COLONISTStMl 
 
 AND THE 
 
 REVOLUTION 
 
GIFT OF 
 
THE COLONISTS 
 AND THE REVOLUTION 
 
CENTURY READINGS 
 
 IN 
 UNITED STATES HISTORY 
 
 A series, made up from the best on this subject 
 in THE CENTURY and ST. NICHOLAS, for students 
 of the upper grammar grades and the first year 
 high school. Profusely illustrated. 
 
 EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS 
 
 THE COLONISTS AND THE REVOLUTION 
 
 A NEW NATION 
 
 THE WESTWARD MOVEMENT 
 
 THE CIVIL WAR 
 
 THE PROGRESS OF A UNITED PEOPLE 
 
 12mo. About 225 pages each. $.50 net. 
 
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CENTURY READINGS IN UNITED STATES HISTORY 
 
 THE COLONISTS 
 AND THE REVOLUTION 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 CHARLES L. BARSTOW 
 
 NEW YORK 
 THE CENTURY CO. 
 
 1912 
 
Copyright, 1912, by 
 THE CENTURY Co. 
 
 Published March, 1912 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES . Helen E. Smith 3 
 
 THE EARLIER INDIAN WARS . . Edward Eggleston .... 9 
 
 BY THE WATERS OF CHESAPEAKE . John W. Palmer 20 
 
 A SETTLER IN PENNSYLVANIA . . Richard Townsend .... 29 
 
 THE MANY-SIDED FRANKLIN . . Paul Leicester Ford .... 31 
 
 PHILADELPHIA Talcott Williams 47 
 
 THE WALKING PURCHASE . . . George Wheeler 57 
 
 DUTCH CHARACTERISTICS . . . Mrs. Van Rensselacr .... 65 
 
 LIFE ON A COLONIAL MANOR . . Helen E. Smith 70 
 
 A COLONIAL LETTER 83 
 
 A THANKSGIVING DINNER 85 
 
 LITTLE PURITANS H. E. Scudder 88 
 
 THE FUR-TRADER AND THE INDIAN Parkman, Kalm and others . 96 
 
 THE ALGONQUIN MEDICINE-BOY . Francis S. Palmer .... 103 
 
 IN 1776 W. H. V enable 113 
 
 A TORY ARGUMENT Rev. Andrew Burnaby . . . 126 
 
 THE PROLOGUE OF THE REVOLUTION Justin H. Smith 129 
 
 WASHINGTON . . Henry Cabot Lodge .... 138 
 
 WASHINGTON AS AN ATHLETE . Mrs. Burton Harrison . . . 149 
 THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 Mary V. Worstell . . . .157 
 THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON (1777) George Washington . . . .179 
 
 NATHAN HALE Mary S. Northrop .... 184 
 
 LA FAYETTE Mrs. Eugenia M. Hodge . . 194 
 
 BENJAMIN FRANKLIN . . . . H. A. Ogden 201 
 
 PAUL JONES Molly Elliot Seawell .... 209 
 
 vii 
 
viii Contents 
 
 PAGE 
 
 THE STAMP- ACT Box .... David W. Woods, Jr. . . .221 
 THE ORIGIN OF OUR FLAG . . Parmalee McFadden .... 225 
 BOSTON Thomas W. Higginson . . .231 
 
 Acknowledgment is made of the courtesy of Messrs. G. P. Putnam s Sons and 
 Justin H. Smith for permission to use the article " The Prologue of the Revolu 
 tion," and to Molly Klliot Seawell for permission to reprint the article on " Paul 
 Jones." 
 
THE COLONISTS 
 AND THE REVOLUTION 
 
CONCORD HYMN 
 BY RALPH WALDO EMERSON 
 
 Sung at the Completion of the Battle Monument, 
 April 19, 1836. 
 
 By the rude bridge that arched the flood, 
 Their flag to April s breeze unfurled, 
 
 Here once the embattled farmers stood, 
 
 And fired the shot heard round the world. 
 
 The foe long since in silence slept; 
 
 Alike the conqueror silent sleeps ; 
 And Time the ruined bridge has swept 
 
 Down the dark stream which seaward creeps. 
 
 On this green bank, by this soft stream, 
 
 We set to-day a votive stone ; 
 That memory may their deed redeem, 
 
 When, like our sires, our sons are gone. 
 
 Spirit, that made those heroes dare 
 To die, and leave their children free, 
 
 Bid Time and Nature gently spare 
 The shaft we raise to them and thee. 
 
THE COLONISTS 
 AND THE REVOLUTION 
 
 THE GOOD OLD COLONY TIMES 1 
 BY HELEN E. SMITH 
 
 In forming pictures of home life in the colonies, dates, 
 places, and social classes must all be most carefully con 
 sidered. The life conditions which prevailed in the New 
 England colonies from 1620 to 1640 were by no means the 
 same as those which prevailed in the same colonies dur 
 ing the next two decades, and in the other colonies they 
 were at no time quite the same as in New England. The 
 settlers of Virginia, Delaware and Maryland were not of 
 the same creeds, either political or religious as those which 
 prevailed in New England. They had more money and 
 the climate had also its influence. 
 
 The Dutch held very similar religious and political views 
 to those of the New England colonists, but their com 
 mercial instincts \vere stronger, their aggressiveness was 
 less vehement, and their love of home comforts and knowl 
 edge of how to obtain them were much greater. 
 
 These first three sets of colonists had passed through 
 their pioneer stages, and gathered around themselves a fair 
 degree of all the accompaniments of civilization before the 
 
 1 Extracts from " Colonial Days and Ways." 
 
 3 
 
The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 advent of the fourtti distinct and considerable body of set 
 tlers. These were the refugee Huguenots. 
 
 In studying the lives of the early colonists these dif 
 ferent origins should always be considered. 
 
 The Puritan a political as well as a religious exile, 
 -persecuted for his political views even more than his 
 religious tenets, came here to found an empire where all 
 his views should have room to expand. The harshness of 
 the Puritan toward those who disagreed with him was 
 tenderness and mercy compared to the " justice " meted out 
 in old England at that period. 
 
 The conditions of the Puritan s 
 life were hard but full of men 
 tal, moral and physical health. 
 Whether gentle or simple, he de 
 spised no handicraft, neglected no 
 means of cultivation, shirked no 
 duty (nor did he permit any other 
 to do so if he could help it), and 
 he fought his way upward, unhast- 
 ing, unresting. 
 
 The settlers of the fertile South 
 land were also principally 
 of English blood, yet they 
 differed widely from those 
 of the sterile North. They 
 were courageous, of course. 
 Cowards did not cross the 
 Colonial wrought-iron lamp and ocean in those days, when 
 
 sad-iron. . , - .,, 
 
 the sea and the wilderness 
 had real terrors for even the boldest. The love of liberty 
 
The Good Old Colony Times 
 
 Colonial cocked-hat. 
 
 was in their blood, and both the traditions of their past 
 and the comparatively genial conditions by which they 
 were surrounded gave them easy and comfortable views. 
 
 The Huguenot was devout, un 
 ambitious, affectionate of heart, 
 artistic, cultivated, adaptable. 
 He brought to us the arts, the 
 accomplishments and graces of 
 the highest civilization then 
 known, together with a cheerful 
 ness all his own. Not a colony, 
 not a class but was ameliorated 
 by his influence. The home lives of all these different 
 bands of colonists must have differed widely. None had 
 luxuries and few had comforts, as we now understand 
 these terms, but each had some possessions, some ways, 
 some deficiencies, and some attainments which belonged to 
 none of the others. 
 
 At one time there was a general impression that all the 
 immigrant families of good standing had brought over 
 with them many rich articles of furniture, much silver 
 plate, and even many articles of porcelain. Later on it 
 had to be acknowledged that nothing but the most es 
 sential of household furnishings could have been permitted 
 on vessels which were already overcrowded with pas 
 sengers and the animals which were essential to life and 
 agriculture in the new land. 
 
 Rudimentary schools were defective in many ways, but 
 the teachers did their best to make zeal atone for the lack 
 of other essentials. Never from first to last did they cease 
 to set the highest value upon intellectual cultivation or 
 
The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 fail to use every means in their power to secure for their 
 children the advantages of a " polite education," a phrase 
 which is repeated hundreds of times in old letters. 
 
 The earliest New England dwellings were built of logs, 
 
 soon superseded by the 
 permanent homestead. 
 The larger part of the 
 best of the early per 
 manent homesteads were 
 much alike. Both the 
 external Avails and those 
 of the partitions were of 
 heavy timbers roughly 
 squared by the ax, 
 
 Colonial hob-nailed shoes. 
 
 chinked with moss, and 
 lined with hewn planks 
 two inches in thickness. 
 In later days coats of 
 plaster were put on over 
 
 the planks, but during the first years the walls were made 
 warm as well as picturesque by hangings of bear, deer, 
 otter, wild cat, and fox skins. 
 
 The exterior walls were about t\vo feet in thickness, 
 which tells of the size of the forest trees which had been 
 cut down to make them. The high-placed and deep-seated 
 windows were scant in number, heavily barred and narrow. 
 It is doubtful if the first of the windows were glazed. 
 Even in old England it was only the wealthy who at this 
 time could afford the luxury of glass. Oiled paper \vas the 
 usual substitute to exclude cold with heavy and close 
 wooden shutters both outside and inside. During the cold 
 est weather it must have been necessary to depend for light, 
 
The Good Old Colony Times 7 
 
 even in the daytime, upon the open fires, pine knots, and 
 candles for at least the first two decades in each new settle 
 ment. 
 
 In the center of the house rose the great stone chimney, 
 with wide fireplaces opening into three large rooms on the 
 first story, and into four on the second story. 
 
 The second story, on the two longer sides projected con 
 siderably beyond the lower. In view of the constant 
 danger from Indians, it is probable that the house was in 
 tended to be used as a fortress in case of necessity. 
 
 Not until well into the second half of the seventeenth 
 century was furniture of any but the roughest sorts made 
 in New England. 
 
 Scanty enough, according to our standard, were the 
 plenishings of the wealthy houses of old England, and 
 
 Colonial wigs. 
 
 really pathetic was the scarcity here, of what were even 
 then esteemed to be essential comforts in the older land. 
 
 Floor coverings were a rarity even in palaces and the 
 sand and rushes which silenced the tread were as plentiful 
 here as elsewhere. 
 
 Wooden dishes served on ordinary occasions in Old Eng 
 land as in New. 
 
 The real sense of privation was felt in things much closer 
 to the needs of primitive man. 
 
8 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Great, very great, must 1iave been the sufferings from 
 the cold and from the lack of suitable food. Hot water 
 was not dreamed of as a beverage and the milder stimulants 
 of our day had not been introduced. The earliest mention 
 of chocolate in Connecticut is said to have been in 1679. 
 Five years later coffee is first named, and tea not until 
 1695. 
 
 ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1782 
 
 O Thou, that sendest out the man 
 
 To rule by land and sea, 
 Strong mother of a Lion-line, 
 Be proud of those strong sons of thine 
 
 Who wrench d their rights from thee ! 
 
 What wonder if in noble heat 
 
 Those men thine arms withstood, 
 Retaught the lesson thou hast taught, 
 And in thy spirit with thee fought, 
 
 Who sprang from English blood ! 
 
 ALFRED TENNYSON. 
 
THE EARLIER INDIAN WARS 
 BY EDWARD EGGLESTON 
 
 The Virginia colony, in its early struggle 
 with want, was saved from complete overthrow 
 at the hands of the savages by the address of 
 Captain John Smith, by the imperviousness of 
 English armor to arrow-shots, and by the frightful 
 detonations of matchlock guns and small cannon. 
 After the marriage of Pocahontas there ensued an 
 era of good feeling in which the confederated tribes 
 of the Virginia peninsulas found it better to trade 
 with white men than to fight them. Meanwhile, 
 English religionists cultivated a sentimental enthu 
 siasm about the Indians, founding a school and de 
 vising other things for the wild men as laudable in 
 aim as they were impossible of execution. The 
 Indian war ea g er pioneers, feeling secure and intent on open 
 ing ground for growing tobacco, planted their 
 cabins farther and farther apart along the inviting river- 
 banks. They traded with the savages for corn, and hired 
 them to shoot with English fowling-pieces the great bronze- 
 breasted wild turkeys, the innumerable pigeons, whose 
 flight by millions sometimes obscured the sky and was 
 thought an omen of evil, and the water-fowl that gath 
 ered in countless flocks upon the bays and tributaries of 
 the James River. These Indian hunters lived in the houses 
 of their employers, penetrated the mystery of European 
 
 9 
 
1O The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 habits, and became expert with fire-arms, so that the dread 
 of the white man s magic charms and deadly thunderbolts 
 wore away. Even the implacable old Opechancanough, 
 who had come to the leadership on the death of Powhatan, 
 
 
 Indian rattles of turtle shell. 
 
 seemed to be friendly. He accepted a house from the man 
 ager of the college lands, and found no end of delight in 
 locking and unlocking the door. The savages entered 
 freely the isolated and unfortified cabins of the settlers 
 without so much as knocking; they ate from the planters 
 supplies, and slept wrapped in skins or blankets before the 
 wide-open fireplaces. The former hardships of the col 
 onists were fast sinking into that happy oblivion which 
 peace and prosperity bring. 
 
 But in 1622, on the 22d of March (Old Style), in the 
 middle of the day, while the men were afield, the Indians 
 fell upon the women and children in the houses and the 
 men who worked unarmed abroad, killing the settlers with 
 
The Earlier Indian Wars 11 
 
 their own axes, hatchets, hoes, and knives, hacking and 
 disfiguring their dead bodies, and then* fortunately, paus 
 ing to pillage and burn the dwellings. The unutterable 
 outrages on living and dead, so familiar in the history of 
 Indian massacres from that time to this, appeared in this 
 first onslaught. The plan had been well laid to exterminate 
 or drive away every Englishman from the coast. One 
 Indian of those dwelling among white men and under 
 missionary influence was touched with compassion. As 
 he lay upon the floor the night before the massacre, he 
 received from a companion the authoritative command of 
 his tribe to kill the master of the house in which he lived; 
 but he rose and whispered a warning to his benefactor, who 
 carried the tidings across the water into Jamestown, so that 
 the authorities were able to check the Indians after three 
 hundred and forty-seven Europeans had been slain. The 
 savages had not quite lost their fear of the English; they 
 turned back from every show of force, even from an empty 
 gun in the hand of a woman. 
 
 One-twelfth of the whole colony had fallen, almost 
 within a single hour. The Virginia planters had no 
 countrymen on this side of the sea except the remote hand 
 ful of famine-stricken pilgrims beyond Cape Cod; and this 
 destructive blow appalled the colonists, and there was talk 
 of fleeing to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake for se 
 curity. But, under prudent leadership, the settlers were 
 drawn together into the stronger places and made to pre 
 sent a compact and undaunted front. They built palisaded 
 houses and carried their arms in the field and to church. 
 A savage ferocity, born of resentment and terror, showed 
 itself, and the white men did not scruple to treat a per 
 fidious foe with shameless bad faith. How else could Eng- 
 
12 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 lish soldiers, in cumbrous armor, ever come up with bow 
 men so fleet of foot and so light of baggage? Affecting 
 to make peace, the English appointed the 2$d of July, 
 1623, as a day on which to fall simultaneously upon the 
 unsuspecting Indian villages, slaughtering the people, burn 
 ing the wigwams, and cutting up the growing maize, so as 
 to leave the savages to a winter of misery and starvation. 
 Another attack was made in 1624, when eight hundred 
 Pamunkeys and other Indians made a brave stand for two 
 days, but were at length beaten by the odds of fire-arms 
 and defensive armor. 
 
 In 1644, twenty-two years after this first massacre, when 
 Opechancanough w r as shriveled and palsied with age, un 
 able to stand on his feet or to open his eyelids without help, 
 he was borne on a litter to command in a new attack. The 
 Indians, hearing that there was civil strife in England, and 
 having seen a battle between a king s ship and a parlia 
 ment ship in the James River, thought it a good opportunity 
 to make a clean sweep of the English. Five hundred 
 were killed in two days, but the arrival of the governor 
 with an armed force put the savages to flight. Ope 
 chancanough was afterward taken and carried into James 
 town, where a soldier appointed to guard him shot the 
 unmollified centenarian, to whom were attributed so many 
 woes. 
 
 Very different in origin and outcome from the Virginia 
 war w r as the beginning of sorrows in New England. The 
 Dutch purchased the Connecticut River country from the 
 powerful Pequots, who had recently expelled the tribes 
 formerly seated on its banks. Thereupon English settlers 
 brought back the former owners, gave them the protection 
 of an English fort, and from them acquired a rival title. 
 
The Earlier Indian Wars 13 
 
 This inflamed the jealousy of the Pequots, some of whom 
 made themselves amends by killing the unarmed crew of 
 a trading boat from Virginia. The allies of the Pequots 
 on Block Island also slew John Oldham, trading thither 
 from Massachusetts. 
 
 Captain Endecott, afterward governor of Massachusetts, 
 commanded the force sent out in 1636, with orders to bring 
 these Indians to reason by putting to death all their able- 
 bodied men. Endecott was very brave in chopping down 
 May-poles, banishing churchmen, and hanging Quakers, 
 but he was not so well suited to contend with Indians. On 
 Block Island, he burned the combustible wigwams and cut 
 to pieces seven canoes, but the nimble savages retreated 
 to hiding-places according to their wont. Flushed with 
 triumph, Captain Endecott then sailed to " Pequot Har- 
 
 m io lithograph in tho New York Public Library I Samuel P. Avrry collection) 
 
 White women attacked by Indians. 
 
14 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 bor " now known as the mouth of the Thames River 
 in Connecticut. Here the Pequots outwitted him by keep 
 ing negotiations open until they could remove their fami 
 lies and household stuff. The English at length " beat up 
 the drums " as a challenge to battle, giving fair warning to 
 the fleet savages to get out of the way before the guns were 
 discharged. The Pequots shot off some arrows and then 
 ran away under fire. Endecott returned to Boston without 
 losing a man or impairing the enemy s strength. The hand 
 ful of settlers on the Connecticut, and the little garrison 
 under Lieutenant Lion Gardiner at the mouth of that river, 
 were left to endure as best they might the fury which this 
 expedition had provoked. The insolence of the embold 
 ened and enraged Pequots now passed all bounds. They 
 made raids on the Connecticut settlers, killed and captured 
 straggling soldiers from the fort at Saybrook, torturing 
 every hapless white man that fell into their hands, and re 
 peating within hearing of the garrison the cries, groans, 
 prayers, and distressful ejaculations uttered by those whom 
 they had tormented, mimicking and deriding their agon 
 ies, and wearing head-bands made of the fingers and toes 
 of their victims. 
 
 In Maryland, a conflict with the tribes broke out about 
 the time of the close of the Pequot War in Connecticut. 
 The first contest with the Susquehannas seems to have 
 dragged its indecisive course through thirteen years, and 
 when peace was made with this tribe there was still trouble 
 from some of the bands on the eastern peninsula. The 
 records are so defective that we are only able to see occur 
 rences in a sort of historic twilight; the Indian wars ap 
 pear to be without beginning or end. We catch a dim 
 vision of the gallant figure of Colonel Corn way leys, " the 
 
The Earlier Indian Wars 15 
 
 guardian genius of the colony," as, at a later period, we 
 iear of the exploits of Colonel Ninian Beale. We are 
 ible to conjecture something of the distresses of the in- 
 r ant colony during a prolonged Indian war, to which were 
 iiiperadded religious dissensions, insubordination, and 
 nore than one revolution. Meamvhile, Virginia was never 
 r ree for many years at a time from the scourge, and in 
 :6$6 her troops suffered a bitter defeat near the present site 
 )f Richmond, at a brook which still bears the name of 
 Bloody Run. 
 
 In 1675, there came upon the thriving New England 
 :olonies that struggle between Indian ferocity and English 
 :ndurance known as King Philip s War. Philip s father 
 vas Massasoit, the ally of the Pilgrims. His son and suc- 
 :essor, Alexander so called by the English had been 
 udely put under arrest by the Plymouth authorities on sus- 
 >icion of hostile intentions. Soon after his release he died, 
 ome thought of grief and humiliation. Philip, who suc- 
 eeded his brother, was a typical Indian chief, arrogant 
 .nd cringing by turns. It pleased his inordinate vanity to 
 >lot against the English, though he shrank from the actual 
 ollision, which appears to have been brought about at last, 
 .s so many Indian massacres have been, by the impetuous 
 r alor of the young warriors, members of that fierce de- 
 nocracy known in the western tribes at the present time as 
 the soldiers lodge " a body which often carries the day 
 .gainst wiser counsel when war is in the making. But 
 ~ J hilip s arrogance, matched by that of the General Court 
 it Plymouth, rendered the collision inevitable sooner or 
 ater. 
 
 Had those in authority at Plymouth and Boston appre- 
 :iated-the immense advance in power which the Indians had 
 
16 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Indian stockade. 
 
 made in acquiring the use of the white man s weapons, 
 they might have found means to avoid a conflict which 
 presently brought upon them, in addition to Philip s 
 Wampanoags, the Nipmucks of the Massachusetts middle 
 country, the populous clans of the Connecticut Valley, the 
 powerful Narragansetts of the coast south of Cape Cod. 
 and after awhile the Tarranteens of the East. Little ac 
 quainted with Indian warfare, the white men fell into 
 one ambush after another and suffered surprise after sur 
 prise. Marching in close order, the strength of a party 
 was easily reckoned and its ranks readily cut to pieces by 
 the skulking foe. " Our men," says Gookins, " could see 
 no enemy to shoot at, but yet felt their bullets out of the 
 thick bushes/ For a long time there was little but dis 
 asters of sudden massacre and overwhelming defeat, of 
 
The Earlier Indian Wars 17 
 
 families slain, hamlets in flames, and women and children 
 carried into captivity. The Puritans sought to placate an 
 angry deity by fasting and humiliations, and by laws against 
 such abominations as the wearing of long hair by men and 
 the wearing of short hair and too many ribbons by 
 women. Young people were forbidden to drive together, 
 and God was to be pleased by a renewed persecution of 
 the Quakers. But, in spite of these reforms, Captain 
 Hutchinson and sixteen men were cut off by an ambush 
 near Brookfield; Captain Beers \vas slain with twenty of 
 his men while on his way to Hadley; Captain Lathrop, 
 attempting to reach Hadley a week later, was cut off with 
 almost his whole troop of about a hundred men. North- 
 field and Deerfield \vere abandoned to be burned by the 
 savages, and a considerable part of Springfield was de 
 stroyed. What seems now r to have been a rather impolitic 
 attack on the Narragansett stronghold resulted in victory, 
 purchased by a loss so great that the slender military force 
 of the colonies was staggered by it. The scattering far 
 and near of the enraged warriors of this powerful tribe, 
 homeless and famine-stricken in a bitter winter, only 
 aggravated the sorrows of New England. In midwinter, 
 Lancaster was destroyed and forty of its people slain and 
 captured. The daring enemy penetrated to within twenty 
 miles of Boston, and assailed Medfield and Weymouth. 
 Almost the whole of the old colony of Plymouth was laid 
 waste, Warwick in Rhode Island was destroyed, and 
 Providence was partly burned. Pierce and his whole party 
 of fifty fell by an ambuscade, Wads worth and a like 
 number were cut off in the same way; and so numerous 
 and disheartening were the disasters, that the total de 
 population of Massachusetts colony began to be feared. 
 
i8 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 But, however inferior the colonists might be to the In 
 dians in the skill needed for a forest war, it was soon shown 
 in New England, as elsewhere, that civilization has super 
 ior staying quality. The infuriated savages at length ex 
 hausted themselves by the very energy of their attacks. 
 Having no stores or resources, and no efficient organiza 
 tion, they could not hold together. As spring advanced, 
 the Indians scattered in small hunting and fishing parties 
 to avoid perishing. The Connecticut River tribes grew 
 weary of wandering from place to place in hungry and 
 continual terror of the persevering colonists, and Phi-lip 
 became unpopular as the author of their wretchedness; the 
 Mohawks showed hostility to Philip, and the Nipmucks 
 were overawed by the now 7 successful white men. Philip 
 and his immediate band doggedly returned eastward to 
 their old haunt at Mount Hope. Here the first real frontier 
 ^.^_.__.__ .. 7 ,, 7 ___^ warrior of New 
 
 England, Benjamin 
 Church, at the head 
 of a motley troop, 
 was beating the sav 
 ages at their own 
 game of skulking, 
 ambuscade, and sur 
 prise. The war was 
 virtually ended in 
 August, 1676, when 
 Philip, seeking to 
 make a timely escape 
 from a swamp, as he 
 had often done be- 
 
 Plan of a Pequot fort. fore > was kille(1 b ^ 
 
The Earlier Indian Wars 
 
 L:..;, -,i 
 
 
 
 Indian chief. 
 
 God sent them the 
 
 one of his own Indians who 
 had deserted to Church s party. 
 Vengeance was wreaked upon 
 his dead body, which was 
 quartered and hung upon trees. 
 One of his hands was deliv 
 ered to the man who killed 
 him, to be carried round for 
 a penny peep-show, and his 
 head was taken into Plymouth 
 on a public thanksgiving day, 
 and stuck upon a gibbet after 
 the barbarous fashion of that time, 
 head of a leviathan for a thanksgiving feast," brags Cotton 
 Mather, who, some years afterward, robbed the head of its 
 jaw-bone, which he carried to Boston as a relic. 
 
 Never \vere thanksgivings more sincere than those of 
 fered in Plymouth and Massachusetts. Upward of two 
 thousand Indians had been slain, the greater part of those 
 who remained alive had been sold into West Indian slavery, 
 and the danger to the colony had passed away. But never 
 were public rejoicings more deeply tinged with regrets. 
 The out-settlements were ruined; six hundred dwellings 
 were in ashes; the accumulations of years had been wasted; 
 and worst of all, the flower of Massachusetts manhood 
 one-eleventh of all her able-bodied men had been cut 
 off untimely. Every family in the colony was in mourn 
 ing. 
 
BY THE WATERS OF CHESAPEAKE 
 BY JOHN WILLIAMSON PALMER 
 
 It has been said, not unwisely, of this bountiful and 
 accommodating bay, that it was at once the strength and 
 the weakness of the people whom the fame of its ways of 
 pleasantness and paths of peace, had attracted to habitation 
 on its banks; for while it offered them prosperity and 
 independence as free as grace, it lulled them into habits of 
 insouciance and recklessness, made them improvident in 
 their husbandry, and squandering in their hospitalities. 
 For they were an epitome of all sorts and conditions of 
 men, wherein the gentleman took his heartiness from the 
 yeoman, and the yeoman his free-handedness from the 
 gentleman, and both their pride of class and caste from 
 sturdy British stock, jealous for its traditions and its ways. 
 A robust, bluff folk, who kept their democracy alive among 
 themselves, and impressed it upon all comers of whatso 
 ever nationality who might ask for room and range among 
 them, to make free with the fowls of the air and the 
 fishes of the bay. For English ideas were dominant, and 
 " the custom of the country " was wholly English from 
 the day that Leonard Calvert set up his standard at St. 
 Mary s, 1 and while the theory of government was es- 
 
 a (The history of Maryland owes its interest not so much to striking 
 events as to the continuity of old English institutions and ancient 
 habits of local self-government. When the early colonists came to 
 Maryland they invented no administrative or judicial methods. The 
 old institutions of England were transplanted to Maryland and ac- 
 
 2O 
 
By the Waters of Chesapeake 21 
 
 sentially aristocratic, the strength in the best, the temper 
 of the people was expressed in a sturdy democracy, 
 grounded in common sense and 
 good digestion. 
 
