appears as completely as if she had never lived. But
we like to think the legend true, for it was most appropriate that a
woman should head the march to that land where women were destined to be
such a controlling force and where, as in no other country, women were
to lead in many of the greatest movements that have crowned the
civilization of our own day. One likes to believe in Mary Chilton; and
it is something in favor of the story that the name of James Chilton is
found attached to the document which has already been referred to and
that it would be quite in keeping with Puritan superstition to send a
young and pure maiden before them as their advance guard into the
unknown land which was to be won by strength of soul as well as of arm.

At least we know that there were women, and those in due proportion,
among the settlers. The total number of pilgrims has always been stated
as small, and the _Mayflower_, their little vessel, is said to have been
of but one hundred and eighty tons burden; but it is evident that there
has been error in both these matters, judging by the large number of New
Englanders whose ancestors "came over in the _Mayflower_." If half these
genealogical tracings are founded on fact, the supposed tiny _Mayflower_
must have been the forerunner of our present huge ocean liners; but, be
this as it may, we have record that the first of these many descendants
was born on the day following the arrival of the vessel. It was not a
girl this time, as had been the case with the first child born of
English parents on Virginia soil; it was a boy, and he was appropriately
named Peregrine, which signifies "pilgrim." While not directly germane
to our subject--save so far as having been born of woman makes all men
contributory to the history of women--it may be interesting to state
that this first child of the Pilgrims lived to the age of eighty-three
years, and died at Marshfield, where later died the greatest of New
Englanders.

The influence of the women of the colonists was doubtless great in
maintaining the courage and constancy of the men; but, as was the case
with the early settlers in Virginia, we have little or no particular
record of the feminine portion of the settlement. We are told of
Priscilla, "the Puritan Maiden" in Longfellow's poem, _The Courtship of
Miles Standish_, and we are entirely at liberty to account her a real
personage if we desire to do so. It is at least certain that Miles
Standish