The One Room Schoolhouse

  “You know that the beginning is the most important part of any work, especially in the case of a young and tender thing; for that is the time at which the character is being formed and the desired impression is more readily taken....Shall we just carelessly allow children to hear any casual tales which may be devised by casual persons, and to receive into their minds ideas for the most part the very opposite of those which we should wish them to have when they are grown up? We cannot....Anything received into the mind at that age is likely to become indelible and unalterable; and therefore it is most important that the tales which the young first hear should be models of virtuous thoughts....” "Then will our youth dwell in a land of health, amid fair sights and sounds, and receive the good in everything; and beauty, the effluence of fair works, shall flow into the eye and ear, like a health-giving breeze from a purer region, and insensibly draw the soul from the earliest years i

Yes, there was a feast of thanksgiving that autumn of 1621.   The Pilgrims had the harvest of their crops, geese and ducks, and a “good store of wild turkeys,” according to Bradford.   That first Thanksgiving actually turned into quite a celebration of the Natives as Massasoit and a hundred of his tribe (outnumbering the Pilgrims about two to one) showed up with 5 deer.   And so, to their family and faith, the Pilgrims also added friends. Thanksgiving, however, did not become a national holiday until 1863, squarely in the middle of one of the darkest times in our nation's history, just months after the Battle of Gettysburg of the Civil War.  And yet, America's stalwart and faithful leader, Lincoln himself responded to the campaign of Sarah Josepha Hale.  Known as "The Mother of American Thanksgiving" she worked to convince President Lincoln of the need to proclaim a National Day of Thanksgiving.  It had nothing to do with parades nor football.  It did include a feast,

Intentionally, I left the beginning of the Pilgrim story for the end of this series of posts leading up to Thanksgiving.  I think the beginning of their story is better appreciated after learning of all challenges and the miracles of their early adventure. One of William Bradford’s most well-known statements from his detailed account reads, “They knew they were pilgrims.”   Interestingly, everyone else did not refer to them as “pilgrims” until 1793, one hundred seventy-three years after their Mayflower voyage.   For the first couple generations they were known as the “Oldcomers” and then as the “Forefathers.”   Apparently, what was known by the Pilgrims themselves, was not necessarily recognized by the public. For most who know the Pilgrim’s story, they were taught that the Pilgrims fled England to the New World in order to worship as they pleased.   I know this was my understanding. While this is not inaccurate, it is not completely accurate.   After a failed attempt in 1607, the

Squanto did come to the rescue, but it wasn’t until Spring.   The Pilgrims had a bitter, heart-breaking winter to endure.   Though land was sighted November 11 th , it wasn’t until December 23 that a work party went ashore to begin building permanent structures.   The Mayflower, having been moved from it’s original anchoring to Plymouth Harbor, over 20 miles away, had become a veritable floating hospital.   Each day there were new deaths, including William Bradford’s wife, and another passenger’s stillborn baby.   In their weakened condition, the first framed structure went up on Christmas day.   There was no rest for the Pilgrims that day. By the time Spring arrived, 52 of the original 102 passengers were dead.   Yet despite the death toll, there were unexplainable survivors.   Four families of the Pilgrims had been untouched.   Two families of the Strangers had more than a fifth of all the young people between them.   A once segregated group was becoming much less separated. As I

Once the passengers of the Mayflower sighted land and subsequently escaped Pollack Rip and made it back to Cape Cod, it wasn’t as if everyone could walk down the landing plank and begin life on new land.   The shallow waters of the area made it so that ships the size of the Mayflower had to anchor as far out as a mile from shore.   A party of men would need to go ashore and find a suitable place for the newcomers. During the Atlantic voyage, a small sailing ship, a shallop, had been dismantled and stored in at least four separate places in the Mayflower .   Along with passengers in a row boat, the pieces were taken to shore to be reassembled.   Already into winter weather, i t would take longer than desired to put together.   Not wanting to delay any longer, a scouting trip set out to the nearest land while the carpenter and assistants went to work to reassemble the shallop.   Bradford and young Howland were part of this first scouting trip that proved to have its own adventures.

“The favorable hand of Providence” is how George Washington commonly referred to advantages won during the Revolutionary War as a result of weather.  Any study of that war will confirm that the weather, be it snow, rain, wind, freezes, or thaws, played a major role in the victories of the colonies against the world’s superpower.  That same “favorable hand of Providence” was with the Pilgrims. Experts refer to the climate of New England during the time of the Pilgrims as the “little ice age.”  Winters were unusually long and harsh, and such was the winter that welcomed the bedraggled travelers.  It wasn’t long before death was a part of life.  Before the end of the first winter, three families had been completely lost, and several children had been orphaned.  By spring, 50 of the 102 passengers remained.  To say that the Pilgrims were spent physically and emotionally is a gross understatement. Yet, uncharacteristic for “the little ice age,” an early Spring met the starved and frozen

