"Oh, what fun!" cried Lucy. "You are always thinking of the nicest things to do. I never knew anyone like you."
"I hope the Pilgrims had a few Uncle Sams with them," said Joe, coming back with the apples.
"They popped corn sometimes, but not in our way," the old man said. "I don't believe anyone of them ever saw a corn-popper. They used to hide the kernels in the hot ashes and then watch for them to come shooting out over the room.
"Then what fun there was as the children scrambled to get them! They enjoyed it, and I am glad they did. Poor little children, they did not have too much fun at any time. You must not blame their parents, though. They had been brought up that way themselves. They thought they must be very strict or their children might grow up to be bad men and women.
"'Spare the rod and spoil the child,' they said over and over again. And they also often repeated these words: 'Children should be seen and not heard.'
"Now I believe children should look forward to Sunday with pleasure," Uncle Sam went on. "It ought to be the best day in the week for everybody, young and old. But, dear me! the poor little Pilgrims had to keep so still and sober from Saturday evening to Sunday evening, it must have been painful. Not a loud word must be spoken, not a laugh must be heard. Then there was the long sermon Sunday morning. Hours long! Just think of it!
"Rain or shine, heat or cold, everyone went to church. That is, unless he was too sick to sit up. They went in a sort of procession. The women and children walked in the middle. Some of the men marched ahead and the rest at the end of the line. They carried their guns, for they must be ready for an attack by the savages at any moment.
"There was no fire in the church on the coldest day of winter. Some of the people carried foot-stoves to keep themselves warm. These were iron pans or cups in which live coals were carried. The children sat in one part of the church and their parents in another."
Joe smiled.