VIII

  THE SPINNING WHEEL.

  Month after month passed away, and in, autumn the ships
      of the merchants 825
  Game with kindred and friends, with cattle and corn for the Pilgrims. 
  All in the village was peace; the men were intent on their labors,
  Busy with hewing and building, with garden-plot and with merestead,[48]
  Busy with breaking the glebe, and mowing the grass in the meadows,
  Searching the sea for its fish, and hunting the deer in the forest. 830
  All in the village was peace; but at times the rumor of warfare
  Filled the air with alarm, and the apprehension of danger. 
  Bravely the stalwart Standish was scouring the land with his forces,
  Waxing valiant in fight and defeating the alien armies,
  Till his name had become a sound of fear to the nations. 835
  Anger was still in his heart, but at times the remorse and contrition
  Which in all noble natures succeed the passionate outbreak,
  Came like a rising tide, that encounters the rush of a river,
  Staying its current awhile, but making it bitter and brackish.[49]

  Meanwhile Alden at home had built him a new habitation, 840
  Solid, substantial, of timber rough-hewn from the firs of the forest. 
  Wooden-barred was the door, and the roof was covered with rushes;
  Latticed the windows were, and the window-panes were of paper,
  Oiled to admit the light, while wind and rain were excluded. 
  There too he dug a well, and around it planted an orchard:  845
  Still may be seen to this day some trace of the well and the orchard. 
  Close to the house was the stall, where, safe and secure
      from annoyance,
  Raghorn, the snow-white bull, that had fallen to Alden’s allotment
  In the division of cattle, might ruminate in the night-time
  Over the pastures he cropped, made fragrant by sweet pennyroyal. 850

  Oft when his labor was finished, with eager feet would the dreamer
  Follow the pathway that ran through the woods to the house
      of Priscilla,
  Led by illusions romantic and subtile deceptions of fancy,
  Pleasure disguised as duty, and love in the semblance of friendship. 
  Ever of her he thought, when he fashioned the walls of his
      dwelling; 855
  Ever of her he thought, when he delved in the soil of his garden;
  Ever of her he thought, when he read in his Bible on Sunday
  Praise of the virtuous woman, as she is described in the Proverbs,—­
  How the heart of her husband doth safely trust in her always,
  How all the days of her life she will do him good, and not evil, 860
  How she seeketh the wool and the flax and worketh with gladness,
  How she layeth her hand to the spindle and holdeth the distaff,
  How she is not afraid of the snow for herself or her household,
  Knowing her household are clothed with the scarlet cloth
      of her weaving!