dwellings,
cultivating their fields, and procuring provisions by hunting and
fishing was both heavy and incessant; but disease had nearly left the
colony, and want, though occasionally felt to a painful degree, was not
always their portion; and the Pilgrim Fathers were cheerfully contented
with their lot.

Still, it was a lot that involved much of hardship and personal
privation, as a drawback to the liberty, both religious and political,
that had been obtained by emigration. The harvests were scanty, and not
nearly sufficient to provide bread for the increasing community, and
also seed for the following year, and the supplies that were
occasionally procured from the Wampanoges, and their allies, were very
uncertain. At one time, every species of grain became so scarce that
the settlers had recourse to pig-nuts as a substitute for bread; and
the last pint of corn that remained to the colony, after the fields
were sown, was counted out among the whole community, when _five
grains_ fell to the share of each person, and these were looked upon as
a rare treat, and eaten as a particular dainty. Cattle were, as yet,
unknown in the colony; and their chief subsistence consisted of game,
wild fowl, and fish, of which the supply was frequently both scanty and
precarious. 'Often,' we are told in the diary of the Governor Bradford,
'we do not know in the evening where we shall get a meal next morning;
but yet we bear our want with joy, and trust in Providence.' And
strong, indeed, must have been the faith and patience of these Pilgrim
Fathers, which sustained their spirits amidst such long-continued
trials, and enabled them to meet and overcome such complicated
difficulties without hesitation and without a murmur!

At one period their only food was fish, and occasionally merely
shellfish; but never was this miserable fare partaken of by the
emigrants, who assembled to receive their respective portions, without a
blessing being asked, and thanks being offered by the pious Brewster,
who, with a spirit of gratitude too often unknown to those who revel in
abundance, praised God for having permitted them 'to suck out of the
fullness of the sea, and for the treasures sunk in the sand.' While such
an example of holy trust, and patient submission to the will of God, was
set by the leading men of this suffering colony--men who were both loved
and respected--not a complaining word was uttered by the rest. All felt
that they were bound to e