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Page 13
Grandfather described the hatred and scorn with which these enthusiasts
were received. They were thrown into dungeons; they were beaten with
many stripes, women as well as men; they were driven forth into the
wilderness, and left to the tender mercies of wild beasts and Indians.
The children were amazed to hear, that, the more the Quakers were
scourged, and imprisoned, and banished, the more did the sect increase,
both by the influx of strangers, and by converts from among the
Puritans. But Grandfather told them, that God had put something into the
soul of man, which always turned the cruelties of the persecutor to
nought.
He went on to relate, that, in 1659, two Quakers, named William Robinson
and Marmaduke Stephenson, were hanged at Boston. A woman had been
sentenced to die with them, but was reprieved, on condition of her
leaving the colony. Her name was Mary Dyer. In the year 1660 she
returned to Boston, although she knew death awaited her there; and, if
Grandfather had been correctly informed, an incident had then taken
place, which connects her with our story. This Mary Dyer had entered the
mint-master's dwelling, clothed in sackcloth and ashes, and seated
herself in our great chair, with a sort of dignity and state. Then she
proceeded to deliver what she called a message from Heaven; but in the
midst of it, they dragged her to prison.
"And was she executed?" asked Laurence.
"She was," said Grandfather.
"Grandfather," cried Charley, clenching his fist, "I would have fought
for that poor Quaker woman!"
"Ah! but if a sword had been drawn for her," said Laurence, "it would
have taken away all the beauty of her death."
It seemed as if hardly any of the preceding stories had thrown such an
interest around Grandfather's chair, as did the fact, that the poor,
persecuted, wandering Quaker woman had rested in it for a moment. The
children were so much excited, that Grandfather found it necessary to
bring his account of the persecution to a close.
"In 1660, the same year in which Mary Dyer was executed," said he,
"Charles the Second was restored to the throne of his fathers. This king
had many vices; but he would not permit blood to be shed, under pretence
of religion, in any part of his dominions. The Quakers in England told
him what had been done to their brethren in Massachusetts; and he sent
orders to Governor Endicott to forbear all such proceedings in future.
And so ended the Quaker persecution,--one of the most mournful passages
in the history of our forefathers."
Grandfather then told his auditors, that, shortly after the above
incident, the great chair had been given by the mint-master to the Rev.
Mr. John Eliot. He was the first minister of Roxbury. But besides
attending to his pastoral duties there, he learned the language of the
red men, and often went into the woods to preach to them. So earnestly
did he labor for their conversion, that he has always been called the
apostle to the Indians. The mention of this holy man suggested to
Grandfather the propriety of giving a brief sketch of the history of the
Indians, so far as they were connected with the English colonists.
A short period before the arrival of the first Pilgrims at Plymouth,
there had been a very grievous plague among the red men; and the sages
and ministers of that day were inclined to the opinion, that Providence
had sent this mortality, in order to make room for the settlement of the
English. But I know not why we should suppose that an Indian's life is
less precious, in the eye of Heaven, than that of a white man. Be that
as it may, death had certainly been very busy with the savage tribes.
In many places the English found the wigwams deserted, and the
corn-fields growing to waste, with none to harvest the grain. There were
heaps of earth also, which, being dug open, proved to be Indian graves,
containing bows and flint-headed spears and arrows; for the Indians
buried the dead warrior's weapons along with him. In some spots, there
were skulls and other human bones, lying unburied. In 1633, and the year
afterwards, the smallpox broke out among the Massachusetts Indians,
multitudes of whom died by this terrible disease of the old world. These
misfortunes made them far less powerful than they had formerly been.
For nearly half a century after the arrival of the English, the red men
showed themselves generally inclined to peace and amity. They often made
submission, when they might have made successful war. The Plymouth
settlers, led by the famous Captain Miles Standish, slew some of them in
1623, without any very evident necessity for so doing. In 1636, and the
following year, there was the most dreadful war that had yet occurred
between the Indians and the English. The Connecticut settlers, assisted
by a celebrated Indian chief, named Uncas, bore the brunt of this war,
with but little aid from Massachusetts. Many hundreds of the hostile
Indians were slain, or burnt in their wigwams. Sassacus, their sachem,
fled to another tribe, after his own people were defeated; but he was
murdered by them, and his head was sent to his English enemies.
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