The Beginner's American History Part 8

Mr. Williams soon became a great friend to the Indians and while he preached at Salem,[2] near Boston, and at Plymouth, he came to know many of them. He took pains to learn their language, and he spent a great deal of time talking with the chief Ma.s.sasoit[3] and his men, in their dirty, smoky wigwams. He made the savages feel that, as he said, his whole heart's desire was to do them good. For this reason they were always glad to see him and ready to help him. A time came, as we shall presently see, when they were able to do quite as much for him as he could for them.

[Footnote 1: See paragraph 73.]

[Footnote 2: Salem (Sa'lem).]

[Footnote 3: See paragraph 68.]

83. Who owned the greater part of America? what the king of England thought; what Roger Williams thought and said.--The company that had settled Boston held the land by permission of the king of England.

He considered that most of the land in America belonged to him, because John Cabot[4] had discovered it.

But Roger Williams said that the king had no right to the land unless he bought it of the Indians, who were living here when the English came.

Now the people of Ma.s.sachusetts were always quite willing to pay the Indians a fair price for whatever land they wanted; but many of them were afraid to have Mr. Williams preach and write as he did. They believed that if they allowed him to go on speaking out so boldly against the king that the English monarch would get so angry that he would take away Ma.s.sachusetts from them and give it to a new company. In that case, those who had settled here would lose everything. For this reason the people of Boston tried to make the young minister agree to keep silent on this subject.

[Footnote 4: See paragraph 22.]

84. A constable is sent to arrest Roger Williams; he escapes to the woods, and goes to Mount Hope.--But Mr. Williams was not one of the kind to keep silent. Then the chief men of Boston sent a constable down to Salem with orders to seize him and send him back to England.

When he heard that the constable was after him, Mr. Williams slipped quietly out of his house and escaped to the woods.

There was a heavy depth of snow on the ground, but the young man made up his mind that he would go to his old friend Ma.s.sasoit, and ask him to help him in his trouble.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map showing Roger Williams's route from Salem to Mount Hope.]

Ma.s.sasoit lived near Mount Hope, in what is now Rhode Island, about eighty miles southwest from Salem. There were no roads through the woods, and it was a long, dreary journey to make on foot, but Mr.

Williams did not hesitate. He took a hatchet to chop fire-wood, a flint and steel to strike fire with,--for in those days people had no matches,--and, last of all, a pocket-compa.s.s to aid him in finding his way through the thick forest.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Striking fire with flint and steel. The sparks were caught on some old, half-burnt rag, and were then blown to a blaze.]

All day he waded wearily on through the deep snow, only stopping now and then to rest or to look at his compa.s.s and make sure that he was going in the right direction. At night he would gather wood enough to make a little fire to warm himself or to melt some snow for drink.

Then he would cut down a few boughs for a bed, or, if he was lucky enough to find a large, hollow tree, he would creep into that. There he would fall asleep, while listening to the howling of the wind or to the fiercer howling of the hungry wolves prowling about the woods.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ROGER WILLIAMS WADING THROUGH THE SNOW.]

At length, after much suffering from cold and want of food, he managed to reach Ma.s.sasoit's wigwam. There the big-hearted Indian chief gave him a warm welcome. He took him into his poor cabin and kept him till spring--there was no board bill to pay. All the Indians liked the young minister, and even Canonicus,[5] that savage chief of a neighboring tribe, who had dared Governor Bradford to fight, said that he "loved him as his own son."

[Footnote 5: Canonicus: see paragraph 70.]

85. Roger Williams at Seekonk;[6] "What cheer, friend?"--When the warm days came, in the spring of 1636, Mr. Williams began building a log hut for himself at Seekonk, on the east bank of the Seekonk River. But he was told that his cabin stood on ground owned by the people of Ma.s.sachusetts; so he, with a few friends who had joined him, took a canoe and paddled down stream to find a new place to build.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of Rhode Island.]

"What cheer, friend? what cheer?" shouted some Indians who were standing on a rock on the western bank of the river. That was the Indian way of saying How do you do, and just then Roger Williams was right glad to hear it. He landed on what is now called "What Cheer Rock,"[7] and had a talk with the red men. They told him that there was a fine spring of water round the point of land a little further down. He went there, and liked the spot so much that he decided to stop. His friend Canonicus owned the land, and he gladly let him have what he needed. Roger Williams believed that a kind Providence had guided him to this pleasant place, and for this reason he named it PROVIDENCE.

Providence was the first settlement made in America which set its doors wide open to every one who wished to come and live there. Not only all Christians, but Jews, and even men who went to no church whatever, could go there and be at peace. This great and good work was done by Roger Williams. Providence grew in time to be the chief city in the state of Rhode Island. When the Revolution began, every man and boy in the state, from sixteen to sixty, stood ready to fight for liberty.

[Footnote 6: Seekonk (See'konk).]

