He Replied,
I Fancied To Myself And Said, When I Can Reach The Rose-Bower,
I Will Fill My Lap
With the flowers, and bring them as a
present to my friends; but when I got there, the fragrance of
The roses so intoxicated me, that the skirt dropped from my
hands. - - `O bird of dawn! learn the warmth of affection from
the moth; for that scorched creature gave up the ghost, and
uttered not a groan: These vain pretenders are ignorant of him
they seek after; for of him that knew him we never heard
again: - O thou! who towerest above the flights of conjecture,
opinion, and comprehension; whatever has been reported of thee
we have heard and read; the congregation is dismissed, and life
drawn to a close; and we still rest at our first encomium of
thee!'" - _Sadi_.
By noon we were let down into the Merrimack through the locks at
Middlesex, just above Pawtucket Falls, by a serene and
liberal-minded man, who came quietly from his book, though his
duties, we supposed, did not require him to open the locks on
Sundays. With him we had a just and equal encounter of the eyes,
as between two honest men.
The movements of the eyes express the perpetual and unconscious
courtesy of the parties. It is said, that a rogue does not look
you in the face, neither does an honest man look at you as if he
had his reputation to establish. I have seen some who did not
know when to turn aside their eyes in meeting yours. A truly
confident and magnanimous spirit is wiser than to contend for the
mastery in such encounters. Serpents alone conquer by the
steadiness of their gaze. My friend looks me in the face and
sees me, that is all.
The best relations were at once established between us and this
man, and though few words were spoken, he could not conceal a
visible interest in us and our excursion. He was a lover of the
higher mathematics, as we found, and in the midst of some vast
sunny problem, when we overtook him and whispered our conjectures.
By this man we were presented with the freedom of the Merrimack.
We now felt as if we were fairly launched on the ocean-stream of
our voyage, and were pleased to find that our boat would float on
Merrimack water. We began again busily to put in practice those
old arts of rowing, steering, and paddling. It seemed a strange
phenomenon to us that the two rivers should mingle their waters
so readily, since we had never associated them in our thoughts.
As we glided over the broad bosom of the Merrimack, between
Chelmsford and Dracut, at noon, here a quarter of a mile wide,
the rattling of our oars was echoed over the water to those
villages, and their slight sounds to us. Their harbors lay as
smooth and fairy-like as the Lido, or Syracuse, or Rhodes, in our
imagination, while, like some strange roving craft, we flitted
past what seemed the dwellings of noble home-staying men, seemingly
as conspicuous as if on an eminence, or floating upon a tide
which came up to those villagers' breasts. At a third of a mile
over the water we heard distinctly some children repeating their
catechism in a cottage near the shore, while in the broad
shallows between, a herd of cows stood lashing their sides, and
waging war with the flies.
Two hundred years ago other catechizing than this was going on
here; for here came the Sachem Wannalancet, and his people, and
sometimes Tahatawan, our Concord Sachem, who afterwards had a
church at home, to catch fish at the falls; and here also came
John Eliot, with the Bible and Catechism, and Baxter's Call to
the Unconverted, and other tracts, done into the Massachusetts
tongue, and taught them Christianity meanwhile. "This place,"
says Gookin, referring to Wamesit,
"being an ancient and capital seat of Indians, they come to
fish; and this good man takes this opportunity to spread the
net of the gospel, to fish for their souls." - "May 5th, 1674,"
he continues, "according to our usual custom, Mr. Eliot and
myself took our journey to Wamesit, or Pawtuckett; and arriving
there that evening, Mr. Eliot preached to as many of them as
could be got together, out of Matt. xxii. 1-14, the parable
of the marriage of the king's son. We met at the wigwam of one
called Wannalancet, about two miles from the town, near
Pawtuckett falls, and bordering upon Merrimak river. This
person, Wannalancet, is the eldest son of old Pasaconaway, the
chiefest sachem of Pawtuckett. He is a sober and grave person,
and of years, between fifty and sixty. He hath been always
loving and friendly to the English." As yet, however, they had
not prevailed on him to embrace the Christian religion. "But
at this time," says Gookin, "May 6, 1674," - "after some
deliberation and serious pause, he stood up, and made a speech
to this effect: - `I must acknowledge I have, all my days, used
to pass in an old canoe, (alluding to his frequent custom to
pass in a canoe upon the river,) and now you exhort me to
change and leave my old canoe, and embark in a new canoe, to
which I have hitherto been unwilling; but now I yield up myself
to your advice, and enter into a new canoe, and do engage to
pray to God hereafter.'" One "Mr. Richard Daniel, a gentleman
that lived in Billerica," who with other "persons of quality"
was present, "desired brother Eliot to tell the sachem from
him, that it may be, while he went in his old canoe, he passed
in a quiet stream; but the end thereof was death and
destruction to soul and body. But now he went into a new
canoe, perhaps he would meet with storms and trials, but yet he
should be encouraged to persevere, for the end of his voyage
would be everlasting rest." - "Since that time, I hear this
sachem doth persevere, and is a constant and diligent hearer of
God's word, and sanctifieth the Sabbath, though he doth travel
to Wamesit meeting every Sabbath, which is above two miles; and
though sundry of his people have deserted him, since he
subjected to the gospel, yet he continues and persists." -
_Gookin's Hist.
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