“Long before you were born, when your mother was a little girl, the English king said that everybody in the land ought to think as he thought, and go to a church like his.  He said he would send us away from England if we did not do as he ordered.  Now, we could not think as he did on holy matters, and it seemed wrong to us to obey him.  So we decided to go to a country where we might worship as we pleased.”

“What became of that cruel king, Mistress Brewster?”

“He ruleth England now.  But thou must not think too hardly of him.  He doth not understand, perhaps.  Right will win some day, Remember, though there may be bloody war before peace cometh.  And I thank God that we, at least, shall not be called on to live in the midst of the strife,” she went on, speaking more to herself than to the little girl.

“We decided to go to Holland, out of the reach of the king.  We were not sure whether it was best to move or not, but our hearts were set on God’s ways.  We trusted Him in whom we believed.  Yes,” she went on, “and shall we not keep on trusting Him?”

And Rose Standish, remembering the little stock of food that was nearly gone, the disease that had come upon many of their number, and the five who had died that month, answered firmly:  “Yes.  He who has led us thus far will not leave us now.”

They were all silent a few seconds.  Presently Remember said:  “Then did ye go to Holland, Mistress Brewster?”

“Yes,” she said.  “Our people all went over to Holland, where the Dutch folk live and the little Dutch children clatter about with their wooden shoes.  There thou wast born, Remember, and my own children, and there we lived in love and peace.”

“And yet, we were not wholly happy.  We could not talk well with the Dutch, and so we could not set right what was wrong among them.  ’Twas so hard to earn money that many had to go back to England.  And worst of all, Remember, we were afraid that you and little Bartholomew and Mary and Love and Wrestling and all the rest would not grow to be good girls and boys.  And so we have come to this new country to teach our children to be pure and noble.”

After another silence Remember spoke again:  “I thank thee, Mistress Brewster.  And I will try to be a good girl.  But thou didst not tell me about Christmas after all.”

“Nay, child, but now I will.  There are long services on that day in every church where the king’s friends go.  But there are parts of these services which we cannot approve; and so we think it best not to follow the other customs that the king’s friends observe on Christmas.

“They trim their houses with mistletoe and holly so that everything looks gay and cheerful.  Their other name for the Christmas time is the Yuletide, and the big log that is burned then is called the Yule log.  The children like to sit around the hearth in front of the great, blazing Yule log, and listen to stories of long, long ago.