 To this day the Marylander to 
 the manner born cherishes with 
 filial piety the associations that 
 cling to johnny-cake and potato 
 pudding; he has never been rec 
 onciled to the gas-jet or the reg 
 ister, and fondly insists that an 
 open wood-fire, candles, and a 
 warming-pan are the true sym 
 bols of home. 
 
 The common people of this The first Lord Baltimore, 
 motley colony had come by their common sense " nat 
 urally," as children come by their mumps or measles ; they 
 had found it in vicissitude of fortune, in various hard 
 ships, in oppression and contumely, in the lot of the rebel, 
 the convict, and the felon. There were those among them 
 who bore the brand of the malefactor on the palms of 
 their hands, and others with the brand of social outcast- 
 ing seared in their hearts. The prodigal son jostled his 
 elder brother on the deck of every ship that cleared from 
 the Mersey or the Thames to let go her anchor in the 
 Severn or the Chester. 
 
 Maryland, under the Baltimores, was the only colony 
 that admitted convicts; she even welcomed them, for the 
 
 climatized. In the new soil they were modified and destroyed, or they 
 were modified and perpetuated ; but in either case there is perfect 
 continuity between the institutions of colonial Maryland and those 
 of the older country.) John Johnson, A.B., in "Old Maryland 
 Manors " : being No. vii of the Johns Hopkins University Studies in 
 History. 
 
22 
 
By the Waters of Chesapeake 23 
 
 labor of their hands, for the outcome of their wits and 
 acquirements, for their possibilities of rehabilitation. The 
 indentured servant, the " redemptioner," or the " free- 
 wilier," saw at the end of his five or six years of servitude, 
 " according to the custom of the country," his fifty acres of 
 land, his ax, his gun, and his two hoes, besides a new suit 
 of kersey, with stockings, " French-fall shoes," and a new 
 hat; and for the women there were a skirt and waistcoat 
 of penistone, a blue apron, a linen smock, two linen caps, 
 shoes and stockings, and three barrels of Indian corn. As 
 for those who were crimped and kidnapped in English 
 ports, and carried away to the Chesapeake to toil in the 
 tobacco-fields, they found themselves from time to time in 
 company as choice as that which once welcomed ladies and 
 gentlemen of quality to the superfine coteries of the Fleet 
 Prison. 
 
 The baronial system of the Baltimores, which contem 
 plated the establishment of a landed aristocracy, was in 
 the strictest sense the rule of the landlord. Tracts of from 
 one thousand to five thousand acres, bordering on the 
 bay, were erected into manors, with the right to the lords 
 to hold courts-leet and courts-baron, as on the manors of 
 St. Clement s and St. Gabriel s. In this class we find the 
 germ of a nobility, and next below it the body of gentle 
 men planters, " citizens of credit and renown," from whose 
 ranks were chosen the justices and commissioners. Last 
 of all, the tenants on the small manors, styled freeholders 
 and suitors, and addressed as " Mr." by courtesy. Davis l 
 describes the plantations as " the most striking feature on 
 the face of society." Hardly a home or a tenement that 
 
 1 George Lynn-Lachlan Davis: "The Day-Star of American Free 
 dom." 1855. 
 
24 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 was not approached by water. Here were held the earliest 
 courts and councils; governors, privy councilors, judges, 
 all were planters. There were the merchants, too, trading 
 w r ith London, Liverpool, and other English ports. " And 
 
 Satin slipper of colonial period. 
 
 the large plantations, with their groups of storehouses, as 
 sumed the aspect and discharged the functions of little 
 towns." But the spirit of the age was knightly. The 
 progenitors of the manorial barons of Maryland had been 
 gentlemen by virtue of their swords and spurs; letters were 
 in slight request among them. Macaulay tells us that in 
 England many lords of manors had hardly learning enough 
 to sign a mittimus. And so our Maryland lords of the 
 manor, a hundred years before the Revolutionary War, 
 were commonly gentlemen who made their marks on deeds 
 and records, when their scriveners and servants had done 
 the vulgar writing. The sword was the symbol of dis 
 tinction, not the purse or the pen; and those unlettered 
 gentlemen were not the less conspicuous in council, or 
 courtly in the assembly of dames, because they could not 
 pen a nimble compliment or write themselves " Esquire." 
 
 Two or three generations later we find this same class 
 educated, and solicitous for intellectual acquirement, proud 
 
By the Waters of Chesapeake 25 
 
 of their imported libraries (for the most part comprehen 
 sive and judiciously selected), and sending their sons to 
 Oxford or Cambridge. Nor has their influence been at 
 any time superseded by that of the nouvcau.v riches. In 
 no American city is a man s bank-book more lightly 
 esteemed, or more grudgingly accepted as a social pass 
 port, than in Baltimore or Annapolis. 
 
 At the outbreak of the Revolution, the smart and handy 
 
 Colonial secretary. 
 
 craft of the Chesapeake proceeded to show that they could 
 fight as well as trade, and the port of Baltimore soon be 
 came the center of a system of privateering so formidable 
 
26 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 that the enemy had hardly learned to respect it before he 
 began to fear it. The records show that between April 
 i, 1777, and March 14, 1783, two hundred and forty-eight 
 vessels sailed out of the bay under letters of marque 
 " and this with a British fleet at Hampton Roads and 
 inside the Capes nearly all the time." The gallant 
 Chasseur, armed with twelve guns, manned by one hun 
 dred officers and men of Maryland, and commanded by 
 Captain Thomas Boyle, made a true viking s record, cap 
 turing eighty vessels, of which thirty-two were of equal 
 force with the privateer, and eighteen superior in guns 
 and men. 
 
 These Chesapeake privateers and letters of marque were 
 as hornets and wasps in the face of the enemy. They 
 fought and captured ships and smaller craft at the very 
 gates of his ports, in the British and Irish channels, off 
 the North Cape, on the coasts of Spain and Portugal, in 
 the East and West Indies, and in the Pacific Ocean. 
 
 In 1832, in Baltimore, a stage started from Barnum s 
 Hotel daily for Philadelphia, via York, Harrisburg, and 
 Lancaster; but the route most approved by people of con 
 dition was by the George Washington or the Constitution 
 steamboat, up the bay to Frenchtown ; thence by frisky little 
 coaches on a crazy little railroad to Newcastle on the Dela 
 ware ; and thence by boat again to Philadelphia " through 
 in ten hours." This was the route which was especially 
 affected by foreign dignitaries, Federal officials, senators 
 and representatives, flitting between Washington and the 
 North. Those were famous repasts that were served to 
 distinguished men and brilliant women at the captain s table 
 in the saloon of the George Washington. Here the great 
 " Expounder of the Constitution " hobnobbed with " Harry 
 
By the Waters of Chesapeake 27 
 
 f the West," and talked of " compromise " across the 
 eviled crabs. 
 
 The gentry of colonial Maryland, under the 
 .lie of the earlier Cal verts, lived on the great 
 lantations in dwellings that were ac- 
 sssible by water. The bay and rivers 
 r ere almost their only highways, and 
 le obliterated little thorp of St. Mary s, 
 Dimcled on the site of an Indian village, 
 r as their only city. At home they sat 
 n stools and forms and dined without 
 Drks, cutting their meat with their rapiers, 
 ut their walls were wainscoted and their cham- 
 srs comfortably bedded. 
 
 Tea and coffee they rarely lasted, and sugar 
 r as a luxury. Cattle stealing was not in 
 ishion ; only a sheriff in tent was once charged 
 r ith the offense, while. a governor of Virginia 
 r as convicted ; neither was there ever an execu- 
 on for witchcraft in the province of Maryland. 
 
 While the colonists of New England com- 
 lonly dispensed with brick and stone in the 
 Diistruction of their snug and friendly clomi- 
 iles, the planters of Maryland and Virginia 
 uilt themselves substantial structures of im- 
 orted brick and aspired to architectural dis- 
 nctions. One to the manner born who has 
 Titten with loving knowledge of these solid 
 nd sincere old houses, has told of the noble 
 mining of the roof; of the deep, capacious 
 r indow seats and hearthstones; of great Watch and chain of 
 alls that greet you with the largest wel- 
 
 colonial period. 
 
28 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 come; of stairs that glide rather than climb to the floor 
 above where is the dancing hall . . . and without, the 
 arbor and dove-cote and the prim box-edged garden, with 
 its walks so decorous and Dutch-like, but gorgeous with 
 lilacs and snowballs, hollyhocks and wallflowers. 
 
 On the broad porch of the manor-house, of an after 
 noon, the planter and his comely dame dozed in their rock 
 ing chairs, while the tall clock in the hall ticked with the 
 conscious dignity of leisure. 
 
A SETTLER IN PENNSYLVANIA 
 BY RICHARD TOWNSEND (1682) 
 
 At our arrival in Pennsylvania we found it a wilder- 
 icss; the chief inhabitants \vere Indians, and some Szvedes; 
 vho received us in a friendly manner: and though there 
 vas a great number of us, the good hand of Providence 
 vas seen in a particular manner ; in that provisions were 
 ound for us, by the Swedes, and Indians, at very rea- 
 onable rates, as well as brought from divers other parts, 
 hat were inhabited before. 
 
 Our first concern was to keep up and maintain our relig- 
 ous worship; and, in order thereunto, we had several 
 nectings, in the houses of the inhabitants; and one 
 ioarded meeting-house was set up, w^here the city was to 
 >e, near Delaivare; and, as we had nothing but love and 
 ;ood-will, in our hearts, one to another, we had very com- 
 ortable meetings, from time to time; and after our meet- 
 ng was over, we assisted each other, in building little 
 ouses, for our shelter. 
 
 After some time I set up a mill on Chester creek ; which 
 
 brought ready framed from London; which served for 
 rinding of corn, and sawing of boards; and was of great 
 se to us. Besides, I, with Joshua Tittery, made a net, 
 nd caught great quantities of fish ; which supplied our- 
 elves and many others; so that, notwithstanding it was 
 lought near three thousand persons came in the first year, 
 /e were so providentially provided for, that we could buy 
 
 29 
 
30 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 a deer for about two shillings, and a large turkey, for 
 about one shilling, and Indian corn for about two shillings 
 and six pence per bushel. 
 
 And, as our worthy Proprietor (William Penn) treated 
 the Indians with extraordinary humanity, they became very 
 civil and loving to us, and brought in abundance of veni 
 son. As, in other countries, the Indians were exasperated 
 by hard treatment, which hath been the foundation of much 
 bloodshed, so the contrary treatment here hath produced 
 their love and affection. 
 
 About a year after our arrival, there came in about 
 twenty families from high and low Germany, of religious, 
 good people ; who settled about six miles from Philadelphia, 
 and called the place Gcrmantown. The country con 
 tinually increasing, people began to spread themselves 
 further back. 
 
 About the time, in which Germantown was laid out, I 
 settled upon my tract of land, which I had purchased of the 
 Proprietor, in England, about a mile from thence; where I 
 set up a house and a corn mill ; which was very useful to 
 the country, for several miles round : But there not being 
 plenty of horses, people generally brought their corn on 
 their backs many miles. . . . 
 
 As people began to spread, and improve their lands, the 
 country became more fruitful; so that those who came 
 after us, were plentifully supplied; and with what we 
 abounded we began a small trade abroad. And as Phila 
 delphia increased, vessels w r ere built, and many employed. 
 Both country and trade have been wonderfully increasing 
 to this day; (1682) so that, from a wilderness, the Lord, 
 by his good hand of providence, hath made it a fruitful 
 field. 
 
THE MANY-SIDED FRANKLIN 
 BY PAUL LEICESTER FORD 
 
 FAMILY RELATIONS 
 
 " A man," wrote Franklin, " who makes boast of his 
 ancestors doth but advertise his own insignificance, for the 
 pedigrees of great men are commonly known " ; and else 
 where he advised: "Let our fathers and grandfathers be 
 valued for their goodness, ourselves for our own." 
 
 Franklin s inquiry into the history of his family resulted 
 in the discovery that they had dwelt on some thirty acres 
 of their own land in the village of Ecton, in Northamp 
 tonshire, upward of three hundred years, and that for 
 many generations the eldest son had been village black 
 smith a custom so established previous to the removal 
 across the Atlantic that the first immigrant bred up his 
 eldest son to the trade in Boston. Fate, having other uses 
 for Benjamin, carefully guarded him from Vulcan s calling 
 by making him the youngest son of the youngest son for 
 five generations. 
 
 Benjamin, the " tithe," or tenth, of Josiah s sons, born 
 January 6, 1706, outlived them all. From his father he 
 derived a heritage difficult to measure, but two of his qual 
 ities were singled out by the son as specially noteworthy: 
 " a sound understanding and solid judgment in prudential 
 matters, both in private and publick affairs," and a " me 
 chanic genius " in being " very handy in the use of other 
 
 31 
 
32 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 tradesmen s tools." " It was indeed a lowly dwelling we 
 were brought up in," wrote one of the children, many years 
 
 after, " but we were fed 
 plentifully, made com 
 fortable with fire and 
 clothing, had seldom any 
 contention among us, but 
 all was harmony, espe 
 cially between the heads, 
 and they were universally 
 respected, and the most 
 of the family in good 
 reputation; this is still 
 happier living than mul 
 titudes enjoy." 
 
 As this might indicate, 
 Josiah Franklin, despite 
 his struggle with poverty and his huge family, \vas a good 
 parent to his youngest boy, giving heed to his moral, mental, 
 and temporal beginnings. After such brief term of school 
 as he could afford the lad, he took him into his own shop, 
 till Ben made obvious his dislike to the cutting of wicks, 
 the hanging of dips, and the casting of soap. Taking pains 
 then to discover his son s preferences, he finally appren 
 ticed him as printer s devil to his son James. 
 
 Jane and Benjamin outlived all their brothers and sisters, 
 and Franklin, upon the death of one of the last, said to her: 
 "Of these thirteen there now remain but three. As our 
 number diminishes, let our affection to each other rather 
 increase." 
 
 At seventeen years of age the runaway apprentice had 
 left his family; from that time he saw but little of them. 
 
 Franklin seal. 
 
The Many-Sided Franklin 33 
 
 As agent for Pennsylvania, and as minister to France, 
 Franklin was, save for two short home-comings, continu 
 ously in Europe from 1757 to 1785, and necessarily sepa 
 rated from his wife, and, except as already narrated, from 
 his children and grandchildren. Yet of all his kith and kin 
 he was undoubtedly truly fond, not merely as relatives, 
 but as companions, and not to one does he seem to have 
 been lacking in interest and kindness. 
 
 AS POLITICIAN AND DIPLOMATIST 
 
 " The first mistake in public business is the going into 
 it," remarked Poor Richard, and the worldly-wise sage was 
 speaking from the " experience " which keeps a " dear 
 school," for Franklin, when he penned the sentence, had 
 been over twenty years a public servant. The admonition, 
 however, was little heeded, for he continued to hold office 
 almost unceasingly to the end of his days. " I have heard," 
 he said, "of some great man whose rule it was, with regard 
 to offices, never to ask for them, and never to refuse them; 
 to which I have always added, in my own practice, never 
 to resign them." 
 
 Franklin s entrance into politics may be said to date from 
 his beginning to print the Pennsylvania Gazette, for he 
 relates : " The leading men, seeing a newspaper now in the 
 hands of one who could also handle a pen, thought it con 
 venient to oblige and encourage me," and they gave him, as 
 already told, the public printing. The same year he se 
 cured the favor of the populace in another way. " About 
 this time there was a cry among the people for more paper 
 money," and Franklin, taking advantage of it, " wrote and 
 printed an anonymous pamphlet . . . entitled The 
 Nature and Necessity of a Paper-Currency/ " which " was 
 
34 
 
 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 well received by the common people in general ; but the rich 
 men dislik d it, for it increas d and strengthen d the clamor 
 for more money, and they happening to have no writers 
 among them that were able to answer it, their opposition 
 slacken d, and the point was carried by a majority in the 
 House." In his twenty years active labor at his press, the 
 printer succeeded in making it a producer of wealth; but 
 at this time he had yet to learn the lesson that value is made 
 by material and labor, and not by words and promises. 
 Later in life his intercourse with Hume, Price, Turgot, 
 Mirabeau, and, most of all, with Adam Smith, who sub 
 mitted each chapter of 
 his " Wealth of Na 
 tions," " as he composed 
 it," to Franklin for dis 
 cussion and criticism, 
 opened his eyes to the 
 truths that every paper 
 dollar issued banishes or 
 takes out of circulation 
 a metal one, so long as 
 there is one left, and 
 that beyond that, how 
 ever the printing-presses 
 may be worked, there 
 will be no more money, 
 the total value of the 
 mass decreasing as rap 
 idly as the volume is 
 swelled, and in excessive 
 
 issues tending even to 
 Franklin s monumen^his parents, faH SQ sharply ag tQ prQ . 
 
The Many-Sided Franklin 35 
 
 duce an actual contraction, not augmentation, in the stand 
 ard of value. " I lament with you," he told a friend, in 
 speaking of the Continental currency, " the many mischiefs, 
 the injustice, the corruption of manners, etc., that attended 
 a depreciating currency. It is some consolation to me, that 
 I washed my hands of that evil by predicting it in Congress, 
 and proposing means that would have been effectual to 
 prevent it, if they had been adopted. 
 
 " I now began," Franklin relates, " to turn my thoughts 
 a little to public affairs," and in succession set about meth 
 ods for bettering the city watch, the fire service, and some 
 what later, the cleaning and paving of the streets. In 
 1737, as already told, he was made postmaster of Philadel 
 phia, which brought him forward yet more prominently. 
 But most of all it was his pamphlet, " Plain Truth," which, 
 though it " bore somewhat hard on both parties . . 
 had the happiness not to give much offense to either," that 
 may be said to have made a public man of him. 
 
 From his election to the Assembly dates the real begin 
 ning of Franklin as a political influence, yet in a very brief 
 space of time he made himself one of the dominant factors. 
 Entering the arena on the question of public defense, he 
 was quickly in opposition to the Penn brothers, the propri 
 etors of the colony, the moot point being the question of 
 taxing the proprietary lands. 
 
 Warmly attached as Franklin was to Pennsylvania, he 
 seems never to have been swayed by local interests, as was 
 so common in his time. As early as 1751 he foresaw that 
 a union of the colonies was necessary, and was thinking out 
 methods for overcoming provincial prejudices and antipa 
 thies, while marveling that the " Six Nations of ignorant 
 savages should be capable of forming a scheme for such an 
 
36 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 union, and be able to execute it in such a manner, as that it 
 has subsisted ages, and appears indissoluble; and yet that a 
 like union should be impracticable for ten or a dozen Eng 
 lish colonies, to whom it is more necessary and must be 
 more advantageous, and who cannot be supposed to want 
 an equal understanding of their interests." 
 
 Franklin was a warm partizan of the connection between 
 Great Britain and her colonies. Even after the Stamp and 
 Revenue acts should have shown him how selfishly bent on 
 her own narrow interest the mother-country was, he 
 ascribed those measures solely to a corrupt Parliament, and 
 expressed the hope that " nothing that has happened, or 
 may happen, will diminish in the least our loyalty to our 
 Sovereign, or affection for this nation in general." Thus 
 he wrote when America was ablaze with opposition to the 
 parliamentary acts, but still he could assert : 
 
 And yet there remains among the people so much respect, 
 veneration, and affection for Britain, that, if cultivated prudently, 
 with a kind usage and tenderness for their privileges, they might 
 be easily governed still for ages, without force or any considerable 
 expense. But I do not see here a sufficient quantity of the wisdom 
 that is necessary to produce such a conduct, and I lament the 
 want of it. 
 
 In answer to the charge that the colonies desired inde 
 pendence, he replied : " The Americans have too much 
 love for their mother-country." 
 
 This people, however, is too proud, and too much 
 despises the Americans, to bear the thought of admitting 
 them to such an equitable participation in the government 
 of the whole." " Every man in England," he complained, 
 " seems to consider himself a piece of a sovereign over 
 
Franklin landing at Market Street wharf, Philadelphia, on his return 
 from France, 1785. 
 
38 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 America; seems to jostle himself into the throne with the 
 King, and talks of our subjects in the colonies," and with 
 real indignation he charged that " angry writers use their 
 utmost efforts to persuade us that this \var with the colo 
 nies (for a war it will be) is a national cause, when in fact 
 it is a ministerial one." The British, he maintained, " have 
 no idea that any people can act from any other principle 
 but that of interest; and they believe that three pence in 
 a pound of tea, of which one does perhaps drink ten pounds 
 in a year, is sufficient to overcome all the patriotism of an 
 American." 
 
 If but the people could be kept quiet for a time, Frank 
 lin held, the outcome could not be doubtful. " It must be 
 evident," he affirmed, " that by our rapidly increasing 
 strength, we shall soon become of so much importance 
 that none of our just, claims of privilege will be, as here 
 tofore, unattended to, nor any security we can wish for our 
 rights be denied us." 
 
 However much he might counsel moderate opposition and 
 even temporary submission, he did so because he believed 
 it the most certain way of obtaining justice from Great 
 Britain, and not because he thought her conduct either pru 
 dent or justifiable. Long before the attempt to tax the col 
 onies, and*, so far as known, before any other American 
 had protested against such a course, he claimed that " It is 
 supposed to be an undoubted right of Englishmen not to be 
 taxed but by their own consent given through their repre 
 sentatives." 
 
 How strongly he felt the rights of his native land was 
 shown by something else he wrote at this time, in which 
 he asserted that : 
 
The Many-Sided Franklin 39 
 
 I can only judge of others by myself. I have some little prop 
 erty in America. I will freely spend nineteen shillings in the 
 pound to defend the right of giving or refusing the other shilling, 
 and, after all, if I cannot defend that right, I can retire cheerfully 
 with my little family into the boundless woods of America, which 
 are sure to afford freedom and subsistence to any man who can 
 bait a hook or pull a trigger. 
 
 As Franklin had been among the first to suggest a union 
 of the colonies under Great Britain, so he was foremost 
 in advocating their immediate union in their contest with 
 the mother-country; and long before the majority of Con 
 gress saw the wisdom of the purpose, or were even willing 
 to consider it, he drafted and laid before that body his 
 Articles of Confederation, the first true step toward a 
 national union. In the politics of Pennsylvania, too, he 
 wielded a most dominating influence, for it was chiefly 
 through his exertions that the old Penn charter was abro 
 gated, and a new republican constitution obtained in its stead. 
 
 Vital as were his labors in local politics, in the Congress, 
 in Canada, at Cambridge, and at Staten Island, he was more 
 needed, and in fact seems to have been preordained by na 
 ture and training, for another service. Once the war, from 
 being an attempt to \vrest rights from an acknowledged 
 sovereign, became a conflict to maintain independence, the 
 new-formed country turned for assistance to France, then 
 the great enemy of Britain. Almost alone of the con 
 gressmen, Franklin had traveled in that country, and had 
 both friends and repute there. Even more important, how 
 ever, was the fact that already semi-approaches had been 
 made to him by those in authority. Years before, when 
 the excitement over the new doctrine of colonial taxation 
 
40 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 was sounding a warning which the British people would 
 not hear, there were others quick to heed the murmur of 
 discontent and complaint, and to recognize in it a means 
 for injuring their foe as they had never yet been able to 
 do. 
 
 When Franklin was sailing across the Atlantic, one of 
 three commissioners sent to beg the aid of France, an Eng 
 lish friend chided him for disloyalty. He replied : 
 
 I was fond to a folly of our British connections, and it was 
 with infinite regret that I saw the necessity you would force us 
 into of breaking it. But the extreme cruelty with which we have 
 
 been treated has now ex 
 tinguished every thought 
 of returning to it, and 
 separated us for ever. 
 You have thereby lost 
 limbs that will never 
 grow again. 
 
 T 
 
 A MODES 
 
 
 Nature and 
 
 OF A 
 
 . Quid afar 
 
 *ftik Nvxiwts babet ; patri^, ctarifa: p-, 
 Quantum e/argiri dtctat. - V 
 
 Pen: 
 
 Pi-inrcd and So!d at the New PRINTING- 
 OFFICE, .near the Market. 
 
 ;<- 
 
 It has been said of 
 Franklin by the his 
 torian of American di 
 plomacy that he must 
 be considered the one 
 true diplomat America 
 has ever produced ; and 
 when his services, and 
 the circumstances un 
 der which they were 
 rendered, are weighed, 
 the statement seems 
 justifiable. Almost from 
 the moment of his ar- 
 
The Many-Sided Franklin 
 
 What is Sauce tor a Goofc is allb Sauct for a Gander 
 
 BEING 
 A ftnall Touch in the L A P i D A R Y Wiy, 
 
 O R 
 I TIT for TAT, in your own Way. 
 
 IAN EPITAPH 
 
 On a certain great Man. 
 Written by a departed Spirit arid now 
 
 [Moft humbly infcrib d to al) his dutiful Sons and Children 
 Who may hereafter chofe to diftinguiih him by the Name of 
 
 A PATRIOT. 
 
 j Dear, CHILDREN, 
 
 I fend y*u here a little Book 
 For you to look upon, 
 That you may fee your Poppy s Face 
 When he is deau and gone. 
 
 rival in Paris, he 
 came to exercise an 
 influence with the 
 then French ministry 
 which can hardly be 
 exaggerated. 
 
 AS WRITER AND JOUR 
 NALIST 
 
 Franklin s grand 
 father on the mater 
 nal side, and his uncle, 
 were both confirmed 
 scribblers of rime, and 
 therefore it was seem 
 ingly preordained by 
 heritage and by ex 
 ample that he should 
 write. 
 
 On a March night 
 in the year 1722, or 
 when the lad was six 
 teen years of age, he 
 slipped a paper under Political pamphlet against Franklin. 
 
 the door of what James Franklin advertised as his " Print- 
 ing-House over against Mr. Sheaf s School, near the Pris 
 on," and then stole away. The next day, as the apprentice 
 stood at his type-case, he could hear his brother consulting 
 with the " ingenious men among his friends, who amus d 
 themselves by writing little pieces " for the paper, as to who 
 could be the author of the sheets with the humble signature 
 of " Silence Dogood," and it is easy to imagine his pride 
 
 tliau baft taugBt in tvftiA Evil gf Dignities. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, printed in the Year 1764. 
 
42 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 when he heard the essay praised by them; when the piece 
 appeared in all the glory of type in the New England 
 C our ant, and when his eye met the notice in the same issue 
 that " As the favour of Mrs. Dogood s Correspondence is 
 acknowledged by the Publisher of this Paper, lest any of 
 her Letters should miscarry, he desires they may be de- 
 liver d at his Printing-Office, or at the Blue Balls in Union 
 street, and no questions will be ask d of the Bearer." 
 
 The wandering life of the runaway apprentice gave slight 
 opportunity for the cultivation of his pen-talent, and, save 
 for his little " wicked tract," the succeeding years were 
 lean ones in production. But once Franklin was estab 
 lished in Philadelphia as a printer, the tendency to write 
 redeveloped, and proved of real service to him. In the 
 first year of the new firm he wrote a little pamphlet on a 
 local issue, entitled, " The Nature and Necessity of a Paper 
 Currency," and the opposition " happening to have no wri 
 ters among them that were able to answer it*" the party 
 in favor of an issue of paper money carried their point in 
 the Assembly. " My friends there, who conceiv d that I 
 had been of some service, thought fit to reward me by em 
 ploying me in printing the money; a very profitable jobb 
 and a great help to me. This was another advantage gain d 
 by my being able to write." 
 
