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National Geographic : 1947 Aug
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Land of the Pilgrims' Pride sold the right to catch these alewives that swim up Town Brook each spring. Sealed bids are made by interested parties, and the contract is awarded the highest bidder. A Runway for Alewives "Not much competition lately," Sampson told me. "Nobody but me has the equip ment, I guess. Contract says you have to get 15,000 of the fish up to Billington Sea. I rush 'em up by tank truck. The State's putting in a runway so's the fish can get up themselves." Shades of the Pilgrim Fathers-a runway for the alewives! "Before you leave Plymouth," I was ad vised, "see Guy Cooper at Jabez Corner. He runs a real old-fashioned general store. Al ways prided himself on having anything any one asked for; that is, before the war he did." They told me of the summer resident who thought to stump Guy by asking for a pulpit. Without a word, the old storekeeper led him to the barn, showed him one of staunchest oak. "Got her from the church down the road they took down some time ago," he explained. "Thought some darn fool'd ask for it." The store, 150 years old, with 14 additions to its original building, sprawled back from the Cape road in accumulated abandon. In side, a confusion of merchandise was heaped on counters and shelves. Many of the articles I hadn't seen in years. "Know where everything is?" said Guy. "Sure I do. Ought to. I've tended store here for more than 60 years. Want to see around?" We did "see around," talking of storekeep ing, its trials and tribulations. Occasionally the tinkling front door bell sounded, and Guy would hurry off to get a quart of milk or penny's worth of candy. "Now here's where the nailkeggers gather, winter nights," he said when we reached the back room. There they were-a dozen kegs and a fat, pot-bellied stove. "Most people think things is run from Washington. Ain't, though. Right here's where everything's set tled. These fellers always leave in a body, too. Anyone leavin' before the rest naturally loses his argument." Business picked up, so I sat on a sack of grain and played with four frisky kittens. Plenty of good-natured fun crossed the counter with money and goods. "Ever try these?" Guy asked a summer customer, pointing to a dozen fluffy buns wrapped in cellophane. "Are they good?" she countered, rising to the occasion. "Don't know. Never et any," came the brisk reply. Driving southeast toward Cape Cod, we were intrigued by a sign which stated "Pris cilla Beach Theater-America's Largest Sum mer Theater Colony." On a side road we found it-a huge red barn surrounded by numerous trim white farmhouse buildings. Young people were everywhere. For ten summers Priscilla Beach has coached some 1,800 aspirants to stage and screen. From every State in the Union they have come, some 150 boys and girls a season, to study and act together. We watched four rehearsals going on simul taneously, on the stage and under the trees. Later we attended creditable performances of Pride and Prejudice and First Lady. Plymouth's northern next-door neighbor is Kingston, leisurely tree-shaded town of 3,000 people. Part of old Plymouth until 1726, it became "home" to ten Mayflower passengers, including their able governor. Bradford an Erudite Governor William Bradford, the colony's erudite gov ernor for 31 of its crucial first 37 years, was one of the great figures of 17th-century Amer ica. His journal, History of Plymouth Plan tation, ranks among the Nation's most valued historical works. Still standing is the home of Maj. John Bradford, the governor's grandson, which for a time housed this priceless manuscript (Plate VIII). Loaned to the Reverend Thomas Prince in 1728, it eventually became part of a library in Old South Church, Boston. The book evacuated Boston with the British in 1776, dropped mysteriously out of sight. Discovered in the library of the Bishop of London in 1855, it was finally returned to Massachusetts after an absence of 121 years. Flowing placidly past Bradford House is historic Jones River, named for the Mayflow er's captain. In reality a meandering tidal creek, this "river's" past matches its ambitious name. Between 1776 and 1876 some 270 Kingston-owned vessels up to 600 tons were launched, mostly sideways, from its busy shipyards. Ox teams dragged them on flood tides to the bay. Jones River launched one of the earliest American privateers, the brig Independence, in 1776. Kingston men and Kingston ships sailed the Seven Seas for a century thereafter. The Pilgrim, Kingston-built in 1829, was made famous by its young crew member, Richard Henry Dana, in Two Years Before the Mast. OnawoodedknollattheendofalaneI found the home of Wrestling Brewster, grand- 207
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