e harbor of Provincetown, the
famous compact was drawn up, said to be "the first written
constitution in the world," the bold signature of "Myles Standish" was
the clearest of the forty-one Pilgrim autographs that were affixed to
that famous document. It was Captain Standish who, with his sixteen
"well-armed men," made a thorough exploration of the Provincetown
peninsula; he organized and headed the party of observation which,
later, sailed the shallop and marched with watchful eyes along the
shores of Cape Cod, seeking the best place for settlement; and, on
December 6th following, he sailed with a picked party across
Massachusetts Bay and, in much peril and with many adventures, spied
out the land and determined upon the harbor of Plymouth as the best
spot for permanent settlement. It was to Captain Standish's knowledge
as to the best locations and to his skill as a surveyor, that the
colonists were indebted for the selection of their town site and the
laying-out of their town; as, later, the same skill came in play when
were laid out the new towns that followed after the Plymouth
beginnings. Through all that dreary and dreadful first winter, when
half their number died, Captain Standish was their mainstay, as one
whose word was ever reassuring and whose arm was as ready for
protection as was his brain for planning methods of defence. Though
his wife, Mistress Rose Standish, was one of the early victims of that
bitter winter of death, his courage never faltered, his vigilance
never slackened. And when, in the midst of all the peril and
suffering, in February, 1621, Miles Standish was appointed military
captain of the colony, confidence was restored and courage renewed in
the bosoms of that suffering but heroic and indomitable band; so that
when spring came and the Mayflower sailed for England, not one of the
settlers returned in her, nor would desert the cause to which they had
pledged themselves.

It is customary to credit the final success of the Pilgrims of
Plymouth to the religious element that held sway over them, making
them patient, persistent, uncompromising, faithful, and earnest. But
the wisdom of Carver, the genius of Bradford, the fervor of Brewster,
the zeal of Winslow, would have been of small avail had they not been
backed by the decision, the resolution, the courage, the constancy,
and the forethought of their brave captain, Miles Standish, "the John
Smith of New England" as he has been called, the man