To Bessie and her sisters it was a moment of great joy, although a second look at the dear mother showed that the months spent in prison had left cruel marks upon her. The hair, so dark when she went away, was now quite white, they saw, as they looked more closely under the hood that covered her head. She was better clothed than most of those who had been brought from different gaols, for Dame Lowe and Audrey had made her a homely but useful outfit for the voyage, and some of the things had been taken by Friends to the prison the day before. For this thoughtful kindness Dame Westland was deeply grateful, since the rags she had been wearing would have been a pain and grief to Bessie, she knew, and to be able to meet her children decently clad was a great comfort.
Truly the passengers going on this voyage were of all sorts and conditions of men; but they were linked in the bonds of love to God, and the truth declared by the Lord Jesus Christ, and for this they had all suffered in mind, body, or estate, some being beggared, some maimed, some broken in health and hope alike, but all brave, true friends and brethren, ready to help each other and bear each other's burdens.
By the help of the same benefactor, under the guidance of God, they had been brought together to make a new home in a new country, and they resolved that, so far as it was possible, religious as well as civil liberty, should be the charter of the new homestead they were going to set up in New Jersey. It was to be a home and refuge for the persecuted Society of Friends. Sir William Penn had bought it, and they were to establish the faith of God upon it.
Later, perhaps, if the persecution of their people in England did not cease, he would endeavour to secure a larger territory in liquidation of a debt owing by the king, for money advanced by his father the admiral. Whether these larger plans would ever come to anything, the present band of pilgrims did not know; but, of course, it would largely depend upon the success of this venture, so every man and woman of the party felt that it would depend upon them whether or not this larger refuge could be founded, and all with one accord, who had heard the story, resolved to follow the example of Brave Bessie Westland.
MORRISON AND GIBB, PRINTERS, EDINBURGH.