“Minion and Sackeret, bravely done. Guns of a king and queen, Brazen and bold in the autumn sun, Mute on the hill grass-green, Moulded in strength by skillful hands, Fashioned in beauty for war’s demands,-- The terrible beauty that Death commands,-- And the nod of king and queen. Here will they stand at the dead man’s gate Where the Pilgrims sleep and dream and wait For the day when the lowly and the great Are as one at the throne serene. * * * * * The land that holds the bones of all their sires The land they loved despite their hapless lot, Has kindled once again ancestral fires And tells these dead they have not been forgot. And here she sends to her dead exiled sons To guard their sanctuaries, these ancient guns.” The Pilgrim Progress More far reaching than the voice of the guns, was the message to the future from the small lower room of the fort, where the Pilgrims held their services of worship. Here their Elder, William Brewster, extolled freedom of thought and conscience; here were read letters received from their beloved pastor in Leyden, John Robinson; here they sang hymns of praise and thanksgiving; but still surrounded by danger, “they must constantly be on their guard, night and day.” “With arms they gathered in the congregation to worship Almighty God. But they were armed, that in peace they might seek divine guidance in righteousness: not that they might prevail by force, but that they might do right though they perished.” --CALVIN COOLIDGE Plymouth, Dec. 21, 1920 The congregation assembled “at beat of drum,” and marched together from their homes on Leyden Street, protected by the muskets of the men. “They march three abreast, and are led by a sergeant.--Behind comes the Governor in a long robe, beside him on the right hand comes the preacher with his cloak on, and on the left hand the captain with his side arms.” The women with babes in their arms and their children clinging to them, the boys and young men and the maidens follow,--“and so they march in good order, and each sets his arms down near him.” It is minutely described in a letter written in 1627, by Isaac de Rasieres, a visitor of state from the Dutch colony at Manhattan. This “Pilgrim Progress” is yearly reproduced by a memorial service to the Pilgrims on the site of the first fort-meeting house.