An important change in the policy of the colony, which affected the women as well as men, was made at this time. Formerly the administration of affairs had been upon the communal basis. All the men and grown boys were expected to plant and harvest, fish and hunt for the common use of all the households. The women also did their tasks in common. The results had been unsatisfactory and, in 1623, a new division of land was made, allotting to each householder an acre for each member of his family. This arrangement, which was called “every man for his owne particuler,” was told by Bradford with a comment which shows that the women were human beings, not saints nor martyrs. He wrote: “The women now went willingly into ye field, and tooke their little-ones with them to set corne, which before would aledge weaknes and inabilitie; whom to have compelled would have bene thought great tiranie and oppression.” After further comment upon the failure of communism as “breeding confusion and discontent” he added this significant comment: “For ye yong-men that were most able and fitte for labour and service did repine that they should spend their time and strength to work for other men’s wives and children without any recompense.... And for men’s wives to be commanded to doe servise for other men, as dresing their meate, washing their cloathes, etc., they deemed it a kind of slaverie, neither could many husbands well brooke it.” If food was scarce, even a worse condition existed as to clothing in the summer of 1623. Tradition has ascribed several spinning-wheels and looms to the women who came in _The Mayflower_, but we can scarcely believe that such comforts were generously bestowed. There could have been little material or time for their use. Much skilful weaving and spinning of linen, flax, and wool came in later Colonial history. The women must have been taxed to keep the clothes mended for their families as protection against the cold and storms. The quantity on hand, after the stress of the two years, would vary according to the supplies which each brought from Holland or England; in some families there were sheets and “pillow-beeres” with “clothes of substance and comeliness,” but other households were scantily supplied. A somewhat crude but interesting ballad, called “Our Forefathers’ Song,” is given by tradition from the lips of an old lady, aged ninety-four years, in 1767. If the suggestion is accurate that she learned this from her mother or grandmother, its date would approximate the early days of Plymouth history. More probably it was written much later, but it has a reminiscent flavor of those days of poverty and brave spirit: “The place where we live is a wilderness wood, Where grass is much wanted that’s fruitful and good; Our mountains and hills and our valleys below, Are commonly covered with frost and with snow.