Part 6

These Indians had never seen a white man before. They thought that the English captain, in his bright scarlet coat trimmed with gold lace, had come down from the sky to visit them. What puzzled them, however, was that he had such a pale face instead of having a red one like themselves.

At the end of the feast Hudson rose to go, but the Indians begged him to stay all night. Then one of them got up, gathered all the arrows, broke them to pieces, and threw them into the fire, in order to show the captain that he need not be afraid to stop with them.

57. Captain Hudson reaches the end of his voyage and turns back; trouble with the Indians.--But Captain Hudson made up his mind that he must now go on with his voyage. He went back to his ship and kept on up the river until he had reached a point about a hundred and fifty miles from its mouth. Here the city of Albany now stands. He found that the water was growing shallow, and he feared that if the Half Moon went further she would get aground. It was clear to him, too, that wherever the river might lead, he was not likely to find it a short road to China.

On the way down stream a thievish Indian, who had come out in a canoe, managed to steal something from the ship. One of the crew chanced to see the Indian as he was slyly slipping off, and picking up a gun he fired and killed him. After that Hudson's men had several fights with the Indians.

58. Hudson returns to Europe; the "Great River" is called by his name; his death.--Early in October the captain set sail for Europe. Ever since that time the beautiful river which he explored has been called the Hudson in his honor.

The next year Captain Hudson made another voyage, and entered that immense bay in the northern part of America which we now know as Hudson Bay. There he got into trouble with his men. Some of them seized him and set him adrift with a few others in an open boat. Nothing more was ever heard of the brave English sailor. The bay which bears his name is probably his grave.

59. The Dutch take possession of the land on the Hudson and call it New Netherland; how New Netherland became New York.--As soon as the Dutch in Holland heard that Captain Hudson had found a country where the Indians had plenty of rich furs to sell, they sent out people to trade with them. Holland is sometimes called the Netherlands; that is, the Low Lands. When the Dutch took possession of the country on the Hudson (1614), they gave it the name of New Netherland, for the same reason that the English called one part of their possessions in America New England. In the course of a few years the Dutch built (1615) a fort and some log cabins on the lower end of Manhattan Island. After a time they named this little settlement New Amsterdam, in remembrance of the port of Amsterdam in Holland from which Hudson sailed.

After the Dutch had held the country of New Netherland about fifty years, the English (1664) seized it. They changed its name to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who was brother to the king. The English also changed the name of New Amsterdam to that of New York City.

60. The New York "Sons of Liberty" in the Revolution; what Henry Hudson would say of the city now.--More than a hundred years after this the young men of New York, the "Sons of Liberty," as they called themselves, made ready with the "Sons of Liberty" in other states to do their full part, under the lead of General Washington, in the great war of the Revolution,--that war by which we gained our freedom from the rule of the king of England, and became the United States of America.

The silent harbor where Henry Hudson saw a few Indian canoes is now one of the busiest seaports in the world. The great statue of Liberty stands at its entrance. To it a fleet of ships and steamers is constantly coming from all parts of the globe; from it another fleet is constantly going. If Captain Hudson could see the river which bears his name, and Manhattan Island now covered with miles of buildings which make the largest and wealthiest city in America, he would say: There is no need of my looking any further for the riches of China and the Indies, for I have found them here.

61. Summary.--In 1609 Henry Hudson, an English sea-captain, then in the employ of the Dutch, discovered the river now called by his name. The Dutch took possession of the country on the river, named it New Netherland, and built a small settlement on Manhattan Island. Many years later the English seized the country and named it New York. The settlement on Manhattan Island then became New York City; it is now the largest and wealthiest city in the United States.

Who was Henry Hudson? What did he try to find? What did the Dutch hire him to do? Where did he go? What did he call the river he discovered? What is said about that river? Tell what you can of Hudson's voyage up the river. What is said about the Indians? Why did Hudson turn back? What did he do then? What is the river he discovered called now? What happened to Captain Hudson the next year? What did the Dutch do? What did they name the country? Why? What did they build there on Manhattan Island? Who seized New Netherland? What name did they give it? What is said of the "Sons of Liberty"? What would Hudson say if he could see New York City now?

CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH (1584-1656).

62. The English Pilgrims in Holland; why they left England.--When the news of Henry Hudson's discovery of the Hudson River reached Holland, many Englishmen were living in the Dutch city of Leyden. These people were mostly farmers who had fled from Scrooby and neighboring villages in the northeast of England. They called themselves Pilgrims, because they were wanderers from their old homes.

The Pilgrims left England because King James would not let them hold their religious meetings in peace. He thought, as all kings then did, that everybody in England should belong to the same church and worship God in the same way that he did. He was afraid that if people were allowed to go to whatever church they thought best that it would lead to disputes and quarrels, which would end by breaking his kingdom to pieces. Quite a number of Englishmen, seeing that they could not have religious liberty at home, escaped with their wives and children to Holland; for there the Dutch were willing to let them have such a church as they wanted.

