Standish of Standish: A Story of the Pilgrims

by Jane G. Austin

  CHAPTER XXVI.

  THE FIRST THANKSGIVING DAY OF NEW ENGLAND.

  "Oh Priscilla, girl, what thinkst thou is toward now?" demanded MaryChilton, running down to the spring where her friend was sprinkling andturning a piece of coarse linen spun and woven by her own hands fordomestic use; but straightening herself at the merry summons, her darkeyes lighted with animation as she responded in the same tone,--

  "The governor is fain to marry thee, and the elder is ready to give hisblessing. Is 't so?"

  "Thou foolish girl! It's not at me Master Bradford looks oftenest, notnigh as often as the captain looks at thee, nay but John Alden"--

  "What is it! What's thy news! Speak quick or I'll sprinkle thee ratherthan the linen!" and raising the wooden dipper Priscilla whirled it sorapidly round her head that not a drop was spilled, while Mary shriekingand laughing darted back and crouched behind an alder bush.

  "Maids! Maids! Whence this unseemly mirth! Know ye not that the laughterof fools is like the crackling of thorns under the pot, a sure sign ofthe fire they are hasting to? The devil goeth about like a roaringlion"--

  "Sometimes methinks he seemeth more like an ass," murmured Priscilla inMary's ear, setting her off into convulsions of repressed laughter,while her naughty tormentor looked demurely up the bank to the angularfigure defined against the evening sky and said,--

  "We are beholden to you for the admonition, Master Allerton, and it mustbe a marvelous comfort to you that Mary and Remember Allerton weep somuch oftener than they laugh."

  "I would, thou froward wench, that I had the training of thee for awhile. Mayhap thou wouldst find cause for weeping"--

  "Nay, I'm sure on 't. The very thought well-nigh makes me weep now,"retorted Priscilla blithely, as the sour-visaged Councilor went on hisway, and Mary half frightened, half delighted, came forward saying,--

  "Oh Priscilla, how dost thou dare flout Master Allerton in that style!He'll have thee before the Church."

  "Not he!" replied Priscilla coolly. "Hist now, poppet, and I'll tellthee something--thou 'lt not repeat it though?"

  "Not I," replied Mary stoutly.

  "Well, then, dost think I should make a fitting stepdame for Bartholomewand Mary and Remember?"

  "Dost mean"--

  "Ay do I, just that. And because I could not but laugh merrily at thenotion when 't was placed before me last Sunday night, the Assistantlooketh sourly enough but dareth not meddle with me lest I make otherslaugh as well as myself."

  "Priscilla! Mary!" called Elizabeth Tilley's voice from the doorstep."Mistress Brewster would have you in to see about noon-meat."

  "But thy news, poppet, quick!" exclaimed Priscilla as gathering up hergear she slowly led the way up the hill.

  "Why, the governor hath resolved upon a day, or rather a week, ofholiday and of thanksgiving for the mercies God hath showed us. Think ofit, Pris! A whole week of feasting and holiday!"

  "Hm!" dryly responded Priscilla. "It sounds well enow, but who is tomake ready this feasting?"

  "Why--all of us--and chiefly you, dear wench, for none can season adelicate dish or"--

  "Ay, ay, I know that song full well; but dost really think, Molly, thatto do a good deal more, and a good deal harder cooking than our wont,will be so very sprightly a holiday?"

  "But 't will be doing our part to make holiday for the others," repliedMary simply.

  "Now, then, if thou 'rt not at thy old tricks of shaming my selfishfrowardness!" exclaimed Priscilla, and laughing they entered the housewhere all the women of the community were assembled in eager debate overtheir share in the approaching festival.

  "The governor hath already ordered my man, with Dotey and Soule andLatham, to go afield to-morrow with their guns, and to spend two days ingathering game," announced Helen Billington with an air of importance.

  "And it was determined to invite King Massasoit and his train to thefeast," eagerly added Mistress Winslow, who, with her baby PeregrineWhite in her arms, had run across the street to join the council.

  "Methinks another party should go to the beach to dig clams," suggestedDame Hopkins. "For though not so toothsome as venison and birds 't is aprey more surely to be come by."

