THE DUTCH AND THE QUAKERS COME TO AMERICA
I WONDER how many of my readers have ever seen the great city of New
York. I wonder still more how many of them knew that it is the largest
city in the world except London. But we must remember that London is ten
times as old, so it can well afford to be larger.
Why, if you should go back no farther than the time of your
great-grandfather you would find no city of New York. All you would see
would be a sort of large village on Manhattan Island, at the mouth of
the Hudson River. And if you went back to the time of your grandfather's
great-grandfather, I fancy you would see nothing on that island but
trees, with Indian wigwams beneath them. Not a single white man or a
single house would you see.
In the year 1609, just two years after Captain Smith sailed into the
James River, a queer-looking Dutch vessel came across the ocean and
began to prowl up and down the coast. It was named the "Half Moon." It
came from Holland, the land of the Dutch, but its captain was an
Englishman named Henry Hudson, who had done so many daring things that
men called him "the bold Englishman."
What Captain Hudson would have liked to do was to sail across the United
States and come out into the Pacific Ocean, and so make his way to the
rich countries of Asia. Was not that a funny notion? To think that he
could sail across three thousand miles of land and across great ranges
of mountains!
But you must not think that Captain Hudson was crazy. Nobody then knew
how wide America was. For all they knew, it might not be fifty miles
wide. Captain John Smith tried to get across it by sailing up James
River. And Captain Hudson fancied he might find some stream that led
from one ocean to the other.
So on he went up and down the coast looking for an opening. And after a
while the "Half Moon" sailed into a broad and beautiful bay, where great
trees came down to the edge of the water and red men paddled about in
their canoes. Captain Hudson was delighted to see it. "It was," he said,
"as pleasant with grass and flowers as he had ever seen, and very sweet
smells."
This body of water was what we now call New York Bay. A broad and swift
river runs into it, which is now called Hudson River, after Henry
Hudson. The bold captain thought that this was the stream to go up if he
wished to reach the Pacific Ocean. So, after talking as well as he could
with the Indians in their canoes, and trading beads for corn, he set his
sails again and started up the splendid river. Some of the Indians came
on board the "Half Moon," and the Dutch gave them brandy, which they had
never seen or tasted before. Soon they were dancing and capering about
the deck, and one of them fell down so stupid with drink that his
friends thought he was dead. That was their first taste of the deadly
"fire water" of the whites, which has killed thousands of the red men
since then.
Captain Hudson and the Dutch no doubt thought that this was great fun.
People often do much harm without stopping to think. But on up the river
went the "Half Moon."
At some places they saw fields of green corn on the water's edge.
Farther on were groves of lofty trees, and for miles great cliffs of
rock rose like towers. It was all very grand and beautiful.
"It was a very good land to fall in with," said Captain Hudson, "and a
pleasant land to see."
As they sailed on and on, they came to mountains, which rose on both
sides the river. After passing the mountains, the captain went ashore to
visit an old chief, who lived in a round house built of bark. The
Indians here had great heaps of corn and beans. But what they liked
best was roast dog. They roasted a dog for Captain Hudson and asked him
to eat it, but I do not know whether he did so or not. And they broke
their arrows and threw them into the fire, to show that they did not
mean to do harm to the white men.
After leaving the good old chief the Dutch explorers went on up the
river till they reached a place about 150 miles above the sea, where the
city of Albany now stands. Here the river became so narrow and shallow
that Captain Hudson saw he could not reach the Pacific by that route, so
he turned and sailed back to the sea again.
A sad fate was that of Captain Hudson, "the bold Englishman." The next
year he came again to America. But this time he went far to the north
and entered the great body of water which we call Hudson Bay. He thought
this would lead to the Pacific, and he would not turn back, though the
food was nearly all gone. At last the crew got desperate, and they put
the captain and some others into an open boat on the wide waters, and
turned back again. Nothing more was ever heard of Captain Hudson, and he
must have died miserably on that cold and lonely bay.
But before his last voyage he had told the Dutch people all about Hudson
River, and that the Indians had many fine furs which they would be glad
to trade for beads, and knives, and other cheap things. The Dutch were
fond of trading, and liked to make a good bargain, so they soon began to
send ships to America. They built a fort and some log huts on Manhattan
Island, and a number of them stayed there to trade with the red men.
They paid the Indians for the island with some cheap goods worth about
twenty-four dollars. I do not think any of you could guess how many
millions of dollars that island is worth now. For the great city of New
York stands where the log huts of the Dutch traders once stood, and
twenty-four dollars would hardly buy as much land as you could cover
with your hand.
The country around is now all farming land, where grain and fruit are
grown, and cattle are raised. But then it was all woodland for hundreds
of miles away, and in these woods lived many foxes and beavers and other
fur-bearing animals. These the Indians hunted and killed, and sold their
furs to the Dutch, so that there was soon a good trade for both the red
and the white men. The Dutch were glad to get the furs and the Indians
were as glad to get the knives and beads. More and more people came from
Holland, and the town grew larger and larger, and strong brick houses
took the place of the log huts, and in time there was quite a town.
Men were sent from Holland to govern the people. Some of these men were
not fit to govern themselves, and the settlers did not like to have
such men over them. One of them was a stubborn old fellow named Peter
Stuyvesant. He had lost one of his legs, and wore a wooden leg with
bands of silver around it, so that he was called "Old Silver Leg."
While he was governor an important event took place. The English had a
settlement in Virginia and another in New England, and they said that
all the coast lands belonged to them, because the Cabots had been the
first to see them. The Cabots came from Italy, but they had settled in
England, and sailed in an English ship.