 Franklin s share in the Gazette was far more than 
 gathering news. The editorial was a yet unknown feature 
 of journalism, but he often added to his items little com 
 ments or explanations. When there was an empty column, 
 he wrote an essay, letter, poem, or anything else to fill it. 
 Forestalling modern journalism, he asked a question, and 
 then proceeded to answer it at length. 
 
 Far more than a good style went to make up Franklin s 
 
The Many-Sided Franklin 
 
 43 
 
 or DIE. 
 
 success as a writer. Poor Richard had distinct literary 
 
 ease; he was never at a loss for an aphorism, simile, or 
 
 story to illustrate or strengthen an argument; could take 
 
 another man s idea and improve upon it; could refute a 
 
 whole argument by a dozen words 
 
 scribbled in the margin, and imitate 
 
 other and bygone styles of writing 
 
 at will. On this facility he drew 
 
 heavily as he stepped into public 
 
 life. 
 
 The stock argument of the Eng- Print b ^ Franklin, 
 lish writers who maintained that Parliament possessed su 
 preme authority over America was that the colonists, had 
 they remained in Great Britain, would have been absolutely 
 subject to its laws, and that emigration had not changed 
 this condition. To show the utter absurdity of this claim, 
 Franklin drafted what purported to be an edict of the 
 Prussian king, which began in due form, " Frederic by the 
 Grace of God, King of Prussia, etc, etc, etc.," and then 
 continued : 
 
 Whereas it is well known to all the world, that the first German 
 settlements made in the Island of Britain, were by colonies of 
 people, subject to our renowned ducal ancestors, and drawn from 
 their dominions, under the conduct of Hengist, Horsa, Hella, Uffa, 
 Cerdicus, Ida, and others: and that the said colonies have flour 
 ished under the protection of our august house for ages past; 
 have never been emancipated therefrom ; and yet have hitherto 
 yielded little profit to the same ; and whereas we ourself have in 
 the last war fought for and defended the said colonies, against 
 the power of France, and thereby enabled them to make conquests 
 from the said power in America, for which we have not yet received 
 adequate compensation ; and whereas it is just and expedient that 
 a revenue should be raised from the said colonies in Britain, 
 
44 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 towards our indemnification; and that those who are descendants 
 of our ancient subjects, and thence still owe us due obedience, 
 should contribute to the replenishing of our royal coffers (as 
 they must have done, had their ancestors remained in the terri 
 tories now to us appertaining) ; we do therefore hereby ordain 
 and command, that, from and after the date of these presents, 
 there shall be levied and paid to our officers of the customs, on 
 all goods, wares, and merchandises, and on all grain and other 
 produce of the earth, exported from the said Island of Britain, 
 and on all goods of whatever kind imported into the same, a duty 
 of four and a half per cent ad valorem, for the use of us and 
 our successors. 
 
 The edict, its author affirmed, was written to attract at 
 tention by its " out-of-the-way " form as " most likely to 
 take the general attention," and in this it was an entire suc 
 cess. It was printed in the Public Advertiser, and Frank 
 lin wrote a friend that he could not send him one, he- 
 cause " though my clerk went the next morning to the 
 printer s and wherever they were sold," the edition of the 
 paper had been exhausted. In consequence, the piece was 
 reprinted by request in a subsequent issue, and was gener 
 ally reprinted in other papers and in the magazines. " I 
 am not suspected as the author," the cozener told a corre 
 spondent, " except by one or two friends ; and we have 
 heard the latter spoken of in the highest terms, as the keen 
 est and severest piece that has appeared here for a long 
 time. Lord Mansfield, I hear, said of it, that it was very 
 ABLE and very ARTFUL indeed; and would do mischief 
 by giving here a bad impression of the measures of govern 
 ment ; and in the colonies, by encouraging them in their 
 contumacy. . . . What made it the more noticed here, 
 was that people in reading it were, as the phrase is, taken 
 in, till they had got half through it, and imagined it a real 
 
The Many-Sided Franklin 45 
 
 edict, to which mistake I suppose the king of Prussia s 
 character must have contributed." 
 
 The autobiography, the most famous of all his writings, 
 is of peculiar interest, not merely as a story of his life, but 
 because it is his only real endeavor to write a book. 
 
 To judge Franklin from the literary standpoint is neither 
 
 
 i. And it came to pafs afier thefe 
 
 do not worfhip thy God, neither do 1 call 
 
 
 things, that Abraham fat in the door of 
 
 opon his name; for I have made to 
 
 
 his tent, about the going down of the fun. 
 2. And behold a man bent with age. 
 
 myfeif a god which abide* always in 
 mine houfe, and provideth me with all 
 
 
 coming from the way of the wildernefc 
 
 togs.- 
 
 
 leaning on a ftaff. 
 
 8. And Abraham s zeal WM kindled a- JR 
 
 
 3. And Abraham arofe, and met him. 
 
 pinft the man, and he arofe, and M 
 
 
 and faid unto him. Turn in, I pray the*. 
 
 upon hin, and drove him forth -v!th llo*-. 
 
 
 and walk thy feet, and tarry all niglit; and 
 thou (hall arife early in the morning, and 
 
 -into -he wildernds, 
 9. An-i God called unto Abraham, fcy. 
 
 
 go on thy way 
 4. And the man faid, Nay : tor I ~i!l a 
 
 ing. Abraham, where is the granger ? 
 
 TO. . .in Ahr.iVim anfwcrcd wl tf.i- , 
 
 
 5, But Abraham prefled him greatlv : 
 
 TOM lie cafl u(*n thy name ; tberefor* 
 
 
 and Abraham baited unleavened bread. 
 
 face into we *ild-mcf s . 
 
 I 
 
 and they did rat 
 
 :i. And God iid, Have 1 borr.e ^Ui 
 
 
 6. And when Abraham faw that the 
 
 liira thefe hurdrcd and niiw:ty a-id cijhi 
 
 
 man bleffed not God, he faid unto him. 
 
 yc.iri, and nourifried hi.n, and cioithcd 
 
 m 
 
 Wherefore doft thou not worihip the moft 
 
 
 
 
 high God, Creator of heaven and earth ? 
 7. And the man anfwpred and faid, 1 
 
 .tar t, .- -.vithl,^ ore night . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 JJ 
 
 Franklin s fictitious chapter of the Bible usually styled a parable 
 against persecution. 
 
 easy nor quite fair. It is not to be denied that as a philos 
 opher, as a statesman, and as a friend, he owed much of 
 his success to his ability as a writer. His letters charmed 
 all, and made his correspondence eagerly sought. His po 
 litical arguments were the joy of his party and the dread 
 of his opponents. His scientific discoveries were explained 
 in language at once so simple and so clear that plow-boy 
 
46 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 and exquisite could follow his thought or his experiment 
 to its conclusion. Yet he was never a literary man in the 
 true and common meaning of the term. Omitting his un 
 completed autobiography and his scientific writings, there is 
 hardly a line of his pen which was not privately or anony 
 mously written, to exert a transient influence, fill an empty 
 column, or please a friend. The larger part of his work 
 was not only done in haste, but never revised or even proof 
 read. Yet this self-educated boy and busy, practical man 
 gave to American literature the most popular autobiogra 
 phy ever written, a series of political and social satires 
 that can bear comparison with those of the greatest sati 
 rists, a private correspondence as readable as Walpole s or 
 Chesterfield s; and the collection of Poor Richard s epi 
 grams has been oftener printed and translated than any 
 other production of an American pen. 
 Yet Franklin himself asserted: 
 
 He that can compose himself, is wiser than he that composes 
 books. 
 
PHILADELPHIA 
 BY TALCOTT WILLIAMS 
 
 States and cities exist to make families comfortable, be 
 cause this makes children comfortable. Unless the chil 
 dren are comfortable now, the next generation will fare ill. 
 If you are comfortably seated; if you have light enough on 
 these lines ; if the air about you is pure ; if you find the house 
 you are in a true home, be it large or small; if the street is 
 safe for yon at all hours of the day or evening; if it is, as 
 nearly as may be, like a village street, quiet and clean, and 
 not like a city street, noisy and noisome; if there is room 
 for you to play outside the house, and room inside its walls 
 to amuse yourself; if you are fed and warm, and happy - 
 above all, if you feel in your house an atmosphere of 
 security, and understand in a dim way that father and 
 mother own the spot called home and are safe there, then, 
 as far as you are concerned, and to the extent that this is 
 true as far as all children are concerned, the United 
 States is a success. Unless there are a great many more of 
 you children enjoying all I have said than are without such 
 comforts, then the United States is a failure, no matter 
 how big, or how rich, or how populous it may be, or how 
 glorious its history. The United States is here first, and 
 .chiefly, not to make history, as you might imagine from your 
 school histories, but to make families and their children 
 comfortable in houses of their own. Failing to do that, it 
 fails in all. 
 
 47 
 
48 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Philadelphia in 1720. 
 
 I propose to tell you of a city which for more than two 
 hundred years has grown so as to make families more and 
 more comfortable; so as to set each in its own house; so as 
 to make life easier and easier for the average ordinary 
 family which is neither rich nor poor, which wins its way 
 by work, owns the roof over its head, and stands secure in 
 modest, unquestioned independence. Philadelphia is a 
 dingy city by the side of Paris; it is outdone by most of the 
 world s centers in all by which the \vorld reckons greatness ; 
 but no city that is, or ever was, has done more to make 
 families, and therefore children, comfortable. 
 
 Philadelphia came late among American cities. It was 
 founded 58 years after New York, 50 years after Boston. 
 The voyage had few risks, and no suffering. William 
 Penn, in 1681, came on no exploring expedition. For al 
 most the first time in history, a new city was to be laid out 
 by amicable purchase, and not by conquest. We are used 
 to this now. It was an altogether new thing two hundred 
 years ago. The day for Indian fighting along the coast was 
 practically over. The sea-coast was known. There were 
 no discoveries to be made. The land was secure. Eng 
 land held it without a rival. The little Dutch and Swedish 
 settlements on Delaware Bay, and Philadelphia s future 
 site, were glad to come under the English flag. Almost 
 the only trace left of either is the Swedes church, the oldest 
 
Philadelphia 
 
 49 
 
 in the city, for all the world like those you may see on 
 Swedish fiords to-day. 
 
 Penn sat in London over maps and plans, and laid out his 
 new city on paper just as " boom " towns are laid out to 
 day in the West and South. He knew the ground. He 
 understood its advantages. No seaboard river carried navi 
 gation so far inland. The Southern rivers were shallower. 
 
 Old map of Pennsylvania. 
 
50 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 The Hudson ended in impenetrable forest. On the Dela 
 ware vessels stopped between the fattest fields along the 
 whole coast. The very soil of the narrow peninsula be 
 tween the Delaware and the Schuylkill is the only fertile 
 
 Old Swedish church. 
 
 city site on our coast. It lies far enough south to gain the 
 teeming life of fin and feather that fills the coasts and 
 waters of the south Atlantic. You can still stand on the 
 steps of Independence Hall on a still October day, and hear 
 the crack of fowling-pieces among the reed-birds on the 
 river. 
 
 Within the memory of men not old the chief meat-sup- 
 
Philadelphia 51 
 
 ply of the city was fattened on the flat rich farms which 
 make up the " neck " where the Delaware and the Schuyl- 
 kill meet. The land around Philadelphia is to-day a vast 
 kitchen-garden. It always has raised more food than any 
 area as large around any other of our great or growing 
 cities. Lastly, just beyond these two rich river valleys lie 
 the first Western wheat-fields, in the fertile stretch of Dela 
 ware, Chester, Montgomery, and Lancaster counties. 
 
 The farms of these counties fed the army of Washing 
 ton. His baker-general was a Pennsylvania German, 
 Christopher Ludwig, who after a youth spent in fighting the 
 Turk on the Danube, sold gingerbread to the boys of the 
 Revolution, in Letitia Street. Beginning by baking bread 
 at Valley Forge, he ended by baking six thousand pound- 
 loaves for the surrendered army of Cornwallis at York- 
 town. Uncle Sam s wheat-farm, which has cheapened the 
 world s bread, began at the doors of Philadelphia. It was 
 the first city to get rich selling wheat. Pennsylvania farms 
 gave it the first big, rich, thickly settled " back-country," on 
 whose trade an American city grew great. Under the first 
 President Adams, Lancaster, Pa., was the biggest American 
 city back of the sea-coast. In 1890 instead of the first it 
 was the sixty-first of such cities in population. 
 
 All this meant foreign trade and swift growth for Phila 
 delphia. In its first forty years it grew faster than any 
 other American city in its first hundred. It was the 
 Chicago of the last century. In twenty years 2500 houses 
 went up. The like was never seen before. It has often 
 happened since. Money was made easily. A bright boy 
 of seventeen like Benjamin Franklin could walk up Market 
 Street in 1723 with two loaves of bread under his arm, and 
 brains in his head, and in fifteen years become rich. Five 
 
52 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Portrait of William Perm in his 
 twenty-second year. 
 
 years later he had retired 
 from business, and had 
 begun flying the kite, the 
 spark from whose string 
 told the world that elec 
 tricity and lightning were 
 one. In a town given 
 to money-making, he 
 stopped money-making at 
 forty years of age and 
 did something better 
 he served his fellowmen : 
 He made scientific discov 
 eries ; he invented a new 
 stove ; he got together the 
 first American scientific 
 society ; he started a fire-company ; he organized the Phila 
 delphia police ; he founded a library ; he helped start a 
 university; he turned men s thoughts to books, study, and 
 knowledge. When the Revolution came he was old and 
 rich. He put all at stake in his country s service. He was 
 the only American who signed the Declaration of Inde 
 pendence, the Treaty of Peace, and the Constitution. He 
 gave Philadelphia the one other thing which makes cities 
 great : in him a great man had walked her streets. 
 
 Franklin s fortune was not the only one made in Phila 
 delphia, a hundred and fifty years ago, in a trade as large 
 as that of any two other American cities. Fifty years after 
 Philadelphia was founded, it built the largest public build 
 ing any American city had ever erected, the State House, 
 now Independence Hall,- as it has to-day, in its city hall, 
 the most costly. The Declaration of Independence was is- 
 
Philadelphia 53 
 
 sued from the Pennsylvania State House because it was 
 natural for the Continental Congress to meet in the largest, 
 the wealthiest, and the most thriving of American cities, 
 and to sit in the most imposing building in the thirteen 
 colonies. It was not until the Erie Canal gave New York 
 the trade of the West beyond the Alleghanies, that it be 
 came a larger city than Philadelphia. 
 
 Philadelphia, first of American cities, received people 
 skilled in all the crafts of central Europe, which two cen 
 turies ago was ahead of England in making things. It is 
 not now. If you will open your Physical Geography at 
 the map of Europe, you will see a deep groove right down 
 the Rhine to Lake Constance, and then by the Rhone to the 
 
 Penn s house in Letitia Court. 
 
 Mediterranean, while another groove runs east by the Dan 
 ube. This groove, in the Middle Ages, when the pirate 
 
54 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Norsemen closed the seas to peaceful folks, was the great 
 highway of Europe. In it sprang up earliest cathedrals, 
 universities, and factories. Right from the center of this 
 industrial channel, there came to Philadelphia a German 
 
 Independence Hall, at the time of the Signing of the Declaration of 
 
 Independence. 
 
 immigration, skilled in weaving, in iron, and in all the in 
 dustries of two hundred years ago. 
 
 The English immigration, also, while it was led by Quak 
 ers, good business men all, people who paid their debts, 
 told no trade lies, and had one price for all, was made 
 up of men and women from the cities of southern England. 
 At that time, pretty nearly all the cities and most of the 
 manufacturers of England were in its southern half. They 
 
Philadelphia 55 
 
 are not now. While New England and the South drew 
 their immigration from country England, the incomers to 
 Philadelphia and Pennsylvania were from the cities, the 
 stores, and the shops of south England. When you look 
 on the map of Philadelphia to-day, you see London names 
 
 Franklin s grave, Fifth and Arch streets, Philadelphia. 
 
 - Richmond, Kensington, and Southwark ; and the largest 
 places near are Bristol and Chester, named after the busiest 
 ports of England in the seventeenth century. When you 
 have your big town, some one must own the land and 
 the houses. If a few own them, the many will not like 
 it. They ought not to like it. In a city where every 
 thing is right, every family will own something. That 
 city is most near to the right thing where the most peo- 
 
56 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 pie own something. This will not come about unless the 
 laws are right. The laws are not good unless bread is 
 cheap, unless men have skill in their work, and are of saving 
 habits, and unless land is cheap, the city plan good, and 
 wrong-doers are locked up at once. But all these things 
 will not bring about the right city, in which most people 
 own something, unless the law r s make it easy for a man 
 who works with his hands to buy the house he lives in. 
 If a man owns that, he will be interested in looking after his 
 home and will not complain because some one else is richer 
 than he is. 
 
 Cheap food and industry will not make the families in a 
 city comfortable unless a city has room to grow, is well 
 planned, and wisely governs itself. Philadelphia is fortu 
 nate in all three respects. The site is flat. All directions 
 are open to growth. It is not cramped by river and bay, 
 as are Boston and San Francisco. It is not on an island, 
 as is New York. Swamps do not hedge it in as they pen 
 Chicago. Building land, city lots, have always cost less and 
 been more nearly of about the same price in its different 
 quarters, than in any other city of a million people ever 
 seen. The growth of the city has never been crowded. It 
 has spread out in two- or three-story fashion over an oc 
 cupied area which comes close to that of London itself. 
 English towns, laid out on the lines of old Roman camps, 
 with a Broad and a High street crossing each other at right 
 angles, and lesser streets crossing each other checkerboard 
 fashion, gave Penn the thought of his plan for Philadelphia. 
 
THE WALKING PURCHASE 
 BY GEORGE WHEELER 
 
 In the early twilight of a September morning, more than 
 one hundred and sixty years ago, a remarkable company 
 might have been seen gathering about a large chestnut-tree 
 at the cross-roads near the Friends meeting-house in 
 Wrightstown, Pennsylvania. It is doubtful whether any 
 one of us could have guessed what the meeting meant. 
 Most of the party were Quakers in wide-brimmed hats 
 and plain dress, and if it had been First-day instead of 
 Third-day, we might have thought they were gathering un 
 der the well-known tree for a neighborly chat before " meet 
 ing." Nor was it a warlike rendezvous; for the war-cry 
 of the Lenni-Lenape had never yet been raised against the 
 "Children of Mignon " (Elder Brother), as the followers 
 of William Penn were called; and in a little group some 
 what apart were a few athletic Indians in peaceful garb 
 and friendly attitude. But it evidently was an important 
 meeting, for here were several prominent officials, includ 
 ing even so notable a person as Proprietor Thomas Penn. 
 
 In 1686, fifty-one years before this, William Penn 
 bought from the Lenni-Lenape, or Delaware Indians, a sec 
 tion bounded on the east by the Delaware, on the west by 
 the Neshaminy, and extending to the north from his previ 
 ous purchases " as far as a man can go in a day and a half." 
 No effort was made to fix the northern boundary until the 
 Indians, becoming uneasy at the encroachments of the set- 
 
 57 
 
58 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 tiers, asked to have the line definitely marked. On August 
 25, 1737, after several conferences between the Delawares 
 and William Penn s sons, John and Thomas, who, after their 
 father s death, became proprietors of Pennsylvania, the 
 treaty of 1686 was confirmed, and a day was appointed for 
 beginning the walk. This explains why the crowd was 
 gathering about the old chestnut-tree in the early dawn of 
 that day, September 19, 1737. 
 
 Philadelphia colonists. 
 
 " Ready! " called out Sheriff Smith. 
 
 At the word, James Yeates, a native of New England, 
 tk tall, slim, of much ability and speed of foot," Solomon 
 Jennings, " a remarkably stout and strong man/ and 
 Edward Marshall, a well-known hunter, over six feet tall, 
 and noted as a walker, stepped from the crowd and placed 
 their right hands upon the tree. 
 
 Thomas Penn had promised five pounds in money and 
 five hundred acres of land to the walker who covered the 
 greatest distance; and these three men were to contest for 
 the prize. Just as the edge of the sun showed above the 
 horizon, Sheriff Smith gave the word, and the race began. 
 
 Yeates quickly took up the lead, stepping lightly. Then 
 came Jennings, accompanied by two Indians, who were 
 there to see that the walking was fairly done. Closely fol 
 lowing them were men on horseback, including the sheriff 
 
59 
 
 The three men stepped from the crowd and placed their right hands 
 
 upon the tree. 
 
60 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 and the surveyor-general. Thomas Penn himself followed 
 the party for some distance. Far in the rear came Mar 
 shall, walking in a careless manner, swinging a hatchet in 
 one hand, " to balance himself," and at intervals munching 
 a dry biscuit, of which he carried a small supply. He 
 seemed to have forgotten a resolution he had made to " win 
 the prize of five hundred acres of land, or lose his life in 
 the attempt." 
 
 Thomas Penn had secretly sent out a preliminary party 
 to blaze the trees along the line of the walk for as great a 
 distance as it was thought possible for a man to walk in 
 eighteen hours. So, when the wilderness was reached, the 
 walkers still had the best and most direct course clearly 
 marked out for them. The Indians soon protested against 
 the speed, saying over and over : " That s not fair. You 
 run. You were to walk." But the treaty said, " As far as 
 a man can go" and the walkers were following it in letter, 
 if not in spirit, as they hurried along. Their protests be 
 ing disregarded, the Indians endeavored to delay the prog 
 ress by stopping to rest; but the white men dismounted, 
 and allowed the Indians to ride, and thus pushed on as 
 rapidly as ever. At last the Indians refused to go any far 
 ther, and left the party. 
 
 Before Lehigh River was reached Jennings was ex 
 hausted, gave up the race, and lagged behind in the com 
 pany of followers. His health was shattered, and he lived 
 only a few years. 
 
 That night the party slept on the north side of the Lehigh 
 Mountains, half a mile from the Indian village of Hoken- 
 dauqua. Next morning, while some of the party searched 
 for the horses which had strayed away during the night, 
 others went to the village to request Lappawinzoe, the 
 
The Walking Purchase 61 
 
 chief, to send other Indians to accompany the walkers. He 
 angrily replied : " You have all the good land now, and 
 you may as well take the bad, too." One old Indian, in 
 dignant at the stories of how the white men rushed along 
 in their greed to get as much land as possible, remarked 
 in a tone of deep disgust: " No sit down to smoke; no 
 shoot squirrel; but km, lun, lun, all day long." 
 
 Scarcely had the last half -day s walk- begun before 
 Yeates, who was a drinking man, was overcome by the 
 tremendous exertions and intemperance of the previous 
 day. He stumbled at the edge of Big Creek, and rolled, 
 helpless, down the bank into the water. When rescued he 
 was entirely blind, and his death followed within three 
 days. 
 
 Marshall still pressed on. Passing the last of the blazed 
 trees which had hitherto guided him, he seized a compass 
 offered by Surveyor-General Eastburn, and by its aid still 
 continued his onward course. At last, Sheriff Smith, who 
 for some time had frequently looked at his watch, called, 
 " Halt ! " Marshall instantly threw himself at full length, 
 anl grasped a sapling. Here was the starting-point for the 
 northern boundary of the purchase of 1686, sixty-eight 
 miles from the old chestnut-tree at Wrightstown, and very 
 close to where Mauch Chunk stands to-day. The walk was 
 twice as long as the Indians expected it to be. 
 
 Unfortunately for the Dela wares, they knew too little of 
 legal technicalities to notice that the deed did not state in 
 what direction the northern boundary was to be drawn. 
 They naturally expected it to be drawn to the nearest point 
 on the Delaware. But the surveyor-general, to please 
 Perm, decided that the line should run at right angles to the 
 direction of the walk, which was almost exactly northwest. 
 
The Walking Purchase 63 
 
 Draw a line from Mauch Chunk to the Delaware so that if 
 extended it would pass through New York City, and another 
 to the point where New York, New Jersey, and Pennsyl 
 vania meet. The first is the Indian s idea of the just way 
 to lay out the northern boundary; the second is the line 
 which Surveyor-General Eastburn actually finished mark 
 ing out in four days after Marshall s walk ended. 
 
 And so the three hundred thousand acres which the In 
 dians would have given to the Perms as the result of Mar 
 shall s walk were increased to half a million by taking self 
 ish advantage of a flaw in the deed. 
 
 The Lenni-Lenape had loved and trusted William Penn 
 because he always dealt openly and fairly with them. 
 " We will live in love with William Penn and his children," 
 said they, " as long as the sun and moon shall shine." But 
 the wrongs inflicted on them in the " walking purchase " 
 aroused the deepest indignation. " Next May," said Lap- 
 pawinzoe, " we will go to Philadelphia, each one with a 
 buckskin to repay the presents and take back our land 
 again." It was too late, however, for this to be done. 
 
 At last, in 1741, the Indians determined to resort to arms 
 to secure justice. But the Iroquois, to whom the Delawares 
 had long been subject, came to the aid of the Penns, and 
 the last hope of righting the wrong was gone forever. 
 
 There seems a sort of poetic justice in the latter expe 
 riences of the principal men in the affair. Marshall never 
 got his five hundred acres of land, and his wife was killed 
 in an attack by the Indians. Eastburn was repudiated by 
 Thomas Penn, and his heirs were notified that they " need 
 not expect the least favor." Penn himself was brought 
 before the king and forced to disown many of his acts and 
 agents in a most humiliating manner. 
 
64 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 But all this did not repair the injury to the Delawares, 
 and they never again owned, as a tribe, a single inch along 
 the river from which they took their name. 
 
 A small monument, erected by the Bucks County Histori 
 cal Society, marks the spot where the old chestnut-tree 
 formerly stood. In order that this might not seem to con 
 done an unworthy deed, the monument was dedicated, not 
 to those who made or conducted the walk, but to the Lenni- 
 Lenape Indians " not to the wrong, but to the persons 
 wronged." 
 
 The inscription on the stone reads : 
 
 TO THE MEMORY OF THE LENNI-LENAPE INDIANS, 
 ANCIENT OWNERS OF THIS REGION, 
 THESE STONES ARE PLACED AT 
 THIS SPOT, THE STARTING- 
 POINT OF THE 
 
 " INDIAN WALK," 
 September 19, 1737. 
 
DUTCH CHARACTERISTICS 
 BY MRS. SCHUYLER VAN RENSSELAER 
 
 The general characteristics of the Dutch as contrasted 
 with the English settlers of North America are interesting. 
 None is more striking or more admirable than the Dutch 
 man s broad-mindedness in matters of conscience and 
 opinion. 
 
 In the statute-books of New Amsterdam certain pages 
 were honorably blank which in those of Boston were closely 
 inscribed, sometimes in letters of blood. New Amsterdam, 
 for instance, had no undemocratic sumptuary laws distin 
 guishing between the permissible attire of the richer and 
 the less rich. It did not fight against the joys of " tobacco- 
 taking." It did not forbid " unprofitable fowling, dancing, 
 card-playing," and other possibly innocent forms of amuse 
 ment, but only said they should not be pursued during serv 
 ice time on the Sabbath. It did not believe in witches; and 
 it left the affairs of a man with his God to be settled by 
 God and the man. 
 
 Religious liberty and equality, in our modern and Amer 
 ican sense, did not exist even in Holland, the one existing 
 republic of the seventeenth century. But the generous re 
 ligious tolerance which did exist there was so phenomenal 
 that it brought out scorn and wrath from every other land, 
 and from men of every sect from the English Prot 
 estants, who profited greatly by it, as well as from continen- 
 
 5 6 5 
 
66 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 tal Catholics and Lutherans. And the temper of New 
 Netherland was the temper of its fatherland. 
 
