ROGER WILLIAMS
It was snowing hard outside and the wind howled around the little
cottage.
Joe and Lucy had been taking supper with Uncle Sam. Lucy had made a big
pile of buttered toast and her mother had sent over a plum cake. They
were all eaten.
"You must go home pretty soon, children. The snow is drifting a good
deal and it will be hard walking. It is well that you both wore rubber
boots."
Uncle Sam got up and went to the window.
"It was in just such weather that Roger Williams made his way through
the wilderness," he said as he looked out over the fields.
"I never heard of him before," said Joe.
"Then it is time you did. It is not a very long story. I don't believe
it will do you any harm to stay long enough to hear it. So here it is:
"Roger Williams was one of the noblest men who lived among the
Puritans of long ago. He was a young minister. He had fine thoughts of
his own. He did not need to have anyone else do his thinking for him.
"When he first came to America with his young wife he settled in
Boston. He afterwards went to Salem. He preached in a little church
there. He said so many good things that people liked to hear him.
"After a while the Puritans began to open their ears and their eyes,
too. The leading men said:
"'This man does not think just as we do. He must be wrong.'
"They were very angry. You remember what I told you the other day about
the Puritans?"
"They wished everyone else to believe just as they did," answered Joe.
"And were very strict and solemn," added Lucy.
"You must remember another thing, too. The leading men of the church
made all the laws for the town. Roger Williams did not think this was
right. He was a minister himself, yet he believed the church should
have nothing to do with governing the town.
"Besides that, he thought, 'the King of England has no right to give
the land in America to the people who come here. The Indians hold the
land. It is theirs. They are the only ones who should sell it or give
it away.'
"'Dreadful! dreadful!' said the people of Salem. 'Roger Williams cannot
be true to the king if he believes like that.'
"The leading men made it so unpleasant for the young minister that he
left Salem. He went to Plymouth and stayed among the Pilgrims for two
years. At the end of that time he went back to Salem. He preached good
sermons and the people said:
"'He has grown more careful in the use of his tongue. He does not say
unwise things any more.'
"Yet Roger Williams had not changed his mind. He believed just as he
did before and he could not help showing it.
"'This man is not safe. He puts wrong thoughts into the minds of the
people,' said some of the leaders. 'We must send him back to England.'
"Roger Williams heard what they intended to do. He fled into the
forests. It was very cold and heavy snow had fallen. Who would be his
friend and help him in his troubles now?
"Who indeed but his old friend Massasoit! The Indians loved Williams.
He had always been kind and gentle with them. He had been honest in all
his dealings.
"Massasoit was glad to give Williams a home. He stayed with the Indian
chief for some time. He was busy thinking what he should do. Where
should he make a home for himself and those who believed as he did?
"'I will give you some land on the shores of a river,' Massasoit told
him.
"As soon as the spring came Williams went to this place. He set to work
at once to build himself a log house. Five of his friends came from
Salem to be with him.
"They had not worked very long before they found they would be safer to
move to the other side of the river. Then they would be sure of a place
where the white men could not trouble them.
"They came to a wild and beautiful spot. The trees of the forest grew
all about it. The river flowed close by.
"The axes were soon swinging merrily and the tall trees came falling to
the earth. It was the beginning of the city of Providence.
"Roger Williams gave it that name. He said: 'God has provided a home in
the wilderness for me.'
"Not long after this a little son was born to him. He, too, was named
Providence. And when a baby daughter came to the happy family, she was
called Mercy. In this way the good minister showed that he did not
forget the loving care of his Heavenly Father.
"Do not forget Roger Williams," Uncle Sam ended as the children began
to put on their rubber boots. "He dared to say what he thought was
right when almost everyone was against him.
"Be sure to remember this, too: He had no trouble with the Indians,
because he treated them fairly. They lived in America before the white
people came, so he thought they had a better right to the land than
anyone else."