  "The elder saith the God of Jacob sendeth us the clams as he did mannato those other children of his in the desert," added the weak sweetvoice of the elder's wife. "At morning and at night we may gather themin certainty."

  "But they hold not sweet over Sunday, that is if the day be hot,"suggested Desire Minter ruefully.

  "And Priscilla we shall look to thee for marchpanes and manchets andplum-porridge and possets and all manner of tasty cates, such as onlythou canst make," said the dame hastily, and fixing her eyes upon thegirl's face as if to hinder any irreverent laughter at Desire's speech.

  "All that I can do I will do blithely and steadfastly if it willpleasure you, mother," replied Priscilla gently, as she knelt downbeside the invalid and rested against the arm of that old chair whichyou may see to-day reverently preserved in Plymouth.

  "I know thou wilt, sweetheart," replied the dame laying her frail handupon the girl's abundant hair. "But I fear me our men cannot dine to-dayon the promise of the coming feast."

  "Well thought on, mother. Come maids to work, to work!"

  That same afternoon Squanto was dispatched to Namasket to send fromthence a runner to Massasoit inviting him, with his brother and afitting escort, to the feast of Thanksgiving now fixed for the followingThursday; and so cordially did the great sachem respond, that aboutsunrise on the appointed day the laggards of the settlement were arousedby the terrific whoop and succession of unearthly shrieks with which theguests announced at once their arrival and their festive and playfulcondition of mind.

  Three of the leaders were ready even at this hour to receive the overpunctual guests: the elder, who had risen early to prepare a few briefremarks suited to the occasion; Standish, who was always afoot to firehis sunrise gun; and Bradford, who valued the quiet morning hour inwhich he might allow his mind to dwell upon those abstruse and profoundsubjects so dear to his heart, and yet never allowed to intrude upon thebusiness of the working day. So, while Winslow with his wife'sassistance did on his more festive doublet and hose, and Allerton spakebitter words to Remember who had forgotten to replace the button thatshould hold her father's collar in place, and gentle Warren, the gruffSurgeon, and the rest made ready as they might, these three stood forthto receive Massasoit and Quadequina, who with a dozen or so of theirprincipal pnieses came forward with considerable dignity, and throughSquanto and Hobomok made their compliments in truly regal style, whiletheir followers to the number of about ninety men with a few womenremained modestly in the background.

  Presently when the village was well afoot, and a big fire startedbetween the elder's house and the brook for cooking purposes, the rollof the drum announced the morning prayers, with which the Pilgrims beganevery day, and more especially this Feast of Thanksgiving. The Indiansstood reverently around, Massasoit explaining in low gutturals to achieftain who had never visited Plymouth before, that the white men thuspropitiated the Great Spirit, and engaged Him both to prosper them andkill their enemies.

  Prayers ended, Priscilla with her attendants flew back to the fire, andpresently a long table spread in the open air for the men was coveredwith great wooden bowls full of what a later generation namedhasty-pudding, to be eaten with butter and treacle, for milk was not tobe had for more than one year to come. Other bowls contained anexcellent clam chowder with plenty of sea biscuit swimming in the savorybroth, while great pieces of cold boiled beef with mustard, flanked bydishes of turnips, offered solid resistance to those who so joyfullyattacked them.

  Another table in the Common house offered somewhat more delicate food tothe women and children, chief among it a great pewter bowl ofplum-porridge with bits of toasted cracker floating upon it.

  The meal was a rude one looked upon with the dainty eyes and languidappetites of to-day, but to those sturdy and heroic men and women it wasa
veritable feast, and at its close Quadequina with an amiable smilenodded to one of his attendants, who produced and poured upon the tablesomething like a bushel of popped corn,--a dainty hitherto unseen andunknown by most of the Pilgrims.

  All tasted, and John Howland hastily gathering up a portion upon awooden plate carried it to the Common house for the delectation of thewomen, that is to say, for Elizabeth Tilley, whose firm young teethcraunched it with much gusto.

  Breakfast over, with a grace after meat that amounted to anotherservice, the governor announced that some military exercises under thedirection of Captain Standish would now take place, and the guests wereinvited to seat themselves in the vicinity of a fire kindled on theground at the northerly part of the village about at the head of MiddleStreet, and designed more as a common centre and social feature thanfor need since the weather was mild and lovely, so peculiarly so thatwhen it recurred the next November and the next, the people rememberingthat first feast said, "Why, here is the Indians' summer again!" But onthat day the only thought was that God accepted their thanksgiving andsmiled His approval.

