{"product_id":"2940013874831","title":"THE PILGRIMS OF NEW ENGLAND","description":"CHAPTER I.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e‘The breaking waves dashed high\u003cbr\u003eOn a stern and rock-hound coast:\u003cbr\u003eAnd the woods against a stormy sky,\u003cbr\u003eTheir giant branches tost.\u003cbr\u003eAnd the heavy night hung dark\u003cbr\u003eThe hills and waters o'er,\u003cbr\u003eWhen a hand of exiles moored their bark\u003cbr\u003eOn the wild New England shore.’   HEMANS.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was, indeed, a ‘stern and rock-bound coast’ beneath which the\u003cbr\u003egallant little Mayflower furled her tattered sails, and dropped her\u003cbr\u003eanchor, on the evening of the eleventh of November, in the year 1620.\u003cbr\u003eThe shores of New England had been, for several days, dimly descried by\u003cbr\u003eher passengers, through the gloomy mists that hung over the dreary and\u003cbr\u003euncultivated tract of land towards which their prow was turned; but the\u003cbr\u003eheavy sea that dashed against the rocks, the ignorance of the captain\u003cbr\u003eand his crew with regard to the nature of the coast, and the crazy\u003cbr\u003estate of the deeply-laden vessel, had hitherto prevented their making\u003cbr\u003ethe land.  At length the ship was safely moored in a small inlet,\u003cbr\u003ebeyond the reach of the foaming breakers; and the Pilgrim Fathers\u003cbr\u003ehastened to leave the vessel in which they had so long been imprisoned,\u003cbr\u003eand, with their families, to set foot on the land that was henceforth\u003cbr\u003eto be their home.  Cold, indeed, was the welcome which they received\u003cbr\u003efrom their adopted country; and cheerless was the view that met their\u003cbr\u003egaze, as they landed on a massy rock of granite, at the foot of a\u003cbr\u003eprecipitous cliff, and looked along the barren, inhospitable shore, and\u003cbr\u003eover the dark waters which they had so lately crossed.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBut hope was strong in the hearts of these exiles; and the faith that\u003cbr\u003ehad led them to seek these untrodden shores, had not deserted them\u003cbr\u003eduring their long and tempestuous voyage; and they looked upward\u003cbr\u003ethrough the gloom and dreariness that surrounded them, and fixed their\u003cbr\u003etrusting eyes on Him who had guided them in safety over the great deep,\u003cbr\u003eand brought them at length to a resting-place. Their first act was to\u003cbr\u003ekneel down on the cold rock, and offer up their prayers and praises to\u003cbr\u003ethat God for whose sake they had given up country, and friends, and\u003cbr\u003ehome, and to whose service they now dedicated themselves and their\u003cbr\u003echildren: and strikingly grand must have been that act of worship. The\u003cbr\u003emanly voices of the sturdy Pilgrims rose in deep and solemn unison,\u003cbr\u003efollowed by those of the women and children, and resounded along the\u003cbr\u003esilent coast, while the heavy urges of the receding tide kept up a\u003cbr\u003ehoarse and monotonous accompaniment. Then arose a hymn of\u003cbr\u003ethanksgiving--and the rocks and the neighboring hills re-echoed the\u003cbr\u003eexulting strain, that seemed to drown the voices of the wind and the\u003cbr\u003ewaves, and to rise unmixed to heaven.  It was the triumph of faith--the\u003cbr\u003eholy and heartfelt expression of undying trust and confidence in God!\u003cbr\u003eSurely, at that time, the Pilgrims were meet objects for the admiring\u003cbr\u003egaze of men and angels! But they were not always so.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt was on the shore of Cape Cod Bay that the new settlers had landed,\u003cbr\u003ein the inlet now called New Plymouth Harbor: but this was not the place\u003cbr\u003eof their original destination.  They had intended to steer for the\u003cbr\u003emouth of Hudson's River, and to have fixed their habitation in that\u003cbr\u003eless exposed and inhospitable district.  But the Dutch had already\u003cbr\u003econceived the project, which they afterwards accomplished, of settling\u003cbr\u003ein that part of the new continent; and it is supposed that the captain\u003cbr\u003eof the Mayflower was bribed by them to convey the English emigrants\u003cbr\u003efurther to the north; so that the first American land which they beheld\u003cbr\u003ewas Cape Cod. They found that the place where they had landed was\u003cbr\u003ebeyond the precincts of the territory which had been granted to them;\u003cbr\u003eand even beyond that of the Company from which they derived their right\u003cbr\u003eof colonization; and after exploring hastily the neighboring coast, and\u003cbr\u003efinding it dreary and unpromising, they again embarked, and insisted on\u003cbr\u003ethe captain's conveying them to the district which they had first\u003cbr\u003edesired to reach. They sailed to the south, and many days were lost in\u003cbr\u003eendeavoring to find a more convenient spot for their settlement: but it\u003cbr\u003ewas in vain.  The shoals and the breakers with which the coast was\u003cbr\u003elined, presented obstacles that were insurmountable at that advanced,\u003cbr\u003eand unusually inclement, season; and, weary and disheartened, they\u003cbr\u003ereturned to the place of their first landing.  There they fixed their\u003cbr\u003eabode, and there they founded the infant city of New Plymouth. It was a\u003cbr\u003edesolate situation, and one that subjected the new settlers to many\u003cbr\u003etrials and privations; for the nearest English settlements then\u003cbr\u003eestablished were upwards of five hundred miles distant.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47069102244080,"sku":"2940013874831","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013874831_p0.jpg?v=1763600677","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013874831","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}