WINSLOW'S "GREAT LOT"
From John Alden's land, in early days, a footpath led out along the
shore, over Stony Brook, by Duck's Hill, to Careswell, the "great lot"
granted to Edward Winslow. The lot is now the town of Marshfield, made
famous by Daniel Webster and by generations of notable Winslows.
The Pilgrim Winslow was Plymouth's favorite representative in foreign
affairs, whether in dealings with the Dutch, or with the Indians, or
with the English in London. His friendships were curiously varied and
fortunate; he was admired and trusted by such forceful men as Roger
Williams, Massasoit, and Oliver Cromwell--a vigorous trio. When he went
plying back and forth on his diplomatic voyages between Plymouth and
England, his duties varied from the responsibility of convoying twenty
hogsheads of beaver to the old country and bringing back three heifers
and a bull to the new, to defending the judicial policy of his friends
in Boston, and writing such sprightly tracts as "Hypocrisie Unmasked"
and "New England's Salamander Discovered." Oliver Cromwell appointed him
Commissioner to go to Hispaniola and Jamaica, and to confer at
Goldsmiths' Hall, London, on a question involving Denmark's seizure of
English ships after the treaty of peace. The Commissioners were given a
certain time to come to a decision; and if they could not agree by the
day appointed, they were to be "shut up in a chamber, without fire,
candles, meat, or drink, or any other refreshment, until they should
agree." Cromwell believed in international agreements speedily arrived
at.
On Winslow's land to-day stands the Winslow house, built on the old
foundation by Isaac Winslow in 1699. This famous homestead, which a few
years ago was going to wrack and ruin through sheer old age, has been
restored as nearly as possible to its original state of comfort and
dignity by the Winslow Associates, furnished throughout with a rare
collection of antique furniture, and opened to the many visitors who
come that way on their route to Plymouth. As you wander through the
rooms, you find the place a perfect study in early building; every
detail has been carefully preserved, from the "spatter-painted beams" in
the kitchen and the old fire-back in the parlor, to the fine wood finish
of the "Parlor Bedroom." You gain a notion of the interesting way in
which the restoration was managed, when you learn that thirty-four coats
of paint had to be removed from the woodwork of the entrance hallway,
and that four fireplaces had to be taken out of the huge dining-room
fireplace to bring it back to its original condition.
It is very fitting that this house, on the land of the most
internationally minded man of the early colony, should be cordial to
visitors now. Old houses make friends easily. They are like people who
have known our grandfathers--able on that account to make us feel at
home. And when an ancient house bears the name of one of the Pilgrim
Forefathers, it plays homestead to the whole United States.
[Illustration: The Winslow House, Marshfield, (1699)]
The Winslow mansion, with its great trees and its own broad hearths, has
not grown bleak in its old age, or even austere. There is an Indian word
preserved for us by Governor Winslow's friend, Roger Williams, that
might serve as a motto for this house. "_Nickquenum_" says Roger
Williams, "_I am going home_, is a solemn word with them; and no man
will offer any hinderance to him, who after some absence is going to
visit his family, and useth this word Nickquenum." As we go up the
flagstone pathway and lift the Marshfield knocker, we can easily imagine
that generations of famous Winslows, returning to their ancestral
estate, must have approached this house somewhat in the spirit of that
word used by their grandfather's friends the Indians: "Nickquenum,
Winsnow!" which is to say, "O Winslow--I am going home."