THE LADY ARBELLA

The ship in which Mr. Johnson and his lady embarked, taking Grandfather’s chair along with them, was called the Arbella, in honor of the lady herself.  A fleet of ten or twelve vessels, with many hundred passengers, left England about the same time; for a multitude of people, who were discontented with the king’s government and oppressed by the bishops, were flocking over to the new world.  One of the vessels in the fleet was that same Mayflower which had carried the Puritan pilgrims to Plymouth.  And now, my children, I would have you fancy yourselves in the cabin of the good ship Arbella; because if you could behold the passengers aboard that vessel, you would feel what a blessing and honor it was for New England to have such settlers.  They were the best men and women of their day.

Among the passengers was John Winthrop, who had sold the estate of his forefathers, and was going to prepare a new home for his wife and children in the wilderness.  He had the king’s charter in his keeping, and was appointed the first Governor of Massachusetts.  Imagine him a person of grave and benevolent aspect, dressed in a black velvet suit, with a broad ruff around his neck and a peaked beard upon his chin.  There was likewise a minister of the Gospel, whom the English bishops had forbidden to preach, but who knew that he should have liberty both to preach and pray in the forests of America.  He wore a black cloak, called a Geneva cloak, and had a black velvet cap, fitting close to his head, as was the fashion of almost all the Puritan clergymen.  In their company came Sir Richard Saltonstall, who had been one of the five first projectors of the new colony.  He soon returned to his native country.  But his descendants still remain in New England; and the good old family name is as much respected in our days as it was in those of Sir Richard.

Not only these, but several other men of wealth and pious ministers, were in the cabin of the Arbella.  One had banished himself for ever from the old hall where his ancestors had lived for hundreds of years.  Another had left his quiet parsonage, in a country town of England.  Others had come from the universities of Oxford or Cambridge, where they had gained great fame for their learning.  And here they all were, tossing upon the uncertain and dangerous sea, and bound for a home that was more dangerous than even the sea itself.  In the cabin, likewise, sat the Lady Arbella in her chair, with a gentle and sweet expression on her face, but looking too pale and feeble to endure the hardships of the wilderness.

Every morning and evening the Lady Arbella gave up her great chair to one of the ministers, who took his place in it and read passages from the Bible to his companions.  And thus, with prayers and pious conversation, and frequent singing of hymns, which the breezes caught from their lips and scattered far over the desolate waves, they prosecuted their voyage, and sailed into the harbor of Salem in the month of June.