So one day a small fleet of English vessels came into the bay, and a
letter was sent on shore which said that all this land belonged to
England and must be given up to them. The Dutch might stay there, but
they would be under an English governor. Old Peter tore up the letter
and stamped about in a great rage on his silver leg. But he had treated
the people so badly that they would not fight for him, so he had to give
up the town.
The English called it New York, after the Duke of York, the king's
brother. It grew and grew till it became a great and rich city, and sent
ships to all parts of the world. Most of the Dutch stayed there, and
their descendants are among the best people of New York to-day. Not
long after these English ships came to New York Bay, other English ships
came to a fine body of water, about 100 miles farther south, now called
Delaware Bay. Into this also runs a great stream of fresh water, called
Delaware River, as wide as the Hudson. I think you will like to learn
what brought them here.
No doubt you remember what I said about some people called Quakers, who
came to Boston and were treated very badly by the Puritans. Did any of
my young readers ever see a Quaker? In old times you would have known
them, for they dressed in a different way from other people. They wore
very plain clothes and broad-brimmed hats, which they would not take off
to do honor to king or noble. To-day they generally dress more like the
people around them.
If they were treated badly in Boston they were treated worse in England.
Thieves and highwaymen had as good a time as the poor Quakers. Some of
them were put in jail and kept there for years. Some were whipped or put
in the stocks, where low people called them vile names and threw mud at
them. Indeed, these quiet people, who did no harm to any one, but were
kind to others, had a very hard time, and were treated more cruelly than
the Pilgrims and the Puritans.
Among them was the son of a brave English admiral, who was a friend of
the king and his brother, the Duke of York. But this did not save him
from being put in prison for preaching as a Quaker and wearing his hat
in court.
This was William Penn, from whom Pennsylvania was named. You may well
fancy that the son of a rich admiral and the friend of a king did not
like being treated as though he were a thief because he chose to wear a
hat with a broad brim and to say "thee" and "thou," and because he would
not go to the king's church.
What is more, the king owed him money, which he could not or would not
pay. He had owed this money to Admiral Penn, and after the admiral died
he owed it to his son.
William Penn thought it would be wise to do as the Pilgrims and Puritans
had done. There was plenty of land in America, and it would be easy
there to make a home for the poor Quakers where they could live in peace
and worship God in the way they thought right. This they could not do in
England.
Penn went to the king and told him how he could pay his debt. If the
king would give him a tract of land on the west side of the Delaware
River, he would take it as payment in full for the money owing to his
father.
King Charles, who never had money enough for his own use, was very glad
to pay his debts in this easy way. He told Penn that he could have all
the land he wanted, and offered him a tract that was nearly as large as
the whole of England. This land belonged to the red men, but that did
not trouble King Charles. It is easy to pay debts in other people's
property. All Penn was asked to pay the king was two beaver skins every
year and one-fifth of all the gold and silver that should be mined. As
no gold or silver was ever mined the king got nothing but his beaver
skins, which were a kind of rent.
What do any of my young readers know about the Delaware River? Have any
of you seen the wide, swift stream which flows between the states of
Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and runs into the broad body of water known
as Delaware Bay? On its banks stands the great city of Philadelphia, in
which live more than a million people, and where there are thousands of
busy workshops and well-filled stores. This large and fine city came
from the way the king paid his debt. King Charles was not a good man,
but he did one thing that had a good ending.
There were white men there before the Quakers came. Many years earlier a
number of people from Sweden had come and settled along the river. Then
the Dutch from New York said the land was theirs, and took possession of
the forts of the Swedes. Then the English of New York claimed the land
as theirs. Then Quakers came and settled in New Jersey. Finally came
William Penn, in a ship called by the pretty name of the "Welcome," and
after that the land was governed by the Quakers or Friends, though the
Swedes stayed there still.
We have something very pleasant to say about good William Penn. He knew
very well that King Charles did not own the land, and had no right to
sell it or give it away. So he called the Indians together under a great
elm tree on the river bank, and had a long talk with them, and told them
he would pay them for all the land he wanted. This pleased the red men
very much, and ever afterwards they loved William Penn.
Do you not think it must have been a pretty scene when Penn and the
Quakers met the Indian chiefs under the great tree--the Indians in their
colored blankets and the Quakers in their great hats? That tree stood
for more than a hundred years afterwards, and when the British army was
in Philadelphia during the war of the Revolution their general put a
guard around Penn's treaty tree, so that the soldiers should not cut it
down for firewood. The tree is gone now, but a stone monument marks
where it stood. A city was laid out on the river, which Penn named
Philadelphia, a word which means Brotherly Love. I suppose some
brotherly love is there still, but not nearly so much as there should
be.
Streets were made through the woods, and the names of the trees were
given to these streets, which are still known as Chestnut, Walnut, Pine,
Cherry, and the like. People soon came in numbers, and it is wonderful
how fast the city grew. Soon there were hundreds of comfortable houses,
and in time it grew to be the largest in the country.
The Indians looked on in wonder to see large houses springing up where
they had hunted deer, and to see great ships where they had paddled
their canoes. But the white men spread more and more into the land, and
the red men were pushed back, and in time none of them were left in
Penn's woodland colony. This was long after William Penn was dead.
But while Penn's city was growing large and rich, he was becoming poor.
He spent much money on his province and got very little back. At last he
became so poor that he was put in prison for debt, as was the custom in
those days. In the end he died and left the province to his sons. The
Indians sent some beautiful furs to his widow in memory of their great
and good brother. They said these were to make her a cloak "to protect
her while she was passing without her guide through the stormy
wilderness of life."