If food was scarce, even a worse condition existed as to clothing in the summer of 1623. Tradition has ascribed several spinning-wheels and looms to the women who came in The Mayflower, but we can scarcely believe that such comforts were generously bestowed. There could have been little material or time for their use. Much skilful weaving and spinning of linen, flax, and wool came in later Colonial history. The women must have been taxed to keep the clothes mended for their families as protection against the cold and storms. The quantity on hand, after the stress of the two years, would vary according to the supplies which each brought from Holland or England; in some families there were sheets and “pillow-beeres” with “clothes of substance and comeliness,” but other households were scantily supplied. A somewhat crude but interesting ballad, called “Our Forefathers’ Song,” is given by tradition from the lips of an old lady, aged ninety-four years, in 1767. If the suggestion is accurate that she learned this from her mother or grandmother, its date would approximate the early days of Plymouth history. More probably it was written much later, but it has a reminiscent flavor of those days of poverty and brave spirit:
“The place where we live is a wilderness wood,
Where grass is much wanted that’s fruitful and good;
Our mountains and hills and our valleys below,
Are commonly covered with frost and with snow.
“Our clothes we brought with us are apt to be torn,
They need to be clouted soon after they are worn,
But clouting our garments they hinder us nothing,
Clouts double are warmer than single whole clothing.
“If fresh meate be wanted to fill up our dish,