THE PILGRIM STORY 185 about. From thence we may see into the bay and far into the sea, and we may see thence Cape Cod. Our greatest labor will be the fetching of our wood, which is half a quarter of an English mile; but there is enough so far off. What people inhabit here we yet know not, for as yet we have seen none. So there we made our rendezvous and a place for some of our people, about twenty, resolving in the morning to come all ashore and to build houses." They began about a week afterward to construct their fort on the hill, and allotted their plots of land on the highway afterward named Leyden Street. Thus began the town, behind which rose two hills, the one now known as the "Burial Hill" being at the head of this street, and elevated about one hundred and fifty feet above the sea. This was an admirable place for a fort, and Miles Standish with his military eye soon selected its site, overlooking Leyden Street and the "sweet brook" beyond, as the location for their permanent defensive work. Here, in 1622, was built the square timber block-house that made them both a fort and a church, the entire settlement as it then existed being enclosed by a stockade for further protection. This caused the hill to be then named Fort Hill, and it was not until years afterward that it was used as a cemetery and called "Burial Hill," the first interments being some of the original Pilgrims after the graveyard on the slope of Cole's Hill down by the water-side was abandoned. On this hill also was built the "Watch-House," where an outlook was kept for the Indians. Stones now mark the places both of the fort and watch-house, and surrounding them are the graves of several of the Mayflower's passengers, with many of their descendants, the dark slate gravestones having been brought out from England. These old stones are now carefully encased in zinc, to prevent relic-hunters from chipping off and running away with what is left of them. From this lofty Burial Hill there is a splendid outlook over the harbor and the open sea beyond to the dis tant yellow sand-streak of Cape Cod, and also landward over the adjacent valleys. Northward about half a mile is the other hill, rising somewhat higher, and upon it has been placed the great monument to the Pilgrims which was dedicated on August 1, 1889, and is seen from afar on entering the town. This is a massive granite shaft surmounted by the largest stone statue in existence-a colossal figure of Faith. This splendid memorial is adorned by other statues around the base emblematical of the principles of the settlement, and upon it are representations of the landing of the Pilgrims, their names, and the great compact they made on the Mayflower. It was into the infant colony of Plymouth, after some weeks of careful parley and investigation, that the stalwart Indian Samoset strode, and paved the way for the subsequent treaty and alliance with Massasoit, which was for many years scrupulously observed by both parties, and was not broken until after he died. Soon afterward Canonicus sent a sheaf of arrows bound with a rattlesnake's skin to Governor Bradford as a token of hostility. The sturdy old governor quickly filled the skin with powder and shot and sent it back to Canonicus, who understood the grim challenge and restrained his tribe. But differences followed, culminating in "King Philip's War," in which both sides fiercely fought for extermination. To-day, two hundred and sixty-nine years after their feet pressed the sacred rock, this landing-place of the Pilgrims is a peaceful, industrious town, the home of busy millworkers, like so many other New England towns, and in summer a favorite resort for hundreds then seeking the seaside. Here began the New England settlement which was the dawning of the nation ruling America, with the founding of the greatest race on this continent. THE MODERN ATHENS. 187 XXVI. THE MODERN ATHENS. THE railway approaching the great New England metropolis from the south, skirts the harbor and crosses the narrow Fort Point channel separating South Boston from the city proper, and enters the terminal station just beyond. To the northward the city rises gradually, ridge above ridge, until the centre culminates in the famous Beacon Hill, surmounted by the brightly-gilded dome and lantern top of the Massachusetts State-House. From all sides the land, with its varied surfaces of hill and valley, slopes toward the water-courses running into the deep indentation of Massachusetts Bay, and thus adding to the facilities of Boston harbor. The rounded peninsula forming the original Boston was the Indian "Shawmut," or the "sweet waters,” a name preserved in many ways in the modern city. It is said that hunting for good water by the first colony led to this settlement at Shawmut, the colonists who had come from Salem crossing over from Charlestown in 