any man think I have spoken rather merrily than seriously, he is
much mistaken; I have written what I write, with all the
indignation I can, and no more than I ought."

Let it be remembered, that these ladies with "squirrels brains,"
are the "grandmothers" whose degenerate descendants we are daily
accused of being. It is an old tune, but the generations have
danced to it since the world began, each with a profound
conviction of its newness, and their own success in following its
lead. Nor was he alone in his indignation, for even in the midst
of discussions on ordnance, and deep perplexities over unruly
settlers, the grave elders paused, and as Winthrop records:

"At the lecture in Boston a question was propounded about veils.
Mr. Cotton concluded, that where (by the custom of the place) they
were not a sign of the woman's subjection, they were not commanded
by the apostle. Mr. Endecott opposed, and did maintain it by the
general arguments brought by the apostle. After some debate, the
governor, perceiving it to grow to some earnestness, interposed,
and so it brake off." Isaiah had protested, before Nathaniel Ward
or the Council echoed him, but if this is the attitude the sturdy
preacher held toward the women of his congregation, he must have
found it well to resign his place to his successor, also a
Nathaniel, Nathaniel Rogers, one of the row of "nine small
children," still to be seen in the New England Primer, gazing upon
the martyr, John Rogers, the famous preacher of Dedham, whose
gifts of mind and soul made him a shining mark for persecution,
and whose name is still honored in his descendants.

Of less aggressive and incisive nature than Nathaniel Ward, he was