  Hardly had the guests comprehended the announcement and placedthemselves in order, when a wild fanfare of trumpets, an imposing rollof drums was heard from the vicinity of the Fort, and down the hill inorderly array marched the little army of nineteen men, preceded by themilitary band and led by their doughty Captain. Above their headsfloated the banner of Old England, and beneath their corselets beat trueEnglish hearts; and yet here stood the nucleus of that power which acentury and a half later was to successfully defy and throw off the ruleof that magnificent but cruel stepdame; here stood the first Americanarmy; and then, as since, that score of determined souls struck terrorinto the hearts of five times their number.

  "If they have beguiled us here to destroy us!" murmured Quadequina inhis brother's ear.

  "Canst not tell an eagle from a carrion-crow?" returned the wiser man."Would Winsnow, or The-Sword, or the Chief, or the powah, do this?Peace, my brother."

  But as the military manoeuvres accompanied with frequent discharges ofmusketry, and accented at one point with a tremendous roar from thecannon of the Fort progressed, not only Quadequina, but many other ofthe braves became very uneasy; and to this cause as well as benevolence,may be attributed the offer made at dinner time by Quadequina to lead ahunting party of his own people into the woods to look for deer, whosehaunts they well knew.

  Standish alone suspected this _arriere pensee_, and when Bradford mildlyapplauded the generous kindness of their guests, he answered with achuckle,--

  "Ay, as kind as the traveler who begs the highwayman to let him go homeand fetch a larger treasure."

  But in spite of his doubts the prince intended and made a _bona fide_hunt, and returned early in the next day with as much venison as lastedthe entire company four days.

  "Oh, if I had but some Spanish chestnuts to stuff these turkeys, theymight seem more like their brethren across the seas," exclaimedPriscilla as she turned over a pile of the wild birds and chose those tobe first cooked.

  "Nay, but to me the flavor is better, and the meat more succulent ofthese than of any I ever saw at home," replied John Alden. "And thesize! Do but look at this fellow, he will scale well-nigh twenty poundif an ounce."

  "If 't were a goose I would name it John, 't would be so prodigious agoose," replied Priscilla with a glance so saucy and so bewitching thather adorer forgot to reply, and she went briskly on,--

  "Come now, young man, there's much to do and scant time to talk of it.Call me some of those gaping boys yonder and let them pluck these fowl,and bid John Billington come and break up these deer. And I must havewood and water galore to make meat for a hundred men. Stir thyself!"

  "I was thinking, Priscilla--why not stuff the turkeys with beechnuts?There is store of them up at our cottage."

  "How came they there? Doth our doughty Captain go birds-nesting andnutting in his by-times?"

  "Nay, but I did, that is, I gathered the nuts for thee, and then--thenfeared if I offered them thou 'dst only flout me"--

  "Oh, sure never was a poor maid so bestead with blind men--well, fetchthy beechnuts."

  "Nay, Priscilla, but blind, blind? How then am I blind, maiden, say?"

  "Why, not to have discovered ere this how I dote upon beechnuts. There,get thee gone for them."

  The dressing of beechnuts proved a rare success, but the preparationproved so long a process that only the delicate young bird made readyfor the table where Mistress Brewster presided was thus honored,although in after times Priscilla often made what she calledgoose-dressing; and when a few years later some sweet potatoes werebrought to Plymouth from the Carolinas, she at once adopted them for thesame purpose.

  And so the festival went on for its appointed length of three days, andperhaps the hearty fellowship and good will manifested by the white mentoward their guests, and their determination to meet them on the groundof common interests and sympathies, went quite as far as their evidentsuperiority in arms and resources toward establishing the deep-foundedand highly valued peace, without which the handful of white men couldnever have made good their footing upon that stern and sterile coast.

