found for all from a store of provisions that had been much reduced by
the delays and necessary sales to satisfy their "merchant adventurers"
before they left England. They slept on damp bedding and wore musty
clothes; they lacked exercise and water for drink or cleanliness.
Joyful for them must have been the day recorded by Winslow and
Bradford, [Footnote: Relation or Journal, etc. (1622).]--"On Monday
the thirteenth of November our people went on shore to refresh
themselves and our women to wash, as they had great need."

During the anxious days when the abler men were searching on land for
a site for the settlement, first on Cape Cod and later at Plymouth,
there were events of excitement on the ship left in the harbor.
Peregrine White was born and his father's servant, Edward Thompson,
died. Dorothy May Bradford, the girl-wife of the later Governor of the
colony, was drowned during his absence. There were murmurings and
threats against the leaders by some of the crew and others who were
impatient at the long voyage, scant comforts and uncertain future.
Possibly some of the complaints came from women, but in the hearts of
most of them, although no women signed their names, was the resolution
that inspired the men who signed that compact in the cabin of _The
Mayflower_,--"to promise all due submission and obedience." They
had pledged their "great hope and inward zeal of laying good
foundation for ye propagating and advancing ye gospell of ye kingdom
of Christ in those remote parts of ye world; yea, though they should
be but as stepping-stones unto others for ye performing of so great a
work"; with such spirit they had been impelled to leave Holland and
such faith sustained them on their long journey.

Many of the women who were pioneers at Plymouth had suffered severe
hardships in previous years. They could sustain their own hearts and