The Women Who Came in the Mayflower | Page 8

men and grown boys were expected to plant and harvest, fish and hunt
for the common use of all the households. The women also did their
tasks in common. The results had been unsatisfactory and, in 1623, a
new division of land was made, allotting to member householder an
acre for each member of his family. This arrangement, which was
called "every man for his owne particuler," was told by Bradford with a
comment which shows that the women were human beings, not saints
nor martyrs. He wrote: "The women now went willingly into ye field,
and tooke their little-ones with them to set corne, which before would
aledge weaknes and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have
bene thought great tiranie and oppression." After further comment upon
the failure of communism as "breeding confusion and discontent" he
added this significant comment: "For ye yong-men that were most able
and fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their
time and strength to work for other men's wives and children without
any recompense.... And for men's wives to be commanded to doe
servise for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloathes,
etc., they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands
well brooke it."
If food was scarce, even a worse condition existed as to clothing in the
summer of 1623. Tradition has ascribed several spinning-wheels and
looms to the women who came in The Mayflower, but we can scarcely
believe that such comforts were generously bestowed. There could

have been little material or time for their use. Much skilful weaving
and spinning of linen, flax, and wool came in later Colonial history.
The women must have been taxed to keep the clothes mended for their
families as protection against the cold and storms. The quantity on hand,
after the stress of the two years, would vary according to the supplies
which each brought from Holland or England; in some families there
were sheets and "pillow-beeres" with "clothes of substance and
comeliness," but other households were scantily supplied. A somewhat
crude but interesting ballad, called "Our Forefathers' Song," is given by
tradition from the lips of an old lady aged ninety-four years, in 1767. If
the suggestion is accurate that she learned this from her mother or
grandmother, its date would approximate the early days of Plymouth
history. More probably it was written much later, but it has a
reminiscent flavor of those days of poverty and brave spirit:
"The place where we live is a wilderness wood, Where grass is much
wanted that's fruitful and good; Our mountains and hills and our valleys
below, Are commonly covered with frost and with snow.
"Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn, They need to be
clouted soon after they are worn, But clouting our garments they hinder
us nothing, Clouts double are warmer than single whole clothing.
"If fresh meate be wanted to fill up our dish, We have carrots and
turnips whenever we wish, And if we've a mind for a delicate dish, We
go to the clam-bank and there we catch fish.
"For pottage and puddings and custards and pies, Our pumpkins and
parsnips are common supplies! We have pumpkin at morning and
pumpkin at noon, If it was not for pumpkin we should be undoon."
[Footnote: The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.]
What did these Pilgrim women wear? The manifest answer is,--what
they had in stock. No more absurd idea was ever invented than the
picture of these Pilgrims "in uniform," gray gowns with dainty white
collars and cuffs, with stiff caps and dark capes. They wore the typical
garments of the period for men and women in England. There is no

evidence that they adopted, to any extent, Dutch dress, for they were
proud of their English birth; they left Holland partly for fear that their
young people might be educated or enticed away from English
standards of conduct. [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth
Plantation, ch. 4.] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has emphasized wisely
[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.] that
the "sad-colored" gowns and coats mentioned in wills were not
"dismal"; the list of colors so described in England included (1638)
"russet, purple, green, tawny, deere colour, orange colour, buffs and
scarlet." The men wore doublets and jerkins of browns and greens, and
cloaks with red and purple linings. The women wore full skirts of say,
paduasoy or silk of varied colors, long, pointed stomachers,--often with
bright tone,--full, sometimes puffed or slashed sleeves, and lace collars
or "whisks" resting upon the shoulders. Sometimes the gowns were
plaited or silk-laced; they often opened in front showing petticoats that
were quilted or embroidered in brighter colours. Broadcloth gowns of
russet tones were worn