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382 GOVERNOR WINTHROP' S WIFE.
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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In The Histories, The Romances, And The ...
•; When Mrs . Winthrop landed , the infant colony did its best to " _show her honor . The shifired seven cannon shot ; the " captains
with their companies , in arms p , formed a guard to attend them , and _honored them with volleys of shot and the firing of three artillery
pieces . " „ The people from the adjoining plantation sent abundant stores of provisions , as fat hogs , kids , venison , poultry , geese , and
partridges , so that the simple resources of gunpowder and cookery were brought into play with much effect . " The like joy / ' says her
husband , " and manifestations of love had never been seen before in New England . It was a great marvel that so much people and
such store of provisions could be gathered together at so few hours ' warning . " On the 11 th of November , a day of thanksgiving was
observed at Boston for Mrs . Winthrop ' s safe arrival , and on the 17 th Bradfordthe Governor of Plymouthcame to Boston to offer
congratulations , at the wooden house two , storeys high , which had been erected for the first lady in the colony .
Her high position was worthily occupied . " She was perhaps well-nigh as useful in a private way as he was in his more public
and extended sphere . She sustained and cheered him amidst the difficulties and hardship , and toils and dangers and sacrifice , that
had to be encountered amidst the forests of the New "World . " When jealousy and suspicion occasionally dogged himas it does all
, public men , " he had the comfort to know that in his own home there was one always the samealways true to himwhoever else
might be faithless or change ; and , sustained by her , presence and sympathy , he maintained his tranquillity , undisturbed by the
fickleness of others , and continued unceasingly in his exertions to advance the welfare of the plantationeven when these exertions
, were undervalued or ill requited . " Though brought up in the enjoyment of all the luxuries and
elegances of life that wealth could provide , Mr . and Mrs . Winthrop now denied themselves many of thesewhich even in the colony they
niight have had , that they might set , before others an example of Christian frugality and moderation , and might exercise a more
abundant liberality towards those who were in need . They supplied almost daily some of their neighbors with food from their table .
Their house was a temple of piety , and no family was more , regular than theirs in attendance upon the duties of public worship .
In the theological controversies which shook the colony in its early days she took no part : but her husband was involved in the
proceedings which were entered into against Mrs . Hutchinson and her party , who happened at one time to enjoy popular favor . The
story of these commotions is well told in the same book from which this little memoir has been abridged , and to it we refer the reader ....
_t The following note , dated " Sad Boston , 1637 , " during a temporary absence of Winthrop , shows the wife ' s mingled feelings : —
the " opportunity Dear in my of thoughts presenting , —I my blush love to to think you how . Sad much . thoug . I hts have possess neglec my ted
382 Governor Winthrop' S Wife.
382 GOVERNOR WINTHROP ' S WIFE .
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), Feb. 1, 1862, page 382, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01021862/page/22/
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