Here lies buried ye body of Mr. Thomas Clarke, aged 98. Departed this life March 24, 1697. Thomas Clarke came to Plymouth from England in the ship Anne 1623. He married Susan Ring of Plymouth, 1634. Their children were Andrew, James, William, Susanna, Nathaniel, and John. From whom descended a numerous posterity. He married his second wife, Mrs. Alice Hallett Nichols of Boston, in 1664. He lived for some years in Boston, and also in Harwich, of which town he was one of the original proprietors. He died in Plymouth, having lived in the reigns of six British sovereigns and the Com’th. This stone is erected to his memory by his descendants A.D. 1891. [Illustration: Thomas Clark tombstone] It is with reverent step that the latter-day Pilgrim approaches the Cushman monument, an enduring memorial to a “precious servant of God.” This is a granite column, twenty-five feet high, and it is by far the most conspicuous monument on the hill. There is a bronze tablet on each of its four sides, that on the northerly side reading as follows:— [Illustration: Cushman Monument.] R O B E R T C U S H M A N, Fellow-exile with the Pilgrims in Holland, Afterwards their chief agent in England, Arrived here -IX- November, -MDCXXI, With Thomas Cushman his son: Preached -IX- December, His memorable sermon on “The Danger of self-love And the sweetness of true friendship:” Returned to England -XIII- December, To vindicate the enterprise of Christian emigration; And there remained in the service of the Colony Till -MDCXXV, When, having prepared to make Plymouth His permanent home. West side:— He died, lamented by the forefathers as “their ancient friend,—who was as their right hand with their friends the adventurers, and for divers years had done and agitated all their business with them to their great advantage.” “And you, my loving friends, the adventurers to this plantation, as your care has been first to settle religion here before either profit or popularity, so, I pray you, go on.—— I rejoice——that you thus honor God with your riches, and I trust you shall be repaid again double and treble in this world, yea, and the memory of this action shall never die.” DEDICATION OF THE SERMON. South side:— T H O M A S C U S H M A N. Son of Robert, died -X- December, MDCXCI, Aged nearly -LXXXIV- years. For more than -XLII- years he was Ruling Elder of the First Church in Plymouth, By whom a tablet was placed to mark his grave on this spot, Now consecrated anew by a more enduring memorial. M A R Y, widow of Elder Cushman, and daughter of Isaac Allerton, Died -XXVIII- November, MDCXCIX, aged about -XC- years, The last survivor of the first comers in the Mayflower. East side:— Erected by The descendants of Robert Cushman In memory of their Pilgrim Ancestors, XVI- September, MDCCCLVIII. [Illustration: Thomas Cushman tombstone]