ey then bade farewell to all that was
near and dear to them in the old country and started across the ocean
to America--the new land. After a voyage of two months, they reached
the bleak, rocky coast of Massachusetts, and they knew that if they
could come ashore safely, they could here worship God just as they
wished to do.

"We are glad that they kept a diary of what they did. When they asked
the London company to let them start a colony in America, they said,
'We verily believe that God is with us and will prosper us in our
endeavors. We are men who will not be easily discouraged.' That's the
kind of people they said they were--the women as well as the men--and
they proved it to be so. After they had signed the constitution which
was the foundation of the first democratic government in America,
while the Mayflower was standing in the harbor, the brave company of
one hundred and one disembarked from their little vessel and commenced
at once to chop down the trees needed to build homes and to provide
fuel, for it was in the dead of winter. Before the first winter had
ended, forty of their number had died from exposure, famine and
disease, but when the Mayflower started back on its return trip to
England, not one of the survivors would go with the ship's crew.
Here, then, on this bleak, forbidding New England coast these Pilgrims
set up the first model government. [Draw a little of the outline of
the New England states at the upper right-hand corner of Fig. 120.]
They had trouble with the Indians, but the Red Men soon came to
respect them, and peace continued for many years. Three years after
they had landed, Governor Bradford proclaimed a great feast--the feast
of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving! How dear the word has grown. 'Out of
small beginnings,' says Governor Bradford in his history of the
colony, 'great things have been produced by His hand that made all
things out of nothing; and, as one small candle will light a thousand,
so the light here kindled hath shone to many, yea, to our whole
nation.'

[Illustration: Fig. 120]

"And, today, this nation, the greatest nation on the earth, still
looks back to that first Thanksgiving Day. [Draw the remaining lines
to complete Fig. 120.]

"To us, it is a day of worship and feasting, and in both of these
features we are following the example of Governor Bradford, Elder
William Brewster, John Carver, Edward Winslow, Miles Standish and the
other brave men and women who formed