 Every one knows that a government like that of early 
 Massachusetts, integrally uniting Church and State, could 
 have been built on none but a stiff sectarian basis. But it 
 should be remembered that this government was the out 
 come, not the cause, of Puritan intolerance. The differing 
 spirit of New Netherland was not rooted in its differing 
 form of government. It ran back of this to the spirit of 
 Dutch Protestantism at home. If the Dutch of the New 
 World had been allowed to rule themselves, as were the 
 men of Massachusetts Bay, they would have planted no 
 theocracies; and it hardly needs to be said that the work 
 ings of New England theocracies were hateful in their eyes. 
 Holland s large-heartedness excited Puritan rage; but Puri 
 tan narrow-mindedness provoked New Netherland s wonder 
 and contempt. Loud Dutch laughter must have greeted the 
 report of ordinances such as that which empowered the 
 Massachusetts General Court to proceed against all holders 
 of erroneous or unsafe opinions, carefully tabulated to the 
 number of eighty-two; and we can guess what Dutch com 
 mon sense and Dutch hospitality thought about the case 
 of the respectable " gentlemen " who, as Governor \Yin- 
 throp recounts, came to Boston s doors in 1630, but were 
 " turned away " because they could produce no ecclesiasti 
 cal " credentials." 
 
 In New Netherland the official theory was that only the 
 State Church, the Reformed Church of Holland, should be 
 supported or definitely countenanced by the government, 
 and that, if the government should see fit to forbid any 
 other forms of public worship, they should be held unlawful. 
 But in practice complete toleration was allowed. No pro- 
 
Dutch Characteristics 67 
 
 hibitions of any sort were formulated until Governor Stuy- 
 vesant got the chance ; then he was not supported by his own 
 people, and was rebuked and restrained by his superiors in 
 Holland; and in New Netherland the question of ortho 
 doxy never complicated the question of political liberty, 
 as it did in Massachusetts and New Haven. 
 
 In the time of Governor Kieft New Amsterdam and the 
 neighboring settlements 
 gladly received as perma 
 nent residents all the 
 heretics who were forced 
 or who chose to fly 
 from Massachusetts 
 those who had openly as 
 sailed the sacro-sanctity 
 of its government, as Chafing dish s l ^f er b s y early Dutch 
 well as those who had 
 
 confined themselves to transcendental theorizings. Gover 
 nor Winthrop says that many people left Massachusetts at 
 this time because of hard material conditions. 
 
 With all their faults, the Puritans were the finest product 
 of seventeenth-century England. John Milton spoke of 
 their emigration to New England as " the departure of so 
 many of the best " ; and even their adversaries in State 
 and Church realized what the motherland was losing when 
 they sailed in such numbers, and tried to restrict the swell 
 ing tide. If Holland had likewise sent its very best, and by 
 the tens of thousands, New Netherland might have out 
 stripped New England in material and in intellectual ways ; 
 for the best Hollanders of that time had most of the virtues 
 of the Puritan without his deep defects. But Hollanders 
 were nowhere planting colonies for the sake of founding 
 
68 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 new commonwealths, or for the sake of the colonies them 
 selves only for the sake of the profit to be derived from 
 them. And those who emigrated were not going in throngs 
 because of political or religious discontent. They were be 
 ing sent abroad in very small bands because of the service 
 they might render to Holland s commerce, and, through 
 this, to its growing jealousy of England and its long-cher 
 ished hate of Spain; and it was hard to find any who 
 would consent to go. Ready enough for adventurous 
 trade or war, the Dutch of the first half of the seventeenth 
 century were not ready for colonization. Those who 
 liked a settled life were perfectly satisfied at home. 
 
 Moreover, while pioneer life almost always bears its 
 own peculiar crop of evils, the softer sins of civilization 
 cannot flourish in its wild soil. Early Manhattan cannot 
 have been a place where fools or cowards were many, and 
 it certainly was not a place where plethoric citizens habitu 
 ally smoked and dozed and boozed in chimney-corners 
 this poor, cold, stinted, harassed, and often half-staved lit 
 tle outpost in the wilderness, with an unfamiliar climate, 
 uncleared lands, and ever-possible Indian foes to fight, de 
 pendent upon a trust of tradesmen for sustenance and 
 defense, and upon these tradesmen s employees for gui 
 dance. There was not much humor in a situation like this. 
 There can have been nothing feebly comic about the major 
 part of the people who bore with it. 
 
 By nature the Dutch were more gentle and tolerant than 
 the English, and they were also more inclined by their 
 special needs to a policy of friendship with the natives. 
 The Puritans did not long depend upon the fur trade as 
 a main resource. Tilling their fields and fishing their seas, 
 they soon prized the Indian s absence more than any wares 
 
Dutch Characteristics 69 
 
 that he could bring. But the New Netherlander craved 
 nothing" so much as the skins of wild creatures, and could 
 more easily obtain them by bartering with wild hunters 
 than by shooting and trapping on their own account in 
 tangled forests and deep and rapid streams. So they con 
 ciliated the Indians as middlemen between themselves and 
 the beaver, and also the only men who in times of dearth 
 could furnish them with food. The West India Company 
 in Europe, and almost all its colonists in America, were fair 
 and honorable in their attitude toward the savage, buying 
 his lands, respecting his customs, and beliefs, keeping 
 the treaties they made with him, and, as Mr. Fernow writes 1 
 regarding him " as a man with rights of life, liberty, 
 opinion, and property like their own." To this policy, 
 wisely followed by the English when they became the own 
 ers of New Netherland, " we owe," says the same histo 
 rian, " the existence of the United States." That is, we 
 owe our national existence to the fact that, generation 
 after generation, the powerful Iroquois tribes formed a 
 steady bulwark against the aggressions of the Canadian 
 French, enabling the English to retain New York, the 
 " pivot province," and eventually to win in the great con 
 flict which ended on the Plains of Abraham and under the 
 walls of Montreal the conflict which made the con 
 tinent English, and, at the same time, so drew the colonies 
 together that they could combine to throw off England s 
 yoke. 
 
 1 In " Winsor s Narrative and Critical History of America." 
 
LIFE ON A COLONIAL MANOR 
 BY HELEN EVERTSON SMITH 1 
 
 HE holder of an American manor in co 
 lonial days, though of the highest social 
 rank, was by no means an idle aristocrat 
 living on an immense estate paying a 
 proportionate revenue. In fact, if one 
 of the wealthiest, he was also one of 
 the busiest men of his generation. Both 
 the conditions of the times and those upon which the manors 
 were conferred made this a necessity. The manor granted 
 to Robert Livingston in 1686 was almost, if not quite, as 
 large as some of the German principalities of those days, 
 and its possession implied a certain amount of extraneous 
 wealth on the part of its owner to enable him to sustain 
 his manorial authority with the fitting degree of power and 
 prestige ; but it was no sinecure. 
 
 Mr. Livingston s great domain, situated in what are 
 now Columbia and Dutchess counties, New York, front 
 ing for twelve miles along the Hudson River, and en 
 larging to the length of twenty miles on the Massachusetts 
 border, thirty miles or so back from the river, was still, for 
 the most part, a wilderness where Indians hunted the deer, 
 or sometimes fired the hut and took the scalp of a too ad 
 venturous pioneer. 
 
 Robert Livingston was a far-seeing, politic man. As 
 
 1 From " Colonial Days and Ways." 
 
 70 
 
Life on a Colonial Manor 71 
 
 much as might be, he made friends of the wild tribes, pay 
 ing them fairly for their lands, without regard to the fact 
 that the royal grants were supposed to preclude any such 
 necessity, and himself learning, and causing his sons to 
 learn, the Indian tongues, that they might be delivered from 
 the misunderstandings which were so frequent when the 
 several parties to any agreement \vere dependent upon the 
 not always certain loyalty of the interpreters. 
 
 Nothing in North America was then so plentiful as land, 
 and under the conditions imposed by the royal grants a 
 poor man could not have afforded to accept a gift of the 
 lordiest manor of them all. Within a specified time a cer 
 tain number of families had to be brought from Europe 
 and settled upon the granted territory, and their main 
 tenance for the first few years assured. It is true that the 
 settlers thus brought were expected to pay back at least a 
 part of the first expenditure, but for the time the outlays 
 were heavy, and comparatively few of the settlers made 
 the losses good. 
 
 Farms were leased for long terms, usually for two lives 
 and a half, a period which at that time was said to have 
 averaged about fifty years. 
 
 In his novel of " Satanstoe," one of the most reliable of 
 historical tales, Cooper says : The first ten years no rent 
 at all was to be paid; for the next ten the land [five 
 hundred acres] was to pay sixpence currency per acre, the 
 tenant having the right to cut timber at pleasure; for the 
 remainder of the lease sixpence sterling was to be paid for 
 the land and 40 currency or about $100 per year for the 
 mill site. The mills to be taken by the landlord, at an 
 appraisal made by men/ at the expiration of the lease; the 
 tenant to pay taxes." The mill was evidently to be built 
 
72 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 by the tenant, " who had the privilege of using, for his 
 dams, buildings, etc., all the materials that he could find on 
 the land." To the landlords belonged the duty of con 
 structing roads and bridges, and of making all improve 
 ments of a public nature. The rents were usually if not 
 always paid in the produce of the land, which the manor s 
 lord w-as obliged to get to market at his own expense in 
 order to obtain the necessary cash for his varied undertak 
 ings. Such an arrangement would certainly seem to have 
 been very liberal toward the tenant, and was doubtless so 
 esteemed at the time, but in after years, when the descend 
 ants of the first tenants had forgotten the heavy advances 
 which had been made by the ancestors of their landlords, 
 and saw how easily the more recent settlers could make 
 homes for themselves in the West, they considered them 
 selves unjustly treated, and in 
 stituted the struggle for posses 
 sion which is known to history 
 as the " anti-rent war." 
 
 Of course, nothing of all 
 this was foreseen at the begin 
 ning. The first manor lords 
 undoubtedly thought that they 
 were here founding immense 
 holdings after the fashions of 
 the motherland, and they pro 
 ceeded in a tkoroughly business 
 like way to make all things se 
 cure for the prosperity of their 
 heirs, \vho, when their time 
 came, did not fail to appreciate 
 Colonial gentleman. ^ ha * had been done for them. 
 
Life on a Colonial Manor 
 
 73 
 
 Governor William Livingston of New Jersey, writing to 
 his brother, the third lord of the Upper Manor, in 1775, re 
 marked : " Without a large personal estate and their own 
 
 Colonial wigs. 
 
 uncommon industry and capacity for business, instead of 
 making out of their extended tract of land a fortune for 
 their descendants, our grand-parents and parents would 
 have left us but a scant maintenance." 
 
 In this expression Governor Livingston seems to have in 
 cluded the manor ladies as well as their lords, and indeed 
 it is plain that the very desirable " capacity for business " 
 was equally needed by both, and the " hand of the diligent 
 that maketh rich " is not an exclusively masculine possess 
 ion. 
 
 The first lady of the manor of Livingston was Alida, the 
 daughter of Philip Pieterse Schuyler, and widow of the 
 Rev. Nicholas Van Rensselaer. Whatever dower in 
 money or lands she may have brought to the aid of her 
 astute second husband she surely brought one still better in 
 the sturdy Dutch qualities of fidelity, thrift, and manage- 
 
74 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 ment. For warmth and strength of family affection, both 
 Mr. and Mrs. Robert Livingston were long remembered 
 among their descendants. 
 
 The year of this marriage, 1683, was 
 that in which young Robert Livingston 
 made his first purchase of land from the 
 Indians a tract of two thousand acres. 
 Two years later more land was added by 
 purchase, and still one year later came the 
 
 Colonial Collar. 
 
 grant from the crown, when the whole was 
 
 erected into a lordship or manor, conferring the " Court- 
 Leet," " Court-Baron," and other rights and privileges 
 which were for a long time more visible on the parchments 
 than elsewhere. 
 
 On this estate of more than one hundred and sixty 
 thousand acres. 1 on the banks of a small but for a short 
 distance navigable tributary of the Hudson, was erected 
 the first Livingston manor-house. Its last vestige disap 
 peared more than a hundred years ago, when the present 
 family residence, known as Oak Hill, was built, a mile or 
 more from the ancient site. 
 
 Of the first house we only know that it was " thick 
 walled, low browed and heavy raftered," after the then pre 
 vailing Dutch farm-house type, only much larger than was 
 usual. We do not know that it was constructed in any 
 way for defense, although it well might have been. Prob 
 ably its builder trusted to keep the peace by his just and 
 friendly dealings with the Indians, and he may also have 
 been prepared for defense. He certainly had good reason 
 
 1 Charles Carroll of Carrollton, writing in 1776, says that the Liv 
 ingston Manor then comprised over 300,000 acres. This must have 
 included almost 150,000 acres which had been gradually added by pur 
 chase to the original manorial grant. 
 
Life on a Colonial Manor 75 
 
 to trust somewhat to the number of retainers gathered 
 around him, a majority of whom, like all frontiersmen, 
 would pretty surely be well armed against " big game," 
 which would as surely include aggressively inclined Indians, 
 if any there were; but this does not appear. From the 
 rear of the broad-roofed dwelling stretched away the quar 
 ters of the slaves, the other outbuildings, and several barns, 
 some of which were larger than the house itself. 
 
 There was much building of houses at various suitable 
 points for the use of the tenant farmers and craftsmen 
 brought from Great Britain, Holland, and Germany. To 
 supply the timber for these dwellings sawmill machinery 
 was imported and set up on the banks of the streams in the 
 midst of the forests. Near these mills little settlements 
 grew up with a celerity that was remarkable for the time, 
 and spoke volumes for the executive and administrative 
 ability of the manor s active lord. In a long, semi-de 
 tached wing of the manor-house carpenters and masons 
 were fed and lodged during the long winters, while they 
 did such preparatory work as might be possible to for 
 ward building operations in the various settlements in such 
 moments as the weather would per 
 mit. With the adaptability of all 
 true pioneers, these men could turn 
 their hands to many things, and 
 they manufactured in the manor s Colonial s P ectacles - 
 workshop and smithy many of the tools which otherwise 
 must have been imported, as well as much of the rude 
 furniture for the pioneer houses. Near by was the grist 
 mill which supplied flour and Indian meal to all the near 
 settlements, as well as to many outside the manor for per 
 haps thirty miles up and down the river. On the home 
 
76 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 farm hundreds of swine and beef cattle were raised, slaugh 
 tered, and cured to supply scores of resident families and 
 also for exportation. Here the wool of many hundreds of 
 sheep was sheared, carded, spun into yarn, and woven into 
 blankets and cloths to be used for the manor household 
 and by those of the tenants not sufficiently " forehanded " 
 to do this work for themselves. 
 
 In one room of the " great house " were held courts 
 where all the difficulties common to frontier populations 
 were adjusted, and in the same room were carried on the 
 primitive banking operations of the newly opened region. 
 
 Near by were the docks, whence, when the river was open, 
 sloops were weekly departing, laden with salted meats, 
 grains, peltries, and lumber, or returning with cargoes of 
 all the countless things which could not yet be produced 
 at home. Among these were many articles of luxury and 
 rich household furnishings which must have seemed a trifle 
 incongruous with their new surroundings. 
 
 Not far away stood the big " store," where all sorts of 
 things, from wrought-iron nails to silks, and from " West 
 Indian sweetmeats " to Dutch garden seeds, were sometimes 
 sold for money, but often bartered for country produce and 
 peltries, which would soon find their way to New York, and 
 some ultimately to England, in ships owned by the enter 
 prising Robert Livingston. 
 
 All these various branches of business implied the com 
 ing and going of many persons, and entailed an open- 
 handed hospitality of the widest kind. For this the princi 
 pal care and oversight fell upon the capable shoulders of 
 Mrs. Livingston. It is traditionally related that the num 
 ber of permanent dwellers which the manor-house roof 
 sheltered during the first twenty years of the eighteenth 
 
Life on a Colonial Manor 
 
 77 
 
 century averaged something over thirty persons this be 
 ing exclusive of slaves, of whom there were more than a 
 hundred having outside quarters, and of white employees. 
 As strangers were always welcome, it w r as the custom to 
 have beds of all 
 sorts in a state of 
 complete readi 
 ness for at least 
 ten unexpected 
 guests, while, at 
 a pinch, a good 
 many more could 
 be accommodated 
 without great in 
 convenience. 
 
 The first manor 
 of Livingston, 
 with its many activities, its profuse hospitalities, and its 
 strong contrasts, reminds one of Scott s descriptions of the 
 rude baronial halls in the remote Scotch districts a few 
 scores of years earlier than this. In the new land there 
 was almost as much feudal authority over more diverse 
 retainers, a greater display of costly plate, tapestries, and 
 rich furniture, and the same lack of what were even then 
 considered essential comforts for persons of like social po 
 sition in regions less remote. 
 
 The wide hall and the long drawing-room of the big 
 farm-house were wainscoted in panels. The mantels above 
 the tile-bordered fireplaces were fancifully carved, and the 
 walls were hung with costly Flemish tapestries; yet it is 
 doubtful, if, during the first three or four decades, any of 
 the floors were carpeted, while that of the dining-room was 
 
 Colonial loom. 
 
78 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 certainly sanded, and a row of sheepskins, dressed with the 
 wool on, was laid around the table in winter for foot- 
 warmers. At the same time the table was laid with the 
 finest naperies and much solid silver, interspersed with 
 pewter and wooden dishes. During the earliest years there 
 probably was not a single fork, and it is almost certain that 
 there were few if any articles of china, and not many of 
 earthenware. 
 
 Their descendants of the third and fourth generation, 
 then grown to be a large, wealthy, keen-witted, and " clan 
 nish clan," were, with very few exceptions, found among the 
 strongest opponents to British power during the struggle of 
 the colonies for independence, though well knowing that 
 with their success would perish all dreams of the new- 
 world baronies. The course of the three great manor 
 families of Van Rensselaer, Van Cortlandt, and Living 
 ston is alone a sufficient answer to the calumny that " great 
 estates always made active Tories." 
 
 PROSPEROUS DAYS ON A LATER MANOR 
 
 The period from the founding of the first manor in the 
 colony of New York to the beginning of the War of the 
 Revolution was not quite a century, yet during the last 
 third of that time home life on all the manors had greatly 
 changed. What in the later time was held to be vast 
 wealth had resulted from the wise plans and incessant 
 labors of the founders, acting with the natural growth of 
 the country. To such pleasant features as had existed in 
 the earlier days many others had been added, while much 
 of that which was unpleasant had disappeared. For miles 
 along the eastern bank of the Hudson, above and below 
 what is now Rhinebeck, almost every sightly eminence was 
 
Life on a Colonial Manor 
 
 79 
 
 capped with the fine residence of one of the grandchildren 
 of the first lord and lady of the Livingston Manor. At all 
 of these mansions cordial hospitality, abundant cheer, and 
 all of what was then esteemed splendor, were to be found. 
 There were at this time two Livingston manors, as a por 
 tion of the first (which was subsequently called the Upper 
 Manor) had been set off to the founder s third son Robert 
 as a reward for peculiarly important services. This segre 
 gated portion was indifferently called the " Lower Manor 
 of Livingston " or " Clermont " until after the colonies 
 had become States, when it be 
 came definitely known as Cler 
 mont, one of the most cele 
 brated country-seats in Amer 
 ica. 
 
 The manor ladies of the 
 third generation and their suc 
 cessors of the fourth (though 
 the title of these last had be 
 come one of courtesy only) 
 were well-nigh queens on their 
 ow T n domains ; but, like all 
 queens who are not mere fig 
 ureheads, they had many cares, 
 which they accepted as frankly 
 as they did the pleasures of 
 their position. 
 
 Notions of political independence had for many years 
 been growing through all the colonies, but of social equality 
 there was scarcely a whisper. Certainly it was far from 
 the thoughts of those who had belonged to good families in 
 the old countries and had here been held in honor and had 
 
 A lady of quality. 
 
8o The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 prospered to the extent of founding families of wealth. 
 Perhaps no more frankly fervent aristocrats ever lived than 
 the owners of the great colonial estates, whether these were 
 situated on the banks of the James and the Chesapeake or 
 on those of the Hudson. They were free from most of 
 
 Colonial dance. 
 
 the restraints and traditions which often hung like fetters 
 on the limbs of the kindred class in the motherland, and 
 thus they were at liberty to enjoy their rank, wealth, and 
 cultivation. Of this happy liberty they took the fullest ad 
 vantage. 
 
 From the extreme limits of Van Rensselaer s manor on 
 the north to that of the Van Cortlandts on the south, the 
 eastern bank of the Hudson River from Albany to New 
 York, and for a distance of from fifteen to thirty miles 
 back from the river, was dotted by the handsome residences 
 
Life on a Colonial Manor 81 
 
 of as care- free, healthful, fine-looking, and happy a class as 
 probably the society of any country has ever known. Its 
 members were not driven by the fierce competition which 
 embitters so many lives to-day, yet they had abundant and 
 satisfying occupations. They had intermarried so freely 
 that they seemed one great cousinry, all having a serene 
 confidence in the invulnerability of their social position, 
 which left them free to be jovial, hospitable, good-humored, 
 and withal public-spirited to an unusual degree. The men 
 had their offices, and their business hours in which to con 
 fer with their stewards and tenants, or with the men who 
 conducted large enterprises of many sorts upon the strength 
 of their capital and under their guidance. Into their capable 
 and willing hands official positions naturally fell and were 
 faithfully filled; but all these things were done in an at 
 mosphere of large leisureliness, consequent upon the slow 
 means of communication between distant points, which is 
 almost beyond the conception of any in these electric days. 
 
 The men rode a great deal, or hunted after the manner 
 of their English cousins, or they made long expeditions 
 into the unexplored regions of northern and western New 
 York, partly, no doubt, with an eye to present profit or to 
 future investments, but largely to gratify their innate love 
 of adventure. Many of the sons w r ere sent to the English 
 universities of Cambridge or Oxford; but even if his col 
 lege training had been received at King s (now Columbia) 
 College, the education of no young man belonging to a 
 wealthy and cultivated family was considered complete un 
 til he had made a tour of Europe, from one to three years 
 being frequently consumed in this way. 
 
 During the long absences of the male heads of the manor 
 families the administration of their home affairs was left 
 
 6 
 
82 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 in the hands of capable stewards, who were always under 
 the supervision of the manor ladies. The household sup 
 plies of every sort were on a scale commensurate with the 
 family s social position, and would in themselves make 
 most interesting reading for one who loves to make the 
 past seem present by recalling the homely details of do 
 mestic life. 
 
 All the manor families had al 
 ways encouraged what were then 
 " home industries " in a strictly 
 literal sense. But there were 
 many things which the largest 
 private expenditure could not 
 produce in the new country, and 
 Mrs. Livingston s old account- 
 book shows that persons of 
 wealth did not, for this reason, 
 deprive themselves of much 
 
 which they desired to possess. The things sent for from 
 England, France, and Holland were varied, numerous, and 
 costly. Great treasures of tapestries, pictures, inlaid cabi 
 nets, jewels, satins, velvets, and laces, as well as old wines, 
 delicate porcelains and expensive plate, must have been lost 
 when the Clermont manor-house was burned by the British 
 during our Revolutionary War. 
 
A COLONIAL LETTER * 
 [FROM LETTER FROM SAMUEL SMITH OF HADLEY, MASS.] 
 
 " HADLEY, MASSACHUSETTS COLONY 
 " Jan. ye Firste, 1698. 
 
 " MY DEAR & DUTIFUL SON : Concerning ye earlie 
 days I can remember but little save Hardships. My par 
 ents had broughte bothe Men Servants and Maid Servants 
 from England, but ye Maids tarried not but till they got 
 married, ye wch was shortly, for there was great scarcity 
 of Women in the Colonies. 
 
 " Ye first Meeting House was solid mayde to withstande 
 ye wicked onslaughts of ye Red Skins. Its Foundations 
 was laide in ye feare of ye Lord, but its Walls was truly 
 laide in ye feare of ye Indians, for many and grate was the 
 Terrors of em. I do mind me y t alle ye able-bodyed Men 
 did work thereat, & ye olde & feeble did watch in turns if 
 any Savages was in hiding neare & every man keept his 
 musket nighe to his hande. I do not myself remember any 
 of ye Attacks made by large bodeys of Indians whilst we 
 did remain in Weathersfield, but did ofttimes fear of em. 
 Several Families which did live back always from ye River 
 was either Murderdt or Captivated in my Boyhood & we 
 all did live in constant feare of ye like. 
 
 " . . . After ye Red Skins ye grate Terror of our lives 
 at Weathersfield & for many years after we had moved to 
 Hadley to live, was ye Wolves. Catamounts was bad eno 
 
 1 From " Colonial Days and Ways," by Helen Evertson Smith. 
 
 83 
 
84 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 & so was ye Beares, but it was ye Wolves yt was ye worst. 
 The noyes of they re howlings was eno to curdle ye bloode 
 of ye stoutest & I have never seen ye man yt did not shiver 
 at ye Sounde of a Packe of em. . . . My Mother and 
 sister did each of em Kill more yan one of ye gray Howlers 
 & once my oldest sister shot a Beare yt came too near ye 
 House. He was a good fatte oune and keept us all in meate 
 for a good while." 
 
A THANKSGIVING DINNER 1 
 
 [FROM A LETTER FROM JULIAN SMITH TO HER "DEAR 
 COUSIN BETSY " DESCRIBING A FAMILY THANKSGIVING 
 DINNER IN NEW ENGLAND IN I779-] 
 
 " When Thanksgiving Day was approaching our 
 dear Grandmother Smith, who is sometimes a little despond 
 ing of Spirit as you well know, did her best to persuade 
 us that it would be better to make it a Day of Fasting and 
 Prayer in view of the Wickedness of our Friends & the 
 Vileness of our Enemies, I am sure you can hear Grand 
 mother say that and see her shake her cap border. 
 
 " But indeed there was some occasion for her remarks, 
 for our resistance to an unjust Authority has cost our beau 
 tiful Coast Towns very dear the last year & all of us have 
 had much to suffer. But my dear Father brought her to a 
 more proper frame of Mind, so that by the time the day 
 came she was ready to enjoy it almost as well as Grand 
 mother Worthington did, & she, you will remember, al 
 ways sees the bright side. In the meanwhile we had all 
 been working to get all things in readiness to do honor to 
 the Day. 
 
 " This year it was Uncle Simeon s turn to have the dinner 
 at his house, but of course we all helped them as they help 
 us when it is our turn, & there is always enough for us all 
 to do. 
 
 1 From " Colonial Days and Ways," by Helen Evertson Smith. 
 
 85 
 
86 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 " All the baking of pies & cakes was done at our house 
 and we had the big oven heated and filled twice each day 
 for three days before it was all done, & everything was 
 GOOD, though we did have to do without some things 
 that ought to be used. Neither love nor (paper) Money 
 could buy Raisins, but our good red cherries dried with 
 out the pits, did almost as well & happily uncle Simeon still 
 had some spices in store. The tables were set in the Din 
 ing Hall and even that big room had no space to spare 
 when we were all seated. 
 
 "Of course we could have no Roast Beef. None of us 
 have tasted Beef this three years back as it must all go to 
 the Army, & too little they get, poor fellows. But, Nay- 
 quittymaw s Hunters were able to get us a fine red Deer, 
 so that we had a good haunch of Venison on Each Table. 
 These were balanced by huge Chines of Roast Pork at the 
 other Ends of the Tables. Then there was on one a big 
 Roast Turkey & on the other a Goose & two big Pigeon 
 Pasties. Then there was an abundance of good Vegetables 
 of all the old sorts. 
 
