At Christmas all had a jolly time. There were Christmas trees for the children, and the tables were loaded with sweet-cakes and plum puddings and jellies, such as only the Dutch mothers knew how to make. And then at New Year's all the houses were open, and everybody called on everybody else, and the year was begun with good wishes and kind greetings.

The Dutch governors. -In only one thing did the people of New Netherland seem to be very unfortunate, and that was in the governors who were sent over from Holland to rule them. One after another, there were four of these governors, and each seemed to be in some respects worse than the one that went before him.

Claimed by the English. At last, about fifty years after the first settlement of New Netherland, some English ships sailed into the harbor at the mouth of the Hudson River. They had been sent by Charles II., the king of England, to demand by what right the Dutch had taken possession of that region. For did not the whole country belong to England by right of the discoveries which John Cabot had made nearly two hundred years before? The Dutch could only reply by saying that they held it by reason of Henry Hudson's discovery; and, to the English, that was no reason at all.

End of Dutch rule. The commander of the ships sent a letter to Peter Stuyvesant, who was the governor at that time, telling him to surrender New Amsterdam and all the neighboring country to the English, who were the true

owners.

The governor stormed and scolded, and declared

that he would never surrender. But the people had had enough of Dutch governors, and they believed that they would fare better and be happier under English rule. And so Stuyvesant was obliged to yield; his soldiers marched out of the fort, and the English soldiers marched

in; and he, himself, gave up his place to an English governor.

New York. All the country about the Hudson River -in fact the whole region hitherto claimed by the Dutch, became an English province, and was given by the king to his brother, the Duke of York. The town on Manhat

tan Island was no longer called New Amsterdam, but New York; and the same name was given to the country in the valley of the Hudson and its tributaries.

Why were England and other nations so anxious to discover some new route to the Pacific Ocean? In what directions and to what places were ships sent in order to search for some such route? Why was Henry Hudson well qualified to lead expeditions for this purpose? By what great trading company was he employed? Where is the river that is called by his name? Where is Manhattan Island? For what purpose was the first settlement made on Manhattan Island? What name was given to the settlement? What name was given to the country on both sides of the Hudson? Why did the English take possession of the country? What name did they give to the region about the Hudson River?

WILLIAM BREWSTER

AND THE PILGRIMS OF NEW ENGLAND

I. THE SEPARATISTS

William Brewster. In the eastern part of England, on the old road from London to Scotland, there is a little village called Scrooby. Here, three hundred years ago, there lived a man whose name was William Brewster. He was the master of the post-or, as we should say, the postmaster. He did not have much mail to handle, for there were no newspapers at that time, and people did not write many letters. His chief duty was to provide travelers with horses and guides to conduct them to the next post; and he kept an inn where strangers were lodged and entertained. The govern

ment paid him a salary of about two shillings a day, and his inn was in the great manor house of the archbishop of York.

William Brewster was a man of importance in his neighborhood. He had studied at Cambridge University and had afterwards spent two years in Holland with one of the queen's officers. He was strong and brave and not afraid to speak his opinion. Many of the people in and about Scrooby looked up to him as their leader.

The Separatists. Now, at that time the king of England wished to make everybody in his kingdom belong to the English Church, of which he was the head. But William Brewster said there were some things taught in that church of which he did not approve, and he wished to worship God in the way which his conscience told him was right. Several of his neighbors were of the same opinion; so they met

and entertained"

and

Their

every Sunday in the
large hall of the
manor house, and
formed a little church
of their own.
pastor was a goodly
man whose name was
John Robinson, and
they chose William
Brewster to be their

ruling elder. They
were called Separa-

tists, because they had separated from the English Church.

Persecution. When it became known that the Separatists were holding meetings in the archbishop's manor house, the king's officers took steps at once to punish them. Brewster was put out of his office as post