63. Why the Pilgrims wished to leave Holland and go to America.--But the Pilgrims were not contented in Holland. They saw that if they staid in that country their children would grow up to be more Dutch than English. They saw, too, that they could not hope to get land in Holland. They resolved therefore to go to America, where they could get farms for nothing, and where their children would never forget the English language or the good old English customs and laws. In the wilderness they would not only enjoy entire religious freedom, but they could build up a settlement which would be certainly their own.

64. The Pilgrims, with Captain Myles Standish, sail for England and then for America; they reach Cape Cod, and choose a governor there.--In 1620 a company of Pilgrims sailed for England on their way to America. Captain Myles Standish, an English soldier, who had fought in Holland, joined them. He did not belong to the Pilgrim church, but he had become a great friend to those who did.

About a hundred of these people sailed from Plymouth, England, for the New World, in the ship Mayflower. Many of those who went were children and young people. The Pilgrims had a long, rough passage across the Atlantic. Toward the last of November (1620) they saw land. It was Cape Cod, that narrow strip of sand, more than sixty miles long, which looks like an arm bent at the elbow, with a hand like a half-shut fist.

Finding that it would be difficult to go further, the Pilgrims decided to land and explore the cape; so the Mayflower entered Cape Cod Harbor, inside the half-shut fist, and then came to anchor.

Before they landed, the Pilgrims held a meeting in the cabin, and drew up an agreement in writing for the government of the settlement. They signed the agreement, and then chose John Carver for governor.

65. Washing-day; what Standish and his men found on the Cape.--On the first Monday after they had reached the cape, all the women went on shore to wash, and so Monday has been kept as washing-day in New England ever since. Shortly after that, Captain Myles Standish, with a number of men, started off to see the country. They found some Indian corn buried in the sand; and a little further on a young man named William Bradford, who afterward became governor, stepped into an Indian deer-trap. It jerked him up by the leg in a way that must have made even the Pilgrims smile.

66. Captain Standish and his men set sail in a boat for a blue hill in the west, and find Plymouth Rock; Plymouth Harbor; landing from the Mayflower.--On clear days the people on board the Mayflower, anchored in Cape Cod Harbor, could see a blue hill, on the mainland, in the west, about forty miles away. To that blue hill Standish and some others determined to go. Taking a sail-boat, they started off. A few days later they passed the hill which the Indians called Manomet, and entered a fine harbor. There, on December 21st, 1620,--the shortest day in the year,--they landed on that famous stone which is now known all over the world as Plymouth Rock.

Standish, with the others, went back to the Mayflower with a good report. They had found just what they wanted,--an excellent harbor where ships from England could come in; a brook of nice drinking-water; and last of all, a piece of land that was nearly free from trees, so that nothing would hinder their planting corn early in the spring. Captain John Smith of Virginia had been there before them, and had named the place Plymouth on his map of New England. The Pilgrims liked the name, and so made up their minds to keep it. The Mayflower soon sailed for Plymouth, and the Pilgrims set to work to build the log cabins of their little settlement.

67. Sickness and death.--During that winter nearly half the Pilgrims died. Captain Standish showed himself to be as good a nurse as he was a soldier. He, with Governor Carver and their minister, Elder Brewster, cooked, washed, waited on the sick, and did everything that kind hearts and willing hands could to help their suffering friends. But the men who had begun to build houses had to stop that work to dig graves. When these graves were filled, they were smoothed down flat so that no prowling Indian should count them and see how few white men there were left.

68. Samoset, Squanto, and Massasoit visit the Pilgrims.--One day in the spring the Pilgrims were startled at seeing an Indian walk boldly into their little settlement. He cried out in good English, "Welcome! Welcome!" This visitor was named Samoset; he had met some sailors years before, and had learned a few English words from them.

The next time Samoset came he brought with him another Indian, whose name was Squanto. Squanto was the only one left of the tribe that had once lived at Plymouth. All the rest had died of a dreadful sickness, or plague. He had been stolen by some sailors and carried to England; there he had learned the language. After his return he had joined an Indian tribe that lived about thirty miles further west. The chief of that tribe was named Massasoit, and Squanto said that he was coming directly to visit the Pilgrims.

In about an hour Massasoit, with some sixty warriors, appeared on a hill just outside the settlement. The Indians had painted their faces in their very gayest style--black, red, and yellow. If paint could make them handsome, they were determined to look their best.

69. Massasoit and Governor Carver make a treaty of friendship; how Thanksgiving was kept; what Squanto did for the Pilgrims.--Captain Standish, attended by a guard of honor, went out and brought the chief to Governor Carver. Then Massasoit and the governor made a solemn promise or treaty, in which they agreed that the Indians of his tribe and the Pilgrims should live like friends and brothers, doing all they could to help each other. That promise was kept for more than fifty years; it was never broken until long after the two men who made it were in their graves.