ion, her foot in the hand of her husband,
Gayly, with joyous laugh, Priscilla mounted her palfrey.
"Nothing is wanting now," he said with a smile, "but the distaff;
Then you would be in truth my queen, my beautiful Bertha!"

Onward the bridal procession now moved to their new habitation, 1005
Happy husband and wife, and friends conversing together.
Pleasantly murmured the brook, as they crossed the ford in the forest,
Pleased with the image that passed, like a dream of love through
its bosom,
Tremulous, floating in air, o'er the depths of the azure abysses.
Down through the golden leaves the sun was pouring his splendors, 1010
Gleaming on purple grapes, that, from branches above them suspended,
Mingled their odorous breath with the balm of the pine and
the fir-tree.
Wild and sweet as the clusters that grew in the valley of Eshcol.[59]
Like a picture it seemed of the primitive, pastoral ages,
Fresh with the youth of the world, and recalling Rebecca
and Isaac,[60] 1015
Old and yet ever new, and simple and beautiful always,
Love immortal and young in the endless succession of lovers.
So through the Plymouth woods passed onward the bridal procession.

--Longfellow.

[1] Miles Standish was born about 1580, the son of a Lancashire
gentleman of a large estate. He entered the army of Queen
Elizabeth and served for some time in the Netherlands.
There he met the congregation of English Puritans with
their pastor, Robinson, and although he did not
become a member of their Church, he sailed with them
in the Mayflower
in 1620. He was entrusted with the defence of the new colony,
and held, besides, other offices of trust in the community.
In 1830 he removed from Plymouth and settled in Duxbury,
where he died in 1656.

[2] The Mayflower, in which the Pilgrim Fathers set sail
for America,
reached Cape Cod in November, 1620. Some weeks were spent
in exploring the coast, but finally, towards the end
of December, the Mayflower
anchored in Plymouth Harbour, and it was decided that
they should
make a landing and found a settlement there. The name
of "Old
Colony" was for a long time applied to the settlement
about Plymouth.

[3] doublet. A close-fitting garment for men, covering
the body from the neck to the waist.

[4] Cordovan leather. A goatskin leather, prepared
in Cordova, Spain.

[5] Cutlass. A sho