And now, because there is so much of excitement, owing to the frequent
coming and going of strangers, which neither Sarah nor I can well
understand, I will set down, in as few words as may be possible, only
such news as seems of importance, beginning with the time before our
second harvesting.
Then the ship _Ann_ came, bringing yet more people, although,
fortunately, a considerable store of food, and in her were the
wives and children of some of our company who had come over in the
_Mayflower_. How joyous was the meeting between those who had long
been separated. Sarah and I could see, however, that more than one of
these women were disappointed, having most likely allowed themselves to
believe their husbands were gathering riches in the new world. I heard
one, who found her husband much the same as clad in rags, wish that she
and her children were in England again.
When the ship _Ann_ went back to England, my mother and I were left
alone, for it had been decided by the head men of the town that Master
Edward Winslow should take passage in her to look after certain
business affairs of the colony, and, what seemed to me the more
important, to buy some cows. The sorrow of it was that my father was
chosen to journey with Master Winslow.
We were exceedingly lonely, and should have felt yet more desolate but
for Captain Standish and John Alden both of whom did whatsoever they
might to cheer.