Arrival of the Ann

And now, because there is so much of excitement, owing to the frequent coming and going of strangers, which neither Sarah nor I can well understand, I will set down, in as few words as may be possible, only such news as seems of importance, beginning with the time before our second harvesting.

Then the ship Ann  came, bringing yet more people, although, fortunately, a considerable store of food, and in her were the wives and children of some of our company who had come over in the Mayflower. How joyous was the meeting between those who had long been separated. Sarah and I could see, however, that more than one of these women were disappointed, having most likely allowed themselves to believe their husbands were gathering riches in the new world. I heard one, who found her husband much the same as clad in rags, wish that she and her children were in England again.

When the ship Ann  went back to England, my mother and I were left alone, for it had been decided by the head men of the town that Master Edward Winslow should take passage in her to look after certain business affairs of the colony, and, what seemed to me the more important, to buy some cows. The sorrow of it was that my father was chosen to journey with Master Winslow.

We were exceedingly lonely, and should have felt yet more desolate but for Captain Standish and John Alden, both of whom did whatsoever they might to cheer.