The people at home, they said, "would not
endure they should sit down without a patent on any place which
our King lays claim unto."
The people of Massachusetts were keeping quiet and going along
steadily in their own way, without paying any heed to the British
Government. They wanted to be left alone, and they did not want
any one else to do things which might call attention to them.
And besides all this they were greatly troubled at the thought
of losing an eloquent preacher like Hooker. Every church was like
a candlestick giving light to the world. "And the removing of
a candlestick," they said, "is a great judgment, which is to be
avoided."
But in spite of all arguments Hooker determined to go. So one June
morning he and his congregation set forth. They sent their furniture
by water and they themselves, both men and women, started to walk
the hundred miles, driving their cattle before them; only Mrs.
Hooker, who was ill, being carried in a litter.
They went slowly, allowing the cattle to graze by the wayside, living
chiefly on the milk of the cows and the wild fruits they found.
It was no easy journey, for their way led through the pathless
wilderness, their only guides being the compass and the sun. For in
those days we must remember that beyond the settlements the whole
of America was untrodden ground. Save the Indian trails there were
no roads.
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