The other most popular native name familiar in the story of the Pilgrims belongs to the chief of chiefs, Massasoit.  Indeed, he was the highest authority in the area of the many neighboring tribes, each with their own leader.  He was what they called a “sachem.”  Upon the arrival of the Pilgrims to the area, one order from Massasoit would have annihilated the sick and weary travelers.  Such native commands had been the cause of much death in former attempts in colonization by the Europeans along the coastline.  Why didn’t Massasoit use his power to once again obliterate the threat to the established native affairs?  Once again, William Bradford recognized the exception as an act of God’s grace towards the Pilgrims. Early on, Massasoit met the leaders of the Pilgrims and began a relationship that lasted for a remarkable 50 peaceful years.   The alliance took work, and at times it was complicated.   However, it was a true and upheld treaty between the people of Massasoit and the first

All I knew about Squanto when I became intrigued with the story of the Pilgrims, was that he was the Indian that helped the Pilgrims learn how to farm in their new land.  Learning some of his story has been another witness to me of a divine plan for the Pilgrim's eventual success. Now, when I think of Squanto, I can't help but think Joseph of Egypt.  The Bible teaches us of the young boy, sold into servitude, separated from family, and taken to a strange land.  Joseph had to learn a new culture and a new language.  Through test and trial and perseverance, Joseph became not only instrumental, but critical in the saving of a foreign people and a foreign nation.   That is Squanto's story as well. Before the Pilgrims ever set foot on American soil, many Europeans had come having heard of all the wonders of the new land.  Some came for fur, some came for fish, and others came for a variety of New World treasures.  What they didn't come for was long-term settlement, which req

There are two men who traveled on the Mayflower who particularly appear in sharp contrast.  Their life experience up to that 1620 adventure had nothing to do with their destiny.  God was at the helm. Of the 102 passengers aboard The Mayflower , there were those with and without "sea legs."  The Pilgrims suffered terribly from seasickness.  Those with "sea legs" often took great delight in mocking those who suffered from the continual and drastic movement of the ship.  One sailor on The Mayflower especially gloated over his superior ability to weather the seas and the weakness of the Pilgrims in their compromised conditions.  William Bradford later wrote that this sailor was "a proud and very profane man" daily causing grief for the Pilgrims.  He even went so far as to say "he hoped to help to cast half of them overboard before they came to their journey's end."   I can't help but think of the prophet Obadiah's words when I think of th

Hindsight is 20/20, and the part of the story about the ship that never sailed is quite intriguing.   Several of the Pilgrims that started the journey never made it aboard The Mayflower .  Though the final departure of The Mayflower was from Plymouth, England, the original departure of the Pilgrims was from the Dutch port Delfshaven.  Preparations and plans for the voyage by those with whom they had agreed to make those plans had not been going well, nor fast.  As a result, the Pilgrims in Holland had sold belongings and purchased a 60 ton vessel named the Speedwell .  It was less than 50 feet long, but considered long enough to cross the Atlantic.  Its size would allow for exploration and fishing along the new coastline.  The Pilgrims also hired a captain and crew who agreed to stay on for a year and help with the settlement.   The captain, known as "Mr. Reynolds," and the crew had the masts of Speedwell replaced with larger masts for the voyage.  The Pilgrim's farewel

Subsequent to the scare of Pollack Rip, contention arose onboard The Mayflower .  The only legal permission given for settlement was at the mouth of the Hudson River, yet sheer survival dictated otherwise.  Differing views and opinions caused a significant stir.  The discord, not original for the journey, once again threatened the success of the destiny of the group.  Some of the "Strangers," as the Pilgrims referred to those not of their religious congregation, had ideas of their own liberty once onshore. The Strangers made up about half of the group and were not excited about being subject to the ways of religious extremists.   Some of the Strangers however recognized that only by working together did the group have a chance of success.  It became very apparent that an agreement as to common government must be formed in order for the settlement to survive.   Wisely, before leaving Holland, the Pilgrims' pastor, John Robinson, had given them counsel.  He knew there would

Though the sight of land brought great rejoicing and relief to the passengers of The Mayflower, Captain Jones felt otherwise.  They had only been given a legal patent to settle at the mouth of the Hudson River which was 220 miles to the south.  After they had come so far, and now that they were within sight of land, that might not seem like a big deal.  However, at the time, there were no reliable maps of the coast south of Cape Cod.  For a ship's captain, an unknown coast was as formidable as the ocean's fiercest storms. As Jones turned south, it was smooth sailing for about 5 hours.  At around 1 o'clock in the afternoon, Jones met up with what today is called the "Pollack Rip," one of the nastiest stretches of shallow water on the American coast.  The water and wind dropped suddenly and drastically.  The Pollack Rip is a maze of sandbars that continually rearrange with the changing tide for 15 miles between Cape Cod and Nantucket.  Even today, to watch the feroc

Today , November 9th, marks 402 years since the morning that land was spotted from The Mayflower . The Mayflower left Plymouth, England on September 6th, much later than planned. For perspective, that's about the time school started. After 65 days for non-seafaring passengers, what joy the sight of land must have been! The Mayflower was a standard merchant vessel in her day. She was about 100 feet in length and was capable of holding 180 casks, or "tuns" of wine, thus the rating of 180 tons. Christopher Jones was her captain and had been for about 11 years making trips across the English Chanel with wool and wine, as well as to farther locations like Norway with various goods, and even a whaling trip to Greenland. Christopher Jones had a family--a wife and five children. Jones had never been to America so it was very wise that he chose a first mate and pilot who had, Robert Choppin. There were 102 passengers on The Mayflower when she set out across the Atlant