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NARRATIVE AND LEGENDARY
POEMS
BY JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER
CONTENTS:
THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM INTRODUCTORY NOTE PRELUDE THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM
KING VOLMER AND ELSIETHE THREE BELLSJOHN UNDERHILLCONDUCTOR BRADLEYTHE WITCH OF WENHAMKING SOLOMON AND THE ANTSIN THE "OLD SOUTH"THE HENCHMANTHE DEAD FEAST OF THE KOL-FOLKTHE KHAN'S DEVILTHE KING'S MISSIVEVALUATIONRABBI ISHMAELTHE ROCK-TOMB OF BRADORE
THE PENNSYLVANIA PILGRIM.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE.
THE beginning of German emigration to America may be traced to thepersonal influence of William Penn, who in 1677 visited the Continent,and made the acquaintance of an intelligent and highly cultivated circleof Pietists, or Mystics, who, reviving in the seventeenth century thespiritual faith and worship of Tauler and the "Friends of God" in thefourteenth, gathered about the pastor Spener, and the young andbeautiful Eleonora Johanna Von Merlau. In this circle originated theFrankfort Land Company, which bought of William Penn, the Governor ofPennsylvania, a tract of land near the new city of Philadelphia. Thecompany's agent in the New World was a rising young lawyer, FrancisDaniel Pastorius, son of Judge Pastorius, of Windsheim, who, at the ageof seventeen, entered the University of Altorf. He studied law at,Strasburg, Basle, and Jena, and at Ratisbon, the seat of the ImperialGovernment, obtained a practical knowledge of international polity.Successful in all his examinations and disputations, he received thedegree of Doctor of Law at Nuremberg in 1676. In 1679 he was alaw-lecturer at Frankfort, where he became deeply interested in theteachings of Dr. Spener. In 1680-81 he travelled in France, England,Ireland, and Italy with his friend Herr Von Rodeck. "I was," he says,"glad to enjoy again the company of my Christian friends, rather than bewith Von Rodeck feasting and dancing." In 1683, in company with a smallnumber of German Friends, he emigrated to America, settling upon theFrankfort Company's tract between the Schuylkill and the Delawarerivers. The township was divided into four hamlets, namely, Germantown,Krisheim, Crefield, and Sommerhausen. Soon after his arrival he unitedhimself with the Society of Friends, and became one of its most able anddevoted members, as well as the recognized head and lawgiver of thesettlement. He married, two years after his arrival, Anneke (Anna),daughter of Dr. Klosterman, of Muhlheim. In the year 1688 he drew up amemorial against slaveholding, which was adopted by the GermantownFriends and sent up to the Monthly Meeting, and thence to the YearlyMeeting at Philadelphia. It is noteworthy as the first protest made bya religious body against Negro Slavery. The original document wasdiscovered in 1844 by the Philadelphia antiquarian, Nathan Kite, andpublished in The Friend (Vol. XVIII. No. 16). It is a bold and directappeal to the best instincts of the heart. "Have not," he asks, "thesenegroes as much right to fight for their freedom as you have to keepthem slaves?" Under the wise direction of Pastorius, the German-townsettlement grew and prospered. The inhabitants planted orchards andvineyards, and surrounded themselves with souvenirs of their old home.A large number of them were linen-weavers, as well as small farmers.The Quakers were the principal sect, but men of all religions weretolerated, and lived together in harmony. In 1692 Richard Framepublished, in what he called verse,