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The For Get Me Not
By Martha Brickbauer
In the days of Queen Elizabeth the Pinta, a very small vessel, sailed away from the shore of England. The people
were all crowded on deck looking at the carved rocks around which many small streams cut their channel. But soon
nothing except the blue wates could be seen, and they retired to their rooms below.
The first six days of the voyage all went well, but when they were nearing the shore of North America, large, black
clouds could be seen floating in the sky, and a terrific storm arose, drifting the ship into the bay of New York.
After the sky was clear and they could once more go on deck, they saw a large stretch of land covered with tall
trees and beautiful flowers. Some of the men took a little boat and sailed along the shore to find a more convenient
place to build their homes, but did not succeed so they returned to the ship and said that the best place was near
New York bay.
The following day the men staid on shore, chopped and hewed the logs for their huts. During the time the huts were
being built, the women and children staid on the ship but rowed out every day to plant corn, potatoes and pumpkins.
A few months were spent in their new homes and they gathered the corn and pumpkins. Thanksgiving day was arriving
and the men were hunting for turkeys, while the women were busy preparing for the Thanksgiving dinner.
The next day just as the people were about to sit down and eat their Thanksgiving dinner, they heard an Indian war
whoop which excited them very much. The men jumped up and grabbed their rifles, while the women took their children
and ran to the blockhouse.
The white men fought very bravely but soon fell back, and the Indians slaughtered all the men except Mr. Bently, who
fled to the woods. After the Indians had slaughtered all the men, they returned to the blockhouse, captured the
women and children, and set the houses on fire.
After the Indians returned to their camp Mr. Bently came back to his home to look for his daughter, but he did not
succeed, but only found everything destroyed except an old hatchet which the Indians had forgotten.
Mr. Bently took the old hatchet and went to the woods to build a log hut for himself. After he did this he dressed
like an Indian and went to the camp of the Indians to look for his daughter, and found her tied to a tree. While he
was talking to her he noticed that she was dying and the last words she spoke to her father were, "You will not
forget me, will you?" and before he could answer her questions, she died.
Mr. Bently took his daughter's body and buried it near his cottage, and as a year or two passed he saw a little
blue flower growing on her grave and he named it the "For-Get-Me-Not" because those were the last words of his
loving daughter.
{Note: This story was included in the booklet, Origin of Flowers, which was written in June 1906}
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