Evening star. [volume], November 26, 1933, Page 5, Image 73

About Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972

Image provided by: Library of Congress, Washington, DC

                
Washington’s Mementoes of the rims
Rare Boohs Written
by People of the
Plymouth Colony,
Historical Pictures
and Museum Ex
m
hibits — Famous
Painting in Ro
tunda of the Capi
tol—Model of the
Mayflozver.
BY VICTORIA FABER STEVENSON.
THE National Capital bridges over the
313 years which have elapsed since
the landing of the Pilgrims by dis
playing its prized mementoes. Wash
ington book lovers are delighted at
being able to actually see and use rare
books in the Library of Congress which were
written by the people of the Plymouth Colony
while it was being settled. Historical pictures,
museum exhibits of Both the Pilgrims and the
Massachusetts Indians, bulletins on the almost
unknown Indians friendly to the New England
white men. as well as a model of the Mayflower,
In which the Pilgrims made their first voyage,
brings the events of the Plymouth Colony before
the eyes of the people of Washington.
Probably the most widely studied painting of
Pilgrim times hangs in the rotunda of the
Capitol. That huge canvas, ' The Embarkation
of the Pilgrims,” is well known throughout the
Nation. Hundreds of thousands of visitors to
Washington have seen It. Others know It
through numberless prints and engraved copies
which have been made. Back in 1837, nearly
a century ago, Congress arranged for its paint
ing. The fact that it was not hung for nearly
10 years might indicate that the artist took
adequate time for research to make the picture
historically correct.
Critics who complain that the painting shows
a gloomy party might be reminded that the
Pilgrims, who were not exactly given to real
merriment, had little to be joyful about when
they left Holland on the Speedwell. They are
shown sailing from Delft Haven on the first
lap of their long voyage to America, which
portended great hazards. Robert Weir pictured
their deeply religious spirit and the fervor with
which their pastor prayed for divine protection
ttOC guidance lor that part of his congregation
which had chosen to exile Itself to the wilder
ness of the New World.
INASMUCH as the Pilgrims of 1620 left no
detailed description of their ship, the artist
pictured the Speedwell as a typical ship of that
day. As Robert Weir had no undisputed
passenger list of pilgrims who sailed on that
22d day of July. 1620, for Southampton, nor
scarcely any portraiture to copy except that
which was traditional, he represented the most
Important men of the society and clothed them
In apparel characteristic of the Pilgrims of that
time. Like other large canvases In the rotunda,
Weir’s was painted to perpetuate a page in
history, it was intended not only to tell of an
event, but to give posterity a picture of the
personages who took part by delineating their
characters, appearances and dress. In order
to accomplish that purpose the painter used
his imagination as well as what authoritative
material he could procure. Thus, Hose Standish
is made beautiful and her husband, the military
aide of the exiles, who wears part of his armor,
is given a stem expression. The key of the
picture, which hangs near the painting, identi
fies Pastor Robinson, who sailed with his flock
only as far as England; Elder Brewster, Gov.
Carver, Miles Standish, Mr. Fuller, Mr. White
and Mr. Winslow, the leading men who con
tinued on their journey to America. Seven
Pilgrim mothers and six children are also shown
among the other Speedwell passengers. The
artist, who received $10,000 for this picture
when it was hung in 1847, was called upon to
repair it in 1861. By that time it had been
seriously injured, like the other rotunda paint
ings, while the new Capitol dome was being
X built.
The sculpture by Enrico Causicl In Uie
rotunda of the Capitol shows the landing of
the Pilgrims. That bas-relief was placed in the
old Capitol in 1826. In ah probability many
Capitol visitors failed to see the painting of
Elder Brewster by Constantino Brumidi, a
ceiling fresco in the President’s room in the
Senate wing of the building. Those who recall
that that spiritual adviser gave long service to
the Plymouth Colony realize his importance
in the history of the early settlers.
Tourists throng the old'museum to see Col.
Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, whose flying
time over the Atlantic Ocean was measured by
hours. It is doubtful if many visitors know
that the model of the Mayflower is encased but
a short distance away from the airplane. That
historic ship of 300 years ago took nearly four
months to cross the same ocean. The Mayflower
“Embarkation of the Pilgrims,” from original painting by Robert W. JFeir._pb0toer»ph br H*ndr statkM
itself was given such little notice in Its time
that Gov. Bradford, who wrote of its voyage
day by day. failed to mention the ship by name
or to give any description of it. As the model
was made after studied calculations and shows
a typical three-mast ship of that day, authori
ties agree that it is a true miniature.
EARLY writers called the Mayflower a wet
ship because its voyagers were often an
noyed by water seeping through it into their
sleeping quarters from leaks caused by beating
storms. Its galley is pointed out as the place
where the Pilgrims prepared their food. His
torical authorities tell that the meals during
the voyage were cooked in tripod kettles, bake
kettles and frying pans over fires built in
hearth boxes spread with sand to prevent
conflagrations. These were set up in various
parts of the ship and were used by the differ
ent families, who cooked their own rations.
Records hint that such foods as dried fish and
dried meats were given little more than a
warming. Cabbages and turnips are said to
have been cooked in quantities, and had there
been any potatoes they, too. would have been
boiled in the same way. When the visitor looks
at the model of the ship, which was said by
different authorities to be of 120 or 180 tannage,
he decides that the 100 Pilgrim pa&.ngers
must have had an expert packing committee
to get all of their supplies in its hold. The
boat, which was leas than 100 feet long, not
only carried food to last many months, but
clothing, furniture, household supplies, arms
for defense, tools for farming, implements and
