first order of business was to find a new site for the settlement. Salem lacked the resources to accommodate the numbers of people that were coming in the second wave of settlers. Scouting parties were sent up the Charles and Mystic Rivers in search of alternative locations. The reports that were brought back divided the party. They couldn’t decide on a single location, but there wasn’t time to debate. Crops had to be planted and houses had to be built. So, against John Winthrop’s pleas, the colonists founded several community sites.
Sir Richard Saltonstall founded Watertown, four miles upstream on the Charles River; William Pynchon founded Roxbury; Mattapan was settled and renamed Dorchester by Roger Ludlow; Deputy Governor Dudley established Newtown; Increase Nowell presided over the base camp at Charleston; and John Winthrop established Boston.
Since survival was the order of the day, every person had a job. Some were appointed to provide fish for the community. These fishermen divided into teams, and two shallops were kept on the waters at all times. Competition was encouraged between the fishing teams. The community would need to put up mounds of salted fish if it was going to survive the winter.
Other teams were formed to build shelters. Nothing fancy for the first year, just enough to get through the winter. The shelters to be built were called English wigwams, fashioned after the houses of the Pequot Indians. Tree limbs were stuck in the ground around a rectangular base. The tops of the limbs were then bent toward the center top of the structure and tied together. Horizontal limbs tied to the vertical studs provided stability. Each house had a door at one end and a fireplace at the other. The structure was covered with bark or thatches. Furniture consisted of a four legged table and a bench made from the trunks of trees.
The women who were able did fieldwork in the mornings and went to dig at the clam banks at low tide. The rest were appointed to nursing details under the direction of Mr. Skelton, the minister, who was also in charge of the food stores. It would be his responsibility to provide daily rations fairly.
Mr. Higginson, the other minister of the colony, was given the specific task of praying and preparing a strong word for Sundays, teaching the colonists what it meant to serve God and one another.
The colonists would meet every morning for daily work assignments, break at noon to eat, and work to four hours past noon. The rest of the day they were free to take care of the needs of their families.
Work was well under way when the Talbot finally reached port on July 2, twenty days after the Arbella. The first of the second wave of ships, the Mayflower and the Whale, had reached port July 1, and by July 6 all of the ships had safely arrived.
It didn’t take long before Winthrop’s prophecy of death for some colonists was fulfilled. On the day the Talbot arrived, Winthrop’s second eldest son, Henry, was drowned in a fishing accident. And in August Lady Arbella fell ill and died; her husband, Isaac Johnson, died a month later. Their deaths had a profound effect on the colony.
Nell, on the other hand, began to show some improvement. She had been moved off the ship into one of several English wigwams built in Boston to house the sick. Her waking hours grew longer, and the grayish cast to her skin gave way to a rosier tone. Jenny and Drew were at her side on the day the Talbot reached harbor.
The doorway flew open, and David and James Cooper crowded into the wigwam. They had heard Nell was close to death. They hadn’t heard that Drew Morgan was in New England. The cobbler was dumbfounded; James was furious.
Drew stepped outside with the two Cooper men and related the events that brought him to the New World. When James ordered him to return to England with the Lyon when she sailed back for supplies, his father told him to calm down, that God had a purpose for everything and that it was evidently God’s plan that Drew come to Massachusetts. From his tone, Drew sensed the cobbler himself wasn’t too pleased to find him in the colony, but there was nothing that could be done about it now. James was unconvinced.
Two other people weren’t happy to see Drew Morgan as they disembarked—Marshall and Mary Ramsden. They were married now. When Drew knew them she was Mary Sedgewick and he an idealistic Puritan printing illegal pamphlets in Colchester. They still wore the brands on their cheeks. Marshall had let his hair grow so it was not as noticeable that his left ear was missing. When they saw Drew from a distance, their expression wasn’t hostile, but then neither was it friendly. They turned and walked a different direction.
Drew was less angry with God now. It was as if God had repented and was now answering his prayers. Nell was regaining her health. The Talbot had safely deposited its cargo of Edenford folk on the shores of Massachusetts. And although the settlement was far inferior to what he had imagined, every day showed progress, and the more the people worked together, the closer in spirit most of them became.
Drew was one of the most diligent in the colony. He worked the various jobs he was assigned each day; then at four o’clock, while less industrious men spent time with their families or chatted under the meeting tree, he built a wigwam for Jenny and Nell, not waiting for the team of builders to get around to it. His industrious spirit drew the attention of the other men and became a source of amusement for several Pequot Indians.
Three of them regularly came to watch the colonists work. They would stand on the outskirts of a large wooded area, pointing and laughing. And since Drew was always the last one working, he was often their sole entertainment. He tried not to mind that he was the center of attention for both the colonists and natives. He was aware of how the colonists felt about him— his reputation arrived with the Talbot—but he wondered what so amused the Indians. Were they entertained by his looks or manner of working? Or was he doing something wrong?
The structure of the house was built—the tree limbs were planted firmly in the earth, bent, and tied securely together at the top. The front door frame was installed, and he was almost finished with the fireplace, the hearth made of stones and the chimney built with sticks. The Indians were pointing and laughing at his handiwork. Palms down, they were making upward circular motions.
Drew had had enough. With stick in
hand, he walked halfway to the Indians. They stopped laughing. He also had the attention of the men who had gathered under the meeting tree that day. One of them was Winthrop who talked with the men under the meeting tree to sound out the settlement’s mood. As the men watched, Drew balanced the stick in an open palm and motioned with his free hand.
“Come on!” he said. “If I’m doing it wrong, show me how.”
The Indians eyed him suspiciously.
Drew motioned again. “Show me how.”
They didn’t move.
Drew walked a few more steps forward. The Indians took a step backward toward the forest.
“Wait!” Drew said, holding his palm toward them.
He balanced the stick in his open hand again and motioned toward them.
“Help me. Show me how.”
Drew walked slowly toward the Indians. One of the men under the meeting tree spoke loud enough for him to hear,
“Fool! He’s gonna get hisself killed!”
The men were on their feet.
Two of the Indians had retreated farther into the forest when Drew reached them. One stood his ground. Drew held out the stick to him in an open palm.
The Indian looked at the stick, then at Drew. He reached out and took the stick.
Drew smiled and nodded. Motioning to the wigwam, he said, “Show me how.”
The Indian looked back at his companions. They stared at him, waiting to see what he would do.
Drew took several steps in the direction of the wigwam and motioned for the Indian with the stick to follow him. The Indian looked at the stick, then at the wigwam, and followed Drew.
When they reached the structure, Drew pointed to the stick, the chimney, then made the palms down and upward sweeping motions that had so amused the Indians.
The Indian with the stick nodded his head and chuckled; he pointed to the chimney, repeated the sweeping motion, and chuckled some more.
The Puritans (American Family Portrait #1) Page 39