By this same opportunity William Hilton, who had come out in the “Fortune,” thus sums up an account to his “loving cousin” of the natural wealth and prospects of the country on whose soil he had recently set foot: “Better grain cannot be than the Indian corn, if we will plant it upon as good ground as a man may desire. We are all freeholders; the rent-day doth not trouble us; and of all the blessings we have, which and what we list we may take in season. Our company are, for the most part, very honest, religious people. The word of God is sincerely taught us every Sabbath; so that I know not any thing a contented, earnest mind can here want. I desire your friendly care to send my wife and children to me when occasion serves, where I wish all the friends I have in England.”[295]
Winslow gives us some significant hints of the social life and wants of the colony by describing to his friends the stores most needful to send out for their use; and we get no little insight into the hardships and very homely accommodations of the forefathers through the glass of his request that the next ship may “bring paper and linseed oil for the windows, with cotton yarn for the lamps.”[296]
And now, on the 14th of December, 1621, all being ready and leave-taking said, the little “Fortune,” crammed with the “first fruits” of the Pilgrim enterprise, set sail for England. But alas, just as she had almost reached the English coast, she was clutched by a French privateer, robbed of her precious freight, and sent into the Thames an empty hull, to the bitter chagrin of the company of Merchant-adventurers, and the sad disappointment of the Plymouth colonists, when, at a later day, they learned of the misfortune.[297]
CHAPTER XI.
THE MORALE OF THE COLONY.
“Good name in man and woman, dear my lord,
Is the immediate jewel of their souls.”
Shakspeare, Othello.
On the return of the settlers from the shore where they had said good-by to the “Fortune,” it was arranged that the new-comers should for the present, in the absence of other accommodations, be received into the families already provided with cabins.[298] Unhappily, the “Fortune” had brought out no store; indeed, she was obliged to rely on the colonists for provisions for her larder on the home voyage. The emigrants whom she landed were absolutely destitute, having “not so much as biscuit-cake or any other victuals set aside for present want. Neither had they any bedding, nor pot nor pan to dress meat in, nor over-many clothes.”[299]