Our first century . ng the treaty with Massasoit the Pil-grims had more or less trouble with the Indians roundabout them during all these years of the early colonialhistory. When they went to church they carried theirfirearms with them and at all times they were compelledto stand upon the defensive. They built a fort neartheir settlement, armed it with cannon and manned itdaily and nightly as a defensive measure against possibleIndian attacks. This constant necessity of standing onthe defe-nsive, was one of the reasons that led the NewEngland colonists to live together in villages instead of F
Our first century . ng the treaty with Massasoit the Pil-grims had more or less trouble with the Indians roundabout them during all these years of the early colonialhistory. When they went to church they carried theirfirearms with them and at all times they were compelledto stand upon the defensive. They built a fort neartheir settlement, armed it with cannon and manned itdaily and nightly as a defensive measure against possibleIndian attacks. This constant necessity of standing onthe defe-nsive, was one of the reasons that led the NewEngland colonists to live together in villages instead of FIRST NEW ENGLAND COLONIES 71 living on widely separated farms, as the Virginians earlybegan to do. The military commander at Plymouth was CaptainMyles Standish. He was not an adherent of the religionof the colonists, but he personally liked the people andhe took charge of their military operations with a thor-oughly good will. It is a curious fact that in a timewhen religion determined everything else this choice of. The Myles Standish House, Duxbury, built by his son in 1666. a military leader was made without reference to religionand even in antagonism to the prevalent belief. MylesStandish knew how to do things and the colonistswanted things done. During the first half year, as we have seen. GovernorCarver died and William Bradford, a young man onlythirty-two years old, succeeded him. He governed sowell that for the rest of his hfe he was always re-elected 72 OUR FIRST CENTURY governor except upon one or two occasions when he re-fused to accept the office. The soil and chmate of New England were totallydifferent from those of Virginia. The woods in Massa-chusetts offered somewhat less in the way of game orfood of any kind ready to mans use than did the forestsin Virginia and by reason of Indian hostility huntingand trapping were more difficult. But fish were plentyand easily caught. The climate of New England was hostile and the soilirresponsive to easy cultivation. The colo
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