Meeting Father in Plymouth

Meeting Father in Plymouth

Young, yet mature for her seven years, Sarah hurriedly walked onto the Handmaid. The ship would take her and her family across the ocean to meet their father in a settlement called Plymouth Colony.

Hand in hand, she walked with her mother and four brothers onto the ship. Sarah thought about her father. He had made the ocean trip in March. It was now August, and she could not wait to see him. Sarah knew the journey would be long. Plymouth Colony was far away. It was on the other side of the ocean. Her mother said it would take the ship almost twelve weeks to get there. Sarah's father had left England with other planters, or men who worked with crops. They sailed to Plymouth on a ship called the Lyon. Sarah and her family were Puritans. They sailed to Plymouth hoping to be free to follow their religion. In England, they did not support many of the king's decisions, so the king did not support them. So they had left England to stay in Holland until they could make the journey to Plymouth.

“ What will Plymouth be like? Will it be like living in England?" asked Sarah's brother John. " I hope so, " answered Sarah. Just like her brother, she wanted life in Plymouth to be much the same as life in England. Sarah was sad to leave her friends Jane and Anne. She hoped she would make new friends in Plymouth, even though she had heard that only a few children lived there.

Sarah crawled into her bunk bed next to her mother. It was cramped and dark. She closed her eyes and dreamed of seeing her father again. For more than eighty nights she closed her eyes and on eighty mornings opened them to see nothing but the sea. Then on the morning of October 29, she opened them to a loud cry. " Land, ho! " Sarah jumped up and tugged excitedly on her mother's arm. " Mother, Mother, we are here, we are here! " she cried. Sarah leaped out of her bed and charged out onto the ship's deck. Her brothers were on her heels. Everyone was eager to see the new land and most eager to see their father.

Soon the ship reached the rocky coast and pulled up to a dock in a small harbor at the edge of the settlement. Sarah stood on her tiptoes looking over the ship's side, searching the dock for her father. Her mother and brothers gathered their few belongings. Everyone on the Handmaid was tired from the journey. But they were all happy to be off the ocean and even more excited to join their loved ones.