Chapter New England of Index by Simonds History of American Literature

righteous indignation. When Morton's little company had increased to a considerable number, -- for various congenial spirits had been added to the group, -- these stern moralists rose in their wrath, hewed down with axe and sword the lofty maypole around which their rollicking neighbors had rehearsed the dances and revels of Merry England, and banished Morton which his followers from the country. Back in his native land, he wrote his New English Canaan (1637), turning the shafts of ridicule upon his victorious enemies. While the work in itself is of slight importance, the incident is a diverting one, and gives a humorous glow to the sober-hued picture of this sombre Puritan age.