 . . " Our Mince Pies were good although we had to 
 use dried Cherries as I told you, & the meat \vas shoulder 
 of Venison instead of Beef. The Pumpkin Pies, Apple 
 Tarts and big Indian Puddings lacked for nothing save 
 Appetite by the time we had got round to them. 
 
 . . . " Uncle Simeon was in his best mood, and you 
 know how good that is! He kept both Tables in a roar of 
 laughter with his droll Stories of the days when he was 
 studying Medicine in Edinborough, & afterwards he and 
 Uncle Paul joined in singing Hymns and Ballads. 
 
 . , . " We did not rise from the Table until it was 
 quite dark, & then when the dishes had been cleared away 
 
A Thanksgiving Dinner 87 
 
 we all got .round the fire as close as we could, & cracked 
 nuts & sang songs & told stories. At least some told & 
 others listened. You know nobody can exceed the two 
 grandmothers in telling tales of all the things they have 
 seen themselves & repeating those of the early years in 
 New England, & even some in Old England, which they 
 had heard in their youth from their Elders. My father 
 says it is a goodly custom to hand down all worthy deeds 
 traditions from Father to Son as the Isrealites were 
 commanded to do about the Passover & as the Indians here 
 have always done, because the Word that is spoken is re 
 membered longer than the one that is written." 
 
LITTLE PURITANS 
 BY H. E. SCUDDER 
 
 Our New England ancestors, when they came here, 
 brought Old England names with them for their tcnyns and 
 many Old England customs; but they did not at first brin-g 
 bells for their churches, and, instead, a man stood on the 
 door-step and beat a drum. Drums they had, for the men 
 were all, or nearly all, soldiers. They did not keep a great 
 army, but every one had his musket and sword and spear, 
 for protection against the hostile Indian or the wild beast. 
 Indeed, when Sunday came and everybody went to church, 
 you would have supposed there was to be a drill or a fight, 
 for there stood the drummer on the step, and the men com 
 ing down the broad path were all or nearly all armed ; be 
 sides, upon the square, fort-like building, in which they first 
 held their meetings, men were stationed on the lookout for 
 enemies. 
 
 We call the drum the Puritan church-bell, but in those 
 days the churches in New England were called " meeting 
 houses," the same as synagogue, which word you find in 
 the New Testament, and there were a good many points in 
 common between the Jewish synagogue and the New Eng 
 land meeting-house. Let us enter the meeting-house on a 
 Sunday and see what is done there. You will not fail to 
 see the pulpit, which is very high and often overhung by a 
 sounding-board, such as still remain in some old churches. 
 This is the preacher s place, and before him stands an hour- 
 
Little Puritans 89 
 
 glass filled with sand; for there is no clock in the house, 
 and when the minister begins his sermon he turns the glass 
 and expects to preach till the last grain of sand has run 
 through. Immediately below the pulpit sit the ruling 
 elders, facing the congregation, and still further down in 
 the same position sit the deacons. Then comes the con 
 gregation, and you could very quickly tell who were the 
 most important people by the place they have in the church, 
 for it is the business of a committee once a year to seat the 
 people according to their general rank in the place, and 
 many a bitter family quarrel has sprung up from disappoint 
 ment at not being well placed. I think a good text for the 
 minister of preach from when the time for seating came 
 would be James ii., i-io. 
 
 The people do not sit in families, but the men sit on one 
 side and the women on the other, while the boys have a 
 place by themselves. Very likely the floor is sanded, and if 
 it is winter the boys have brought little foot-stoves for their 
 mothers and sisters to put under their feet during the long 
 service. A long service it is. For first the pastor makes a 
 prayer which lasts a quarter of an hour, then the teacher 
 reads and expounds a chapter in the Bible. Nowadays one 
 generally hears the chapter read, in whatever church, with 
 out comment, but then it was held that this savored of a 
 superstitious respect for the Bible, as if one must simply 
 listen to it and not understand it. Then one of the ruling 
 elders dictates a psalm out of the Bay psalm-book, which 
 the people sing. These psalms were made imitations in 
 meter of the Psalms of David, and the people only had 
 about ten tunes in all which they could sing. They did not 
 like to sing the psalms just as they stood, for the English 
 Church did that, and they wished to ignore that Church 
 
A Puritan church-bell. 
 
Little Puritans 91 
 
 in every possible way, so they put the psalms into 
 very troublesome rime, and without any musical instru 
 ment sang them as well as they could to one of their ten 
 tunes. 
 
 After the singing the pastor preaches his hour-long ser 
 mon, and adds often an exhortation, then the teacher prays 
 and pronounces a blessing. The same service is held in 
 the afternoon, except that the pastor and teacher change 
 places. Perhaps there is baptism also, when a little child 
 born since the last Sunday, or it may be this very day, is 
 brought in. If there is a contribution, the people go up 
 by turns and place their money in a box which the deacons 
 keep, and sometimes, if they have no money, they bring 
 goods and corn and the like and place them on the floor. 
 
 Do you wonder that in the long service, all of which 
 pretty much was carried on by the minister, the people, and 
 especially the boys, became tired and restless? On cold 
 winter days, as the sermon drew near an end, you could 
 have heard men knocking their half-frozen feet together, 
 and then was the time, too, or on drowsy summer after 
 noons, when the tithing-man was busy. Who was the 
 tithing-man? He was a parish officer whose special busi 
 ness it was to see that the Sabbath was not broken, and 
 who spent his time in church looking after the boys to see 
 that they behaved themselves. He had a long staff which 
 he carried, much as a sheriff does. He did not always 
 walk up and down before the children. Sometimes he 
 stood behind them, and a boy whose head fell over from 
 sleepiness would feel a thump on the crown presently from 
 the staff of the watchful tithing-man. Many of the seats 
 in the old churches were on hinges, and when people stood 
 up at the blessing, you would hear the seats go slamming 
 
92 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 against the backs of the pews all over the house like, a suc 
 cession of cannon-crackers. I fancy that the boys who 
 were eager to get away slammed a little harder than was 
 really necessary. 
 
 Sunday with the Puritans began at sunset Saturday and 
 lasted until sunset of Sunday. But that is only one day 
 out of seven, though I am afraid it was a long day to 
 many. We are very apt to think of the Puritans as al 
 ways going to meeting, and little Puritans we imagine as 
 dangling their legs from high wooden seats and wondering 
 when the minister was to be through; but think a moment, 
 remember what New England was at that time, and you 
 w r ill see a little of what young life must have been. There 
 were no larger cities or towns as now ; there were no 
 screaming railway trains or puffing steamboats. Boston, 
 the largest town, had not so many inhabitants as many a 
 Western village may have in a year s time. There were 
 no great colleges and fine public schools, no public halls, 
 exhibitions, concerts or plays. But then the country was 
 far wilder and more exciting than it now is. New Eng 
 land boys spent their time in fields or in the deep woods, by 
 the banks of the rivers and upon the shore of the roaring 
 sea, or in boats tossing on the \vater. They learned the 
 use of the bow and the gun, and they had plenty of game 
 right at their doors. They hunted bears and deer and 
 trapped foxes. They shot wild turkeys, wild geese and 
 wild ducks. They did not have to wait for vacation and 
 then go off a great distance from home, but this was their 
 daily occupation. Then, perhaps, as they walked through 
 the forest they came upon the red Indian, who was not 
 making baskets and miniature canoes, but hunting as they 
 were. If they lived by the sea or rivers, as nearly all did 
 
Little Puritans 
 
 93 
 
 at first, they had their fishing, swimming, rowing and sail 
 ing. This was all part of their work as well as their sport, 
 and hard lives they led of it, too, for from early youth they 
 worked with the elder men, laying out roads through the 
 woods, digging wells and ditches, making walls and fences, 
 keeping out wolves and wild-cats. There were houses and 
 barns to be built, ships and boats 
 to make, mills, fortifications and 
 churches. There were farms 
 and orchards to lay out and cul 
 tivate, and when winter came, 
 they went into the woods and cut 
 down the forest trees, and when 
 the snow was hard, they sledded 
 the logs to the wood-pile, the 
 timber to the mill. They had 
 not the various labor-saving ma 
 chines, but every one had to work 
 hard with plain tools ; and as 
 there were few stores, people 
 raised or made nearly all that they themselves needed to 
 use. 
 
 The girls, too, had their work. Every home had its 
 spinning-wheel and loom, and the women and young girls 
 spun and wove all the clothing and household stuff. They 
 had to take care of the houses, and they had their outdoor 
 life also, working on the farm and in the field. When the 
 long winter evenings came they read by the fireside, and 
 had their quilting bees and their husking frolics. There 
 was plenty of wood in the forest, and the wood-piles were 
 built high, so they stuffed the great logs into the big chim 
 ney and had roaring fires, which did not warm the houses 
 
 Emigrants flax-wheel. 
 
94 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 as our furnaces do, but were vastly more cheerful and more 
 wholesome. There was not much schooling with books, 
 and there were few who spent as much time in school as 
 most children now spend in vacation. 
 
 Now, all new countries require work, and New England 
 boys and girls had to work hard; but it was not work only 
 which made New England so well known and so great that 
 hundreds of books have been written about her and will 
 continue to be written for generations to come. It was 
 Sunday and work together that made her great. The boys 
 and girls who heard the drum call them to church, and sat 
 restlessly there under the eye of the tithing-man, did not al 
 ways understand what was said, and many times foolish 
 things were said by the preachers; but the day which they 
 kept so rigorously was always reminding them that there 
 was something more to be done than to get rich fast and 
 spend their riches on themselves; that they were to please 
 God and not themselves. They did not always go to work 
 the right way to please Him, but they did not forget Him 
 and think only of their merchandise. The children in 
 meeting-house and at work learned self-control, learned 
 that it was manlier and better to labor than to be self-in 
 dulgent, and they were never allowed to think that they 
 could do anything they chose. We live in happier times 
 now, and should think it very odd to see boys always take 
 off their hats, and girls courtesy when they met older people 
 in the road; to write letters to our fathers which begin 
 Honored Sir, and to treat our parents as if they were 
 judges of the supreme court; but because little Puritans did 
 these things, you must not fancy they did not love their 
 parents, or that their parents did not love them. There are 
 many beautiful letters written at that time which show that 
 
Little Puritans 95 
 
 fathers and mothers cared for their homes as they cared 
 for nothing else but God. 
 
 So when we think of the stiff, hard-looking Puritans, 
 we may remember that they hated lies and worked hard. 
 The little Puritans grew up in a free out-of-door life, and 
 learned in childhood to set duty before pleasure. And it 
 was out of such stuff that the men and women of the Revo 
 lution came. 
 
THE FUR-TRADER AND THE INDIAN 
 BASED ON PARKMAN, KALM AND OTHERS 
 
 The great part which fur-trading played in building up 
 the colonies and in opening up new country will be plain 
 to any one who stops to think that as a means of subsistence 
 and of money-making, it was only second to farming 
 among the occupations of the colonists. 
 
 The Indian, from the beginning, parted with his valuable 
 furs for the cheapest baubles, and worst of all for him, he 
 often gave up his choicest stores for a bottle of brandy or 
 rum. 
 
 The chief thoroughfare westward of the middle colonies 
 in the years approaching the Revolution was from Phila 
 delphia, across the Alleghanies, to the valley of the Ohio. 
 Parkman l thus describes the equipment, character and mode 
 of operation of the fur-trader of these times (1760 to the 
 Revolution) : " Peace was no sooner concluded with the 
 hostile tribes, than the adventurous fur-traders careless of 
 risk of life and property, hastened over the mountains, 
 each eager to be foremost in the wilderness market. Their 
 merchandise was sometimes carried in wagons as far as the 
 site of Fort de Quesne, which the English rebuilt after 
 its capture, changing its name to Fort Pitt. From this 
 point the goods were packed on the backs of horses, and 
 thus distributed among the various Indian villages. More 
 
 Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War." Boston, 1874, 
 by Francis Parkman. 
 
 96 
 
The Fur-Trader and the Indian 97 
 
 commonly, however, the whole journey was performed by 
 means of trains, or, as they were called, brigades of pack- 
 horses, which, leaving the frontier settlements, climbed the 
 shadowy heights of the Alleghanies, and threaded the for 
 ests of the Ohio, diving through thickets and wading over 
 streams. The men employed in this perilous calling were 
 a rough, bold and intractable class, often as fierce and trucu 
 lent as the Indians themselves. A blanket, coat, or a frock 
 of smoked deer-skin, a rifle on the shoulder, and a knife 
 and tomahawk in the belt, formed their ordinary equipment. 
 The principal trader, the owner of the merchandise, would 
 fix his headquarters at some large Indian town, whence 
 he would dispatch his subordinates to the surrounding 
 villages, with a suitable supply of blankets and red cloth, 
 guns and hatchets, liquor, tobacco, paint, beads and hawk s 
 bells. This wild traffic was liable to every species of dis 
 order; and it is not to be \vondered that, in a region where 
 la\v was unknown, the jealousies of rival traders should 
 become a fruitful source of brawls, robberies and murders. 
 
 " In the back woods, all land traveling was on foot, or on 
 horseback. It was no easy matter for a novice, embar 
 rassed with his cumbrous gun, to urge his horse through 
 the thick trunks and undergrowth, or even to ride at speed 
 along the narrow Indian trails, where at every yard the 
 impending branches switched him across the face. 
 
 " At night, the camp would be formed by the side of 
 some rivulet or spring, and, if the traveler was skilful in 
 the use of his rifle, a haunch of venison would often form 
 his evening meal. If it rained, a shed of elm or bass-wood 
 bark was the work of an hour, a pile of evergreen boughs 
 formed a bed, and the saddle or the knapsack, a pillow. 
 
 " He who wished to visit the remoter tribes of the Missis- 
 
 7 
 
98 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 sippi Valley, would find no easier course than to descend the 
 Ohio in a canoe or bateau. He might float for more than 
 eleven hundred miles down this liquid highway of the wil 
 derness, and, except the deserted cabins of Logstown, a lit 
 tle below Fort Pitt, and an occasional hamlet or solitary 
 wigwam along the deeply wooded banks, he would discern 
 no trace of human habitation throughout all this vast ex 
 tent. The body of the Indian population lay to the north 
 ward, about the waters of the tributary streams. It be 
 hooved the voyager to observe a sleepless caution and a 
 hawk-eyed vigilance. Sometimes his anxious scrutiny 
 would detect a faint blue smoke stealing upward above the 
 green bosom of the forest, and betraying the encamping 
 place of some lurking war-party. Then the canoe would 
 be drawn in haste beneath the overhanging bushes which 
 skirted the shore; nor would the voyage be resumed until 
 darkness closed, when the little vessel would drift safely 
 by the point of danger." 
 
 The Indians, who go hunting in winter commonly bring 
 their furs and skins to sale in the neighboring towns. But 
 to the Indians who live at a greater distance both the Eng 
 lish and French traders carried their goods for exchange, 
 often penetrating in their courses to very great distances. 
 
 The fur-traders engendered a peculiar class of reckless 
 bush-rangers, more like Indians than white men. Those 
 who once felt the fascination of the forest life were forever 
 unfitted for a life of quiet labor. The colonies were more 
 or less infected with this restless spirit. In spite of In 
 dian hostility and all the hardships of the woods, the trad 
 ers pushed their way far into the wilderness, their canoes 
 being conducted along the inland rivers and lakes by these 
 half-vagrant bush-rangers. 
 
The Fur-Trader and the Indian 99 
 
 The Indians settle themselves in towns or villages after 
 an easy manner ; the houses are not too close to incommode 
 one another, nor too far distant for social defense. . . . 
 Most of them have clean, neat dwelling houses, white 
 washed within and without. 
 
 The chief goods which the French traders carried with 
 them into the wilderness for barter are described as fol 
 lows in " Peter Kalm s Travels into North America " : 
 
 Muskets, Powder, Shot, and Balls. The Europeans 
 have taught the Indians in their neighbourhood the use of 
 fire-arms, and they have laid aside their bows and arrows, 
 which were formerly their only arms, and make use of 
 muskets. If the Europeans should now refuse to supply 
 the Indians with muskets, they would be starved to death; 
 as almost all their food consists of the flesh of the animals, 
 which they hunt; or they would be irritated to such a 
 degree as to attack the Europeans. . . . 
 
 Pieces of white cloth, or of a coarse uncut cloth. The 
 Indians constantly wear such pieces of cloth, wrapping 
 them round their bodies. Sometimes they hang them over 
 their shoulders ; in warm weather, they fasten them round 
 the middle; and in cold weather, they put them over the 
 head. Both their men and women wear these pieces of 
 cloth, which have commonly several blue or red stripes on 
 the edge. 
 
 Blue or red cloth. Of this the Indian women make their 
 petticoats, which reach only to their knees. They gener 
 ally chuse the blue colour. 
 
 Pieces of cloth, which they wrap round their legs in 
 stead of stockings, like the Russians. 
 
 Hatchets, knives, scissars, needles, and a steel to strike 
 fire with. These instruments are now common among the 
 
1OO Ihe Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Indians. They all take these instruments from the Euro 
 peans, and reckon the hatchets and knives much better, 
 than those which they formerly made of stones and bones. 
 The stone hatchets of the ancient Indians are very rare in 
 Canada. 
 
 Kettles of copper or brass, sometimes tinned in the in 
 side. In these the Indians now boil all their meat, and they 
 have a very great run with them. 
 
 Ear-rings of different sizes, commonly of brass, and 
 sometimes of tin. They are worn by both men and women, 
 though the use of them is not general. 
 
 Vermillion. With this they paint their face, shirt, and 
 several parts of the body. They formerly made use of a 
 reddish earth, which is to be found in the country; but, as 
 the Europeans brought them vermillion, they thought noth 
 ing was comparable to it in colour. Many persons have told 
 me, that they had heard their fathers mention, that the 
 first Frenchmen who came over here, got a great heap of 
 furs from the Indians, for three times as much cinnabar as 
 would ly [lie] on the tip of a knife. 
 
 Verdigrease, to paint their faces green. For the black 
 colour, they make use of the soot at the bottom of their ket 
 tles, and daub their whole face with it. 
 
 Looking glasses. The Indians are very much pleased 
 with them, and make use of them chiefly when they want 
 to paint themselves. The men constantly carry their look 
 ing glasses with them on all their journies; but the women 
 do not. The men, upon the whole, are more fond of dress 
 ing than the women. 
 
 Burning glasses. These are excellent pieces of furniture 
 in the opinion of the Indians; because they serve to light 
 
The Fur-Trader and the Indian 101 
 
 the pipe without any trouble, which an indolent Indian is 
 very fond of. 
 
 Tobacco is bought by the northern Indians, in whose 
 country it will not grow. The southern Indians always 
 plant as much of it as they want for their own consump 
 tion. Tobacco has a great run amongst the northern In 
 dians, and it has been observed, that the further they live 
 to the northward, the more they smoke of tobacco. 
 
 Wampum, or, as they are here called, porcelanes. They 
 are made of a particular kind of shells, and turned into little 
 short cylindrical beads, and serve the Indians for money 
 and ornament. 
 
 Glass beads, of a small size, and white or other colours. 
 The Indian women know how to fasten them in their rib 
 bands, pouches, and clothes. 
 
 Brass and steel wire, for several kinds of work. 
 
 Brandy, which the Indians value above all other goods 
 that can be brought them ; nor have they any thing, though 
 ever so dear to them, which they would not give away for 
 this liquor. But, on account of the many irregularities 
 which are caused by the use of brandy, the sale of it has 
 been prohibited under severe penalties; however, they do 
 not always pay an implicit obedience to this order. 
 
 THESE are the chief goods which the French carry to 
 the Indians, and they have a good run among them. 
 
 Parkman characterizes these frontier types : " Those 
 rude and hardy men, hunters and traders, scouts and guides, 
 who ranged the woods beyond the borders, and formed 
 a connecting link between barbarism and civilization were 
 a distinct peculiar class marked with striking contrasts 
 of good and evil." 
 
AMERICAN 
 REVOLUTION LASTED 
 
 8J YEARS 
 
 of which there were 
 
 six and one half 
 
 years of fighting 
 
 Lexington, April 19,1775 
 
 Yorktown, Oct. 19, 1781 
 
 and two inactive 
 
 years before peace 
 
 was declared 
 
 Sept. 3, 1783 
 
 New York was 
 evacuated by the 
 
 British 
 
 Nov. 25, 
 17 
 
 NORTHERN CAMPAIGN 
 Spring of 1775 to winter of 1779-80 
 
 SO UTHERN CAMPAIGN 
 
 Winter of 1779-80to autumn of 1781 
 
 IMPORTANT BATTLES 
 
 NEAR BOSTON 
 Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775 
 
 Bunker Hill June 17, 1775 
 
 (Evacuation of Boston, March 17, 1776) 
 
 NEAR NEW YORK 
 
 (Declaration of Independence, 
 
 July 4.1776) 
 
 ort Washington N ov. 16, 177 j 
 
 (Eetreatof Washington 
 
 across New Jersey ) 
 _ the Delaware, Dec. 25, 1776) 
 
 reuton Dec. 26. 1770 
 
 Princeton Jan. 3, 1777 
 
 NEAR PHILADELPHIA 
 
 Brandy wine , Sept 11, 1777 
 
 Germantown Oct 4, 1777 
 
 NEAR SARATOGA 
 
 Oriskany Aug. 6, 1777 
 
 Bennington Aug. 16, 1777 
 
 Saratoga ( Surrender of 
 
 rgoyne), Oct. 17, 1777 
 
 ( Washington at Valley Forge, 
 winter, 1777-78) 
 
 Monmouth June 28, 1778 
 
 IN THE SOUTH 
 
 vannah , Oct. 9, 1779 
 
 Charleston..., May 12, 1780 
 
 Camden Aug. 16,1780 
 
 King s Mountain Oct. 7, 1780 
 
 Cowpens Jan. 17, 1781 
 
 GuilfoH March 15, 1781 
 
 EuUw Springs , . . . . Sept. 8, 1781 
 
 Yorktown. . ...Oct. 19, 1781 
 
THE ALGONQUIN MEDICINE-BOY 
 BY FRANCIS S. PALMER 
 
 Algonquins from the Ottawa River were making an 
 expedition against their enemies, the Iroquois the re 
 doubtable Five Nations, whose villages extended through 
 what is now northern and central New York. Forty canoes 
 laden with swarthy warriors had crossed the St. Lawrence, 
 passed through the Richelieu, and were in the northern 
 waters of Lake Champlain. 
 
 For years the Mohawks, one of the most warlike of the 
 Five Nations, -had brought war to the home of the Algon 
 quins, and a counter raid was being made. The Canadian 
 warriors had high hopes of success, since French soldiers 
 from Quebec were with them, and the white man s fire 
 arm was still a terror to the Indian. Only one thought 
 dampened the ardor of the Algonquins. Wahiawa, their 
 great medicine-man, skilled in planning raids and wars, 
 was dead. Wahiawa, who was more wily than any magi 
 cian among the Iroquois ; more cunning than the fox ; more 
 wise than the serpent. Wahiawa, who, as it was rumored, 
 could not be killed by mortal hand, whose name was a 
 dread to all enemies of the Algonquins. Disease had crept 
 upon him, and Wahiawa was dead. 
 
 Forty Algonquin warriors -were in each of thirty-nine 
 canoes; there were also a dozen craft carrying the French 
 soldiers. Another canoe held two warriors, also Anguel, 
 the medicine-man; and with him the son of dead Wahiawa, 
 
 103 
 
104 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Uncoma, a lad of fourteen who came to see how his people 
 made war. 
 
 Anguel rose in the canoe and addressed the members of 
 the little fleet : 
 
 " It is time, my children, to land and build our camp. 
 Then Anguel will learn whether the spirits promise victory 
 if you fight to-morrow." 
 
 The Indians obeyed and went ashore on the island since 
 called Isle La Motte. A small wigwam covered with 
 brightly colored skins of the deer and moose served as the 
 medicine-man s temple. Into this crept Anguel to com 
 mune with the deities. Uncoma stood just outside, ready 
 to make known to the assembled warriors the oracular 
 words spoken to Anguel. 
 
 The Frenchmen, lounging at one side of the camp 
 ground, looked with scornful eyes at the solemn concourse 
 of Indians. They thought it strange such stout fighters 
 could be so childish. 
 
 Now the slight poles of the wigwam began to shake as 
 though agitated by the presence of mighty spirits, and soon 
 muttering voices, supposed to belong to the gods themselves, 
 were heard in earnest converse with Anguel. 
 
 " The spirits say," interrupted Uncoma, " you must 
 fight to-morrow, for then you will be terrible to your ene 
 mies, and the frightened Iroquois will try to hide himself 
 beneath the moss of the forest. When you have won the 
 battle, you shall rest and feast, giving thanks to the gods 
 and presents to the medicine-man." 
 
 The assembly broke up, and a roughly fortified camp 
 was built; now they were in the land of the Iroquois, and 
 it would not do to be careless. That night Uncoma lay 
 by the side of his instructor, Anguel, 
 
The Algonquin Medicine-Boy 105 
 
 " Tell me," said the boy, " why do you deceive the war 
 riors ? They thought spirits shook the tent, but I saw your 
 hand grasping the poles, and it was you, not the spirits, that 
 spoke." 
 
 " O son of Wahiawa," replied Anguel, " your father 
 
 ^m 
 
 " Canoes laden with swarthy warriors had crossed the St. Lawrence." 
 
 could persuade men by his wisdom ; but we lesser prophets 
 must deceive if we would keep our influence. It is right for 
 these dull warriors to fight to-morrow, for they are now 
 well fed and in good courage ; it is for their advantage, and 
 so I thought it wise to say the gods bade them fight." 
 
 This reasoning did not quite satisfy Uncoma, and he fell 
 asleep pondering over the duties of a medicine-man. He 
 was almost sorry to think of what might come to him in 
 the office he inherited. 
 
 By sunrise the canoes were again journeying southward, 
 stealing along the west shore of the lake. During the fore 
 noon the Algonquins saw smoke as of camp-fires rising into 
 
1O6 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 the air above a wooded point which stretched far into the 
 water. Scouts were sent forward to learn the cause. 
 They reported a camp of Dutch traders from Fort Orange, 
 and, gathered around the traders, many Mohawk wig 
 wams. An attack was planned, and soon the Iroquois, 
 busy in exchanging furs for the wares of the white man, 
 were startled by the war-cry of the Algonquins. 
 
 The Mohawks, assisted by the Dutchmen, intrenched 
 themselves behind a rude barricade, and tried to make a 
 stand against the invaders. 
 
 The commander of the French soldiers called on the 
 besieged men to surrender; but even he doubted his ability 
 to protect prisoners from the fury of his savage allies; the 
 band inside the barricade seemed willing to die, but not to 
 became captives. 
 
 Though the fight was stubborn, every advantage was in 
 favor of the attacking party, and before sunset the only 
 survivors of the band that defended the barricade were a 
 few Mohawk warriors who had been wounded and made 
 prisoners. The Dutchmen were all slain, their breastplates 
 being no protection against the skilled bowmen of the 
 Algonquins. 
 
 Uncoma was kept in the background during the fighting; 
 but now that the battle was over he ran forward to ex 
 amine the strange accoutrements of the Dutchmen. Back 
 of the barricade he noticed a mound of leaves rudely heaped 
 together. Throwing these aside, he saw the rounded top 
 of a steel breastplate, from beneath which a faint sound 
 was heard. A hole had been dug, and covered by the 
 breastplate; in this cavity was a flaxen-haired white child, 
 a girl less than twelve years old. 
 
