of the colony. He left no account of his voyage, Those who came in the five ships whose arrival I have just described were Rev. Francis Higginson and two hundred more. They came in 1629. Then, the next year, Gov. John Winthrop came with eight hundred. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was large, strong, and rich, compared with that at Plymouth. It included many highly-educated men and some rich men. They had powerful friends in England; and they had a charter from the king, securing to them the right to govern themselves, so long as they did nothing contrary to the laws of England. They founded the town of Salem, which they called by that name, because in Hebrew it signified "Peace." Afterwards they settled Boston,

at first called Trimountain, from its three hills, -and also Roxbury, Dorchester, Charlestown, Watertown, and other places.

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These colonists were not "Pilgrims" from Holland, or Separatists," as the Plymouth colonists were sometimes called; but they were "Puritans," or religious reformers, who came from England, hoping to find more freedom for themselves in America. They had been persecuted for their opinions at home, though not so severely as the Pilgrims; and the Puritans at first

thought that the Pilgrims did not feel kindly enough toward the mother-country. It is reported that Francis Higginson said, as his ship sailed away from the English shores, "We will not say, as the Separatists were wont to say at their leaving of England, 'Farewell, Babylon! Farewell, Rome!' But we will say, 'Farewell, dear England! Farewell, the Church of God in England, and all the Christian friends there!'" However, when they got to America, there was not much difference between the Pilgrims at Plymouth, and the Puritans at Salem. At least, both colonies soon grew quite independent of the ways and authority of the Church of England.

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But, for all their larger numbers and greater wealth, the Massachusetts colonists suffered almost as much hardship as the Plymouth settlers had undergone. They had, to be sure, from the beginning, horses and cattle and tools. But one of the early colonists wrote, “ Bread was so very scarce, that sometimes I thought the very crumbs of my father's table would be sweet unto me. And, when I could have meal and water and salt boiled together, it was so good, who could wish better? . . . The Indians did sometimes bring corn, and truck with us for clothing and knives; and once I had a peck of corn, or thereabouts, for a little puppy-dog. Frost-fish, mussels, and clams were a relief unto many." Another writer describes how the women in the seaside settlements used to go down to the beach every day, at low tide, and dig for shell-fish. "It would have been a strange thing," says another, "to see a piece of roast beef or mutton or veal." One day, just as Governor Winthrop was giving away the last handful of meal he

possessed to a poor man, they saw a ship from England, with provisions, just entering the harbor.

A good many died of hardship and fatigue during the first year or two; but, after that, they grew quite healthy. They found the climate bracing; and one said, that “ a sup of New England's air was better than a whole draught of Old England's ale." Even in their worst times, very few went back to England; and, notwithstanding their poverty, there was not an instance of theft among them for four years. Governor Winthrop wrote to his wife, "We here enjoy God and Jesus Christ; and is not that enough? I thank God I like so well to be here as [that] I do not repent my coming. I would not have altered my course, though I had foreseen all these afflictions. I had never more content of mind."

These two colonies, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, were for many years independent of one another; but the Plymouth Colony, though the older of the two, grew far more slowly than the other, and was at last united with it, in 1692, under the name of Massachusetts; the name being taken from one of the tribes of Indians inhabiting the soil. The meaning of the word is said to be "Blue Hills."

CHAPTER IX.

THE OTHER NEW ENGLAND COLONIES.

HE two colonies, afterwards united under the

THE

name of Massachusetts, have been described before the other New England colonies. This is because Massachusetts, being first settled, was in a manner the parent of these later colonies. Let us take up the rest in the ordinary geographical order.

Maine was not for many years considered as a separate colony; and yet it was one of the first parts of the country to be visited and explored by Europeans. It was visited by the navigator Gosnold in 1602; and an English colony tried to establish itself there in 1607, as has already been told; and a French colony came soon after. But the English settlers went home; and the Frenchmen were driven away by the Virginia settlers, who did not wish to have them so near, and sent an expedition against them. Capt. John Smith explored the coast of Maine, and wrote a description of it; and an Englishman, Sir Ferdinando Gorges, had a patent from the king, Charles I., for a part of it; and it was named Maine by him, probably in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, who is said to have owned a French province of that name; though this is doubtful. Then the Massachusetts Colony claimed the whole; and so

there was a good deal of confusion about the ownership of that region. But Maine was, after all, reckoned a part of Massachusetts during almost all the colonial period, and for many years after.

The first settlements grew gradually out of fishingstations; and it is hard to say when the earliest permanent town settlements were founded; before 1630, at any rate. People sought Maine for hunting and fishing, rather than for farming: so the villages grew slowly, and they suffered greatly in the Indian wars. The laws were milder in that part of New England than in Massachusetts and Connecticut. There was much religious freedom, and no persecution for opinion's sake; so that persecuted people often took refuge in Maine. But, on the other hand, the nearness to Canada was a disadvantage; because the French and Indians were for many years the great source of terror to the English colonists. So these settlements had much to keep them back; and Maine was not counted as a separate colony among those that finally combined to form the United States.

New Hampshire was also visited very early, in 1603, by an explorer named Martin Pring; and Portsmouth and Dover were settled in 1623. Portsmouth was first called Strawberry Bank. The settlements made there were chiefly for fishing; and it is said, that when a travelling preacher went among the people, ten years later, and told them that they must be religious, for that was their main end in coming thither, they replied, "Sir, you are mistaken. You think you are speaking to the people of Massachusetts Bay. Our