The Women Who Came in the Mayflower | Page 9

by those who could not afford silks and satins;
sometimes women wore doublets and jerkins of black and browns. For
dress occasions the men wore black velvet jerkins with white ruffs, like
those in the authentic portrait of Edward Winslow. Velvet and quilted
hoods of all colors and sometimes caps, flat on the head and meeting
below the chin with fullness, are shown in existent portraits of English
women and early colonists.
Among relics that are dated back to this early period are the slipper
[Footnote: In Pilgrim Hall, Plymouth.] belonging to Mistress Susanna
White Winslow, narrow, pointed, with lace trimmings, and an
embroidered lace cap that has been assigned to Rose Standish.
[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume In America; Earle.] Sometimes
the high ruffs were worn above the shoulders instead of "whisks." The
children were dressed like miniature men and women; often the girls
wore aprons, as did the women on occasions; these were narrow and
edged with lace. "Petty coats" are mentioned in wills among the
garments of the women. We would not assume that in 1621-2 all the
women in Plymouth colony wore silken or even homespun clothes of
prevailing English fashion. Many of these that are mentioned in
inventories and retained heirlooms, with rich laces and embroideries,

were brought later from England; probably Winslow, Allerton and even
Standish brought back such gifts to the women when they made their
trips to England in 1624 and later. If the pioneer women had laces and
embroideries of gold they probably hoarded them as precious
heirlooms during those early years of want, for they were too sensible
to wear and to waste them. As prosperity came, however, and new
elements entered the colony they were, doubtless, affected by the law
of the General Court, in 1634, which forbade further acquisition of
laces, threads of silver and gold, needle-work caps, bands and rails, and
silver girdles and belts. This law was enacted not by the Pilgrims of
Plymouth, but by the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
When Edward Winslow returned in The Charity, in 1624, he brought
not alone a "goodly supply of clothing" [Footnote: Bradford's History
of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] but,--far more important,--the first bull
and heifers that were in Plymouth. The old tradition of the white bull
on which Priscilla Alden rode home from her marriage, in 1622 or early
1623, must be rejected. This valuable addition of "neat cattle" to the
resources of the colony caused a redistribution of land and shares in the
"stock." By 1627 a partnership or "purchas" had been, arranged, for
assuming the debts and maintenance of the Plymouth colony, freed
from further responsibility to "the adventurers" in London. The new
division of lots included also some of the cattle. It was specified, for
instance, that Captain Standish and Edward Winslow were to share
jointly "the Red Cow which belongeth to the poor of the colony to
which they must keep her Calfe of this yeare being a Bull for the
Companie, Also two shee goats." [Footnote: Records of the Colony of
New Plymouth In New England, edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] Elder
Brewster was granted "one of the four Heifers came in The Jacob
called the Blind Heifer."
Among interesting sidelights upon the economic and social results of
this extension of land and cattle is the remark of Bradford: [Footnote:
Bradford's History of Plymouth Plantation, Bk. 2.] "Some looked for
building great houses, and such pleasant situations for them as
themselves had fancied, as if they would be great men and rich all of a
suddaine; but they proved castles in air." Within a short time, however,

with the rapid increase of children and the need of more pasturage for
the cattle, many of the leading men and women drifted away from the
original confines of Plymouth towards Duxbury, Marshfield, Scituate,
Bridgewater and Eastham. Agriculture became their primal concern,
with the allied pursuits of fishing, hunting and trading with the Indians
and white settlements that were made on Cape Cod and along the
Kennebec.
Soon after 1630 the families of Captain Standish, John Alden, and
Jonathan Brewster (who had married the sister of John Oldham),
Thomas Prence and Edward Winslow were settled on large farms in
Duxbury and Marshfield. This loss to the Plymouth settlement was
deplored by Bradford both for its social and religious results. April 2,
1632, [Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New
England, edited by David Pulslfer, 1861.] a pledge was taken by Alden,
Standish, Prence, and Jonathan Brewster that they would "remove their
families to live in the towne in the winter-time that they may the better
repair to the service of God." Such arrangement did not long continue,
however, for in 1633 a church was established at Duxbury and the
Plymouth members who lived