By AZEL AMES, M.D.
Member of Pilgrim Society, etc.
"Next to the fugitives whom Moses led out of Egypt, the little
shipload of outcasts who landed at Plymouth are destined to
influence the future of the world."
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL
INTRODUCTORY
O civilized humanity, world-wide, and especially to the descendants of
the Pilgrims who, in 1620, laid on New England shores the foundations of
that civil and religious freedom upon which has been built a refuge for
the oppressed of every land, the story of the Pilgrim "Exodus" has an
ever-increasing value and zest. The little we know of the inception,
development, and vicissitudes of their bold scheme of colonization in the
American wilderness only serves to sharpen the appetite for more.
Every detail and circumstance which relates to their preparations; to the
ships which carried them; to the personnel of the Merchant Adventurers
associated with them, and to that of the colonists themselves; to what
befell them; to their final embarkation on their lone ship, - the immortal
MAY-FLOWER; and to the voyage itself and to its issues, is vested to-day
with, a supreme interest, and over them all rests a glamour peculiarly
their own.
For every grain of added knowledge that can be gleaned concerning the
Pilgrim sires from any field, their children are ever grateful, and
whoever can add a well-attested line to their all-too-meagre annals is
regarded by them, indeed by all, a benefactor.