 The little girl might have been slain by the victorious 
 
The Algonquin Medicine-Boy 107 
 
 Indians had not Uncoma restrained them. He comforted 
 her as best he could, and led her away from the bloody 
 scene. She knew a few words of the Indian language, and 
 thus could give some account of herself. Her father, who 
 had come north to barter with the friendly Mohawks, had 
 brought her with him. There seemed but little danger, 
 as the terror of the Mohawk warriors usually kept the 
 Champlain region clear of hostile Indians. When the 
 camp was attacked, her father had put her where he 
 thought she would be safe from the Indian arrows. Now 
 her father was killed, and his Gretchen a captive among 
 the cruel Algonquins tales of whom had so fright 
 ened her. 
 
 44 Do not fear," said Uncoma. " They shall not hurt 
 you. I am the son of Wahiawa, and, young as I am, can 
 protect you." 
 
 Although Uncoma spoke thus boldly, he had some mis 
 givings, and that night he questioned Anguel as to the 
 probable fate of the captive. 
 
 " Already," said the medicine-man, " the warriors are 
 drinking the liquors brought by the Dutch traders; to-mor 
 row every Indian will be wild and bloodthirsty. It is use 
 less for even you son of Wahiawa, and the only Serpent 
 left among the Algonquins to attempt to interfere for 
 the captives. Moreover, the law of the tribe gives warriors 
 the right to prisoners taken in battle." 
 
 Uncoma lay awake thinking. The white child who al 
 ready had roused his pity and friendship must not be 
 abandoned to the cruel warriors. The lad resolved upon a 
 plan to save her a plan which kept his thoughts busy un 
 til far into the night. 
 
 It was past midnight when Uncoma grasped his bow 
 
io8 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 and arrows, slipped from the side of the sleeping Anguel, 
 and stole away into the darkness. 
 
 Stealthily he flitted through the woods to where the cap 
 tives were. The guards seemed sleepy or maybe tipsy, and 
 it was an easy matter to move to the spot in which the 
 Dutch girl had sobbed herself to sleep. He lifted his 
 knife to sever the few thongs that bound her. His foot 
 must have pressed somewhat too heavily upon the 
 
 moss, for a twig- 
 snapped beneath it, 
 with a sharp re 
 port. An Indian 
 guard close to Un- 
 coma s side started 
 and peered around. 
 The boy knew the 
 surer way to si 
 lence this fellow 
 was to plunge the 
 knife into his 
 ^ jiMrjtT heart : what mat- 
 
 . 
 
 . ^.^..^^^.^^^ 
 
 T 
 
 Yet Uncoma had 
 
 He built a fire and roasted the grouse. 
 
 enlisted in the 
 cause of mercy, and this would be a bad beginning. 
 
 "Lie still and close your eyes, friend," he whispered to 
 the guard, " or you will anger the spirits with whom I, Un 
 coma, am communing." 
 
 In supernatural awe the sentinel buried his face in the 
 moss. Uncoma cut the thongs, and the child awoke from 
 troubled dreams to see the kind face of her boy protector. 
 
He signed her to follow as silently and quickly as she 
 could. Both wore moccasins and moved with inaudible 
 footsteps. When out of hearing of the guards, Uncoma 
 seized the girl s hand and ran as fast as the darkness and 
 roughness of their path would allow. He did not -slacken 
 the pace until Gretchen was breathless. Then they walked 
 again, and, as it seemed to her, had walked many miles 
 when a gray light in the east foretold the dawn, and Un 
 coma permitted a halt. 
 
 The girl was hungry, and cried for food. Uncoma, in 
 his anxiety to rescue her, had forgotten to bring provisions. 
 But he had bow and arrows, and there must be game in the 
 woods. Leaving his tired and weeping charge, he started 
 forth. The forest creatures were hardly awake, and it be 
 gan to seem as though he must return empty-handed, when 
 he noticed some little balls on the branch of a spruce-tree. 
 Uncoma stepped nearer and saw each ball was a fluffy 
 mass of feathers. His arrow sped from the bow, and a 
 half -grown grouse fell to the ground. The noise of the 
 arrow, and the fall on the dry leaves below, alarmed the old 
 bird; in a moment she was alert. Before the boy could fit 
 another arrow to the bow, she was off and her young ones 
 whirring after her. 
 
 The young grouse he had killed was no larger than a 
 pigeon, but it would make a breakfast for the child. As 
 for himself, like most Indian boys, he was trained to bear 
 privation, and took pride in showing indifference to hun 
 ger. 
 
 He returned to Gretchen, built a fire, and roasted the 
 grouse. While she breakfasted he unfolded his plan. 
 They would follow some trail to a Mohawk village. As 
 the Mohawks were friends of the Dutch, she would then 
 
11O The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 be safe; but he, Uncoma, must leave her at the village out 
 skirts, and return to Canada as best he could. An Algon 
 quin lad could expect no mercy from the Mohawks. 
 
 Uncoma was making a couch for the tired child by 
 spreading his mantle of beaver-skins over the moss, when a 
 scream from her caused him to look up. She was staring 
 at a bushy evergreen, where its heavy lower branches 
 rested upon the ground. Following her glance, he saw a 
 pair of menacing eyes gleaming from out the shadows. 
 The young savage had been taught to act promptly; he 
 seized his most deadly weapon the keen flint tomahawk 
 thrust through his belt and hurled it at the peering eyes. 
 There was an angry howl, and Uncoma, grasped from be 
 hind, was thrown to the ground. 
 
 A dozen dusky figures glided from out the underbrush, 
 and the tall Mohawk warrior who had seized Uncoma 
 stood over him, looking down with a grim frown. 
 
 :< Why is the Algonquin boy and the white child in the 
 land of the Mohawks? See, he is too quick with his toma 
 hawk." 
 
 From under the evergreen an Indian was crawling. The 
 boy s weapon had gashed his ear, and the warrior was 
 furious with pain and outraged dignity. He moved to 
 where Uncoma lay, and raised his knife. 
 
 " This whelp of the Algonquins must die," he muttered, 
 " or the wound of the Mohawk brave will not heal." 
 
 Gretchen, who was watching with terrified eyes, screamed 
 wildly; but Uncoma looked at the raised steel with steady 
 gaze, though his hand convulsively clutched the earth. 
 Perhaps this movement saved his life, for. as the blade was 
 about to descend, one of the warriors caught and held the 
 avenging arm. "See!" he cried, "on the boy s wrist is 
 
the totem of the Serpent-clan the clan of great medicine 
 men which is sacred among all the tribes of the lakes and 
 the river. He must not be killed." 
 
 The warriors crowded around to gaze at the image of 
 the rattlesnake tattooed on the boy s wrist the sacred 
 symbol worn only by the chief magicians and their chosen 
 successors. 
 
 Uncoma was ignorant of the full power of the totem 
 which his father, Wahiawa, had tattooed upon his wrist, 
 and which he alone of all Algonquins now had the right 
 to wear; even if he had known its power, the morbid pride 
 of an Indian might have forbidden his taking advantage 
 of it to escape death. He was still solicitous for the wel 
 fare of the little maid, and so assumed all the dignity of his 
 priestly rank as he addressed the now submissive Mohawks : 
 
 See ! " he cried, " on the boy s wrist is the token of the Serpent Clan ! 
 He must not be killed." 
 
112 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Take this child safely and quickly to her people at 
 Fort Orange; as for me, I wish guides to the great river 
 which flows between the lands of the Iroquois and the 
 Algonquins. Tell the Serpents of the Iroquois that among 
 the Algonquins one only of their clan is alive, and he soon 
 will visit them to be taught the secrets of the sacred wam 
 pum." 
 
 Yellow-haired Gretchen wept at parting with her young 
 protector ; but Uncoma did not dare unbend his dignity, and 
 contented himself with ordering the Indians to take her 
 safely to her people, or else fear the wrath of the Great 
 Spirit. The Mohawks then separated into two parties : 
 Gretchen, placed on a litter, was carried southward toward 
 Fort Orange; while the guides of Uncoma took a north 
 west course to the St. Lawrence. 
 
 The boy felt safe among his new friends, and so bade 
 them take him direct to Canada. He feared to let them 
 know the existence of the Algonquin war-party. 
 
 In due season Gretchen reached the Dutch settlement, 
 and told of the destruction of the trading-party and her 
 own rescue by the medicine-boy. 
 
 For many years Uncoma, last of his line and chief medi 
 cine-man of the Algonquins, wisely guided his people; but 
 even he could not prevent the gradual annihilation to which 
 they were doomed. In the latter days, when the Algon 
 quin name was almost forgotten, an aged Indian stalked 
 among the huts of Montreal. The good priests looked 
 upon old Uncoma with kindly eyes, for his was a voice 
 that had always been heard for peace and mercy. 
 
IN 1776 
 BY W. H. VENABLE 
 
 In 1776 the region west of the Alleghanies was styled 
 The Wilderness, and only a few bold spirits, like Daniel 
 Boone, had dared to penetrate its solitude. The Rocky, 
 then called Stony, Mountains were known to exist, but no 
 white man had explored them. 
 
 The journey from Baltimore to Pittsburg took twelve 
 days, and was not only toilsome, but dangerous, for hostile 
 Indians lurked in the woods. Wagons often stuck fast in 
 the mire, or broke down on " corduroy " roads made of 
 logs laid side by side in the mud. Tfre heavy stage-coach 
 of early times, although it made great show of speed when 
 dashing through a village, was as long in lumbering from 
 New York to Boston as a modern express train is in cross 
 ing the continent. In great contrast with the present mode 
 of traveling was the journey made by Thomas Jefferson, in 
 the year 1775, when he went in a carriage from Williams- 
 burg, Virginia, to Philadelphia. He was ten days on the 
 road, and twice was obliged to hire a guide, to show the 
 way to the largest city in the country. In 1777, Elkanah 
 Watson rode from Newbern to Wilmington, North Caro 
 lina, on horseback, and not only lost his way, but was em 
 barrassed further by meeting a large bear. 
 
 A person traveling in New England in 1776 would have 
 found there a frugal and industrious people, dwelling gen 
 erally in or near villages, and employed mainly in trade and 
 s 113 
 
114 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 " -! 3Z-- / - / 
 
 tillage. He might have seen, in the older towns, factories 
 for the making of cloth, hats, shoes, axes, ropes, paper, and 
 guns ; and with a sailboat he might have visited flourishing 
 fisheries off the coast. The life and habits of the common 
 people were extremely simple. The furniture of an ordi 
 nary house in 1776, was scanty, plain, and cheap. In many 
 houses, the floor had no carpet, and the walls of that day 
 had no paper nor paint. Neither pumps nor cooking- 
 stoves were in use. The sofa was a high-backed bench of 
 unpainted wood. The rude, low bedstead was honored al 
 most always with a coat of green paint. The sewing-ma 
 chine was not dreamed of; but the spinning-wheel, flax-dis 
 taff, and yarn-reel found a place in all houses, and the 
 weaver s loom could be seen in many. 
 
 Queen s-ware, or glazed earthenware, was unknown, yet 
 well-to-do families often had sets of small china cups and 
 saucers. The rich took pride in displaying urns and salvers 
 of pure silver. There was no plated ware. The table was 
 set with dishes of wood and of pewter. 
 
 Our forefathers depended upon the tallow candle and 
 the lard-oil lamp for artificial light. They knew nothing 
 of kerosene, gas, and sulphur matches. The embers in the 
 
In 1776 115 
 
 fireplace were seldom suffered to burn out, but when the 
 last coal chanced to expire, the fire \vas rekindled by strik 
 ing a spark from a flint into a piece of tinder. Sometimes 
 a burning brand was borrowed from the hearth of a 
 neighbor. 
 
 The dress of the common folk in town and country was 
 more for use than beauty. A pair of buckskin breeches 
 and a corduroy coat formed the essentials of a man s suit, 
 and they never w-ore out. After the breeches had been 
 rained upon a few times they hardened into a garment 
 more durable than comfortable. 
 
 The wearing apparel of fashionable people of the city, 
 however, was very gay and picturesque. Men wore knee- 
 breeches and hose, broad-skirted coats lined with buckram, 
 long waistcoats, sometimes of gold-cloth, wide cuffs lined 
 with lace, powdered wigs, three-cornered hats, and swords. 
 Women s dresses were made of heavy silks and satins, called 
 
 The act of offering and receiving a pinch of snuff. 
 
n6 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 brocades, on which raised figures of leaves and flowers were 
 woven, or w r orked, in colored silk or thread of silver and 
 gold. 
 
 Both sexes took pains in dressing the hair. A stylish 
 gentleman had his locks curled and frizzed, or suspended 
 in a queue, as you have often seen in old pictures. A New 
 England belle spent many hours in plastering her hair up 
 into a sort of tower, decorated with powder and ribbons. 
 
 There were few, if any, millionaires in the early days 
 of the Republic, and the power of money was not felt as 
 it is now. However, the aristocracy was less approachable 
 by the common people than are the higher circles of to-day, 
 or, probably, of the future. This was owing to the fact 
 that, at that time, American society was mainly copied after 
 the English system, in which rank and title play an impor 
 tant part; and also to the influence of slavery, which ex 
 isted in all the States. 
 
 Magistrates and clergymen were regarded, in New Eng 
 land, with extreme respect and reverence. Had our 
 traveler dropped into a Puritan meeting-house, and sat 
 through the service, he would have seen the minister and 
 his family walk solemnly down the aisle and through the 
 doorway before the congregation presumed to leave the 
 pews. 
 
 The New England country people combined amusement 
 with work at their house-raisings, quilting parties, and 
 like gatherings. The poet Bryant speaks of the process 
 of cider-making as one that " came in among the more 
 laborious rural occupations in a way which diversified 
 them pleasantly, and which made it seem a pastime. The 
 time that was given to making cider, and the number of 
 barrels made and stored in the cellars of the farm-houses, 
 
In 1776 
 
 117 
 
 v 
 
 would now seem incredible. A hundred barrels to a single 
 farm was no uncommon proportion." 
 
 " But," says Doctor Greene, in his charming " Short His 
 tory of Rhode Island," " the great pastime for young and 
 old, for matron and maid and for 
 youth just blushing into manhood, 
 was the autumn husking, where 
 neighbors met at each other s corn- 
 yards to husk each other s corn 
 sometimes husking a thousand 
 bushels in a single meeting. 
 Husking had its laws, and never 
 were laws better obeyed. For 
 every red ear, the lucky swain who 
 had found it could claim a kiss 
 from every maid ; with every 
 smutted ear he smutched the faces 
 of his mates, amid laughter and 
 joyous shoutings ; but when the 
 prize fell to a girl, she would walk 
 the round demurely, look each 
 eager aspirant in the face, and 
 hide or reveal the secret of her 
 
 heart by a kiss. Then came the 
 
 dance and supper, running deep [ -3 
 
 into the night, and often encroaching upon the early dawn." 
 Our traveler would be interested in Salem, next to the 
 largest town in New England, and a flourishing sea-port; 
 and he certainly would have gone to Boston, then, as now, 
 a center of education and culture. Many of the streets 
 of Boston were narrow and crooked. Shops and inns were 
 distinguished in Boston, as in other cities and towns, by 
 
ll8 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 pictorial signs for the benefit of those who could not read. 
 One did not look for a lettered board, nor a number over 
 the street door, but for the sign of the, " Bunch of Feath 
 ers," the " Golden Key," the " Dog and Pot," or the 
 " Three Doves." 
 
 Had our traveler passed from New England to the State 
 of New York, say at Albany, he would have had evidence 
 that the frontier was not far off. Goods sent from Albany 
 to supply the Indian trade, and the forts and settlements 
 out West, were hauled in wagons to Schenectady, then 
 loaded in light boats, and poled up the Mohawk to Fort 
 Schuyler, then carried across to Wood Creek, and again 
 transported in boats down Oneida Lake and Osage River to 
 the great lakes. The town of Albany was, at that time, a 
 quiet, shady, delightful place, with cow-bells tinkling in the 
 streets. Lazy Indians went lounging about the principal 
 thoroughfares with bead-work and baskets to sell. 
 
 New York State continued to show evidence of Dutch 
 customs, as could be seen by going down the Hudson from 
 Albany to Manhattan Island. The trip was taken in regu 
 lar passenger sloops. The scenery along the Hudson w r as 
 grander than now, for the wild forest had not disappeared 
 from the hills. The passenger saw no large towns nor vil 
 lages, but farm-houses nestled in the rich hollows, and the 
 Dutch/ bouweries " or farms spread to view broad acres 
 of corn and tobacco, and thrifty orchards of apple and 
 pear trees. Just below Albany the family mansion and 
 great barns of General Schuyler used to stand. The good 
 general had many negro slaves, indolent fellows, who 
 were scared into occasional fits of work by the threat that 
 they should be sent to the West Indies, and traded off for 
 rum and molasses. 
 
In 1776 
 
 119 
 
 New York City was an important commercial center, 
 larger than Boston, but not so large as Philadelphia. It 
 occupied but a small part of the southern end of Manhat 
 tan Island, the whole of which it now covers. Most of its 
 streets were narrow and crooked. Tradition says that the 
 Dutch settlers built their houses along the winding courses 
 
 Colonial spinet and chest. 
 
 of cow-paths. Broadway, however, was a fine street, even 
 in the days of the Revolution, and gave promise then of 
 the splendor it afterward attained. New York City, in 
 1776, was lighted dimly with oil-lamps. Burning gas did 
 not come into use till forty years later. Not unusually the 
 Xew York houses were built with a flat space on the roof, 
 surrounded by a railing, where the people came out on 
 the house-tops on summer evenings to enjoy the pleasant 
 breeze from the bay. 
 
 Our traveler would have visited Philadelphia, the largest 
 city in America, and the capital of the Republic. There he 
 might have seen many evidences of wealth and social re- 
 
12O The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 finement. There were to be found noted public men from 
 different parts of the country. The wise and benevolent 
 Franklin lived there. There Congress met, and there 
 Washington dwelt during the greater part of his adminis 
 trations. 
 
 Philadelphia society claimed to lead the fashion in dress 
 and amusements, though New York, Williamsburg, Charles- 
 
 A colonial belle. 
 
 ton, and other places disputed this preeminence. Fashion 
 able people frequently gave formal dinner-parties. The 
 lady guests, robed in their stiff brocades, were handed from 
 their coaches and sedans, and daintily stepped to the door 
 of the reception-room. A sedan was a covered chair for 
 carrying a single person, borne on poles in the hands of 
 two men, usually negroes. The dinner consisted of four 
 courses, with abundance of wine. The health of every 
 
In 1776 121 
 
 guest at table had to be drunk separately, at least once dur 
 ing the sitting, as to neglect this compliment was considered 
 a breach of politeness. 
 
 After dinner, a game of whist was in order. Smoking 
 was not fashionable, but every gentleman carried a snuff 
 box, and the act of offering and receiving a pinch of snuff 
 was performed with profound ceremony. 
 
 Dancing was a favorite amusement in all parts of the 
 country. General Greene tells us that, on a certain occa 
 sion, George Washington danced for three hours without 
 once sitting down. No doubt the stately Virginian chose to 
 tread the dignified measure of the contra-dance rather than 
 to trip through the lighter movements of the minuet. The 
 quadrilles and round dances of our day were unknown in 
 1776. 
 
 The violin \vas held in high esteem, especially in the 
 Middle and Southern States. Thomas Jefferson said of 
 Patrick Henry, that " his passion was for fiddling, danc 
 ing, and pleasantry." Jefferson was himself famous for 
 attending balls. Once, when he was away from home, his 
 father s house burned down. A slave was sent to tell this 
 bad news to his young master Thomas. 
 
 " Didn t you save any of my books? " asked the future 
 author of the Declaration of Independence. 
 
 " No, massa," answered the ebony messenger ; " but we 
 saved the fiddle ! " 
 
 It was customary for young ladies to take lessons on the 
 harpsichord or the spinet, as they do nowadays on the 
 piano- forte. 
 
 Our traveler, extending his journey to the Southern 
 States, would have found few towns of considerable size, 
 excepting Williamsburg and Richmond, in Virginia, and 
 
122 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Charleston, South Carolina. Wealthy planters of cotton 
 and rice owned most of the fertile land. The Fairfax es 
 tate, on the Potomac, had five million acres. It was quite 
 an expedition to go from one planter s house to another, for 
 the distance, in some cases, was as much as ten or twelve 
 miles, and the roads were bad. When a visit was under 
 taken, the great family coach, drawn by four or six horses, 
 driven by a pompous black coachman, conveyed the ladies, 
 while the gentlemen of the party went on horseback. Not 
 unfrequently ladies rode behind gentlemen, mounted on 
 cushions, called pillions; but the more independent of the 
 " fair sex" preferred to manage their own palfrey, and to 
 grace the saddle alone. Colored servants, riding* upon 
 mules, jogged after their masters and mistresses, to carry 
 bandboxes and parcels, and to open gates. 
 
 Southern estates were distinguished by descriptive names, 
 such as " Mount Vernon," " Monticello," " Ingleside," 
 " The Oaks." Particular mansions were known, also, by 
 romantic titles, such as " Belvoir," " Liberty Hall," 
 " Greenway Court," reminding us of old English manor- 
 houses. Such Southern mansions were large and strongly 
 built, and some of them were costly and elegant. k Dray- 
 ton Hall," on Ashley River, cost ninety thousand dollars 
 a vast sum to spend on a house at the period of which I 
 write. " Drayton Hall " is yet standing, a fair specimen 
 of old-fashioned architecture. The wainscot and mantels 
 are of solid mahogany. The walls were once hung with 
 tapestry. 
 
 The planters, like the English rural gentry, laid off their 
 grounds with terraces, hedges, and ponds, and adorned them 
 with shrubbery, summer-houses, and statuary. Many lived 
 at ease in the midst of plenty. They had much pride, and 
 
In 1776 
 
 123 
 
 looked down upon the laboring and trading classes of the 
 North. All their work was done by slaves. The planters 
 sons were sent to the mother-country to be educated. The 
 daughters were instructed by private tutors. 
 
 Most fine gentlemen were fond of fine horses and dogs. 
 There is a flavor of romance in the page of history that 
 tells of Washington and his friends dashing through the 
 forests of the Old Dominion, to the music of hound and 
 horn. 
 
 Early stage-coach dashing through a village. 
 
124 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 The times of which this article treats are often spoken of 
 as the " good old days" of our ancestors; we should be 
 strangely at loss if we had to live in those good old ways. 
 We should consider it inconvenient enough to do without 
 steam-boats, railroad, telegraph, and daily newspaper, not 
 to mention horse-cars, express companies, letter-carriers, 
 and the telephone. 
 
 The farmer of 1776 had no grain-drill, harvester, or 
 threshing-machine; and even his plow, ax, and hay-fork 
 were so rude and clumsy that a modern laborer would laugh 
 at them. 
 
 How great, to-day, should we regard the general loss, 
 were the shipper deprived of his grain-elevator; the mer 
 chant of his fire-proof safe; the publisher of his revolving 
 press; the surgeon of the use of ether; the physician of vac 
 cination; the cripple of artificial limbs; the writer of en 
 velopes and metallic pens; the ladies of pins, and hooks and 
 eyes ; the soldier of his breech-loading gun ! All the articles 
 and arts above enumerated, and many more now considered 
 essential to comfort and convenience, are of modern inven 
 tion. A hundred years ago they did not exist. 
 
THE AMERICAN PATRIOT S PRAYER " 
 (1776) 
 
 Anonymous : Ascribed to Thomas Paine. 
 
 Parent of all, omnipotent 
 
 In heav n, and earth below, 
 Thro all creation s bounds unspent, 
 
 Whose streams of goodness flow. 
 
 Teach me to know from whence I rose, 
 
 And unto what design d ; 
 No private aims let me propose, 
 
 Since link d with human kind. 
 
 But chief to hear my country s voice, 
 
 May all my. thoughts incline, 
 T is reason s law, t is virtue s choice, 
 
 T is nature s call and thine. 
 
 Me from fair freedom s sacred cause, 
 
 Let nothing e er divide ; 
 Grandeur, nor gold, nor vain applause, 
 
 Nor friendship false misguide. 
 
 Let me not faction s partial hate 
 
 Pursue to this load s * woe ; 
 Nor grasp the thunder of the state, 
 
 To wound a private foe. 
 
 If, for the right, to wish the wrong 
 
 My country shall combine, 
 Single to serve th erron ous throng, 
 
 Spight of themselves, be mine. 
 
 * Misprint for "land s." 
 
A TORY ARGUMENT 
 BY REV. ANDREW BURNABY 
 
 (Written in 1775) 
 
 The present unhappy differences subsisting among us, 
 with regard to America, will, I am sensible, expose the pub 
 lication of this account to much censure and criticism; but 
 I can truly aver, that I have been led to it, by no party 
 motive whatsoever. My first attachment, as it is natural, 
 is to my native country ; my next is to America ; and such 
 is my affection for both, that I hope nothing will ever hap 
 pen to dissolve that union, which is so necessary to their 
 common happiness. Let every Englishman and American, 
 but for a moment or two, substitude [-te] themselves in each 
 other s place, and, I think, a mode of reconciliation will 
 soon take effect. Every American will then perceive the 
 reasonableness, of acknowledging the supremacy of the Brit 
 ish legislature; and every Englishman perhaps, the 
 hardship of being taxed where there is no representation, 
 or assent. 
 
 There is scarcely any such thing, I believe, as a perfect 
 government, and solecisms are to be found in all. The 
 present disputes are seemingly the result of one. Noth 
 ing can be more undeniable than the supremacy of parlia 
 ment over the most distant branches of the British empire: 
 for although the king being esteemed, in the eye of the law, 
 the original proprietor of all the lands in the kingdom; all 
 
 126 
 
A Tory Argument 127 
 
 lands, upon defect of heirs to succeed to an inheritance, 
 escheat to the king; and all new discovered lands vest in 
 him: yet in neither case can he exempt them from the 
 jurisdiction of the legislature of the kingdom. 
 
 He may grant them, under leases or charters, to individ 
 uals or companies; with liberty of making rules and regula 
 tions for the internal government and improvement of them ; 
 but such regulations must ever be consistent with the laws 
 of the kingdom, and subject to their controul. 
 
 On the other hand, I am extremely dubious, whether it 
 be consistent with the general principles of liberty (with 
 those of the British constitution, I think, it is not), to tax 
 where there is no representation : the arguments hitherto 
 adduced from Manchester and Birmingham, and other 
 great towns, not having representatives, are foreign to the 
 subject; at least they are by no means equal to it; for 
 every inhabitant, possessed of forty shillings freehold, has a 
 vote in the election of members for the county: but it is not 
 the persons, but the property of men that is taxed, and there 
 is not a foot of property in this kingdom, that is not repre 
 sented. 
 
 It appears then, that certain principles exist in the British 
 constitution, which militate with each other; the reason of 
 their doing so is evident ; it was never supposed that they 
 would extend beyond the limits of Great Britain, or affect 
 so distant a country as America. It is much to be wished, 
 therefore, that some expedient could be thought of, to recon 
 cile them. 
 
 The conduct of the several administrations, that have 
 had the direction of the affairs of this kingdom, has been 
 reciprocally arraigned ; but, I think, without reason ; for, 
 all things considered, an impartial and dispassionate mind 
 
128 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 will find many excuses to allege in justification of each. 
 The fewest, I am afraid, are to be pleaded in favour of the 
 Americans, for they settled in America under charters, 
 which expressly reserved to the British Parliament the au 
 thority, whether consistent or not consistent, now asserted. 
 Although, therefore, they had a right to make humble 
 representations to his majesty in parliament, and to shew 
 the impropriety and inconvenience to in forcing such princi 
 ples, yet they had certainly no right to oppose them. 
 