1630, and finding William Blackstone, of whom I have already written, as the sole white inhabitant of the place, he having lived there in solitude for about five years. The old gentleman was not partial to having near neighbors, so they finally bought him out and got the whole town-site for about one hundred and fifty dollars, which was the value of all Boston in 1634, when Blackstone, disgusted with the Puritan "Lords Brethren," avoided them by going farther into the wilderness. The two leading men of the colony came from Boston in England, and hence the adoption of the name, but the younger city has far outstripped the elder, as more than half a million people are now living around Boston harbor in the various towns and suburbs that make up the "Hub of the Universe." When this first colony was established in 1630 one of the depressed settlers described Shawmut as a hideous wilderness, possessed by barbarous Indians, very cold, sickly, rocky, barren, unfit for culture, and like to keep the people miserable." Yet the settlement, though so inauspiciously begun, persisted in growing, and, as an early historian says, " Philadelphia was a forest and New York was an insignificant village long after its rival, Boston, had become a great commercial town." In 1663 a visitor from England described the place, and wrote that "the buildings are handsome, joining one to the other as in London, with many large streets, most of them paved with pebble-stones. In the high street toward the Common there are faire houses, some of stone." The young colony encouraged commerce and became possessed of many ships, the earliest built at Boston being the bark Blessing of the Bay, of thirty tons, which soon got into lucrative trade. This noted vessel, which was considered a wonder in her time, belonged to Governor John Winthrop, for many years the ruler of Boston. He is described as an amiable gentleman, who believed in moderate aristocratic principles. In one of his messages, which always contained solid chunks of wisdom, was the announcement that "the best part of a community is always the least, and of that part the wiser are still less." His descendant in the sixth generation, Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, still lives in Boston at a venerable age, one of the leading citizens. He was formerly Speaker of the House at Washington. BOSTON HARBOR. The harbor of Boston covers a surface of about seventyfive square miles, having various arms, such as South Boston Bay, Dorchester Bay, and the estuaries of the Charles, Mystic, and Neponset Rivers. There is much natural beauty in the harbor, heightened by the adornments of buildings. and other improvements, its surface gradually narrowing toward the city and dotted with craggy, undulating islands BOSTON HARBOR. 189 having long stretches of bordering beaches, interspersed with jutting cliffs, broad promontories, and both low and lofty shores. The coasts are lined with villages that gradually merge into the suburbs of the great city. In this extensive harbor there are at least fifty large and small islands, and most of these, which were bare in Winthrop's day, are now crowned by lighthouses, forts, almshouses, hospitals, and other institutions, several of them being most striking buildings that give a pleasing variety to the scene. The splendid guiding beacon for the harbor-entrance, Boston Light, stands upon Lighthouse Island at about one hundred feet elevation, with a revolving light visible sixteen miles. George's Island, near the entrance and commanding the approach from the open sea, has upon it the chief defensive work of Boston, Fort Warren, about two miles west of Boston Light. Farther in is Castle Island, with Fort Independence, the successor of the earliest Boston fort, the "Castle," built in 1634. Opposite and about one mile northward is Governor's Island, containing the incomplete works of Fort Winthrop. This island was originally the "Governor's Garden" of old John Winthrop, and he paid a yearly rent of two bushels of apples for it. The part of the island not held by the Government is said to still continue in possession of his family. These forts are nearly all constructed of Quincy granite, but none of them have yet seen practical warfare beyond the imprisonment of Confederates in Fort Warren. Upon Long Island, which covers considerable area and is a high, craggy place, there is another lighthouse. To the eastward is a low, rocky islet bearing as a warning to the mariner a curious stone monument which is known as "Nix's Mate." Here, it is said, the colonists used to hang the pirates caught off the New England coasts. There are also Deer and Rainsford Islands, occupied by the city hospitals and reformatory institutions. Upon Thompson's Island, which is fantastically shaped like an unfledged chicken, is an asylum and farm-school for in |