r in their
struggle for liberty for justice, and for law. The boy who could brave
opposition and contumely for conscience's sake, could also be of
gentlest manners and serenest mood when called to lead and govern those
who put their trust in him; the same native courage and independence
that held him loyal to his convictions in his early years made him, when
responsibilities multiplied and burdens were laid upon him, the very
staff and hope of the Pilgrim colony of Plymouth.

He combined with executive ability other notable gifts. Though bred to
the soil in an age when the farmer was a drudge and had no ambition
beyond his crops, he yet, when opportunity offered, applied himself to
study with such good results that he was learned in Latin, Greek, and
Hebrew, and conversed in French and Dutch. He was acquainted with the
history and philosophy of his day, was deeply versed in theology, and
even attempted poetry. He wrote much and well. His most important
production was his "History of the Plymouth Plantations"--a detailed
chronicle of the history of the Pilgrims from 1608 to 1646. Carried away
from the old South Church by British soldiers, it was completely lost,
until almost providentially discovered, though partially destroyed, in
the shop of a Halifax grocer, and to-day it tells us almost all that we
know of the Plymouth settlers, from the day when they left Lincolnshire
till they became a prosperous commonwealth in America.

Of this important contribution to American history, Mr. Doyle, the
English historian, says: "Gratitude is quickened when we compare the
simple, vigorous, and picturesque chronicle set before us by Bradford,
with the tedious and pedantic writings from which so much of the later
history of New England has to be extracted.... His work is in the true
sense scholarly. The language is like the language of Bunyan, that of a
man who trained himself not merely to speak but to think in the words of
Scripture. Every expression is simple and effective, never far-fetched,
never mean nor common. The substance is worthy of the style. Faults no
doubt there are ... yet with all its defects Bradford's writings still
remain the worthy first-fruits of Puritan literature in its new home.
They are the work of a wise and good man, who tells with a right
understanding the great things that he and his brethren have done."

The wise governor was loyal to his colony to the last. He resisted the
ambition to take larger hol