An Unseemly Christmas Celebration

Then came that disaster brought about entirely by those who suffered, and if, when I am older grown, there be need to put a check upon a sinful appetite, then have I only to send my mind back to that gruesome day in the year of grace, 1633.

Because we had been so favored in the voyage after the second tempest, Governor Calvert believed we should make special rejoicings on the day which marks the birth of our Saviour, and to the end that all might make merry, he gave orders for wine to be dealt out to each person, as much as he desired to drink.

We ate heartily, for the noonday meal was a veritable feast, being made up of the best from out all our stores, but it shames me to say that among us were those who drank of the wine until they were like unto beasts, yea, worse, for brutes satisfy their hunger or their thirst, and then are done, whereas these companions of ours drank until they fell upon the decks unable to move.

Then came that which seemed to me was a punishment direct from God, for thirty-one of the people in the Ark  sickened on the day after Christmas with a fever, and before the new year had come, one of the gentlemen and eleven serving men had died, and had been buried in the sea.

There is little need for me to say that we were saddened and sore at heart because of this disaster, which might well be called a judgment.

The casting of the bodies into the ocean, while the priests stood near the rail saying the prayers for the dead, was to me something so dreadful that before the second body had been dropped over, I fled into the great cabin, hiding my face in the coverings of my bed while I stopped my ears, lest I should hear even those holy words which were being spoken by the servants of God. When all was over, and I at in the cabin shivering with terror, Father White came to my side, whispering words of cheer and promise, or reminding me of the loving care of the Almighty, until the veil of sorrow and of fear was swept away.

Verily do I believe that that which seemed at the time so dreadful, was of a benefit to us, for surely no man could, with the remembrance of that awesome day upon him, offend as did those who had gone to their judgment.