material for building their homes, and a
shallop made famous as a landing boat. Live
stock at goats, swine and poultry were cared
for on the ship as well as two dogs. Descrip
tive accounts also tell that three large anchors
were carried. The ship's defense against
pirates consisted of several large mounted guns, ,
which probably were placed later on at the fort
in old Plymouth.
Most of the nautical appliances of the May
flower would be obsolete today. The compass
box and hanging compass which it carried were
much the same, however, as today's equipment.
No radical improvement in such ship furnish
ing has been made since. Capt. Jones brought
the Mayflower across the ocean.
Washingtonians do not generally realize that
they may study five historical pictures of the
Pilgrims at the Smithsonian. Those colorful
paintings presented to the Government by their
artist, J. L. G. Perris, are regarded as con
spicuous In historical detail. The painter has
depicted such scenes as the "Signing of the
Compact.'' the "First Sermon Ashore,’’ the
•'First Thanksgiving,'’ the "Return of the May
flower to England,’’ and the "Return of Miles
Standish to Plymouth.’’ The first picture
revives interest in the compact. Just what
became of the original document, which was
the formal signed agreement which the Pilgrims
made amongst themselves before they landed,
is a mystery. Its text, however, has survived
and its signers are known.
The “First Sermon Ashore” is a reminder
that for a time after the Pilgrims reached
Plymouth they lived on their ship. Later their
"common house” provided sleeping quarters
and a place for religious services.
THE "First Thanksgiving" recalls that man*
• date of Gov. Carver that the Colony should
set aside a season for thanksgiving to Almighty
God for the blessings the people had enjoyed
during their first year in America. Penis’
picture, the "Return of the Mayflower," shows
the Pilgrims thoughtfully watching their only
ship sail back to England. They knew not
when another would be in their harbor. When
one looks at the picture showing the "Return
of Miles St an dish to the Colony in 1626,” he
wonders just what was the first piece of news
Standish gave from England.
The youth of Washington who are curious to
know what kind of stone ornaments Squanto
and Chief Massasoit, the friends of the Pil
grims. wore may see gorgets and bannerstones
True model of the Mayflower, in naval court of division of history, National
Museum.
at the Smithsonian. The polished gotvets,
which are round or elongated stones, have
holes bored through them so the warriors could
wear them on their arms or legs as decorations.
The bannerstones, which were symbols of au
thority, are shaped something like butterflies
»nri were also bored with holes so that long
handles could be put through them when they
were carried as banners in ceremonials. The
highly polished slate knives which the Plymouth
Indians used for cutting the skins of animals
and the large round stones used for net link
ers and the small conical stones used for lins
sinkers by the Massachusetts Indians, are also
on display. Dr. Walter Hough, head curator
of anthropology at the National Museum, at
tributes the scarcity of New England Indian
relics partly to the fact that those Indians did
not preserve their treasures In burial mounds.
Though but few relics of the Pilgrims hATe
survived through the years the Colonial Dames
of America have a section of a quilt from okl
Plymouth on exhibition at the old Dumbarton
House.
Hie Society of Mayflower descendant* at the
District of Columbia perpetuates the memory
of the Pilgrim Fathers. It publishes a Urt ol
Mayflower passengers from whom descent may
be proved. If it had quoted from the last re
port of the General Society of the Mayflower,
it would have named Elder Brewster as having
had 2.489 descendants filed with the society,
which Is the greatest number tracing their
ancestry back to any one Mayflower passenger.
Washington's most valuable and most his*
toric memento of the Pilgrims is a true relic
found in the rare book division of the Library
of Congress. The seriously minded student- of
Pilgrim history experiences a real thrill when he
1* handed one of the few original copies left
in the world of "Mourts Relations." V. Valta
Parma, in charge of that division, keeps the
book under lock and key for he guards against
any possible loss of the volume, which has
survived three centuries of real usefulness.
“Mourts Relations” has nothing to do with
kinfolks, as its name might imply, but it is a
relation or a narration “of the beginning and
proceeding 'of the English Plantation settled
at Plymouth in New England and certain
English Adventurers both merchant and others*
The small volume of 72 pages printed in Lon*
don in 1622 was written by George Morton,
whose wife was the sister of Gov. Bradford'*
wife of Plymouth. As a source book of Pilgrim
history it is priceless, though its sale value
has been reckoned as over $4,000. Goodspeed s
catalogue of rare American books declares that
it is “the chief corner stone of the library of
Americana.” Among other questions which
the book has settled is the date of Forefathers’
day. November 11. For over 100 yearn tha
wrong date was celebrated because the reader*
of the book did not notice that a comma wa*
misplaced in the account of the Pilgrim
lnnrtinir
Another rare Pilgrim book at the Library of
Congress has also furnished historians wit«
their authority for facts written about th*
Pilgrims during the last 250 years. When the
researcher uses “New England’s Memorial,’’ writ*
ten by Nathanial Morton, he feels especially fa*
vored. He realizes that he reads from an original
copy of the first strictly historical work printed
In New England. Though it was published in
Cambridge >as late as 1669. its facts are prac*
tically first hand for they were obtained in
Plymouth from fellow townsmen. Morton was
enabled to write a more complete account of
the Pilgrim settlement than any other author
because he had access to the historical data
compiled by his father, the author of “Mourts
Relations,” and the writings of his uncle. Gov.
Bradford, who gave the history of the Plymouth
Plantation to America. One of the most im
portant disclosures of this book Is the mention
for the first time In print of the Spcedwuft and
Mayflower.