I wish it might be possible for you to see the flocks and flocks of pigeons which come here when the weather grows warm. It is as if they shut out the light of the sun, so great are the numbers, and father says that again and again do they break down the branches of the trees, when so many try to roost in one place. Any person who so chooses may go out in the night after the pigeons have gone to sleep, and gather as many bags full as he can carry, so stupid are the birds in the dark, and even when they are not the most plentiful, we can buy them at the rate of one penny for twelve. ELDER BREWSTER I must tell you that there is being made a stout fort where we can all go in case any wicked savages should come against us, and when that has been finished, we shall have a real meeting-house, for one is to be put up inside the walls. Mother says she is certain Mistress Brewster will be relieved, for now we meet each Sabbath Day at her home. It must be a real hardship for her when Elder Brewster preaches an unusually long sermon, for many a time have the pine knots been lighted before he had come to an end, and, of course, the evening meal could not be cooked until we who had come to meeting had gone to our homes. Father has told me that Elder Brewster was a postmaster of Scrooby when he first knew him; that his belief in our faith was so strong as to make him one of the Non-Conformists, and so earnestly did he strive to perform whatsoever he believed the Lord had for him to do, that his was the house in Scrooby where our people listened to the expounding of the word of God. When he, with the others of our friends, went to Leyden, Master Brewster was chosen as assistant to our preacher Robinson, and was made an elder. It is not seemly that a child so young as I should speak even in praise of what my elders have done; but surely a girl can realize when a man is watchful for the comfort of others, heeding not his own troubles or pains, so that those around him may be soothed, and, next to Captain Standish, Elder Brewster was the one to whom we children could go for advice or assistance. When the sickness was upon us, he, hardly able to be out of his bed, ministered in turn to those who were dying, and to us who were nigh to starvation, in as kindly, fatherly a manner as when he had sufficient of the goods of this world to make himself comfortable both in body and mind. THE VISIT TO MASSASOIT That which gave mother and me a great fright was Governor Bradford's command that Edward Winslow and Master Hopkins visit the village of the Indian chief, Massasoit, in order to carry as presents from our settlement of Plymouth a suit of English clothing, a horseman's coat of red cotton, and three pewter dishes. [Illustration]