It Was By
Them That These States Of New England Were Colonized.
They came
hither, stating themselves to be pilgrims, and as such they first
placed their feet on that hallowed rock at Plymouth, on the shore
of Massachusetts.
They came here driven by no thirst of conquest,
by no greed for gold, dreaming of no Western empire such as Cortez
had achieved and Raleigh had meditated. They desired to earn their
bread in the sweat of their brow, worshiping God according to their
own lights, living in harmony under their own laws, and feeling
that no master could claim a right to put a heel upon their necks.
And be it remembered that here in England, in those days, earthly
masters were still apt to put their heels on the necks of men. The
Star Chamber was gone, but Jeffreys had not yet reigned. What
earthly aspirations were ever higher than these, or more manly?
And what earthly efforts ever led to grander results?
We determined to go to Portland, in Maine, from thence to the White
Mountains in New Hampshire - the American Alps, as they love to call
them - and then on to Quebec, and up through the two Canadas to
Niagara; and this route we followed. From Boston to Portland we
traveled by railroad - the carriages on which are in America always
called cars. And here I beg, once for all, to enter my protest
loudly against the manner in which these conveyances are conducted.
The one grand fault - there are other smaller faults - but the one
grand fault is that they admit but one class.
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