Alden in "American Epitaphs," 1814, [Footnote: American Epitaphs,
1814; iii, 139.] but there are here some deflections from facts as
later research has revealed them. The magic words of romance, "Why
don't you speak for yourself, John?" are found in this early
narrative.

There was more than romance in the lives of John and Priscilla Alden
as the "vital facts" indicate. Their first home was at Town Square,
Plymouth, on the site of the first school-house but, by 1633, they
lived upon a farm of one hundred and sixty-nine acres in
Duxbury. Their first house here was about three hundred feet from the
present Alden house, which was built by the son, Jonathan, and is now
occupied by the eighth John Alden. It must have been a lonely
farmstead for Priscilla, although she made rare visits, doubtless on
an ox or a mare, or in an ox-cart with her children, to see Barbara
Standish at Captain's Hill, or to the home of Jonathan Brewster, a few
miles distant. As farmer, John Alden was not so successful as he would
have been at his trade of cooper. Moreover, he gave much of his time
to the service of the colony throughout his manhood, acting as
assistant to the Governor, treasurer, surveyor, agent and military
recruit. Like many another public servant of his day and later, he
"became low in his estate" and was allowed a small gratuity of ten
pounds because "he hath been occationed to spend time at the Courts on
the Countryes occasion and soe hath done this many yeares."
[Footnote: Records of the Colony of New Plymouth.] He had also been
one of the eight "undertakers" who, in 1627, assumed the debts and
financial support of the Plymouth colony.

Eleven children had been born to John and Priscilla Alden, five sons
and six daughters. Sarah married Alexander Standish and so cemented