some supplies, sent by the Society in England, had been
wrecked, and the goods, though saved, were damaged. This he regarded as
a frown of Providence and a fruit of sin. Poor Cutshamakin also was in
trouble again, having been drawn into a great revel, where much spirits
had been drunk; and his warm though unstable temper always made him ready
to serve as a public example of confession and humiliation. So when, on
the 24th of September, 1651, Mr. Eliot had conducted the fast-day
service, it began with Cutshamakin's confession; then three Indians
preached and prayed in turn, and Mr. Eliot finally preached on Ezra's
great fast. There was a pause for rest; then the assembly came together
again, and before them Mr. Eliot solemnly recited the terms of the
Covenant, by which all were to bind themselves to the service of the
Lord, and which included all their principal laws. He asked them whether
they stood to the Covenant. All the chiefs first bound themselves, then
the remainder of the people; a collection was made for the poor; and so
ended that "blessed day," as the happy apostle of the Indians called it.

When Governor Endicot shortly after visited the place, he was greatly
struck with the orderliness and civilization he found there. "I account
this one of the best journeys I have made for many years," he says. Many
little manufactures were carried on, in particular one of drums, which
were used for lack of bells in some of the American settlements, as a
summons to come to church.

There was a native schoolmaster, named Monequassum, who could write,
read, and spell English correctly, and under whom the children were
making good progress. Promising lads were trained by Mr. Eliot himself,
in hopes of making them act as missionaries among their brethren. All
this time his praying Indians were not baptized, nor what he called
"gathered into a Church estate." He seems to have been determined to
have full proof of their stability before he so accepted them; for it was
from no inclination to Baptist views that he so long delayed receiving
them. However, on the 13th of October, 1652, he convened his brother-
ministers to hear his Indians make public confession of their faith. What
the converts said was perfectly satisfactory; but they were a long-winded
race, accustomed to flowing periods; and as each man spoke for himself,
and his confession had to be copied down in writing, Mr. Eliot himself
owns that their "enlarg