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Page 3
"And now we come to the chair, my dear children," said Grandfather.
"This chair is supposed to have been made of an oak tree which grew in
the park of the English earl of Lincoln, between two and three centuries
ago. In its younger days it used, probably, to stand in the hall of the
earl's castle. Do not you see the coat of arms of the family of Lincoln,
carved in the open work of the back? But when his daughter, the Lady
Arbella, was married to a certain Mr. Johnson, the earl gave her this
valuable chair."
"Who was Mr. Johnson?" inquired Clara.
"He was a gentleman of great wealth, who agreed with the Puritans in
their religious opinions," answered Grandfather. "And as his belief was
the same as theirs, he resolved that he would live and die with them.
Accordingly, in the month of April, 1630, he left his pleasant abode and
all his comforts in England, and embarked with the Lady Arbella, on
board of a ship bound for America."
As Grandfather was frequently impeded by the questions and observations
of his young auditors, we deem it advisable to omit all such prattle as
is not essential to the story. We have taken some pains to find out
exactly what Grandfather said, and here offer to our readers, as nearly
as possible in his own words, the story of
THE LADY ARBELLA.
The ship in which Mr. Johnson and his lady embarked, taking
Grandfather's chair along with them, was called the Arbella, in honor of
the lady herself. A fleet of ten or twelve vessels, with many hundred
passengers, left England about the same time; for a multitude of people,
who were discontented with the king's government and oppressed by the
bishops, were flocking over to the new world. One of the vessels in the
fleet was that same Mayflower which had carried the Puritan pilgrims to
Plymouth. And now, my children, I would have you fancy yourselves in the
cabin of the good ship Arbella; because if you could behold the
passengers aboard that vessel, you would feel what a blessing and honor
it was for New England to have such settlers. They were the best men and
women of their day.
Among the passengers was John Winthrop, who had sold the estate of his
forefathers, and was going to prepare a new home for his wife and
children in the wilderness. He had the king's charter in his keeping,
and was appointed the first Governor of Massachusetts. Imagine him a
person of grave and benevolent aspect, dressed in a black velvet suit,
with a broad ruff around his neck and a peaked beard upon his chin.
There was likewise a minister of the Gospel, whom the English bishops
had forbidden to preach, but who knew that he should have liberty both
to preach and pray in the forests of America. He wore a black cloak,
called a Geneva cloak, and had a black velvet cap, fitting close to his
head, as was the fashion of almost all the Puritan clergymen. In their
company came Sir Richard Saltonstall, who had been one of the five first
projectors of the new colony. He soon returned to his native country.
But his descendants still remain in New England; and the good old family
name is as much respected in our days as it was in those of Sir Richard.
Not only these, but several other men of wealth and pious ministers,
were in the cabin of the Arbella. One had banished himself for ever from
the old hall where his ancestors had lived for hundreds of years.
Another had left his quiet parsonage, in a country town of England.
Others had come from the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, where they
had gained great fame for their learning. And here they all were,
tossing upon the uncertain and dangerous sea, and bound for a home that
was more dangerous than even the sea itself. In the cabin, likewise, sat
the Lady Arbella in her chair, with a gentle and sweet expression on her
face, but looking too pale and feeble to endure the hardships of the
wilderness.
Every morning and evening the Lady Arbella gave up her great chair to
one of the ministers, who took his place in it and read passages from
the Bible to his companions. And thus, with prayers and pious
conversation, and frequent singing of hymns, which the breezes caught
from their lips and scattered far over the desolate waves, they
prosecuted their voyage, and sailed into the harbor of Salem in the
month of June.
At that period there were but six or eight dwellings in the town; and
these were miserable hovels, with roofs of straw and wooden chimneys.
The passengers in the fleet either built huts with bark and branches of
trees, or erected tents of cloth till they could provide themselves with
better shelter. Many of them went to form a settlement at Charlestown.
It was thought fit that the Lady Arbella should tarry in Salem for a
time; she was probably received as a guest into the family of John
Endicott. He was the chief person in the plantation, and had the only
comfortable house which the new comers had beheld since they left
England. So now, children, you must imagine Grandfather's chair in the
midst of a new scene.
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