  On the Saturday the feast was closed by a state dinner whose compositiontaxed Priscilla as head cook to the limit of her resources, and withflushed cheek and knitted brow she moved about among her willingassitants with all the importance of a Bechamel, a Felix, the_maitre-d'hotel_ of Cardinal Fesch with his two turbots, or lucklessVatel who fell upon his sword and died because he had no turbot at all;or even, rising in the grandeur of the comparison, we may liken her toDomitian, who, weary of persecuting Christians, one day called the RomanSenate together to decide with him upon the sauce with which anotherhistoric turbot should be dressed.

  Some late arrivals among the Indians had that morning brought in severallarge baskets of the delicious oysters for which Wareham is stillfamous, and although it was an unfamiliar delicacy to her, Priscilla,remembering a tradition brought from Ostend to Leyden by some travelers,compounded these with biscuit-crumbs, spices, and wine, and was lookingabout for an iron pan wherein to bake them, when Elizabeth Tilleybrought forward some great clam and scallop shells which John Howlandhad presented to her, just as now a young man might offer a uniqueSevres tea-set to the lady of his love.

  "Wouldn't it do to fill these with thy oyster compote, and so set themin the ashes to roast?" inquired she. "Being many they can be laid atevery man's place at table."

  "Why, 't is a noble idea, child," exclaimed Priscilla eagerly. "'T willbe a novelty, and will set off the board famously. Say you not so,John?"

  "Ay," returned Alden, who was busily opening the oysters at her side."And more by token there is a magnificence in the idea that thou hastnot thought on; for as at a great man's table the silver dishes eachbear the crest of his arms, so we being Pilgrims and thus privileged towear the scallop shell in our hats, do rather choose to display it uponour board."

  "Ah, John, thou hast an excellent wit--in _some_ things," repliedPriscilla with a half sigh which set the young fellow wondering for anhour.

  By noon the long tables were spread, and still the sweet warm air of the"Indian Summer" made the out-of-door feast not only possible butcharming, for the gauzy veil upon the distant forest, and the marinehorizon, and the curves of Captain's Hill, seemed to shut in this littlescene from all the world of turmoil and danger and fatigue, while thethick yellow sunshine filtered through with just warmth enough forcomfort, and the sighing southerly breeze brought wafts of perfume fromthe forest, and bore away, as it wandered northward, the peals oflaughter, the merry yet discreet songs, and the multitudinous hum ofblithe voices, Saxon and savage, male and female, adult and childish,that filled the dreamy air.

  The oysters in their scallop shells were a singular success, and so werethe mighty venison pasties, and the savory stew compounded of all thatflies the air, and all that flies the hunter in Plymouth woods, nolonger flying now but swimming in a glorious broth cun
ningly seasoned byPriscilla's anxious hand, and thick bestead with dumplings of barleyflour, light, toothsome, and satisfying. Beside these were roasts ofvarious kinds, and thin cakes of bread or manchets, and bowls of saladset off with wreaths of autumn leaves laid around them, and greatbaskets of grapes, white and purple, and of the native plum, sodelicious when fully ripe in its three colors of black, white, and red.With these were plentiful flagons of ale, for already the housewives hadlaid down the first brewing of the native brand, and had moreoverlearned of the Indians to concoct a beverage akin to what is now calledroot beer, well flavored with sassafras, of which the Pilgrims had beenglad to find good store since it brought a great price in the Englishmarket.

  It was during the last half hour of this feast that Desire Minter, whowith the other girls served the tables where the men sat at meat, placeda little silver cup at Captain Standish's right hand saying,--

  "Priscilla sends you some shrub, kind sir, of her own composition, andprays you drink her health."

  "Why, then, 't is kind of her who hath been most unkind of late,"returned Myles, upon whose seasoned brain the constant potations ofthree days had wrought to lull suspicion and reserve, and taking the cuphe tossed off its contents at a draught, and rising bowed towardPriscilla who was flitting in and out among the tables. She returned thesalute with a little air of surprise, and Myles reseating himself turnedto question Desire again, but she had departed carrying the cup withher.

  "Nay, then, I'll be toyed with no longer," muttered the Captain angrily,and although he bore his part in the closing ceremonies with which thegovernor bade a cordial and even affectionate farewell to the king, theprince, their nobles, and their following, there was a glint in his eyeand a set to his lips that would have told one who knew him well thatthe spirit of the man was roused and not lightly to be laid to restagain.