So one day a small fleet of English vessels came into the bay, and a
letter was sent on shore which said that all this land belonged to
England and must be given up to them. The Dutch might stay there, but
they would be under an English governor. Old Peter tore up the letter
and stamped about in a great rage on his silver leg. But he had treated
the people so badly that they would not fight for him, so he had to give
up the town.
The English called it New York, after the Duke of York, the king's
brother. It grew and grew till it became a great and rich city, and sent
ships to all parts of the world. Most of the Dutch stayed there, and
their descendants are among the best people of New York to-day. Not
long after these English ships came to New York Bay, other English ships
came to a fine body of water, about 100 miles farther south, now called
Delaware Bay. Into this also runs a great stream of fresh water, called
Delaware River, as wide as the Hudson. I think you will like to learn
what brought them here.
No doubt you remember what I said about some people called Quakers, who
came to Boston and were treated very badly by the Puritans. Did any of
my young readers ever see a Quaker? In old times you would have known
them, for they dressed in a different way from other people. They wore
very plain clothes and broad-brimmed hats, which they would not take off
to do honor to king or noble. To-day they generally dress more like the
people around them.
If they were treated badly in Boston they were treated worse in England.
Thieves and highwaymen had as good a time as the poor Quakers. Some of
them were put in jail and kept there for years. Some were whipped or put
in the stocks, where low people called them vile names and threw mud at
them. Indeed, these quiet people, who did no harm to any one, but were
kind to others, had a very hard time, and were treated more cruelly than
the Pilgrims and the Puritans.
Among them was the son of a brave English admiral, who was a friend of
the king and his brother, the Duke of York. But this did not save him
from being put in prison for preaching as a Quaker and wearing his hat
in court.
This was William Penn, from whom Pennsylvania was named. You may well
fancy that the son of a rich admiral and the friend of a king did not
like being treated as though he were a thief because he chose to wear a
hat with a broad brim and to say "thee" and "thou," and because he would
not go to the king's church.
What is more, the king owed him money, which he could not or would not
pay. He had owed this money to Admiral Penn, and after the admiral died
he owed it to his son.
William Penn thought it would be wise to do as the Pilgrims and Puritans
had done. There was plenty of land in America, and it would be easy
there to make a home for the poor Quakers where they could live in peace
and worship God in the way they thought right. This they could not do in
England.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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