It was late 1624, and a cool breeze blew through the orange and yellow leaves of the trees of Massachusetts, amidst the Plymouth settlement. Just as they did in 1621, the colonists and natives gathered in the village for a feast to celebrate a good harvest, right after a prolonged drought. They joked around the table, offering and receiving food from one another. Beside one of the wooden houses, a woman was seen filling a bucket with water from the nearby iron hand-operated water pump so that the clothes inside would soak.

"Phew.. That's surely enough..."

The laundress then picked up the bucket and moved to a small wooden stool next to the fence, where she sat before placing the bucket between her feet and starting to scrub the wet clothing, setting some aside on the barrel next to her to dry. At the feast, some of her fellow pilgrims waved at her, inviting her to come and join them, but she only gave them a kind smile and swayed her hand dismissively before going about her duties.