d by those for
whom the things of the past have a special lure. These remodeled
cottages are, perhaps, the prettiest of all. Those very ancient
landmarks, sagging into pathetic disrepair, present a sorrowful, albeit
an artistic, silhouette against the sky. But these "new-old" cottages,
with ruffled muslin curtains at the small-paned, antique windows, brave
with a shining knocker on the green-painted front door, and gay with
old-fashioned gardens to the side or in the rear--these are a delight to
all, and an honor to both past and present.

Surely the fair town of Duxbury, which so smilingly enticed the
Pilgrims across the bay to enjoy her sunny beach and rolling pasture
lands, must be happy to-day as she was then to feel her ground so deeply
tilled, and still to be so daintily adorned with homes and gardens and
with laughing life.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER X

KINGSTON AND ITS MANUSCRIPTS

[Illustration]

On a charming eminence at two crossroads, delicately dappled by fine elm
shade and clasped by an antique grapevine, rests the old Bradford house.
From the main road half a mile away you will see only the slanting roof,
half concealed by rolling pasture land, but if you will trouble to turn
off from the main road, and if you will not be daunted by the
unsavoriness of the immediate neighborhood, you will find it quite worth
your while. The house presents only a casual side to the street--one
fancies it does not take much interest in its upstart neighbors--but
imagination makes us believe that it regards with brooding tenderness
the lovely tidal river which winds away through the marshes to the sea.
Interesting as the house is for its architectural features and for its
delightful location--despite the nearness of the passing train--yet it
is on neither of these points that its fame rests.

In this house, built in 1674, and once belonging to Major John Bradford,
the grandson of the Governor, was preserved for many years one of the
most valuable American manuscripts in existence, and one fated to the
most romantic adventures in the annals of Lost and Found.

Bradford's "History of the Plymouth Plantation" is our sole source of
authentic information for the period 1606-46. It is the basis for all
historical study of the early life of the Pilgrims in this country, and
when we look at the quiet roof of the Bradford house to-day and realize
how narrowly the papers--for they remained in manuscript form for two
h