first Christian Sabbath," December 20th, N. S. This is the recorded view of an Old Colony man of the last century, possibly of the man who delivered the first Pilgrim oration before the Old Colony Club in 1770; at any rate, of a man imbued with historical as well as revolutionary spirit, and testifying whereof he had seen in the digging up and removal of the rock from its grave of sand, and speaking whereof he knew as regards the men who "first landed upon the Main, Decr 22 N. S. 1620." Unmistakably he was speaking of the Pilgrims who came in the shallop.

It was primarily the landing of this Pilgrim band that the Old Colony Club meant to celebrate on December 22, 1769, which date in their own local records is spoken of as " Old Colony Day, -in commemoration of the landing of their worthy ancestors in this place." The idea which determined the choice of that particular day must have been the same idea as that which actuated the annotator of the Blaskowitz map when, with the gathered memories of repeated celebrations of Old Colony or Forefathers' Day, he faithfully designated "the place where the Settlers above mention'd first landed upon the Main, Decr 22, N. S. 1620." This matter-of-fact statement would seem to settle the question raised by a contributor to the Nation, July 6, 1882, on the "Landing of the Pilgrims-Forefathers' Day," an article wherein the view is advanced that this consecrated day was fixed upon with "no change of date for anniversary purposes conformable to the new style," but in commemoration of "the idea of a general landing of men, women, and children" from the Mayflower upon Plymouth Rock, on December 22, O. S., 1620. The Nation is undoubtedly right in maintaining that December 22d is the true Forefathers' Day, in the sense that this is the day originally celebrated and historically consecrated by “oration, sermon, song, drama, painting, and print;" but the Nation is surely wrong in urging that "the landing on Plymouth Rock on the day now known as Forefathers' Day was not made by the exploring party of the shallop on the 11th of December, and that it was made some days later by the whole body of Pilgrims from the Mayflower."

The historic case of the Shallop vs. the Mayflower is briefly and clearly stated in the simple note upon the Blaskowitz map. The case has been judged by various historical specialists in the Plymouth field: by Dr. Henry M. Dexter, editor of "Mourt's Relation," in a communication to the Nation, July 20, 1882, on the "Landing of the Pilgrims;" by Mr. Charles Deane, editor of "Bradford's History," in the Nation, August 24, 1882; by Mr. John A. Goodwin, in the Vox Populi, Lowell, Massachusetts, December 30, 1881; by the same forcible writer, in the Old Colony Memorial, June 1, 1882, July 27, 1882; and by Mr. W. T. Davis, in the Old

Colony Memorial of the date last named. It is interesting to note in this connection that the discussion of the true anniversary of Forefathers' Day, like the discussion of the Stamp Act and of American Independence was begun in local circles before it was taken up by the Nation, and the views asserted by the Nation were afterward reasserted by a contributor to the Old Colony Memorial. But Dr. Dexter says that "to us who have all our lives been studying this history on the ground, it is clear that nobody in Plymouth ever undertook to celebrate any event which was supposed to have taken place on December 22d, old style. What the Old Colony Club, on December 22, 1769, supposed itself to be especially commemorating was what happened in Plymouth Harbor on December 11, 1620, old style. They made a mistake of one day. . . . But what they had in mind was the landing from the shallop, and not any imagined later landing from the ship."

Mr. Deane sustains this judgment, and cites the authority of most eminent Plymouth antiquaries, Dr. James Thacher and Judge John Davis, both of whom regarded the landing from the shallop as the event originally commemorated, and both of whom explained, as a very natural mistake, the choice of December 22d by the Old Colony Club, instead of the 21st, which latter date is the true equivalent, new style, for December 11th, old style. The new calendar had been in vogue only seventeen years in Great Britain and her colonies, and the Plymouth people naturally supposed that eleven days, the standard of difference for the eighteenth century was equally good and valid for the seventeenth, which required only ten days for the adjustment of old style to new. "We see here how the celebration of the 22d of December came about," says Mr. Deane. "There was a landing of the Plymouth fathers on the 11th (21st) of December, 1620; and any one who wishes to celebrate the day may be sure of its genuineness. There was no landing there on the 22d, old style or new style, of which there is any record." On December 22d, new style, the Pilgrim explorers, satisfied with what they had found upon the main land-the present site of Plymouth, “ a place very good for scituation" with "divers corne fields, and little running brookes ;" were, in all probability, on their way back to their ship in Cape Cod Harbor," with good newes to the rest of our people, which did much comfort their hearts." On December 22d, old style (or January 1st, new style), the Mayflower was anchored in Plymouth Harbor; but according to "Mourt's Relation," "Friday the 22. the storme still continued, that we could not get a-land, nor they come to vs aboord."

