We have pumpkin at morning and pumpkin at noon,
If it was not for pumpkin we should be undoon."

[Footnote: The Pilgrim Fathers; W. H. Bartlett, London, 1852.]

What did these Pilgrim women wear? The manifest answer is,--what they
had in stock. No more absurd idea was ever invented than the picture
of these Pilgrims "in uniform," gray gowns with dainty white collars
and cuffs, with stiff caps and dark capes. They wore the typical
garments of the period for men and women in England. There is no
evidence that they adopted, to any extent, Dutch dress, for they were
proud of their English birth; they left Holland partly for fear that
their young people might be educated or enticed away from English
standards of conduct. [Footnote: Bradford's History of Plymouth
Plantation, ch. 4.] Mrs. Alice Morse Earle has emphasized wisely
[Footnote: Two Centuries of Costume in America; N. Y., 1903.] that the
"sad-colored" gowns and coats mentioned in wills were not "dismal";
the list of colors so described in England included (1638) "russet,
purple, green, tawny, deere colour, orange colour, buffs and scarlet."
The men wore doublets and jerkins of browns and greens, and cloaks
with red and purple linings. The women wore full skirts of say,
paduasoy or silk of varied colors, long, pointed stomachers,--often
with bright tone,--full, sometimes puffed or slashed sleeves, and lace
collars or "whisks" resting upon the shoulders. Sometimes the gowns
were plaited or silk-laced; they often opened in front showing
petticoats that were quilted or embroidered in brighter
colours. Broadcloth gowns of russet tones were worn by those who could
not afford silks and satins; sometimes women wore doublets and jerkins
of black and browns. For dress occasions the men wore black velvet
jerkins with white ruffs, like those in the authentic portrait of