This text is part of:
[p. 30] successful harvest and renewed health, a period of recreation should be planned and engaged in by all. Not only preparations for themselves but for guests.
Chief Massasoit and many of his warriors were to be invited, with no doubt at all of their acceptance.
It was not a question of what to provide but how much of everything, for more than one hundred were to be provided for over a three days period, and only eleven women and young girls to do it. Who should roast the wild turkeys, who boil the fish and make the sauces and side dishes?
Every iron kettle, every long and shortlegged pot and pan, every wooden bowl and leathern bottle, every pewter dish with hooks and trivets were in use, wooden cups or gourds to drink from, and knives.
The only forks were long-handled ones for cooking.
The Indians arrived and encamped around the street, thoughtfully bringing a large supply of venison to add to the bill of fare.
The great tables were erected in front of the common house, the women and children cleared away, and looked on, now and then sampling the products of their cooking by taking a mouthful as they could, for they were too busy to eat. The long shadows of the third day saw the end of the event and the end of America's first Thanksgiving Day.
Some weeks later we see Mistress Brewster in her kitchen distilling herbs for Dr. Fuller, when all are startled by the sound of a gun from the fort.
Another shot.
Every wise woman and child knows this is a signal for assembly.
A ship has entered Cape Cod harbor, seen by the Indians, who brought word at once to Plymouth.
They had been seven months without sight or sound of the world beyond their little settlement.
The sails of the Fortune had brought them once again a touch of the outside world.
The Fortune remained two weeks, and when she sailed Desire Minter chose to go back in her. This little ship did not receive benefit from her name, for fortune proved unkind.
She was captured by a French man-of-war, and all taken prisoners for two weeks.
Medford, MA. 1922.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.