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‘Speedwell’; and they finally had to give up the ‘Speedwell’, sell part of their provisions, and
overcrowd the ‘Mayflower’ when they bade their final start, September 6-16, 1620, for Virginia.
“The ‘Mayflower’ had a tough passage [
a 66-day voyage with 102 people on board, a baby was
born at sea, making a total of 103
], encountering many gales, in one of which her main beam
was broken. But one of the Pilgrims had a jack screw and with this a repair was made and the
voyage was continued. They made land November 9-19, 1620 at Cape Cod. The crew refused to
sail down the coast in the teeth of the November gales, and the Pilgrims had to land and stay in
Massachusetts though their patent was only for Virginia.
“Right here may I mention how Providence guided these people and took care of them.
HAD
THEY LANDED ON ANY OTHER SECTION OF THE COAST
than where they did,
THEY
COULD HAVE NEVER SURVIVED THE WINTER AND THE INDIANS!
A PLAGUE had struck
this section of country two years before and WIPED OUT THE INDIANS but LEFT in a cave
some eight bushels of Indian corn, which the Pilgrims used for seed for the season 1621, as they
brought none from England.
“On December 25
th
they commenced their first house. During that first winter they ENDURED
many hardships and lost their governor and one/half colony by death and the rest were so
weakened that had the warlike Indians of the other parts of the coast been in this section of
country, the Pilgrims could not possibly have survived.
“As early as 1623 these Englishmen kept days for fasting, humiliation, and PRAYER, and in
1627 passed an ordinance:
‘That it be in the power of the governor and assistants to
COMMAND solemn days of humiliation, AND ALSO FOR THANKSGIVING,’
and since
then their American descendants have eaten the
November
TURKEY AND CRANBERRY
, with or
without the forementioned
humiliation and PRAYER
attachments and in many cases I’m afraid have
FORGOTTEN
WHAT THEIR PREDESSORS
KNEW in their souls, namely,
that God has been and
still was LOOKING AFTER THEM and
‘PROSPERING THEIR UNDERTAKINGS,’ as your
Great Seal of State with it’s all-seeing eye declares.”
[
My emphasis throughout]
[
COMMENT
: Certainly God was looking out for
these people FOR a very SPECIAL REASON that we
will shortly come to in this writing.
]
“About March 16, 1621, an Indian called Samoset
came to the Puritan settlement. He could speak a
little English [
question: from whom did he learn to
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