--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Nephi Anderson collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 3 number: 9 published: 1900-07 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Nephi Anderson, "The Pilgrims: The Pioneers," *Improvement Era* 3, no. 9 (July 1900): 641–644.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera39unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera39unse start_page: 641 end_page: 644 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1900-07) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera39unse publication_year: 1900 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1900, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # The Pilgrims: The Pioneers IMPROVEMENT ERA. Vol. III. JULY, 1900. No. 9. THE PILGRIMS: THE PIONEERS. BY NEPHI ANDERSON, AUTHOR OF "a YOUNG FOLKS' HISTORY OF THE CHURCH," "ADDED UPON," ETC. In the beginning of the seventeenth century, a band of English people was seeking religious freedom in the land of their birth. The world was beginning to awaken from a long sleep — to emerge from a long night of darkness. The spirit of liberty was struggling to get from under the power that had bound the consciences of men. Among the many seekers after this religious freedom was the Separatists of England. Not content with the form of worship in the Church of England, they had severed their connection with that body and had organized congregations of their own; but the powerful hand of the law came upon them, and they were "hunted," "persecuted" and "clapped in prison." At last they escaped to Holland, where they lived in peace for twelve years. In the beginning of the nineteenth century, the God of heaven restored again to earth the fullness of the gospel. The land of 642 IMPROVEMENT ERA. America had been prepared for this event by the establishing of just laws that protected all men in their rights of religious worship; but when a small band of Americans believed this new revelation of God's goodness to man, and, withdrawing themselves from the established religions of the land, set up congregations of their own, there was again the Separatists cry of "hunted," "persecuted" and "clapped in prison." Their country would not protect them in their God-given constitutional rights, and they also were driven from place to place until they rested in comparative peace for a few years, in the city of Nauvoo. Because of their enforced wanderings, the little band of Separatists were called Pilgrims. These Pilgrims did not wish to become anything else but Englishmen. They loved their country, its language, and its institutions. In Holland, they would soon become Dutch, so they prepared to remove to the newly discovered lands of the New World, where they could still remain Englishmen. The "Mormons" were Americans. America was their home, and, according to their religious belief, always would be. They loved its freedom, its institutions, its God-given Constitution. They did not wish to go to another country, or come under another form of government. So they moved about from place to place within their own country, until they were forced to look to the unexplored regions of the West for a place of refuge, and still remain Americans. The Pilgrims had heard of a new land in the West. It could be reached by crossing a vast stretch of nearly unknown waters. The "Mormons" had heard of a great unexplored region in the West. It could be reached by crossing wild, trackless prairies, mountains, and deserts. But anything for peace, and for the liberty of worshiping God. One hundred and two Pilgrims embarked in the Mayflower \ and they were two months and fifteen days on the wild Atlantic. Storm-tossed they were, seasick, bruised, weak from lack of sleep, and weary from the long confinement. But westward they sailed, carrying with them the precious seed of liberty to plant in the garden of the Lord. From the "Mormon" communities, stopping temporarily in THE PILGRIMS: THE PIONEERS. 643 Iowa, one hundred and forty-eight souls went out. They were the Pioneers. Westward, they also set their course. Slowly, day by day, they traveled on. Weary they were, and footsore, but the love of liberty burned in their bosoms, and the freedom of worshiping God was worth all the hardship. Their journey lasted three months and seventeen days. It was the 21st of December, 1620. The little ship from Holland lay rocking in the harbor of Plymouth. Landward, it was cold and desolate. The New England hills were covered with snow; and through the pines, the icy breath of winter swept. Here the Pilgrims must land. Dismal, indeed, it was, as they looked out over the forbidding landscape, all the more harsh and uninviting when they thought of the country they had left. By their mind's eye, they could see the soft, green meadows of their forsaken homes. The balmy air came from the sea and waved the fields of grain. The cows lowed their greeting home. The fowls cackled, the windmills creaked, — but it was only the dim echoes of past music. The stern reality was before them, and they must set their faces hard, lest their hearts fail them, to follow their destiny to the end. It was the 24th'of July, 1847. The little band of Pioneers had pitched their tents in the heart of the Great American Desert. The sun shone in burning fierceness. The bare mountains stood gaunt and desolate. The plains lay about them, a sage-brush waste. The earth was parched and baked, until it was cracked in its intensity of heat. The only green objects were the willows which lined the little stream that came from the hills. Pitiless, indeed, was the sight, all the more dreary when contrasted in the memory with the moist lands and fertile fields of Missouri and Illinois. But they did not falter. They may not have fully comprehended their situation, but by the eye of faith, they saw past the heart-breaking present into the glorious future. Before landing, the Pilgrims held a meeting in the cabin of the Mayflower, where they drew up an agreement declaring for liberty, and announcing themselves loyal subjects of the English king. Strange that they who could get no protection from that king should still declare themselves Englishmen ! The Pioneers held a meeting the day after their arrival, 644 IMPROVEMENT. ERA. wherein they praised the Lord for his watch-care. Two days after, a party ascended Ensign Peak, and unfurled to the breeze the stars and stripes. Though the American government would not protect them, they were Americans still! Hard and long did the Pilgrims labor to establish themselves in the wilderness. There was the continual fear of the native savages. The soil was rocky, and hard to cultivate. The elements were not gentle to them, and it was no easy task to wrest from the earth a scanty subsistence. Equally untiring did the Pioneers work. The Indians were also a menace to them. The land was virtually a desert. There were no forest's cooling shade to protect them from the summer's heat. Often the winters were severe. It was no easy task to contend against devouring insects and blighting frosts, and to make the parched ground produce their bread. The history of the Pilgrims repeats itself in that of the "Mormon" Pioneers. Both made epochs in history, both began new chapters in the story of the race, and in the unfolding of God's purposes in the earth. It is counted an honor to be able to trace one's lineage to the Pilgrims. In a few years hence, it will be equally honorable to be the sons of the Pioneers. But the greatness of both lies not only in what they did, but in the spirit in which they worked. The faith in their hearts was manifested in their works. They honored God and their religion, not only with their lips, but with every power of their souls. Both were Pilgrims, both were Pioneers. "Let it not be grievous," wrote the Pilgrims' brethren in England to them, — and the sentiments expressed will apply with equal force to the Pioneers — "Let it not be grievous to you that you have been instrumental to break the ice for others. The honor shall be yours to the world's end."