 Expedients may still be found, it is to be hoped however, 
 to conciliate the present unhappy differences, and restore 
 harmony again between Great Britain and her colonies ; but 
 whatever measures may be adopted by parliament, I am 
 sure it is the duty of America to submit. 
 
THE PROLOGUE OF THE REVOLUTION 
 BY JUSTIN H. SMITH 
 
 THE FORTUNE OF WAR 
 
 Pacing to and fro among the drifts on the Heights of 
 Abraham, New Year s day of 1776, an American sentry, 
 shriveled up with cold and buffeted by a gale from the 
 east, beheld, when the driving snow permitted, a vast ex 
 panse of rough, enshrouded country, spattered with leafless 
 trees, whistling in the blast, or funereal evergreens bowing 
 before it, scarred with gray cliffs and a few brown vil 
 lages, and cut through by the hoary tide of the St. Law 
 rence, where heaving blocks of ice froze and broke, rose 
 and fell, ebbed and flowed, crushed, ground, and groaned 
 in the aimless melancholy of an arctic winter; while, if 
 he turned his eye to the south, his vision had to travel 
 across the drifts 180 miles to Montreal, 150 more to Ti- 
 conderoga, then 100 to Albany, 150 more to New York, 
 and 100 to Philadelphia, where sate the Conscript Fathers 
 in their perplexities under the waiting bell of Independence 
 Hall. All these miles of snow must be tediously paced 
 off before the needs of the struggling soldiers could be 
 told, and again paced off to bring back word that they 
 were not forgotten. For weeks past communication with 
 the colonies had virtually been cut off, and for weeks 
 
 Copyright 1903 by Justin H. Smith. 
 9 129 
 
130 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 N.Y. 
 
 N 
 
 to come the route 
 would be almost 
 impassable. 
 
 WAR 
 
 EXTRAORDI 
 NARY 
 
 Map of the Quebec and Montreal region. 
 
 Undiscouraged, 
 the Americans 
 kept on " fagging 
 it out " before 
 Quebec. But what 
 could they expect ? 
 Here stood - a 
 powerful fortress 
 with a garrison of 
 eighteen hundred 
 men, well drilled 
 by this time, and 
 a little troop of sick people pretended they were going to 
 take it. Not counting the diseased and the men whose 
 terms of service had expired, May-day saw only seven 
 hundred effectives outside the town, and these were spread 
 over a circuit of twenty-six miles, broken three times by 
 the rivers. Two hundred of them had been inoculated, 
 and soon would be down with the smallpox. Not more 
 than three hundred could be rallied promptly to meet an 
 attack. The batteries pointed about fifteen guns at Que 
 bec, and Quebec pointed one hundred and forty-eight at 
 the batteries, some of them 42 -pounders. The magazine 
 contained only a hundred-weight and a half of powder. 
 Even at headquarters, neither intrenchments nor intrench- 
 
The Prologue of the Revolution 131 
 
 ing-tools could be found; and the provisions would not 
 last a week. War this could hardly be called. Yet it was 
 far indeed from opera bouffe. Everybody wished Lord 
 North to understand that Americans were no poltroons, 
 and the thought of retreat was not agreeable. As for 
 Carleton, he could not count the " rebels " outside the 
 gates, nor even those within, and he preferred to take no 
 chances. 
 
 Nobody in the colonies even suspected how badly things 
 were going. Chase and Carroll wrote Congress in truth 
 ful black : " We cannot find words strong enough to ex 
 press our miserable situation; you will have a faint idea of 
 it if you figure to yourselves an army broken and disheart 
 ened, half of it under inoculation or other disease; soldiers 
 without pay, without discipline, and altogether reduced to 
 live from hand to mouth, depending on the scanty and 
 
 Quebec from the south side of the St. Lawrence. 
 
132 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 precarious supplies of a few half-starved cattle and trifling 
 quantities of flour, which have hitherto been picked up in 
 different parts of the country." 
 
 EVERYTHING AGAINST NOTHING 
 
 If the outlook was dark before, what should it be called 
 now? Beaten, broken, penniless, underfed, poorly trained, 
 poorly armed, honeycombed with a dreadful epidemic and 
 the fear of it and in large part half naked, the American 
 army can only be described in the words of Sullivan him 
 self: "No one thing is right." Out of eight thousand 
 men Arnold reckoned on June 6 that less than five thousand 
 could be mustered, while a little later the effectives were 
 estimated at a third of the total. " Those who were most 
 healthy went about like so many walking apparitions," 
 wrote an officer, and, besides working and fighting, had to 
 care for the sick among them. Worst of all, perhaps, the 
 troops were ignorant of the straits of Congress, and felt 
 themselves " wholly neglected," as Thomas had written. 
 Yet the " little tincture of vanity " that Washington dis 
 covered among Sullivan s admirable traits made him 
 imagine vain things, and he vowed he would not retreat so 
 long as a single person would stick by him. Duty rein 
 forced vanity : had not Congress ordered him to " contest 
 every foot of the ground " ? 
 
 On the British side, though Sullivan scouted the reports 
 of their numbers, ten thousand regulars were now moving 
 on with Carleton, the British troops gay \vith scarlet, and 
 the Germans actually shining in their blue regimentals with 
 red facings, their broad lace and their silver frogs; and all 
 these troops were fresh, rosy, and eager for a fight. Cana 
 dian militia gathered about them, and the Indians were com- 
 
The Prologue of the Revolution 133 
 
 The northwest part of Quebec. 
 
 ing in. Vessels laden with choice provisions, a line train of 
 artillery, and a plenty of war-ships rounded out the force. 
 It was health against sickness, confidence against defeat, 
 plenty against want, gold against paper, four against one; 
 and Sullivan s bravery could only dash itself and the army 
 to pieces. 
 
 AMERICA AT STAKE 
 
 But the destruction of an army hardly spelled one sylla 
 ble of the danger. Let Carleton only reach Longueuil 
 while Sullivan awaited him at Sorel: to Chambly would 
 then be only a dozen miles, a morning stroll, while Sorel 
 was nearly fifty miles away ; and Sullivan would be ruined 
 completely. A dozen miles more to St. John s, and Arnold 
 also would be cut off. Then, leaving the Canadians to 
 guard his prisoners, Carleton could seize the American 
 
134 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 bateaux, embark his men, sail to Ticonderoga, march to 
 Albany, march down the Hudson, cooperate with Howe s 
 powerful army, as the British government expected, 
 stamp out Washington, and scatter the Conscript 
 Fathers. The Declaration of Independence would not 
 appear and the only question would be, how many 
 insurgents to hang? "We can hear the enemy now 
 firing; this will be a hot week," wrote an officer from Sorel 
 on June 13. More than a hundred British vessels were 
 just below, yet Sullivan only planted himself the more 
 firmly on the sandy point at the mouth of the Richelieu. 
 
 This was the very crisis. The whole future of America 
 depended now depended on a puff of air. 
 
 A WONDERFUL RETREAT 
 
 At three o clock in the afternoon of the i5th, Captain 
 James Wilkinson was going down the St. Lawrence with 
 a message from Arnold to Sullivan, and about fourteen 
 miles below Montreal two cannon-shots were heard. Land 
 ing to investigate, he found British troops there, and the 
 river beyond looked snowy with British sails. It was Carle- 
 ton. Why had he stopped short? The wind had failed 
 him. 
 
 That was a wind of destiny, indeed, and it gave the 
 patriot cause a chance of life. Mounting the first horse he 
 could lay hands on, Wilkinson dashed bareback to Lon- 
 gueuil, forced a Canadian at the point of his sword to help 
 him across the river, and gave the alarm to Arnold. But 
 how could the Montreal garrison escape with its baggage 
 across Carleton s advancing front? The British must be 
 delayed; they must be fought; Sullivan must send a force 
 to do it; and Wilkinson rode off in the darkness to carry 
 
The Prologue of the Revolution 135 
 
 this message. How absurd ! Sullivan had only the debris 
 of an army, sleeping in exhaustion where they could, amid 
 oceans of mud and torrents of rain, with nobody awake but 
 the chief officers, and not even a sentry posted to protect 
 them. Demoralization seemed complete; the army was no 
 more. Yet in less than an hour, when morning dawned, 
 Wayne gathered a corps of cheerful, willing troops, and 
 marched of! to fight the governor s legions. Army or not, 
 there were men still. Happily they did not have to be 
 sacrificed. Arnold had already crossed the river, and soon 
 was pressing forward to St. John s in safety. 
 
 Sullivan, for his part, managed to gather his forces at 
 Chambly; but there, with two armies in pursuit of him, he 
 found a third enemy squarely in front. Roaring and foam 
 ing, the Chambly rapids fall a vertical distance of seventy- 
 five feet, and up that height all his boats must climb. But 
 the general was in earnest. Working day and night, he 
 passed the rapids, burned the fort at Chambly, and hurried 
 on to join Arnold, tearing up the bridges as he went. Bur- 
 goyrie followed. Toward evening on June 18, the British 
 drew near St. John s, and their van was ordered forward 
 on the run. Two horsemen, some distance ahead, watched 
 the column approach. At last they turned and galloped 
 back to the fort. Every American, sick or well, had em 
 barked and left the place. Every musket, every flint, every 
 cannon except three poor ones abandoned at Chambly, had 
 gone, and Fort St. John was in flames. The horsemen 
 dismounted, shot their steeds, and tossed the harness into 
 a waiting boat. One of them, Wilkinson, stepped in, and 
 the other, it was Arnold, pushing the boat off, sprang 
 after him. Before they were out of musket-range the 
 British came up. The invasion of Canada had ended. 
 
136 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Carleton was eager to pursue the fugitives, but only a 
 few of the boats that he requested to be sent from England 
 had come, and he found it impossible to build a fleet quickly. 
 The Americans, under Arnold s lead, strained every nerve 
 to place armed vessels on the lake, and almost half of 
 
 October had gone before the 
 governor defeated them. It 
 \vas then too late in the 
 season for a new campaign, 
 and he soon retired to win 
 ter quarters. 
 
 What shall be our verdict 
 on these events? The inva 
 sion of Canada seemed un 
 avoidable; it was boldly 
 and shrewdly planned and 
 bravely executed ; it missed 
 its aim only by the narrow 
 est of chances. But the 
 sole possible success was 
 To have won that 
 
 General Anthony Wayne. 
 
 to fail, and therefore it succeeded, 
 country would have required us to defend it; and any 
 serious endeavor to hold Canada against Great Britain 
 would have divided the resources of the colonies, exhausted 
 their strength, and led to their ruin. Yet a determined 
 fight was necessary, and all the benefits of that we gained. 
 It rendered a British invasion from the north impossible 
 in 1775 and 1776; the power of England, instead of Amer 
 ica, was divided; Carleton s ill success cost him for a time 
 the king s favor; the invasion of 1777 was intrusted to a far 
 
The Prologue of the Revolution 137 
 
 less dangerous man ; Bennington and Saratoga allied us with 
 France; and French aid insured our independence. 
 
 These campaigns were also a dress-rehearsal for the war. 
 People realized what war meant, and Washington discov 
 ered where to look for lieutenants. In Montgomery the 
 patriot cause found not only a worthy martyr, but one able 
 to fire the imaginations and the hearts of men. In the cap 
 ture of regulars and fortresses, the battle with nature, the 
 struggle for Quebec, _ _ _ 
 
 and the stubborn re 
 treat, America saw 
 that patriots could im 
 provise victories, live 
 without food, battle 
 without weapons, and 
 die without regret. 
 
 On the one hand, this 
 
 11 i-i i On the St. Lawrence, 
 
 enterprise helped lead 
 
 the country from the tone of petition to the tone of inde 
 pendence ; on the other, our Declaration looks grander than 
 ever, when we realize that a poor, defeated, humiliated 
 people flung it into the face of triumphant power; and 
 while the inevitable imperfections of humanity showed 
 themselves in these campaigns, yet the lofty patriotism, the 
 keen intelligence, the bold initiative, the dauntless courage, 
 and the sublime fortitude exhibited there, make them not 
 only the prologue of our Revolution, but the prologue of 
 our national career. 
 
WASHINGTON 
 BY HENRY CABOT LODGE 
 
 The brilliant historian of the English people 1 has writ 
 ten of Washington, that " no nobler figure ever stood in 
 the fore- front of a nation s life." In any book which un 
 dertakes to tell, no matter how slightly, the story of some 
 of the heroic deeds of American history, that noble figure 
 must always stand in the fore- front. But to sketch the 
 life of Washington even in the barest outline is to write 
 the history of the events which made the United States in 
 dependent and gave birth to the American nation. Even to 
 give a list of what he did, to name his battles and recount 
 his acts as president, would be beyond the limit and the 
 scope of this book. Yet it is always possible to recall the 
 man and to consider what he was and what he meant for 
 us and for mankind. He is worthy the study and the 
 remembrance of all men, and to Americans he is at once 
 a great glory of their past and an inspiration and an as 
 surance of their future. 
 
 To understand Washington at all we must first strip off 
 all the myths which have gathered about him. We must 
 cast aside into the dust-heaps all the wretched inventions 
 of the cherry-tree variety, which \vere fastened upon him 
 nearly seventy years after his birth. We must look at him 
 as he looked at life and the facts about him, without any 
 
 1 John Richard Green. 
 
 138 
 
Washington 139 
 
 illusion or deception, and no man in history can better 
 stand such a scrutiny. 
 
 Born of a distinguished family in the days when the 
 American colonies were still ruled by an aristocracy, Wash 
 ington started with all that good birth and tradition could 
 give. Beyond this, however, he had little. His family 
 was poor, his mother was left early a widow, and he was 
 forced after a very limited education to go out into the 
 world to fight for himself. He had strong within him the 
 adventurous spirit of his race. He became a surveyor, and 
 in the pursuit of this profession plunged into the wilder 
 ness, where he soon grew to be an expert hunter and back 
 woodsman. Even as a boy the gravity of his character and 
 his mental and physical vigor commended him to those about 
 him, and responsibility and military command were put in 
 his hands at an age when most young men are just leaving 
 college. As the times grew threatening on the frontier, he 
 was sent on a perilous mission to the Indians, in which, 
 after passing through many hardships and dangers, he 
 achieved success. When the troubles came with France it 
 was by the soldiers under his command that the first shots 
 were fired in the war which was to determine whether the 
 North American continent should be French or English. 
 In his earliest expedition he was defeated by the enemy. 
 Later he was with Braddock, and it was he who tried to 
 rally the broken English army on the stricken field near 
 Fort Duquesne. On that day of surprise and slaughter 
 he displayed riot only cool courage but the reckless daring 
 which was one of his chief characteristics. He so exposed 
 himself that bullets passed through his coat and hat, and 
 the Indians and the French who tried to bring him down 
 thought he bore a charmed life. He afterwards served with 
 
140 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 distinction all through the French war, and when peace 
 came he went back to the estate which he had inherited 
 from his brother, the most admired man in Virginia. 
 
 At that time he married, and during the ensuing year he 
 lived the life of a Virginia planter, successful in his pri 
 vate affairs and serving the public effectively but quietly 
 as a member of the House of Burgesses. When the 
 troubles with the mother-country began to thicken he was 
 slow to take extreme ground, but he never wavered in his 
 belief that all attempts to oppress the colonies should be 
 resisted, and when he once took up his position there was 
 no shadow of turning. He was one of Virginia s dele 
 gates to the first Continental Congress, and, although he 
 said but little, he was regarded by all the representatives 
 from the other colonies as the strongest man among them. 
 There was something about him even then which com 
 manded the respect and the confidence of every one who 
 came in contact with him. 
 
 It was from New England, far removed from his own 
 State, that the demand came for his appointment as com- 
 mander-in-chief of the American army. Silently he ac 
 cepted the duty, and, leaving Philadelphia, took command 
 of the army at Cambridge. There is no need to trace him 
 through the events that followed. From the time when he 
 drew his sword under the famous elm tree, he was the em 
 bodiment of the American Revolution, and without him 
 that revolution would have failed almost at the start. How 
 he carried it to victory through defeat and trial and every 
 possible obstacle is known to all men. 
 
 When it was all over he found himself facing a new 
 situation. He was the idol of the country and of his 
 soldiers. The army was unpaid, and the veteran troops, 
 
George Washington. 
 
142 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 with arms in their hands, were eager to have him take 
 control of the disordered country as Cromwell had done in 
 England a little more than a century before. With the 
 army at his back, and supported by the great forces which, 
 in every community, desire order before everything else, 
 and are ready to assent to any arrangement which will 
 bring peace and quiet, nothing would have been easier than 
 for Washington to have made himself the ruler of the 
 new nation. But that was not his conception of duty, and 
 he not only refused to have anything to do with such a 
 movement himself, but he repressed, by his dominant per 
 sonal influence, all such intentions on the part of the army. 
 On the 23d of December, 1783, he met the Congress at 
 Annapolis, and there resigned his commission. What he 
 then said is one of the two most memorable speeches ever 
 made in the United States, and is also memorable for its 
 meaning and spirit among all speeches ever made by men. 
 He spoke as follows : 
 
 MR. PRESIDENT: The great events on which my resignation 
 depended having at length taken place, I have now the honor of 
 offering my sincere congratulations to Congress, and of presenting 
 myself before them, to surrender into their hands the trust com 
 mitted to me and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the 
 service of my country. 
 
 Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, 
 and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of 
 becoming a respectable nation, I resign with satisfaction the ap 
 pointment I accepted with diffidence ; a diffidence in my abilities to 
 accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by 
 a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the su 
 preme power of the Union, and the patronage of Heaven. 
 
 The successful termination of the war has verified the most 
 sanguine expectations, and my gratitude for the interposition of 
 
Washington 143 
 
 Providence and the assistance I have received from my country 
 men increases with every review of the momentous contest. 
 
 While I repeat my obligations to the Army in general, I should 
 do injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge, in this place, 
 the peculiar services and distinguished merits of the Gentlemen 
 who have been attached to my person during the war. It was 
 impossible that the choice of confidential officers to compose my 
 family should have been more fortunate. Permit me, sir, to rec 
 ommend in particular those who have continued in service to the 
 present moment as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage 
 of Congress. 
 
 I consider it an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act 
 of my official life by commending the interests of our dearest 
 country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have 
 the superintendence of them to His holy keeping. 
 
 Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the 
 great theater of action, and, bidding an affectionate farewell to 
 this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted, I 
 here offer my commission and take my leave of all the employ 
 ments of public life. 
 
 The great master of English fiction, writing of this 
 scene at Annapolis, says : " Which was the most splendid 
 spectacle ever witnessed the opening feast of Prince 
 George in London, or the resignation of Washington? 
 W hich is the noble character for after ages to admire 
 yon fribble dancing in lace and spangles, or yonder hero 
 who sheathes his sword after a life of spotless honor, a 
 purity unreproached, a courage indomitable and a consum 
 mate victory ? " 
 
 Washington did not refuse the dictatorship, or, rather, 
 the opportunity to take control of the country, because he 
 feared heavy responsibility, but solely because, as a high- 
 minded and patriotic man, he did not believe in meeting 
 the situation in that way. He was, moreover, entirely 
 
144 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 devoid of personal ambition, and had no vulgar longing 
 for personal power. After resigning his commission he 
 returned quietly to Mount Vernon, but he did not hold 
 himself aloof from public affairs. On the contrary, he 
 watched their course with the utmost anxiety. He saw 
 the feeble Confederation breaking to pieces, and he soon 
 realized that that form of government was an utter failure. 
 In a time when no American statesman except Hamilton 
 
 had yet freed himself 
 from the local feelings of 
 the colonial days, Wash 
 ington was thoroughly 
 national in all his views. 
 Out of the thirteen jar 
 ring colonies he meant 
 that a nation should 
 
 Washington s chest. CQme> and he gaw _ 
 
 what no one else saw the destiny of the country to the 
 westward. He wished a nation founded which should 
 cross the Alleghanies, and, holding the mouths of the 
 Mississippi, take possession of all that vast and then un 
 known region. For these reasons he stood at the head of 
 the national movement, and to him all men turned who 
 desired a better union and sought to bring order out of 
 chaos. With him Hamilton and Madison consulted in the 
 preliminary stages which were to lead to the formation of 
 a new system. It was his vast personal influence which 
 made that movement a success, and when the convention 
 to form a constitution met at Philadelphia, he presided 
 over its deliberations, and it was his commanding will 
 which, more than anything else, brought a constitution 
 
Washington 145 
 
 through difficulties and conflicting interests which more 
 than once made any result seem well-nigh hopeless. 
 
 When the Constitution formed at Philadelphia had been 
 ratified by the States, all men turned to Washington to 
 stand at the head of the new government. As he had 
 borne the burden of the Revolution, so he now took up the 
 task of bringing the government of the Constitution into 
 existence. For eight years he served as president. He 
 came into office with a paper constitution, the heir of a 
 bankrupt, broken-down confederation. He left the United 
 States, when he went out of office, an effective and vigorous 
 government. When he was inaugurated, we had nothing 
 but the clauses of the Constitution as agreed to by the Con 
 vention. When he laid down the presidency, we had an 
 organized government, an established revenue, a funded 
 debt, a high credit, an efficient system of banking, a strong 
 judiciary, and an army. We had a vigorous and well- 
 defined foreign policy; we had recovered the western posts, 
 which, in the hands of the British, had fettered our march 
 to the west; and we had proved our power to maintain 
 order at home, to repress insurrection, to collect the na 
 tional taxes, and to enforce the laws made by Congress. 
 Thus Washington had shown that rare combination of the 
 leader who could first destroy by revolution, and who, hav 
 ing led his country through a great civil -war, was then 
 able to build up a new and lasting fabric upon the ruins of 
 a system which had been overthrown. At the close of his 
 official service he returned again to Mount Vernon, and, 
 after a few years of quiet retirement, died just as the cen 
 tury in which he had played so great a part was closing. 
 
 Washington stands among the greatest men of human 
 
146 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 history, and those in the same rank with him are very few. 
 Whether measured hy what he did, or what he was, or by 
 the effect of his work upon the history of mankind, in 
 every aspect he is entitled to the place he holds among the 
 greatest of his race. Few men in all time have such a 
 record of achievement. Still fewer can show at the end of 
 a career so crowded with high deeds and memorable vic 
 tories a life so free from spot, a character so unselfish and 
 so pure, a fame so void of doubtful points demanding either 
 defense or explanation. Eulogy of such a life is needless, 
 but it is always important to recall and to freshly remember 
 just what manner of man he was. In the first place he 
 was physically a striking figure. He was very tall, power 
 fully made, with a strong, handsome face. He was remark 
 ably muscular and powerful. As a boy he was a leader 
 in all outdoor sports. No one could fling the bar further 
 than he, and no one could ride more difficult horses. As a 
 young man he became a woodsman and hunter. Day after 
 day he could tramp through the wilderness with his gun 
 and his surveyor s chain, and then sleep at night beneath the 
 stars. He feared no exposure or fatigue, and outdid the 
 hardiest backwoodsman in following a winter trail and 
 swimming icy streams. This habit of vigorous bodily 
 exercise he carried through life. Whenever he was at 
 Mount Vernon he gave a large part of his time to fox 
 hunting, riding after his hounds through the most difficult 
 country. His physical power and endurance counted for 
 much in his success when he commanded his army, and 
 when the heavy anxieties of general and president weighed 
 upon his mind and heart. 
 
 He was an educated, but not a learned man. He read 
 
Washington 
 
 147 
 
 well and remembered what he read, but his life was, from 
 
 the beginning, a life of action, and the world of men was 
 
 his school. He was not a military genius like Hannibal, 
 
 or Caesar, or Napoleon, of which the world 
 
 has had only three or four examples. But 
 
 he was a great soldier of the type which the 
 
 English race has produced, like Marlborough 
 
 and Cromwell, Wellington, Grant, and Lee. 
 
 He was patient under defeat, capable of large 
 
 combinations, a stubborn and often reckless 
 
 fighter, a winner of battles, but much more, 
 
 a conclusive winner in a long war of varying 
 
 fortunes. He was, in addition, what very 
 
 few great soldiers or commanders have ever 
 
 been, a great constitutional statesman, able 
 
 to lead a people along the paths of free 
 
 government without undertaking himself to 
 
 play the part of the strong man, the usurper, 
 
 or the saviour of society. 
 
 He was a very silent man. Of no man of 
 equal importance in the world s history have 
 we so few sayings of a personal kind. He 
 was ready enough to talk or to write about 
 the public duties which he had in hand, but 
 he hardly ever talked of himself. Yet there 
 can be no greater error than to suppose 
 Washington cold and unfeeling, because of Washington s 
 his silence and reserve. He was by nature 
 a man of strong desires and stormy passions. Now and 
 again he would break out, even as late as the presidency, 
 into a gust of anger that would sweep everything before it. 
 
148 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 He was always reckless of personal danger, and had a 
 fierce fighting spirit which nothing could check when it was 
 once unchained. 
 
 But as a rule these fiery impulses and strong passions 
 were under the absolute control of an iron will, and they 
 never clouded his judgment or warped his keen sense of jus 
 tice. 
 
 But if he was not of a cold nature, still less was he hard 
 or unfeeling. His pity always went out to the poor, the 
 oppressed, or the unhappy, and he was all that was kind 
 and gentle to those immediately about him. 
 
 We have to look carefully into his life to learn all these 
 things, for the world saw only a silent, reserved man, of 
 courteous and serious manner, who seemed to stand alone 
 and apart, and who impressed every one who came near 
 him with a sense of awe and reverence. 
 
 One quality he had which was, perhaps, more charac 
 teristic of the man and his greatness than any other. This 
 was his perfect veracity of mind. He was, of course, the 
 soul of truth and honor, but he was even more than that. 
 He never deceived himself. He always looked facts 
 squarely in the face and dealt with them as such, dreaming 
 no dreams, cherishing no delusions, asking no impossibili 
 ties, just to others as to himself, and thus winning alike 
 in war and in peace. 
 
 He gave dignity as well as victory to his country and 
 his cause. He was, in truth, a " character for after ages 
 to admire." 
 
WASHINGTON AS AN ATHLETE 
 BY MRS. BURTON HARRISON 
 
 No boy can imagine a better place in which to grow up 
 than Virginia in the clays of Washington s boyhood. The 
 house of every planter in the " tide-water " region, where 
 families first formed into what they called neighborhoods, 
 was built in the midst of a vast estate. To go abroad meant 
 to tramp or ride for hours on one s own land, in glorious 
 forests where the wigwam s smoke had scarcely ceased to 
 curl. Deer looked with mild-eyed wonder at the passers- 
 by. Small game of infinite variety was to be had by rais 
 ing a rifle to the shoulder. Grapes and nuts grew upon 
 low-swung branches, and springs of delicious water bubbled 
 under foot. In the clearings the rich soil laughed when 
 they tickled it, yielding corn and tobacco, vegetables and 
 flowers. 
 
 As early as 1623, there was a famous plantation upon 
 the lower James, called Littleton, where peach trees bore 
 luscious fruit, and in the garden of two acres belonging to 
 the house grew " primroses, sage, marjoram, and rose 
 mary," to remind its owner of the Old Country; while his 
 orchards were filled with " apple, cherry, pear, and plum 
 trees." Most of the plantations bordered upon majestic 
 rivers, whose shallows supplied oysters, terrapins, crabs, and 
 ducks, in countless numbers. The waters of such streams, 
 warmed by the southern sun, making bathing and swim 
 ming a luxury, were alive with fish, both great and small. 
 
