It hath the look to me of a land which the Lord our God hath
blessed."
"There is a most excellent depth of black, rich earth," said Carver, "and
a great tangle of grapevines, whereon the leaves in many places yet hung,
and we picked up stores of walnuts under a tree--not so big as our
English ones--but sweet and well-flavored."
"Know ye, brethren, what in this land smelleth sweetest to me?" said
Elder Brewster. "It is the smell of liberty. The soil is free--no man
hath claim thereon. In Old England a poor man may starve right on his
mother's bosom; there may be stores of fish in the river, and bird and
fowl flying, and deer running by, and yet though a man's children be
crying for bread, an' he catch a fish or snare a bird, he shall be
snatched up and hanged. This is a sore evil in Old England; but we will
make a country here for the poor to dwell in, where the wild fruits and
fish and fowl shall be the inheritance of whosoever will have them; and
every man shall have his portion of our good mother earth, with no lords
and no bishops to harry and distrain, and worry with taxes and tythes."
"Amen, brother!" said Miles Standish, "and thereto I give my best
endeavors with sword and buckler.
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