[Footnote 7: "What Cheer Rock" is on the east side of the city of Providence.]

86. Summary.--Roger Williams, a young minister of Salem, Ma.s.sachusetts, declared that the Indians, and not the king of England, owned the land in America. The governor of Ma.s.sachusetts was afraid that if Mr. Williams kept on saying these things the king would hear of it and would take away the land held by the people of Boston and the other settlements. He therefore sent a constable to arrest the young minister and put him on board a s.h.i.+p going back to England.

When Mr. Williams knew this, he fled to the Indian chief, Ma.s.sasoit.

In 1636 Roger Williams began building Providence. Providence was the first settlement in America which offered a home to all men without asking them anything whatever about their religious belief.

Who was Roger Williams? What is said about him and the Indians? Who did Mr. Williams think first owned the land in America? How did many of the people of Ma.s.sachusetts feel about Mr. Williams? What did the chief men of Boston do? What did Mr. Williams do? Describe his journey to Mount Hope. What did Ma.s.sasoit do for Mr. Williams? What did Mr.

Williams do at Seekonk? What happened after that? Why did he name the settlement Providence? What is said of Providence? What about the Revolution?

KING PHILIP (Time of the Indian War, 1675-1676).

87. Death of Ma.s.sasoit; Wamsutta[1] and Philip; Wamsutta's sudden death.--When the Indian chief Ma.s.sasoit[2] died, the people of Plymouth lost one of their best friends. Ma.s.sasoit left two sons, one named Wamsutta, who became chief in his father's place, and the other called Philip. They both lived near Mount Hope, in Rhode Island.

The governor of Plymouth heard that Wamsutta was stirring up the Indians to make war on the whites, and he sent for the Indian chief to come to him and give an account of himself. Wamsutta went, but on his way back he suddenly fell sick, and soon after he reached home he died. His young wife was a woman who was thought a great deal of by her tribe, and she told them that she felt sure the white people had poisoned her husband in order to get rid of him. This was not true, but the Indians believed it.

[Footnote 1: Wamsutta (Wam-sut'ta).]

[Footnote 2: Ma.s.sasoit: see paragraph 68.]

88. Philip becomes chief; why he hated the white men; how the white men had got possession of the Indian lands.--Philip now became chief.

He called himself "King Philip." His palace was a wigwam made of bark.

On great occasions he wore a bright red blanket and a kind of crown made of a broad belt ornamented with sh.e.l.ls. King Philip hated the white people because, in the first place, he believed that they had murdered his brother; and next, because he saw that they were growing stronger in numbers every year, while the Indians were becoming weaker.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE BELT WHICH KING PHILIP WORE FOR A CROWN.]

When the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, Ma.s.sasoit, Philip's father, held all the country from Cape Cod back to the eastern sh.o.r.es of Narragansett Bay; that is, a strip about thirty miles wide. The white settlers bought a small piece of this land. After a while they bought more, and so they kept on until in about fifty years they got nearly all of what Ma.s.sasoit's tribe had once owned. The Indians had nothing left but two little necks of land, which were nearly surrounded by the waters of Narragansett Bay. Here they felt that they were shut up almost like prisoners, and that the white men watched everything that they did.

89. How King Philip felt; signs of the coming war; the "Praying Indians"; the murder.--King Philip was a very proud man--quite as proud, in fact, as the king of England. He could not bear to see his people losing power. He said to himself, if the Indians do not rise and drive out the white men, then the white men will certainly drive out the Indians. Most of the Indians now had guns, and could use them quite as well as the whites could; so Philip thought that it was best to fight.

The settlers felt that the war was coming. Some of them fancied that they saw the figure of an Indian bow in the clouds. Others said that they heard sounds like guns fired off in the air, and hors.e.m.e.n riding furiously up and down in the sky, as if getting ready for battle.

But though many Indians now hated the white settlers, this was not true of all. A minister, named John Eliot, had persuaded some of the red men near Boston to give up their religion, and to try to live like the white people. These were called "Praying Indians." One of them who knew King Philip well told the settlers that Philip's warriors were grinding their hatchets sharp for war. Soon after, this "Praying Indian" was found murdered. The white people accused three of Philip's men of having killed him. They were tried, found guilty, and hanged.

90. Beginning of the war at Swansea;[3] burning of Brookfield.--Then Philip's warriors began the war in the summer of 1675. Some white settlers were going home from church in the town of Swansea, Ma.s.sachusetts; they had been to pray that there might be no fighting.

As they walked along, talking together, two guns were fired out of the bushes. One of the white men fell dead in the road, and another was badly hurt.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Map of Ma.s.sachusetts and Rhode Island.]

The shots were fired by Indians. This was the way they always fought when they could. They were not cowards, but they did not come out boldly, but would fire from behind trees and rocks. Often a white man would be killed without even seeing who shot him.