We have come to put this Indian corn, or Turkey wheat, to another use than that of eating, for it has been agreed to let the kernels serve as ballots in public voting. [Illustration] Each man may put into Standish's iron cap, which is what our people use when they cast their ballots, a single kernel of the corn to show that it is his intent to elect whomsoever had been spoken of for this or that office; but if a bean be cast, it is used as counting against him who desires to be elected, and a law has already been made which says that "if any man shall put more than one Indian corn or bean into Captain Standish's helmet in time of public election, he shall forfeit no less than ten pounds in lawful money." ARRIVAL OF THE "ANN" And now, because there is so much of excitement, owing to the frequent coming and going of strangers, which neither Sarah nor I can well understand, I will set down, in as few words as may be possible, only such news as seems of importance, beginning with the time before our second harvesting. Then the ship _Ann_ came, bringing yet more people, although, fortunately, a considerable store of food, and in her were the wives and children of some of our company who had come over in the _Mayflower_. How joyous was the meeting between those who had long been separated. Sarah and I could see, however, that more than one of these women were disappointed, having most likely allowed themselves to believe their husbands were gathering riches in the new world. I heard one, who found her husband much the same as clad in rags, wish that she and her children were in England again. When the ship _Ann_ went back to England, my mother and I were left alone, for it had been decided by the head men of the town that Master Edward Winslow should take passage in her to look after certain business affairs of the colony, and, what seemed to me the more important, to buy some cows. The sorrow of it was that my father was chosen to journey with Master Winslow. We were exceedingly lonely, and should have felt yet more desolate but for Captain Standish and John Alden both of whom did whatsoever they might to cheer. THE "LITTLE JAMES" COMES TO PORT It was while we were alone that the ship _Little James_ came, laden with fifty men, women and children to be joined to our colony, and when they were settled, did it seem as if Plymouth was much the same as a city, with so many people coming and going. What with the food which had been brought in the _Ann_ and the _Little James_, and with the bountiful harvest we reaped in the fall, there seemed no longer to be any fear of famine; and with so many hands to make light work, as Elder Brewster said, there was no good reason why we should not have a meeting-house to be used for no other purpose than as a place in which to worship God. THE NEW MEETING-HOUSE