"I shouldn't wonder if they were a little afraid of Miles Standish. He had a wonderful sword which he prized above everything else. A Turk had given it to him. It was marked with strange figures which the Pilgrims did not understand.
"'That sword will save you from harm so long as you keep it with you,' the Turk had told the brave captain.
"Miles Standish was a little man and at first the Indians made fun of him. They thought he was too small to be much of a warrior. But they found they had made a mistake in this and learned to fear him.
"I think you children have never been to Plymouth. Next summer I will take you there, if your mother is willing. You shall stand on the rock where people say the Pilgrims landed. Then we will go up to the Memorial Hall and look at Baby Peregrine's cradle and the chair of the first governor. Dear me! I can't think of all the things saved from those first days of Plymouth. We will see them all, though, and have a good time."
"That will be jolly fun," said Joe, jumping up and dancing around the room. "I wish it were next summer now."
"Don't be noisy Joe," said his sister. "Uncle Sam won't tell us anything more, if you are."
"I have told more now than you will remember, my dear," said her old friend. "Before we leave the Pilgrims, however, I must say one thing. After they were well settled, friends from England came to join them. This made them very happy.
"A few years afterwards, still other people came from England to live in this part of the country. Their religion was not exactly the same as that of the Pilgrims. They were called the Puritans. They said:
"'We do not wish to go out of the English church. Yet we would like to make it pure. Some things have grown up in it which we think are wrong.'
"There were many Puritans in England, but the king would not listen to them. That is why they made up their minds to come to America.