This statement and the above facts have, of course, been familiar to students of Plymouth history for many years. As far back as May 27, 1850,

the Pilgrim Society, after listening to the report of a committee, of whom James Savage was chairman, voted unanimously, "That this Society will hereafter regard the twenty-first day of December as the true anniversary of the landing of the Pilgrims." After passing this very sensible vote, and after struggling for many years and with considerable success to introduce the new style of celebrating Forefathers' Day, it was thought best by the Society to adopt a middle course, which should vindicate the truth of history, and at the same time preserve the ancient associations of Forefathers' Day. Accordingly, at the last annual meeting of the Pilgrim Society, May 29, 1882, the following resolution was adopted:

"That while we recognize the historical fact that the passengers on the shallop of the Mayflower landed on Plymouth Rock on the 11th of December, 1620, and that the 21st of the new style corresponds to the day of the landing, yet, in view of the fact that the 22d has been hallowed by an observance during a period of over one hundred years, and consecrated by the words of Winslow, Webster, Everett, Adams, Seward, and other eminent orators of our land, it is hereby resolved that hereafter the 22d of December be observed by the Pilgrim Society as the Anniversary of the Landing."

Out of respect to Seward, Adams, Everett, Webster, and other great orators, the Pilgrim Society has, of course, the natural right to reverse its own previous action, to counteract its own influence, and to ignore the recommendations of such critical scholars as James Savage, Dr. Dexter, and Charles Deane, as to the day that should be celebrated in commemoration of the landing of the Pilgrims. Out of respect to the Fathers, and in view of the fact that the Julian calendar was "hallowed by an observance" of many hundred years, the Pilgrim Society might even go back to the old style of computing its reckoning, and celebrate Forefathers' Day on December 11th. But this course would be hardly worthy of the progressive spirit of the nineteenth century, when truth and reform advance more swiftly in popular favor than did the Gregorian calendar. "We can afford," says Mr. Deane, "to let the facts that have an historical basis stand. Why introduce an element of myth into Plymouth history where the facts are clear?"

But after all, the exact date on which men celebrate Forefathers' Day is not a fundamental matter in the history of Plymouth. It is of much more importance for the friends of truth to remember that Clark's Island, Eastham, Truro, and Provincetown are all stepping-stones toward the final landing; that the first landing at Provincetown on November 21st is historically inseparable from the first landing at Plymouth upon December 21st; that the three exploring expeditions are made up of a continuous chain of events

and causes which finally led the Mayflower from its anchorage in Cape Cod Harbor to its winter station in the harbor of Plymouth; that just, as on a clear day, from the "high ground" where the Pilgrims actually settled one can look straight across the Bay to the sands of Cape Cod, so in the clear light of history the student can look across the sea from New England to Old England and restore to his consciousness the various landing places of his Teutonic forefathers.

PLYMOUTH BEFORE THE PILGRIMS

In the year 1602 Bartholomew Gosnold sailed to New England, entering Cape Cod Bay, and coasting around the Cape to the Island of Cuttyhunk, where he loaded his vessel with cedar and sassafras, afterwards returning home, only to be prosecuted by Sir Walter Raleigh for making an unauthorized voyage. He was followed by Martin Pring in 1603, that year being signalized by the death of Elizabeth and the accession of James, while at about this time Raleigh's public career paled. Before, however, the great cloud settled down over his life, the arrangements for the new voyage were made. This voyage was inaugurated by Hakluyt. Pring, in his narrative, given in the Purchas His Pilgrimes (iv., 1654), says : "Vpon many probable and reasonable inducements, vsed vnto sundry of the chiefest Merchants of Bristoll, by Master Richard Hakluyt Prebendary of Saint Augustines the Cathedrall Church of the said Citie, after diuers meetings and due consultation they resolued to set forth a Voyage for the Discouerie of the North part of Virginia." Taught by the experience of the previous year, they first sent a deputation, consisting of "the said Master Hakluyt accompanied with one Master Iohn Angell, and Master Robert Saltern (which had beene in the said Discouerie the yeere before with Captaine Bartholomew Gosnold) to obtaine permission of Sir Walter Raleigh (which had a most ample Patent of all those parts from Queene Elizabeth) to entermeddle and deal in that action." Permission was thus obtained "vnder his hand and Seale." Salterne, who afterward took Orders in the Church of England, was appointed the "Chief agent."

The expedition was composed of two vessels, "the Speed-well" of fifty tons, manned by thirty men and boys, and "the Discouerer," with thirteen men and boys. Pring himself commanded the large vessel, while Edmund Jones had charge of the smaller one.

Leaving Milford Haven April 10th, Pring took a direct course for New England, instead of sailing by the way of Newfoundland, and without even stopping at the Azores, sighted a multitude of islands in the latitude of 43° N., upon an unknown day in June, "which Ilands were found very pleasant to behold." Passing through the islands he reached the main, where "we ranged the same to the South-west. In which course we found foure Inlets, the most Easterly whereof was barred at the mouth, but hauing passed ouer the barre, wee ran vp into it fiue miles, and