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Show I . . May Day Recalls Liberal Who Tried to Have Gay Time in Puritan Neiv England i Comes May Day and thousands of American girls In our schools and colleges will be perpetuating the custom cus-tom of "bringing in the May." As they dance around the Maypole it is I not difficult to believe that a strange : ghost will be haunting the scene of their festivities. I It will be the ghost of an early-day early-day "liberal" who tried unsuccess- j fully to have a gay time in Puritan New England. His name was Thomas Morton and in 1625 he established es-tablished a trading post near Wes-sagusset Wes-sagusset (later the site of Quincy, Mass.) which he named "Merry Mount". The new trading post began to prosper almost immediately. Morton became a prime favorite with the Indians because he traded them two things which they wanted most-firearms most-firearms and firewater. By edict of the king, supplying the savages with either was strictly forbidden. But that didn't bother the master of Merry Mount. Enjoying this prosperity, Morton decided in the spring of 1627 to have a great celebration. So he invited his Indian friends to a May Day festivaj. What happened on that occasion oc-casion at this Colonial "hot spot" is described by Governor Bradford of Plymouth who tells us that: "They allso set up a Maypole, drinking and dancing about it many days togeather, inviting the Indean women, for their consorts, dancing, and frisking togither (like so many fairies, or furies rather) and worse practices. As if they had anew revived re-vived and celebrated the feasts of the Roman Goddes Flora, or the beasly practieses of the madd Bac-chinalians." Bac-chinalians." Of course, the tale of such goings-on goings-on at Merry Mount outraged the good citizens of neighboring settlements settle-ments and when Morton declined to mend his ways, Governor Bradford sent the doughty Capt. Miles Stand-ish Stand-ish (whom Morton disrespectfully called "Captaine Shrimp") to arrest ar-rest him. After various misadventures, misadven-tures, including a personal encounter encoun-ter between Morton and Standish and Morton's near escape by the device of getting his guards drunk, the master of Merry Mount was taken tak-en to Plymouth where he was given a preliminary hearing and sent to England for trial. There he enlisted the support of Sir Ferdinand Gorges, who hated the Pilgrims, and within a year Morton Mor-ton was back at Merry Mount, again dealing in firearms and firewater. But during his absence the Puritans had started to colonize Massachusetts Massachu-setts and these stern people were not to be trifled with. t A.: t I John Endicott, founder of Salem, visited Merry Mount, cut down the Maypole and took away all of Morton's winter supply of corn but failed to catch him. However, the Puritan authorities authori-ties kept after John Endicott him until they did lay hands on him. He was given a swift trial, sentenced sen-tenced to sit in the stocks, to have all his belongings confiscated and then banished to England. Later Gorges was made governor-general of New England and Morton planned to come back as his lieutenant. But Gorges' downfall ended that dream. However Morton did return to New England in 1643 only to find a meeting house standing on the place where his men and the Indian maidens maid-ens had "danced and frisked" together. to-gether. Again Morton was arrested but the magistrates couldn't fine him because he had already been deprived de-prived of all his property. They couldn't sentence him to be whipped because he was too old and half-crazy, half-crazy, besides. So they sentenced him to prison and there all winter long he lay in chains without fire or bedding. In the spring of 1644 they released him for he was no longer a danger to the morals of the colony. When he died two years later, with him died the Elizabethan tradition in New England. But 300 years after aft-er he erected his Maypole at Merry Mount his name was heard again. In 1927 a native American opera called "Merry Mount," with such stars as Lawrence Tibbett and Gladys Swarthout in the cast, was presented in the Metropolitan Opera house in New York and newspapers of the day described its reception as "the most enthusiastic of 10 years at the Metropolitan." Perhaps the ghost of Thomas Morton was there and smiled! |