Springfield 1636-1886, History of Town and City, by Mason A. Green ...

SPRINGFIELD, I6S6-18S6. 9
As the expeditiou was through a wilderness during a possibly rainy
spring, some may have been dressed at times ni the uueomfortal)ly
warm doublet and hose of leather lured with oiled skin, m which
case they would abandon then- large, conical broadlirims for cooler,
red, knit Puritan caps. The half-boot was much woru then, and Mr.
Pynchon would wear great boots, — a luxury limited by law to tliose
whose estate was at least £200. The l)road, white collar of the
period would not be demanded upon such an expedition. The women
of the band would wear strong, sim[)le kerse}^ gowns, with hoods,
caps, high necks, and neckcloths, their home-made gowns falling
to the stout boots with the du-ectness of a decree from heaven.
The short sleeves and Itare arms, and bunches of green ribbon (not,
however, required on such a journey), had been forbidden b}^ the
authorities ; but an inspection of the manuscript and printed remains
of pioneer life in New England shows that neither the ingenuity of
man, nor the dangers of the wild l)easts or wilder men, kept the
New England woman from reflecting in her attire somethmg of the
grace and taste that Heaven sheds upon her sex ; and, therefore,
if during tliis expedition some ^^eoman did not discover it a })leas-
ure to tramp ])eside Ins horse that a maid might be the better
placed, and her forest-decorated gown appear to better advantage,
then Springfield was not at first peopled with the average quality of
Puritans.
It protits us little to linger over a chapter of history which is
founded upon an hypothesis and developed upon slender threads of
inference, but one cannot but look twice at the possible scenes along
this route to the Connecticut, — the encampment at a hamlet of wig-
wams, the fair-faced matron and tlie leather-dressed squaw, the ex-
pressions of a mutual spirit of concord and curiosity among the
soft-voiced strangers in green and black and the natives, the
psalm-singing circle about the camp-fire, and the wondering savages
before their wigwams.
Mr. Pyiiclion had secured an interpreter named Ahaughton. through