He names as "Apparel for
one man - and after this rate for more: - "
One Hatt
One Monmouth Cap
Three falling bands
Three Shirts
One Wastcoat
One Suite of Frize (Frieze)
One Suite of Cloth
One Suite of Canvas
Three Pairs of Irish Stockings
Four Pairs of Shoes
One Pair of Canvas Sheets
Seven ells of coarse canvas, to make a bed at sea for two men,
to be filled with straw
One Coarse Rug at Sea
The Furniture of the Pilgrims has naturally been matter of much interest
to their descendants and others for many years. While it is doubtful if
a single article now in existence can be positively identified and
truthfully certified as having made the memorable voyage in the
MAY-FLOWER (nearly everything having, of course, gone to decay with the
wear and tear of more than two hundred and fifty years), this honorable
origin is still assigned to many heirlooms, to some probably correctly.
Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes in his delightful lines, "On Lending a Punch
Bowl," humorously claims for his convivial silver vessel a place with
the Pilgrims: -
"Along with all the furniture, to fill their new abodes,
To judge by what is still on hand, at least a hundred loads."
To a very few time-worn and venerated relics - such as Brewster's chair
and one or more books, Myles Standish's Plymouth sword, the Peregrine
White cradle, Winslow's pewter, and one or two of Bradford's books - a
strong probability attaches that they were in veritate, as traditionally
avowed, part of the MAY-FLOWER'S freight, but of even these the fact
cannot be proven beyond the possibility of a doubt.
