Master Lyford was not always so severe in his punishment. He had whispering-sticks, which were thick pieces of wood to be placed in a child's mouth until it was forced wide open, and then each end of the stick was tied securely at the back of the scholar's neck in such a way that he could make no manner of noise. Sarah wore one of these nearly two hours because of whispering to me, and when it was taken out, the poor child could not close her jaws until I had rubbed them gently during a long while. [Illustration] Then there was the single-legged stool, upon which it was most tiring to sit, and this was given to the child who would not keep still upon his bench. I was forced to use it during one whole hour, because of drumming my feet upon the floor when the cold was most bitter, and the fire would not burn owing to the wood being so wet. It truly seemed to me, before the punishment was come to an end, as if my back had been broken. Master Lyford was also provided with five or six dunce's caps, made of birch bark, on which were painted in fair letters such names as "Tell-Tale," "Bite-Finger-Baby," "Lying Ananias," "Idle Boy," and other ugly words. [Illustration] However, I dare say this was for good, and went far toward aiding us in our studies. Master Allerton declares that there are no truer words in the Book, than those which teach us that to spare the rod is to spoil the child, and surely we of Plymouth were not spoiled in such manner by Master Lyford, nor by the other teachers who came to us later. NEW VILLAGES While I have been setting down all these things that you might know how we lived here in the wilderness, other villages have been built around us until we can no longer say we are alone, or that our only neighbors are those Englishmen in Virginia, which place is so far away that we should need make a voyage in a ship in order to come at it. First I will speak of that village of Merry Mount, wherein dwell those people who, led by Thomas Morton, are a reproach to those who walk in the straight path. Then, so we have heard, there are white men living on the river called Saco; at the mouth of the river Piscataqua and higher up the stream is, so Squanto declares, a village called Cochecho. At Pemaquid, and on the nearby island of Monhegan, are settlements whose dwellers are nearly all fishermen, and who send their catch to England. One Captain Wollaston, with between thirty and forty men, began to make a village on the seashore not above fifty miles from here; but he soon tired of battling with the wilderness, and set sail with all his people for Virginia. Master John Oldham, who came to Plymouth with Master Lyford, having had hot words with Governor Bradford, set off for a place called Nantasket, where, in company with four other discontented ones of our village, he aims to make a town.