lendar. We also have no reason to doubt an old
claim that his natal month was the same as his baptismal, March.
Besides, the rule existed then, that the rite should be administered one
week after birth. If this contemporary custom was followed, William saw
the light of day March 12, 1589, by Old Style, or March 22, 1590, New
Style.

It is unfortunate that the baptismal font, despite efforts to purchase
it back, has not yet, to our knowledge, been yielded by the Methodist
church in Lound, Nottinghamshire, and restored to its proper place at
Saint Helen's in Austerfield. The Austerfield font at present we do not
accept as the genuine original. That original one at Saint Helen's about
the time of our Civil War seems to have been a victim to the generally
weaker antiquarian interest then, and it was replaced by a high basin.
It came back soon but evidently was unused, lying upon the floor aside.
Then a sexton was ordered to take out and sell superfluous articles.
After resting on an estate as a garden stone, it was given to a lady
from Austerfield, who loaned it indefinitely to the church mentioned. It
is a large Norman bowl, rough-hewn and of ancient aspect, which when in
use was for convenience set upon a wooden block.

When the tolling bells above the small stone chapel summoned the
Bradford family and friends to the solemn service, little did they
discern, with all their natural affection, any unusual significance in
that consecration of a life to be expended far from the quiet hamlet of
old England in a growing community of New England.

As the child came to an age of sufficient understanding, how strongly
must this humble shrine have appealed to him, with the development of
his proclivities guided by one circumstance after another! It was
erected during the twelfth century, in the centre of the village, when
the rustic parish was presented by a person of rank for the support of a
chaplain. Doubtless the lad's eyes often scrutinized the zigzag Norse
symbol of lightning, and other ornamentation, carved upon the double
arch under which he was wont to enter.

The whole region was rich in historic interest to any reflective mind.
It was the battle ground of Briton, Roman and Anglo-Saxon. It formed the
heart of the Danish territory, opposite their native continental shores.
The Robin Hood marauders operated through this sparsely settled North of
England, where the last of several uprisings against the South was
attempte