was the cause of the poor child's sufferings, which, you know, were dreadful; and although the doctor expressed a doubt whether he could live, you were still so cruel as to keep both myself and his father in ignorance."

"I will never act in that way again ma'm; I am sure I wont."

"Do so again indeed! why do you not see that by acting in the way you did, had the child died, you could not have been held guiltless of its death! Not that you would have been guilty of taking away its life; I do not mean that; but every body would have blamed you as a very wicked and cruel girl, who, to save herself from deserved reproof, would see a dear child suffer and die! Yes: and you would have blamed yourself too, Ann."

"I am sure I should, ma'm."

"Well let this be a solemn warning to you as long as you live, always to speak the truth, and all of it."

"Do forgive me, maʼm!"

"I wish to forgive you, Ann; but go and ask God to forgive you also. What you did was a grievous sin in his sight, and I very much suspect that you are not living daily in the fear of God. Had you only had his fear before your eyes, you could not have acted as you did this morning. Seek forgiveness, then, of Him, through Jesus Christ his son, whose blood cleanseth us from all sin. The dear child will, I hope, in mercy be spared; but you have caused him much unnecessary suffering. Go, then, and all the days of your life, let the consequences be what they may, speak the Truth, and all of it."

AND SETTLEMENT OF THE PURITAN PILGRIM FATHERS IN AMERICA.

In the reign of King James I. many christian people in this country suffered severe persecution on account of religion. Some of these fled to Holland, and afterwards to the shores of North America, in order that they might enjoy their religious privileges without interruption from bigoted and tyrannical men. following sketch of the voyage, and hardships, and settlement of these sufferers for conscience sake, is supposed to be written by Dr. Vaughan.

The

"On the 6th of September, 1620, the 'Mayflower' sailed from Plymouth, and made her way, with a fair wind, to the south-west, until the faint headlands of Old England became to the pilgrims like so much faded cloud, and at length wholly disappeared. They had most of them sighed farewell to the coast of their mother country before, when they had fled from her shores in search of a resting-place in Holland; but this farewell must have been uttered with a deeper feeling, as being more like their last.

The voyage was long, rough, and painful, and, at more than one time, perilous. In the ninth week the pilgrims came within sight of land, which on a nearer approach, proved to be that of Cape Cod. The Hudson River, their place of destination, lay farther southward. But the weary voyager, on regaining the sight of the green earth, is eager to plant his foot upon it. The pilgrims yielded to this impulse, and as they reached the shore, 'fell upon their knees, and blessed the God of heaven, who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean and delivered them from many perils and miseries'. It is not too much to say, that in that first prayer from the soil of the New World, ascending from so feeble a brotherhood amidst a wilderness so desolate, there were the seeds of a new civilization for mankind, the elements of all freedom

for all nations, and the power which in its turn shall regenerate all the empires of the earth. Half a day was thus spent. The pilgrims then urged the captain to pursue his course southward. But the Dutch had resolved to establish settlements of their own in those parts, and had bribed the commander to frustrate the purpose of the colonists in that respect. This he did by entangling the ship amidst shoals and breakers, instead of putting out to sea, and foul weather coming on in the early part of the second day, they were driven back to the Cape. It was now the middle of November. The shelter offered at the Cape was inviting. The captain became impatient to dispose of his company and return. He admonished them that nothing should induce him to expose himself and his men to the hazard of wanting provisions. Unless they meant, therefore, that he should at once set them and their goods on shore and leave them to their course, it would behove them to adopt their own measures and to act upon them without delay. They knew that the documents they had brought with them from England gave them no authority to attempt a settlement on the land now before them; but the plea of necessity was upon them, and was more than enough to justify them in selecting a home wherever it might be found. The voyage had reduced most of them to a weak and sickly condition. The wild country, as they gazed upon it from their ship, was seen to be covered with thickets and dense woods, and already wore the aspect of winter. No medical aid awaited them on that shore-no friendly greetings; but hardship and danger in every form. They felt that their safety, and such poor comfort as might be left to them, must depend in their power to confide in God and in each other. Hence, before they left the 'Mayflower,' they constituted themselves, as subjects of 'their dread Sovereign lord, King James,' into a body politic, and bound themselves to such obedience in all things as

the majority should impose. The men all signed the instrument drawn up for this purpose; but they did not exceed forty-one in number-themselves and their families numbering one hundred and one.

Mr. John Carver was chosen their governor for one year, and the first act of this new chief was to place himself at the head of sixteen armed men, for the purpose of exploring the country. When they had extended their inspections to somewhat more than a mile from the coast, they discovered five Indians, whom they followed several miles farther, in the hope of bringing them to some friendly communication; but without success. Directing their steps again towards the shore, they came to a cleared space, where some families of Indians had been not long since resident. But no spot proper to become their home presented itself. One of their number saw a young tree bent down to the earth, apparently by artificial means, and being curious to know what this thing meant, the white man ventured near, when on a sudden the tree sprung up, and in a moment our good pilgrim was seen suspended by the heel in the air. He had been caught in an Indian deer-trap, and we can suppose that even so grave a company would be somewhat amused at such an incident, especially when they had fully extricated their incautious brother without further mischief.

The Bay of Cape Cod is formed by a tongue of land, which juts out from the continent for thirty miles directly eastward into the sea; it then curves to the north, and stretches as a still narrower strip in that direction to about the same extent. The bay itself, accordingly, is somewhere about thirty miles across either way; being bounded by the mainland on the west, by a curved tongue of land on the south and east, and being open to the sea, in its full width, on the north. The second exploring expedition from the 'Mayflower' was made with a boat, under the di

rection of the master, and consisted of thirty men. They sailed several leagues along the coast without discovering any inlet which could serve the purpose of a harbour. In running up a small creek, sufficient to receive boats, but too shallow for shipping, they saw two huts, formed with stakes and covered with mats, which, on their approach, were hastily deserted by the natives who inhabited them. Some of the company would have attempted a settlement at that point, the ground being already cleared, and the place being such as promised to be healthy, while it admitted of being put into a posture of defence. The setting in of winter, of which the colonists were made more sensible every day, manifestly prompted this counsel. But others advised that an excursion should be made twenty leagues northward, where it was certain they might secure good harbours and fishing stations. The boat, however, returned, and a third expedition, which should go round the shores of the whole bay, was resolved upon.

The chief of the colonists were of this company; Carver, Bradford, Winslow, and Standish-all afterwards men of renown-were of the number, with eight or ten seamen. It was the 6th of December when they descended from the deck of the 'Mayflower' to the boat. So extreme was the cold, that the spray of the sea, as it fell on them, became ice, and was shaken in heavy fragments from their apparel, which at times was so overlaid as to give them the appearance of men clad in mail. The landscape, as they coasted along, presented little to attract them. Its forests were black and leafless, and its open spaces were covered with snow more than half a foot deep. As they looked round on that scene, they had to remember that they were five hundred miles from the nearest English settlement, and that Port Royal, the nearest French colony, was at a still greater distance. In prospect of such a region, they might well have