ejoices and makes cheer,
with homely and hearty feasting, for the happiness of their good governor.

The actual conditions nourished homely virtues,--industry, thrift,
self-reliance, family affection, civic responsibility. The greatness of
early New England is partly measured by the fact that there were
comparatively no dregs, no mass of ignorance and vice. It was not the
individuals who rise into sight at this distance who were superior to the
prominent men of England or France,--it was the lower stratum which was
above that elsewhere. Two prime causes worked to this elevation,--the
spiritual estimate of man and the economic conditions which offered
independence to every one on the condition "work and save." The social
and political conditions were largely shaped by these underlying facts.

The wrestle for a livelihood under stern material conditions was a prime
factor in the making of New England. Whatever the creed might say, in
practice Work was the equal partner of Faith in building manhood and the
state. The soil was to their bodies what Calvinism was to their
souls,--yielding nourishment, but only through a hard struggle. Its
sterility drove them to the sea for a livelihood; they became fishermen;
then, carrying their fish and lumber abroad, they grew into commerce.
They traded along the coast, to the West Indies, to Europe, and so into
their little province came the winds of the larger world. They learned
the sailor's virtues,--his courage, his mingled awe and mastery of
elemental forces, his sense of lands beyond the horizon. Well might
Winthrop name the first ship he launched "The Blessing of the Bay."

The austere land had small room for slaves, dependent and incapable. One
of the first large companies included some scores of bondmen; they landed
to face a fierce and hungry winter, and straightway the bondmen were set
free,--as slaves they would be an incumbrance; as freemen they could get
their own living. The thrifty colonists of a later generation did a
driving business in African slaves for their southern neighbors, but they
had small use for them at home.

Winthrop's constant effort, as shown in his Journal, is for reason and
right. It is the arguments for and against any course that he
elaborates. Scarce a word of their sufferings or of his own
feelings--but to know and do the right was all-important. The greatness
of his own ideal is shown when he draws with a free hand, in the
"Conclu