THE EPISODE OF THE CHARTER OAK.
The Colonies of Maine and New Hampshire were so closely associated with
that of Massachusetts that their history up to 1820 was practically the
same.
Shortly after the landing of the Pilgrims, say two years or thereabouts,
Gorges and Mason obtained from England the grant of a large tract lying
between the Merrimac and Kennebec Rivers. This patent was afterwards
dissolved, Mason taking what is now New Hampshire, and Gorges taking
Maine. He afterwards sold the State to Massachusetts for six thousand
dollars. The growth of the State may be noticed since that time, for one
county cost more than that last November.
In 1820 Maine was separated from Massachusetts. Maine is noted for being
the easternmost State in the Union, and has been utilized by a number of
eminent men as a birthplace. White-birch spools for thread,
Christmas-trees, and tamarack and spruce-gum are found in great
abundance. It is the home of an industrious and peace-loving people.
Bar Harbor is a cool place to go to in summer-time and violate the
liquor law of the State.
[Illustration: SEDUCTIONS OF BAR HARBOR.]
The Dutch were first to claim Connecticut. They built a trading-post at
Hartford, where they swapped bone collar-buttons with the Indians for
beaver-and otter-skins. Traders from Plymouth who went up the river were
threatened by the Dutch, but they pressed on and established a post at
Windsor.
In 1635, John Steele led a company "out west" to Hartford, and Thomas
Hooker, a clergyman, followed with his congregation, driving their stock
before them. Hartford thus had quite a boom quite early in the
seventeenth century. The Dutch were driven out of the Connecticut
Valley, and began to look towards New York.
[Illustration: PEQUOD INDIAN ON THE WAR-PATH.]
Soon after this the Pequod War broke out. These Indians had hoped to
form an alliance with the Narragansetts, but Roger Williams prevented
this by seeing the Narragansett chief personally. Thus the Puritans had
coals of fire heaped on their heads by their gentle pastor, until the
odor of burning hair could be detected as far away as New Haven.
The Pequods were thus compelled to fight alone, and Captain Mason by a
_coup d'état_ surrounded their camp before daylight and entered the
palisades with the Indian picket, who cried out "Owanux! Owanux!"
meaning "Englishmen. Englishmen." Mason and his men killed these
Pequods and burned their lodges to the ground. There has never been a
prosperous Pequod lodge since. Those who escaped to the forest were shot
down like jack-rabbits as they fled, and there has been no Pequoding
done since that time.
The New Haven Colony was founded in 1638 by wealthy church members from
abroad. They took the Bible as their standard and statute. They had no
other law. Only church members could vote, which was different from the
arrangements in New York City in after-years.
[Illustration: GOVERNOR ANDROS.]
The Connecticut Colony had a regular constitution, said to have been the
first written constitution ever adopted by the people, framed for the
people by the people. It was at once prosperous, and soon bought out the
Saybrook Colony.
In 1662 a royal charter was obtained which united the two above colonies
and guaranteed to the people the rights agreed upon by them. It
amounted to a duly-authenticated independence. A quarter of a century
afterwards Governor Andros, in his other clothes and a reigning coat of
red and gold trimmings, marched into the Assembly and demanded this
precious charter.
A long debate ensued, and, according to tradition, while the members of
the Assembly stood around the table taking a farewell look at the
charter, one of the largest members of the house fell on the governor's
breast and wept so copiously on his shirt-frill that harsh words were
used by his Excellency; a general quarrel ensued, the lights went out,
and when they were relighted the charter was gone.
Captain Wadsworth had taken it and concealed it in a hollow tree, since
called the Charter Oak. After Andros was ejected from the Boston office,
the charter was brought out again, and business under it was resumed.
Important documents, however, should not be, as a general thing,
secreted in trees. The author once tried this while young, and when
engaged to, or hoping to become engaged to, a dear one whose pa was a
singularly coarse man and who hated a young man who came as a lover at
his daughter's feet with nothing but a good education and his great big
manly heart. He wanted a son-in-law with a brewery; and so he bribed the
boys of the neighborhood to break up a secret correspondence between
the two young people and bring the mail to him. This was the cause of
many a heart-ache, and finally the marriage of the sweet young lady to a
brewer who was mortgaged so deeply that he wandered off somewhere and
never returned. Years afterwards the brewery needed repairs, and one of
the large vats was found to contain all of the missing man that would
not assimilate with the beer,--viz., his watch. Quite a number of people
at that time quit the use of beer, and the author gave his hand in
marriage to a wealthy young lady who was attracted by his gallantry and
fresh young beauty.
[Illustration: NYE'S CHARTER OAK.]
Roger Williams now settled at Providence Plantation, where he was joined
by Mrs. Hutchinson, who also believed that the church and state should
not be united, but that the state should protect the church and that
neither should undertake to boss the other. It was also held that
religious qualifications should not be required of political aspirants,
also that no man should be required to whittle his soul into a shape to
fit the religious auger-hole of another.
This was the beginning of Rhode Island. She desired at once to join the
New England Colony, but was refused, as she had no charter. Plymouth
claimed also to have jurisdiction over Rhode Island. This was very much
like Plymouth.
Having banished Roger Williams and Mrs. Hutchinson to be skinned by the
Pequods and Narragansetts over at Narragansett Pier, they went on about
their business, flogging Quakers, also ducking old women who had
lumbago, and burning other women who would not answer affirmatively when
asked, "Be you a witch?"
Then when Roger began to make improvements and draw the attention of
Eastern capital to Rhode Island and to organize a State or Colony with a
charter, Plymouth said, "Hold on, Roger: religiously we have cast you
out, to live on wild strawberries, clams, and Indians, but from a
mercantile and political point of view you will please notice that we
have a string which you will notice is attached to your wages and
discoveries."
[Illustration: DUCKING OLD WOMEN.]
Afterwards, however, Roger Williams obtained the necessary funds from
admiring friends with which to go to England and obtain a charter which
united the Colonies yet gave to all the first official right to liberty
of conscience ever granted in Europe or America. Prior to that a man's
conscience had a brass collar on it with the royal arms engraved
thereon, and was kept picketed out in the king's grounds. The owner
could go and look at it on Sundays, but he never had the use of it.
With the advent of freedom of political opinion, the individual use of
the conscience has become popularized, and the time is coming when it
will grow to a great size under our wise institutions and fostering
skies. Instead of turning over our consciences to the safety deposit
company of a great political party or religious organization and taking
the key in our pocket, let us have individual charge of this useful
little instrument and be able finally to answer for its growth or decay.
* * * * *
The author wishes to extend his thanks for the use of books of
reference used in the collection of the foregoing facts; among
them, "How to Pay Expenses though Single," by a Social Leper, "How
to Keep Well," by Methuselah, "Humor of Early Days," by Job,
"Dangers of the Deep," by Noah, "General Peacefulness and Repose of
the Dead Indian," by General Nelson A. Miles, "Gulliver's Travels,"
and "Life and Public Services of the James Boys."
[Illustration: NYE IN HIS FAMILY GALLERY.]