An hundred years ago (so ran
The old-time story) all
Good wishes said above its span
Would, soon or late, befall.
If pure and earnest, never failed
The prayers of man or maid
For him who on the deep sea sailed,
For her at home who stayed.
Once thither came two girls from school,
And wished in childish glee
And one would be a queen and rule,
And one the world would see.
Time passed; with change of hopes and fears,
And in the self-same place,
Two women, gray with middle years,
Stood, wondering, face to face.
With wakened memories, as they met,
They queried what had been
“A poor man’s wife am I, and yet,”
Said one, “I am a queen.
“My realm a little homestead is,
Where, lacking crown and throne,
I rule by loving services
And patient toil alone.”
The other said: “The great world lies
Beyond me as it lay;
O’er love’s and duty’s boundaries
My feet may never stray.
“I see but common sights of home,
Its common sounds I hear,
My widowed mother’s sick-bed room
Sufficeth for my sphere.
“I read to her some pleasant page
Of travel far and wide,
And in a dreamy pilgrimage
We wander side by side.
“And when, at last, she falls asleep,
My book becomes to me
A magic glass: my watch I keep,
But all the world I see.
“A farm-wife queen your place you fill,
While fancy’s privilege
Is mine to walk the earth at will,
Thanks to the Wishing Bridge.”
“Nay, leave the legend for the truth,”
The other cried, “and say
God gives the wishes of our youth,
But in His own best way!”
1882.
The following is a copy of the warrant issued by Major
Waldron, of Dover, in 1662. The Quakers, as was
their wont, prophesied against him, and saw, as they
supposed, the fulfilment of their prophecy when, many
years after, he was killed by the Indians.
To the constables of Dover, Hampton, Salisbury,
Newbury, Rowley, Ipswich, Wenham, Lynn, Boston, Roxbury,
Dedham, and until these vagabond Quakers are carried
out of this jurisdiction. You, and every one
of you, are required, in the King’s Majesty’s
name, to take these vagabond Quakers, Anne Colman,
Mary Tomkins, and Alice Ambrose, and make them fast
to the cart’s tail, and driving the cart through
your several towns, to whip them upon their naked
backs not exceeding ten stripes apiece on each of
them, in each town; and so to convey them from constable
to constable till they are out of this jurisdiction,
as you will answer it at your peril; and this shall
be your warrant.
Richard
Waldron.
Dated at Dover, December 22, 1662.
This warrant was executed only in Dover and Hampton.
