The Women Who Came in the Mayflower | Page 7

limned from
the old Ainsworth's Psalm Book:
"In the Lord do I trust, how then to my soule doe ye say, As doth a little
bird unto your mountaine fly away? For loe, the wicked bend their bow,
their arrows they prepare On string; to shoot at dark at them In heart
that upright are." (Psalm xi.)
Even more exciting than the days already mentioned was the great
event of surprise and rejoicing, November 19, 1621, when The Fortune
arrived with thirty-five more Pilgrims. Some of these were soon to wed
Mayflower passengers. Widow Martha Ford, recently bereft, giving
birth on the night of her arrival to a fourth child, was wed to Peter
Brown; Mary Becket (sometimes written Bucket) became the wife of
George Soule; John Winslow; later married Mary Chilton, and Thomas
Cushman, then a lad of fourteen, became the husband, in manhood, of
Mary Allerton. His father, Robert Cushman, remained in the settlement
while The Fortune was at anchor and left his son as ward for Governor
Bradford. The notable sermon which was preached at Plymouth by
Robert Cushman at this time (preserved in Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth) was
from the text, "Let no man seek his own; but every man another's
wealth." Some of the admonitions against swelling pride and
fleshly-minded hypocrites seem to us rather paradoxical when we
consider the poverty and self-sacrificing spirit of these pioneers;
perhaps, there were selfish and slothful malcontents even in that
company of devoted, industrious men and women, for human nature
was the same three hundred years ago, in large and small communities,
as it is today, with some relative changes.
Among the passengers brought by The Fortune were some of great
helpfulness. William Wright, with his wife Priscilla (the sister of

Governor Bradford's second wife), was an expert carpenter, and
Stephen Dean, who came with his wife, was able to erect a small mill
and grind corn. Robert Hicks (or Heeks) was another addition to the
colony, whose wife was later the teacher of some of the children. Philip
De La Noye, progenitor of the Delano family in America, John and
Kenelm Winslow and Jonathan Brewster were eligible men to join the
group of younger men,--John Alden, John Howland and others.
The great joy in the arrival of these friends was succeeded by an
agitating fear regarding the food supply, for The Fortune had suffered
from bad weather and its colonists had scarcely any extra food or
clothing. By careful allotments the winter was endured and when
spring came there were hopes of a large harvest from more abundant
sowing, but the hopes were killed by the fearful drought which lasted
from May to the middle of July. Some lawless and selfish youths
frequently stole corn before it was ripe and, although public whipping
was the punishment, the evil persisted. These conditions were met with
the same courage and determination which ever characterized the
leaders; a rationing of the colony was made which would have done
credit to a "Hoover." They escaped famine, but the worn, thin faces and
"the low condition, both in respect of food and clothing" was a shock to
the sixty more colonists who arrived in The Ann and The James in
1623.
The friends who came in these later ships included some women from
Leyden, "dear gossips" of Mayflower colonists, women whose
resources and characters gave them prominence in the later history of
Plymouth. Notable among them was Mrs. Alice Southworth soon to
wed Governor Bradford. With her came Barbara, whose surname is
surmised to have been Standish, soon to become the wife of Captain
Standish. Bridget Fuller joined her husband, the noble doctor of
Plymouth; Elizabeth Warren, with her five daughters, came to make a
home for her husband, Richard; Mistress Hester Cooke came with three
children, and Fear and Patience Brewster, despite their names, brought
joy and cheer to their mother and girlhood friends; they were later wed
to Isaac Allerton and Thomas Prence, the Governor.

Fortunately, The Ann and The James brought supplies in liberal
measure and also carpenters, weavers and cobblers, for their need was
great. The James was to remain for the use of the colony. Rations had
been as low as one-quarter pound of bread a day and sometimes their
fare was only "a bit of fish or lobster without any bread or relish but a
cup of fair spring water." [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth
Plantation; Bk. II.] It is not strange that Bradford added: "ye long
continuance of this diete and their labors abroad had somewhat abated
ye freshness of their former complexion."
An important change in the policy of the colony, which affected the
women as well as men, was made at this time. Formerly the
administration of affairs had been upon the communal basis. All the