They had no means of fishing, but Squanto taught them how to catch eels by wading into shallow water, and treading them out with their feet. From the Indians the white men also learned how to make Indian shoes or moccasins, and snowshoes, birch-bark canoes, and other useful things.
GOVERNOR CARVER'S LAMP
The first summer was now over and the Pilgrims' first harvest had been gathered. Their houses had been repaired, and the health of the settlers was good. Fish and wild game were plentiful. They decided that the time for rejoicing and thanksgiving had also come, and invited Massasoit and his warriors to join them in the celebration.
The first American Thanksgiving
For three days the games, military movements, feastings, and rejoicing went on, and at the end the Pilgrims and Indians were better friends than before. This was the beginning of our custom of having a day of thanksgiving each year.
More Pilgrims from Holland and England
For a whole year the Pilgrims had not heard a word from the great world across the sea. How eager they must have been for just one word from their old homes! One day the Indians sent runners to tell them that a ship was in sight. The cannon boomed on the hilltop. Captain Standish and his men ran for their guns and stood ready to defend the colony against Spaniards or French. But it was a ship with news and friends from Leiden and England.
After a few weeks this ship returned to England loaded with furs, clapboards, and sassafras to pay those English merchants who had furnished the Pilgrims the Mayflower to bring them to America.
