"The turnpike road to people's hearts, I find
Lies through their mouths, or I mistake mankind."
[Peter Pindar.
After arriving at Mishawam, and voting the church and that the minister
should be supported at the common charge, it became necessary to think of
providing in some way for the sustenance of the party. Although Gov.
Winthrop, when he arrived off the harbor, went up to Salem in a boat, and
was handsomely entertained by Gov. Endicott, whom he came to displace,
with a rich _venison pate_, such fare was not afterwards found to be very
plenty; and the strawberries, which those he left on board the ships found
on Cape Ann, were not always to be had, nor a very substantial food for
the settlers. Of course, the party had a supply of provisions,--a market
of their own which they brought with them; and, as nobody could become a
freeman or have a vote in public affairs unless he was a member of the
church, it is to be inferred that nobody would be allowed any thing to eat
only on the same condition; and this, if Peter Pindar was right, was a
facile method of conversion and making disciples of the most obdurate.
Hunting and fishing were no doubt readily resorted to as rather promising
pursuits, and possibly some thought may have been given to cornfields,
though there was no great anxiety for work. At all events, however
successful the hunting parties were, so much of their supply of provisions
was bartered with the Indians for furs that a scarcity of food was soon
experienced, and then they had to buy corn of them. Matters soon became
serious: for whatever might have been the primary object of the Puritans
in coming to this country, eating was not beyond a secondary
consideration, to say the least of it; and a market of supplies for the
material man became an important consideration then, and has been so ever
since. Dr. Johnson, who loved a good dinner and rarely found it at home,
thought "a tavern was the throne of human felicity;" but, of course, such
a notion as that never entered the minds of the Puritans.
The first thanksgiving was for the safe arrival of the party, and the next
was for the arrival of the "Lion," or some other ship, with a supply of
food; and this, it is supposed, was not bartered off for furs. Indian
corn, which was a new thing to the settlers, was for a long time the
principal diet, occasionally modified with fish; but the truth is, how the
settlers managed to live through all this time, in such a climate, up to
the times that we know something about, is a complete mystery.
Capt. Roger Clapp, who arrived at Hull on the 30th of May, 1630, about a
fortnight before Gov. Winthrop arrived at Salem, and who died in 1690-91,
described the state of things "in those days," in the following words:--
"It was not accounted a strange thing in those Days to drink Water,
and to eat Samp or Hominie without Butter or Milk. Indeed, it would
have been a strange thing to see a piece of Roast Beef, Mutton or
Veal; though it was not long before there was Roast Goat. After the
first Winter, we were very Healthy; though some of us had no great
Store of Corn. The Indians did sometimes bring Corn, and Truck with us
for Cloathing and Knives; and once I had a Peck of Corn or
thereabouts, for a little Puppy-Dog. Frost-fish, Muscles and Clams
were a Relief to many."