The Courtship Of Myles Standish

: TALES OF PURITAN LAND
: Myths And Legends Of Our Own Land

Myles Standish, compact, hard-headed little captain of the Puritan guard

at Plymouth, never knew the meaning of fear until he went a-courting

Priscilla Mullins--or was she a Molines, as some say? He had fought white

men and red men and never reeked of danger in the doing it, but his

courage sank to his boots whenever this demure maiden glanced at him, as

he thought, with approval. Odd, too, for he had been married once, and
< r /> Rose was not so long dead that he had forgotten the ways and likings of

women; but he made no progress in his suit, and finally chose John Alden

to urge it for him. John--who divides with Mary Chilton the honor of

being first to land on Plymouth Rock--was a well-favored lad of

twenty-two. Until he could build a house for himself he shared Standish's

cottage and looked up to that worthy as a guardian, but it was a hard

task that was set for him now. He went to goodman Mullins with a slow

step and sober countenance and asked leave to plead his protector's

cause. The father gave it, called his daughter in, and left them

together; then, with noble faith to his mission, the young man begged the

maiden's hand for the captain, dwelling on his valor, strength, wisdom,

his military greatness, his certainty of promotion, his noble lineage,

and all good attributes he could endow him with.



Priscilla kept at her spinning while this harangue went on, but the drone

of the wheel did not prevent her noting a sigh and a catch of the breath

that interrupted the discourse now and then. She flushed as she replied,

Why does not Captain Standish come to me himself? If I am worth the

winning I ought to be worth the wooing.



But John Alden seemed not to notice the girl's confusion until, in a

pause in his eloquence, Priscilla bent her head a little, as if to mend a

break in the flax, and said, Prithee, John, why don't you speak for

yourself?



Then a great light broke on the understanding of John Alden, and a great

warmth welled up in his heart, and--they were married. Myles

Standish--well, some say that he walked in the wedding procession, while

one narrator holds that the sturdy Roundhead tramped away to the woods,

where he sat for a day, hating himself, and that he never forgave his

protege nor the maiden who took advantage of leap year. However that may

be, the wedding was a happy one, and the Aldens of all America claim John

and Priscilla for their ancestors.