ointed her;
and sorrow did net visit her in vain. Her character was strengthened
and matured, and her mind was taught to find resources in itself that
proved hereafter of inestimable value to her, and to those most nearly
connected with her.

The thoughts and attention of her parents--and indeed of the whole
colony--were at this time diverted greatly from their own private cares
and interests, by an event of much importance to the settlement. This
was the arrival of a vessel, called the Fortune, from the mother-
country, bringing out to the colony a new and more comprehensive
charter, obtained for them by the Society of Plymouth, and also twenty-
five fresh settlers, who were chiefly friends and relatives of those
already established in New England. How welcome these familiar
countenances, that recalled days of happiness long passed but not
forgotten, were to the hearts and memories of their brethren, none but
exiles can tell! The new comers were indeed joyfully received, and
hospitably entertained by the Pilgrim Fathers; who invited them to take
up their quarters in their rude but comfortable dwellings, and to share
their scanty stores. Unfortunately, the new settlers were unable to
contribute any thing to these stores; for all their own provisions were
already consumed on the voyage. This accession to their numbers,
therefore, added greatly to the inconvenience of the colony, and
occasioned such a scarcity of food, that the Governor was obliged to
put the whole community upon a daily allowance; an arrangement to which
they all submitted without a murmur. And not only did the original
settlers thus consent to endure privation for the sake of their newly-
arrived friends and relatives, but they also contributed more liberally
than their narrow means could well afford, to provision the Fortune for
her voyage home. This was the occasion of the first mercantile
adventure of the Pilgrims, who took the opportunity of the return of
the ship to England, to send to the Society with which they were
connected a quantity of furs and timber to the value of five hundred
pounds. But success did not attend their speculation; for the vessel
fell into the hands of the French, and all their hopes of profit were,
for the present, blasted.

It is needless to dwell on all the continued and various hardships that
these brave men, and their families, had to endure for several ensuing
winters. A few circumstances that more especially exemp