In Scrooby one thinks that he must have bread of some kind for
breakfast; but we here in Plymouth have instead of wheaten loaves,
pudding made of ground Indian corn, sometimes sweetened, but more often
only salted, and with it alone we satisfy our hunger during at least
two out of the three meals. I can remember of two seasons when all the
food we had for more than three months, was this same hasty pudding, as
we soon learned to call it.
That first winter we spent here was so dreadful and so long that I do
not like even to think of it. Nearly all the food we had brought from
England was spoiled before we came ashore.
There were many times when Sarah and I were so hungry that we cried,
with our arms around each other's neck, as if being so close together
would still the terrible feeling in our stomachs.
[Illustration]
All the men who were able to walk went hunting; but at one time, before
the warm weather came again, only five men were well enough to tramp
through the forest, and these five had, in addition, to chop wood for
the whole village.
Mother and the other women who were not on beds of sickness, went from
house to house, doing what they might for those who were ill, while we
children were sent to pick up dead branches for the fires, because at
times the men were not able to cut wood enough for the needs of all.
Then so many died! Each day we were told that this neighbor or that had
been called to Heaven. I have heard father often say since then, that
the hardest of the work during those dreadful days, was to dig graves
while the earth was frozen so solidly.
Think! Fifty out of our little company of one hundred and two, Captain
Standish's wife among the others, were called by God, and as each went
out into the other world, we who were left on earth felt more and more
keenly our helplessness and desolation.