tree and fill them with
these strawberries for Mother."

They went to work with much energy, surprised to find how abundantly the
berries grew along the banks, and returned to the Manor so full of the
account of that strawberry patch that their disappointment was almost
forgotten.

"Oh, Mother, see what we have found! The bank was covered with berries,
even after we had picked all these!"

"Why, boys, it is just like the home-land! Surely Captain John Smith had
described this Place well for Prince Charles to name it New England.
Already I feel better, for this land is not so strange since home things
grow here."

The boys found that even the sassafras could not have given her more
pleasure. They went to bed that night before dark, contented with their
search and anxious to return to the strawberry field.

For twenty years the land about the Great House was called Strawberry
Bank. Though that was almost three hundred years ago and the name was
afterward changed to Portsmouth, there are now many people in New
England, and some outside, who know just what spot is meant when they
hear of Strawberry Bank.

THE BOYS' CATCH.

"Get off that boat! We can't be bothered by boys on this trip!"

Edward Godfrie, who had charge of the fisheries at Mason Manor, shouted
with stern authority.

It was scarcely daybreak on a May morning in 1632. Six great shallops lay
at anchor off the rocks. Five fishing boats were in readiness, while
several skiffs were conveying fishermen and equipment for the day's work.

Godfrie's own boy, Hugh, and James Williams, regretfully climbed ashore.

"Leave that seine behind!" was the next order to the boatmen. The stretch
of net was pitched out upon the rocks.

Every available worker at the Manor was ready to cast a line or haul a
net on this trip, for the biggest catch possible was to be made that day.
The Warwick, an English trading vessel of the Laconia Company, had
already gone up the Piscataqua River and on her return would take a cargo
of fish back to England. No later catch could be sufficiently salted and
dried.

"To feed eighty people every day," grumbled Godfrie, "and keep a cargo on
hand, can't be done even in these waters."

There had been little planting on this shore; so the fish already
prepared for market had been eaten by the hungry settlers because of the
delayed arrival of the Warwick with food supplies. Perhaps this accounts
for Godfrie's irritation and anxiety