Margaret B. Pumphrey: "Pilgrim Stories"

... Stories are being told to them (the children & to myself) of the Pilgrims, their life in England, their sojourn in Holland, and their experience in America.

The stories were mimeographed, simply illustrated, and used as reading lessons. It soon became evident that the children were living in these stories from day to day, feeling a personal interest in the different characters, and a personal acquaintance with them. An increased interest in reading and a consequent increase in ability to read well were the most immediate result of this work. ...

PILGRIMS

... From a different clock tower the bells chimed three. The Pilgrims drew closer together and spoke in hushed voices.

"Are you quite sure this is the place where the captain of the ship promised to meet us?" asked William Bradford. 

"This is the very spot, just where the little brook flows into the sea", answered Elder Brewster. 

"It will soon be dawn", said John Robinson. "I fear daylight will find us still waiting here for the ship."

"That must not be", replied Elder Brewster... Hark! What is that? I thought I heard the splash of oars." ...

Last night the stars had twinkled merely when they saw the Pilgrims about to escape King James. Now they saw them with their burdens on their backs, and their children in their arms, going back toward the great, black prison. The little stars still twinkled faintly but seemed to say, "Be brave! The One who made us and made you is stronger than King James". Then one by one they close their eyes, as if unwillingly to see the prison doors close upon women and babies. ...

THE SWORD OF MILES STANDISH
... Captain Standish saw them, and shouted, "You cowards!" To steal from a poor old man! Cowards! Give back everything you have taken." And the rude soldiers obeyed. ...

THE "SPEEDWELL"

... heavy mast, the hull is worn out

                it needs new boards, and fresh tar, and fresh paint...

LAND

... Not a town or a single house could they see. No smoke rose from the forest to tell them where a village lay hidden. Not a sound was heard but the whistling of the cold wind through the ropes and masts, and the lapping of the water about the boat.

No, this is not the sunny southland, but land of any sort is a joyful sight after our long voyage, replied Elder Brewster. " Let  us not forget to thank God, who has brought us safe to this new land." ...

Fragments from Margaret B. Pumphrey's "Pilgrim Stories", illustrated by Lucy Fitch Perkins, published by Rand McNally & Co.

Margaret Blanche Pumphrey, "Pilgrim Stories" - Meet The Pilgrims