



Produced by Larry B. Harrison, David E. Brown, and the
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TRANSCRIBER’S NOTES:


  Text in italics is surrounded by underscores: _italics_.

  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

  On page 20, section III is missing in the original.

  In the Notes section, the entry for 559 was out of numerical order in
    the original; it has been moved to its proper place in this eBook.




  _THE CRANE CLASSICS_


  THE
  COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH

  BY
  HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW


  WITH SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY AND NOTES

  BY

  P. H. PEARSON, A. M.
  Professor of the English Language and Literature In Bethany College


  CRANE & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS

  TOPEKA, KANSAS

  1905




  Copyright 1905,

  By CRANE & COMPANY,

  Topeka, Kansas.




CONTENTS.


                                               PAGE.

  INTRODUCTION                                     5

  SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY                           14

  THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANDISH                 27

  NOTES                                           91




INTRODUCTION.


“The Courtship of Miles Standish” deals with a supreme moment in the
history of our nation, the moment when the harassed and thrice-winnowed
little band of Puritans began to establish themselves and their
institutions on these shores. In the belief that the poem will be
better understood and appreciated both as poetry and as history if some
of the traits and the struggles of this people are called to mind, a
few words regarding them will here be given.

Though the sovereigns of England under whose auspices the movement
known as the Reformation was carried through, severed connection
with the Church of Rome, they did not bring about a thorough reform
in matters of faith and church service. Hence there arose in England
parties holding conflicting views regarding the correctness and
propriety of the practices and ceremonies still in vogue. The
Established Church still retained much that, in the opinion of the
more radical element,