"Sweet little Ruth with her flaxen hair,

All neatly braided and tied,

Was sitting one cold December day

At her pretty young mother's side.

"I'll tell thee, Ruth!' her mother cried,
Herself scarce more than a girl,
As she smoothed her little daughter's hair,
Lest it struggle out into a curl,

"If thy stint be spun each day this week,
And thou toil like the busy bee,
A Christmas present on Christmas day
I promise to give to thee.'

"And then she talked of those merry times She never could quite forget;

The Christmas cheer, the holly and yule-
She was hardly a Puritan yet.

"She talked of those dear old English days, With tears in her loving eyes;

And little Ruth heard, like a Puritan child,
With a quiet though glad surprise.

"But nevertheless she thought of her gift
As much as would any of you;

And busily round, each day of the week,
Her little spinning wheel flew.

"Tired little Ruth! but oh, she thought,

She was paid for it after all,

When her mother gave her on Christmas day A little Puritan doll.

""Twas made of a piece of homespun sheet,
Dressed in a homespun gown;

Cut just like Ruth's, and a little cap
With a stiff white muslin crown.

"A primly folded muslin cape-
I don't think one of you all

Would have been so bold as to dare to play,
With that dignified Puritan doll.

"Dear little Ruth shows her delight,
In her queer little quiet way;

She did not say much, but she held her doll,
In her arms all Christmas day.

"And then (she always said 'goodnight,'

When the shadows began to fall),

She was so happy she

went to sleep

Still holding her

Christmas doll."

The people of New England in the early days never wore brilliant colors, but dressed in quiet shades and in the simplest fashion. But they were so very neat that they always looked well.

Because they were so particular they were often called Puritans. But if one were in trouble, probably no one would have done more to help him than these same stiff, grave Puritans.

They kept faithfully the agreement they had signed on board the Mayflower to make just laws and to be ruled by them. From time to time all the men of the village assembled in the meeting-house to attend to the public business, just as a thousand years before, in their old homes by the Baltic, and later in their new homes in England, the men of each Saxon town had met about their sacred tree to deal out justice, and to decide how they should be governed.

When other Englishmen, who were disgusted at the injustice at home, learned how successful the colony of Plymouth had been, they began to come over in gradually increasing numbers. In fifty years, settlements were made all along the New England coast. The white men began to make their way slowly westward toward lands where the soil was richer and the winds were less bleak and cutting than on the coast.

"Look now abroad! Another race has filled

Those populous borders wide the wood recedes,
And towns shoot up, and fertile realms are tilled;
The land is full of harvest and green meads."

As the number of settlers increased, the villages and towns grew larger and more numerous. The people of each village governed themselves in much the same way as those at Plymouth did. Each town held itself responsible for protecting its people from all personal harm, from robbery and injustice of all kinds. They also saw that the public roads were kept in order, that the stockade about the town was repaired. Many other local matters were attended to.

In the town meetings, which were always held in the meeting-house, several men, called selectmen, were chosen to attend to all this public business.

After the towns became numerous, in 1634, each town sent two men, called deputies, to a General Court. Here they made general laws governing all the towns, and called the union of towns the Commonwealth. This General Court was nearly the same as what is now the State Legislature. The government of the New England State grew out of the government of the towns. (See page 269.)

16. THE QUAKERS.

You remember that one reason why the first settlers of Massachusetts came to America was because in England they were not allowed to worship God in the way they liked best. Should you not think that the persecutions they had to endure would have made them liberal towards others who had different religious belief from their own?

But such was not the case, as what I have to tell will show you. In 1656 a number of Friends, or Quakers, came to America from England, and very sorry indeed were the people of Massachusetts to see them enter their colony. Almost every ship had brought to the colonists news of the trouble these Quakers were causing in England.

They were a class of people who had separated from the Church of England. They did not believe in war, and so refused to become soldiers even when commanded to do so by the king. When talking with people they used the words "thee" and "thou" instead of you. They wore plain drab-colored clothes. The men looked queer with their long coats and broad-brimmed hats. They refused to take off their hats to any one, as a mark of respect. This would look strange to us

now.