 149 
 
150 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Whatever those old Virginians lacked, it was not good 
 things to eat, while Nature thus emptied her horn of plenty 
 at their doors! 
 
 Life under such conditions, with a horde of lazy, well- 
 fed colored people to do the farm-work, guests on horse 
 back coming, going, staying as long as it pleased them to 
 rest their horses, was a very easy one. The occupations of 
 the men were almost entirely out-of-doors. Hunting, fox- 
 chasing, angling, trapping, breaking colts, and riding around 
 their big estates, filled up their days. Until of an age to 
 be put aboard some slow-sailing tobacco ship, and started in 
 the captain s care to some relative or friend in England, 
 who would superintend their schooling, the sons of the 
 colonists followed in the footsteps of their sires. 
 
 In this way was nursed the generation that produced the 
 band of Virginian patriots of which Washington was chief. 
 Luckily for him and for America, Washington s bringing 
 up was less luxurious than that of his friends and kinsmen. 
 Circumstances, and his mother, trained the lad to be as 
 hardy as an Indian on the war-path, and as simple and self- 
 reliant as a New England farm-boy of the type that gave 
 statesmen to the North. For him, there was no voyage to 
 the mother-country, with grand opportunities for rubbing 
 off colonial awkwardness. His first schooling (if the 
 chronicler Weems be right) was derived from one of his 
 father s tenants a slow, rusty old man named Hobby, 
 who was sexton as well as dominie, and who, in the inter 
 vals of teaching- " the three R s " to the neighbors girls and 
 boys, swept out the church, and, now and then, dug a grave. 
 The next master was a certain Mr. Williams, graduate of 
 the Wakefield school in Yorkshire, upon whom Weems be- 
 
Washington as an Athlete 151 
 
 stows this rap, in passing: "Mr. Williams, George s first 
 tutor, knew as little Latin as Balaam s ass." 
 
 Latin or not, George acquired the foundation of a fair 
 education for that time, and to this his enormous industry, 
 aided by much reading of good English literature in after 
 days, supplied what was lacking. 
 
 People who have forgotten Washington s battles remem 
 ber the cherry-tree and his hatchet. Weems started that 
 pleasing tale, and it is he who tells also of a race on foot 
 between George and his neighbor, " Langy Dade." 
 
 First, let me tell you for boys to-day resemble the 
 Apostle Paul in one thing, certainly: they like to prove all 
 things that among the many authors who have written 
 about the youth of Washington, the one upon whose pre 
 serves all the rest have browsed, whose quaint stories have 
 come to be our classics, was this very Parson Weems. 
 
 People who have grown up in the neighborhood of 
 Mount Vernon, where Weems was well known, are not 
 quite sure whether there ever was a hatchet or, for that 
 matter, even a cherry-tree in the garden of excellent Mr. 
 Augustine Washington, near Fredericksburg! 
 
 For Parson Weems was reputed to have a very vivid 
 imagination. He used to drive about Fairfax County in 
 an old-fashioned gig with a calash, peddling his own books 
 and others, from plantation to plantation. When he suc 
 ceeded in making a sale, he would whip out the fiddle that 
 always accompanied him, and, standing up in his gig, play 
 the merriest, maddest, dance-music. The negroes, who 
 stood gaping round his gig, could no more resist him than 
 the rats could resist the Pied Piper of Hamelin! First, 
 they swayed, then they beat time with foot and hand, and 
 
152 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 at last broke into a regular corn-shucking jig! When 
 Weems remained overnight at the house of one of his 
 patrons, he would volunteer to read family prayers, and at 
 the moment the last " Amen " was said, would fall to play 
 ing reels and jigs upon his fiddle. His sermons were the 
 oddest ever heard from a Church of England clergyman. 
 He was often at Mount Vernon, and from General and 
 Mrs. Washington he received many kindnesses. In the 
 course of much fireside gossip, during his wanderings from 
 one country-house to another, Mr. Weems picked up the 
 anecdotes of Washington s youth, which he has told in his 
 book. And if you are ever so fortunate as to visit the 
 rooms of the Society Library in University Place, New 
 York, ask permission to see a copy they have there, an 
 early edition, of this famous " Life of George Washing 
 ton." It was published in 1814, with an introduction by 
 " Light Horse Harry Lee." 
 
 And now for the foot-races, as reported by Parson 
 Weems : " Egad ! he ran wonderfully, 
 said my amiable and aged friend, John 
 Fitzhugh, Esq., who knew Washington 
 well. * We had nobody hereabouts that 
 could come near him. There was a 
 young Langhorn Dade of Westmoreland, 
 a confounded clean-made, tight young 
 fellow, and a mighty swift runner, too. 
 But then, he was no match for George. 
 Langy, indeed, did not like to give it up, 
 and would brag that he had sometimes brought George to a 
 tie. But I believe he was mistaken, for I have seen them 
 run together many a time, and George always beat him easy 
 enough. 
 
Washington as an Athlete 153 
 
 As in running, so in wrestling, in the use of foils, in high- 
 jumping, climbing, shooting at a mark, and pitching quoits, 
 George excelled his mates. Before our war between the 
 States, they used to show at an old tobacco-warehouse in 
 Alexandria some weights, one, I believe, of more than 
 fifty pounds, said to have been thrown by Washington in 
 a match where first boys, then men, were surpassed and put 
 to confusion by his achievements. His unusually long arms 
 and immense hands were justly a source of wonder in such 
 contests. 
 
 The river near which was his first home, the Rappa- 
 hannock, while not so wide as the Potomac or the James, 
 is yet wide enough to fill with astonishment the looker-on 
 who is to-day shown where young Washington threw a piece 
 of slate the size of a silver dollar across the river, clearing 
 thirty yards beyond the opposite bank. Of the many who 
 have since tried to emulate this feat, not one, it is claimed, 
 has succeeded in clearing even the water there. Another 
 time, Washington stood in the bed of the stream running 
 under the Natural Bridge of Virginia, .which towers two 
 hundred feet above, and hurled a stone upon the top of the 
 arch. And again, when older, he threw a stone from the 
 Palisades into the Hudson. 
 
 Washington never lost his taste for this branch of athlet 
 ics. Charles Wilson Peale, the soldier-artist, who por 
 trayed several of the heroes of the Revolution at head 
 quarters during their campaigns, was himself an adept in 
 athletic exercises. On one occasion, in 1772, while at 
 Mount Vernon, there was upon the lawn a party of young 
 fellows, playing at " pitching the bar," when Colonel Wash 
 ington suddenly appeared among them, and, without tak 
 ing off his coat, held out his hand to claim the bar. " No 
 
154 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 sooner," said Peak, in describing the scene to a friend, 
 " did the heavy iron bar feel the grasp of his mighty hand 
 than it lost the power of gravitation and whizzed through 
 the air, striking the ground far, very far, beyond our ut 
 most limits. We were indeed amazed as we stood around, 
 all stripped to the buff, with shirt-sleeves rolled up, and 
 having thought ourselves very clever fellows; while the 
 Colonel, on retiring, pleasantly observed, When you beat 
 my pitch, young gentlemen, I 11 try again. 
 
 A tale still current in Washington s old home neighbor 
 hood in Virginia recounts how once as a stripling he sat 
 reading under the shade of an oak-tree near his school. 
 Some of his friends had engaged a champion wrestler 
 of the county to test their strength in an impromptu ring. 
 One after another fell a victim to the champion s skill, till, 
 grown bold at last, he strode back and forth like one of the 
 giants of old-time romance, daring the only boy who had 
 not wrestled with him either to put his book down and 
 come into the ring or own himself afraid ! 
 
 This was more than the self-contained Washington could 
 stand. Quietly closing his book, he accepted the challenge. 
 Long after, when the student under the oak-tree had be 
 come the conqueror with whose honored name the whole 
 civilized world resounded, the ex-champion told what fol 
 lowed, " After a fierce, short struggle," he said, " I felt 
 myself grasped and hurled upon the ground, with a jar that 
 shook the marrow of my bones." 
 
 With the memory of these boyish encounters in mind, 
 and with all his sympathy for athletic exercises, think what 
 it must have been to Washington, when Commander-in- 
 Chief of the Revolutionary Army, to come upon a party 
 of his young officers amusing themselves at a game of 
 
Washington as an Athlete 
 
 155 
 
 " fives," and, in spite of his evident enjoyment of the sport, 
 to find them too much overcome with awe to go on playing. 
 
 It was in vain that the General encouraged them to re 
 sume their sport; so, at last, feeling that greatness has its 
 drawbacks, he bowed, wished his officers good-day, and 
 walked away. 
 
 As a horseman, from 
 beginning to end of his 
 vigorous life, Washington 
 had no peer. Like all Vir 
 ginian boys, he took to the 
 saddle as a duck takes to 
 water. Once astride his 
 steed, it was all but im 
 possible to dislodge him. 
 From the day when as a 
 lad he first rode f o hounds 
 after old Lord Fairfax, of 
 Greenway Court, across 
 the county named for that 
 worthy nobleman, he was 
 a skilled and dashing fox- Washington s secretary and book- 
 hunter. In the army, 
 
 when on horseback, riding down the line, cheered to 
 the echo by the soldiers, who believed, with a supersti 
 tion worthy of the ancients, that here was a being born 
 to lead them, he was physically the most imposing fig 
 ure present. In person, Washington showed in his ma 
 turity the fruits of the lifetime he had given to what ath 
 letes nowadays call " training." His habits, at all times, 
 
 were those exacted of a " crew 
 
 or 
 
 team " of modern 
 
 days, before the occasions when those heroes appear in 
 
156 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 public, to fill with despair or exultation the bosoms of their 
 friends. From the Indians of the Shenandoah wilderness, 
 among whom he spent weeks during his first surveying tour, 
 he learned the swift, elastic tread that distinguished him in 
 w r alking. His powers of endurance were worthy of his 
 extraordinary physical strength, though it must be said he 
 had few illnesses to test his constitution, and, indeed, was 
 rarely ailing. It may be some consolation to aspirant 
 heroes of the future to hear, while upon this topic, that 
 Mrs. Washington said it was well the general was so rarely 
 ill, as she could never get him to take his medicine ! 
 
THE SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION 
 OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 BY MARY V. WORSTELL 
 
 How many boys and girls can tell, without a moment s 
 hesitation, the number of men who signed the Declaration 
 of Independence? There are doubtless many who can 
 answer correctly, fifty-six. 
 
 But how much do we know about the lives and person 
 alities of these men? and have we ever stopped to think 
 what it meant to them to put their names to the most 
 famous document in the history of our country? Now and 
 then we meet people who can say that they are descendants 
 of some " signer," and very proud they seem to be of that 
 fact. They may well be proud, for consider for a moment 
 what it meant to sign the Great Document. It meant that 
 the signer publicly proclaimed himself an enemy to a great 
 and powerful king became a rebel, in fact ; and we all 
 know the fate that commonly overtakes rebels. To-day we 
 seldom think of the trials and misfortunes that followed the 
 signing; we think only of the glory. 
 
 Although George III paid little attention to the many 
 protests that had been presented to him by the colonies, he 
 yet kept a close watch on these restless subjects, and his rep 
 resentatives well knew all that was going on. 
 
 To the Second Continental Congress, assembled in Phila 
 delphia in 1776, were sent, from the thirteen original colo- 
 
158 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Signing the Declaration. 
 
 nies, delegates whose loyalty was undoubted. Patriotism 
 was not profitable in those far-away days. Robert Morris, 
 the great financier of the Revolution, sacrificed a large for 
 tune in his country s behalf; Thomas Nelson, of Virginia, 
 also lost a large fortune by the war ; while the immortal 
 Samuel Adams, who dedicated his life to the service of his 
 beloved country, lived and died a poor man. 
 
 But let me present to you, very briefly, these fifty-six 
 men; and possibly, after this introduction, you may wish 
 to know more of their lives and achievements. 
 
 GEORGIA 
 
 Georgia sent three delegates, and of these (i) George 
 Walton was the youngest. He was an ambitious boy who 
 was apprenticed to a carpenter so niggardly that he would 
 not allow the lad a candle by which to study. Luckily, 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 159 
 
 George Walton Lyman Hall Button Gwinnett 
 
 wood was plentiful, and by the light of a burning torch 
 Walton studied hard and in time became a lawyer. (2) 
 Lyman Hall came from New England. Before he was 
 twenty-one he had married and settled in Georgia, to which 
 place he was accompanied by about forty families. The 
 patriotism of these settlers has left a permanent impress on 
 the State, for its counties were named after such British 
 statesmen as showed themselves friends to the American 
 colonies. Look them up on the map and see if this is not 
 so. You will find also a county named after this signer. 
 (3) Button Gwinnett was an Englishman who came to 
 this country when he was thirty-eight years old. He took 
 up the cause of the oppressed colonies with much enthusiasm 
 - too much, in fact, for he became involved in a quarrel, 
 and in the duel which followed he lost his life. 
 
 SOUTH CAROLINA 
 
 South Carolina furnished four delegates, among them ( I ) 
 Edward Rutledge, who was the youngest man to sign the 
 Declaration, for he was only twenty-seven at the time. All 
 of the South Carolina signers Rutledge, (2) Arthur 
 Middleton, (3) Thomas Heyward, Jr., and (4) Thomas 
 
160 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Edward Rutledge 
 
 Arthur Middleton Thomas Heyward, Jr. 
 
 Lynch, Jr. came of wealthy families, and the three former 
 had received the benefit of a foreign education. Three 
 years after signing the Declaration, Thomas Lynch, then 
 in poor health, sailed for France, and his ship never was 
 heard of again. While Arthur Middleton was in Phila 
 delphia, a delegate to the Second Con 
 tinental Congress, he and John Han 
 cock, with their families, occupied the 
 same house. Both men were wealthy 
 and hospitable, and they drew around 
 them a choice circle of friends. Lynch 
 was the only signer from South Car- 
 Thomas Lynch Tr olina who did not suffer imprisonment 
 for his efforts in his country s behalf. 
 
 NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 North Carolina sent three delegates. ( i ) Joseph Hewes 
 was born a Quaker; he was a man of intense patriotism, 
 and in time he became the first Secretary of the Navy, with 
 almost unlimited powers ; and though to him the war meant 
 great financial loss, he never swerved in his devotion to his 
 country. (2) William Hooper was a Boston man who was 
 
The Signers of the Declaration l6l 
 
 William Hooper 
 
 Joseph Hewes 
 
 partly educated by 
 his father, who was 
 pastor of Trinity 
 Church. Having 
 
 studied law, he set 
 tled in North Car 
 olina ; hut his life 
 in the new country 
 proved a hard one, 
 for the only way of traveling was on horseback, and 
 some of the courts were two hundred miles from his 
 home. (3) John Penn was a bright boy whose early 
 education was neglected, but this loss 
 was speedily made good when his 
 relative, the distinguished Edmund 
 Pendleton, placed his fine library at 
 the lad s disposal. John Penn filled 
 many offices, and on the return of 
 peace he withdrew to private life, not 
 enriched, but impoverished, by the of 
 fices he had held. 
 
 MARYLAND 
 
 Maryland sent four delegates. ( i ) William Paca was 
 a man of graceful address and polished manners and came 
 of a fine old family, while (2) Thomas Stone was a 
 younger son with no prospects at all. But he was eager for 
 an education, and he secured it by daily attendance at a 
 school ten miles from his home. It would be easy to pre 
 dict success for a boy of such pluck ; and indeed he achieved 
 success, for five times he was elected to Congress. (3) 
 
162 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 William Paca 
 
 much interested. 
 
 Thomas Stone 
 
 Samuel Chase was 
 
 called the " Demos 
 thenes of Maryland." 
 
 He was a fine orator 
 
 and a kindly man as 
 
 well. One time, on 
 
 a visit to Baltimore, 
 
 he met a young man 
 
 in whom he became 
 
 He not only placed his library at his 
 disposal ; he invited him to make his home with him. 
 Chase lived to see his generosity justified, for the young 
 man was no other than William Pinckney, one of the most 
 
 distinguished law- r 
 
 yers our country 
 
 has ever produced. 
 
 (4) Charles Carroll 
 
 of Carrollton (the 
 
 "of Carrollton" was 
 
 added by him to 
 
 identify himself for 
 
 punishment in case 
 
 the mother-country won) and destined to outlive all the 
 others. 
 
 Charles Carroll 
 
 Samuel Chase 
 
 DELAWARE 
 
 Delaware sent three representatives, (i) George Read 
 was a man of cool and deliberate judgment in spite of Irish 
 descent; and an interesting phase of his character is shown 
 in the fact that his first act as a lawyer was to give up 
 all rights to his father s estate, declaring that his education 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 163 
 
 George Read 
 
 Thomas McKean 
 
 represented his 
 
 proper share. (2) 
 Thomas McKean 
 was a truly remark 
 able man. For fifty 
 years he was in 
 public life, and he 
 filled many promi 
 nent and honorable 
 
 offices. For many years he was Governor of Pennsylvania. 
 
 The third delegate, (3) Qesar Rodney, chanced to be in 
 
 Delaware when the Declaration was ready for signing. 
 
 Read was slow to favor independence, while McKean was 
 
 eager for it. The vote of Rodney, 
 
 therefore, would turn the scales for 
 
 Delaware, so McKean sent a special 
 
 messenger to Rodney, urging his im 
 mediate return to Philadelphia. The 
 
 result was a hurried ride on horseback 
 
 of eighty miles; a historic ride that 
 
 decided the vote for the Declaration. 
 
 Rodney reached Philadelphia just in 
 
 the nick of time, and an old record says that " he voted 
 
 with his boots on." 
 
 Caesar Rodney 
 
 RHODE ISLAND 
 
 Rhode Island furnished two delegates, ( i ) Stephen Hop 
 kins and (2) William Ellery. Next to Benjamin Franklin, 
 Hopkins was the oldest man to sign the Declaration. 
 Though his education was meager, he was ambitious to 
 learn, and by hard study he became a fine mathematician 
 
164 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 and surveyor. William Ellery paid dearly for his con 
 nection with the Continental Congress, for the British 
 
 Stephen Hopkins 
 
 William Ellery 
 
 burned his home, and other property of his was seriously 
 damaged. 
 
 NEW HAMPSHIRE 
 
 Of New Hampshire s three delegates, two were physi 
 cians. When ( i ) Dr. Matthew Thornton was only thirty- 
 
 Matthew Thornton 
 
 Josiah Bartlett 
 
 William W 7 hipple 
 
 one he took part in the famous capture of Louisbourg by 
 Pepperel and Warren, assuming, with success, the medical 
 care of the New Hampshire division. (2) Dr. Josiah 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 165 
 
 Bartlett was an energetic man whose profession could not 
 keep him out of political life. During the sixty-six years 
 of his life he did the work of a dozen men. (3) William 
 Whipple began his life under unfavorable circumstances, 
 for he was a sailor, and before he was twenty-one he was 
 in charge of a vessel engaged in importing slaves. But 
 this life was soon given up, and he rendered fine service 
 in Congress, where his knowledge of naval affairs proved 
 valuable on various committees. 
 
 CONNECTICUT 
 
 Connecticut furnished four delegates. ( i ) Oliver Wol- 
 cott came of a famous Connecticut family and was destined 
 for the medical profession. But he soon abandoned medi 
 cine for politics and military life, and quickly rose to dis 
 tinction. (2) William Williams was a nephew of Colonel 
 Ephraim Williams, who founded Williamstown and Will 
 iams College. With this uncle, William Williams, while 
 still a young man, made a journey to Lake George, and 
 the glimpse of military life under British officers that 
 this afforded served to strengthen his wish for indepen 
 dence. 
 
 Connecticut may well be proud of (3) Samuel Hunting- 
 ton and (4) Roger Sherman, for the first was a farmer s 
 son, yet so eager was he for an education that he not only 
 acquired it, but he held high offices. In 1780 this farmer s 
 son was President of Congress and later Governor of Con 
 necticut, while Roger Sherman spent the first twenty-two 
 years of his life at the cobbler s bench. But a book was al 
 ways close at hand, so that every spare moment might be 
 
166 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 put to good use. He not only filled many public offices ; he 
 was one of the five appointed to draw up the Declaration - 
 a great honor, only to be bestowed on one of ripe judgment. 
 
 Oliver Wolcott 
 
 William Williams 
 
 Samuel Huntington 
 
 Roger Sherman 
 
 John Adams said that " Roger Sherman had a clear head 
 and a steady heart, and was one of the soundest and 
 strongest pillars of the Revolution." 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 New York sent four representatives. ( i ) Both Francis 
 Lewis and (2) William Floyd were of Welsh descent, and 
 both made to suffer greatly for signing the Declaration, 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 167 
 
 for their homes were plundered and destroyed by the British. 
 (3) Lewis Morris, still another New York signer, was made 
 to suffer also, for he was a rich man with a great estate. 
 
 Francis Lewis 
 
 Lewis Morris 
 
 Philip Livingston 
 
 William Floyd 
 
 A British force was stationed near his home; nevertheless, 
 he pluckily put his name to the document. In revenge, 
 the British burned his home and more than a thousand 
 acres of woodland. But the patriotism of Lewis Morris 
 never wavered, and in time his three sons took up arms 
 in behalf of their country. The name of Livingston has 
 long been an honored one in the annals of New York City. 
 In 1746 there were but few in the whole colony who had 
 
i68 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 received a college education, and of these (4) Philip Liv 
 ingston was one. After graduating from Yale College 
 he engaged in commerce and soon laid the foundation of 
 an ample fortune. At the age of forty-six his health 
 failed, but, being a member of Congress, he would not 
 abandon the duties of his office. He died while in office, 
 deeply lamented by the young nation he had served so 
 faithfully. 
 
 NEW JERSEY 
 
 Of the five delegates sent to Philadelphia by New Jersey, 
 two were farmers, (i) John Hart and (2) Abraham Clark. 
 When the British invaded New Jersey, Hart s home and 
 farm were laid waste and Hart himself, then a man of 
 seventy-one, was hunted from place to place. Tradition 
 says that at one time he was so sorely beset that he was 
 obliged to hide in a dog-kennel. It is pleasant to know 
 that he lived to repair the damage done by his enemies. 
 Abraham Clark was one of those who were eager for in 
 dependence, and he did all in his power to secure it for his 
 country. (3) Francis Hopkinson was a fine student and a 
 member of the first class that the University of Pennsyl 
 vania ever graduated. No noisy fun for him, for, as Dr. 
 Benjamin Rush quaintly says of him, " his wit was mild 
 and elegant and infused cheerfulness and a species of deli 
 cate joy into the hearts of all who heard it." (4) Richard 
 Stockton was a man of wealth, position, and culture. He 
 was born in the town of Princeton, New Jersey, and he 
 conferred a great favor on the college there when he in 
 duced to come to this country (5) Dr. John Witherspoon, 
 a learned Scottish divine. Dr. Witherspoon was the only 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 169 
 
 clergyman to sign the Declaration. He was the sixth presi 
 dent of Princeton College, and devoted himself not only to 
 
 
 mm 
 
 Abraham Clark 
 
 Francis Hopkinson 
 
 John Hart 
 
 John Witherspoon 
 
 Richard Stockton 
 
 the college, but to the country of his adoption, for it is said 
 that he became an American and an ardent patriot as soon 
 as he reached our shores. 
 
 PENNSYLVANIA 
 
 Pennsylvania sent more delegates than any other colony 
 nine, (i) Benjamin Franklin was the oldest of all the 
 signers. We may be sure that this truly great man was a 
 prominent figure in that remarkable gathering. Almost 
 
l JO The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 as notable was (2)- Robert Morris, the great financier of 
 the Revolution. Though he was slow at first to favor 
 independence, later he showed the truest patri 
 otism, for his financial aid tided the young country over 
 serious difficulties. " The Americans," says one historian, 
 " owe as much acknowledgment to the financial operations 
 of Robert Morris as to the negotiations of Benjamin Frank 
 lin, or even to the arms of Washington." (3) Dr. Benja 
 min Rush may well be honored, for he was a physician of 
 high standing; and in 1793, when Philadelphia was visited 
 by yellow fever, and more than 4500 fell victims in three 
 months, Dr. Rush was one of three physicians who nobly 
 remained at their posts. (4) James Wilson was a young 
 Scotchman who came to this country when he was twenty- 
 one. By the time he was only twenty-six he was the ac 
 knowledged head of the Philadelphia bar. The name of 
 this signer has recently been brought into notice. He died 
 while at Edenton, North Carolina, but in 1906 his remains 
 were brought to Philadelphia, where they were interred in 
 the graveyard of Christ s Church. There were appro 
 priate ceremonies in which many legal and patriotic so 
 cieties took part, as well as representatives of the national 
 
 Benjamin Franklin Robert Morris Benjamin Rush 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 171 
 
 James Wilson 
 
 George Clymer 
 
 James Smith 
 
 George Taylor 
 
 John Morton 
 
 George Ross 
 
 government. (5) George Clymer was another delegate of 
 sturdy patriotism, and so was (6) James Smith. The lat 
 ter was a man of genial disposition, keen sense of humor, 
 and great benevolence. (7) George Taylor was an Irish 
 man, and came to this country to avoid studying medi 
 cine. He worked in a foundry, and after some years he 
 became its proprietor. (8) John Morton was a boy who 
 had but three months schooling, but this was followed by 
 such wide reading and study, under the supervision of his 
 stepfather, that in time he became one of the judges of 
 the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. (9) George Ross, 
 still another of the Pennsylvania signers, must have been 
 
172 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 a model delegate, for his conduct in Congress was so 
 highly approved by his constituents that they voted him 
 more than six hundred dollars with which to purchase a 
 piece of silver. But Ross was as modest as he was loyal, 
 and he refused the gift. 
 
 MASSACHUSETTS 
 
 The five delegates from Massachusetts Bay formed a 
 famous group, (i) Elbridge Gerry was in public life 
 many years. From the time when he first took his seat in 
 the General Court of Massachusetts Bay, at the age of 
 twenty-nine, till, as Vice-President of the United States, 
 under Madison, he died, at the age of seventy, the story 
 of his life is the story of devotion to country. (2) Robert 
 Treat Paine was born, so the chroniclers tell us, " of pious 
 and respectable parents." He entered Harvard at the age 
 of fourteen, and on graduating he taught school for a time 
 in order to earn enough money to study law, and in time 
 he won distinction as an able lawyer. The careers of (3) 
 John Adams and his kinsman, (4) Samuel Adams, cannot 
 be summed up in a few words. John Adams was a man 
 of marvelous industry, serving in Congress on no less than 
 ninety different committees. He was twice Vice-President 
 before filling the Presidential chair for one term; and the 
 closing years of his busy and useful life were brightened by 
 watching the career of his son, John Quincy Adams, who, 
 in time, also became President a wonderful record only 
 equaled by the Harrisons of Virginia. John Adams was 
 said to have " the clearest head and the firmest heart of 
 any man in Congress." Samuel Adams embarked for 
 a time in commerce, but this proved as disastrous as his 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 173 
 
 political life was brilliant. He made no secret of his wish 
 for independence, and this so irritated Governor Gage 
 that he issued his celebrated proclamation in which he 
 promised pardon to all who would lay down their arms, 
 " excepting only from the benefit of such pardon Samuel 
 Adams and John Hancock."" He held many honorable of 
 fices in the young State of Massachusetts, and in time he 
 succeeded John Hancock as Governor. He died in his 
 eighty-second year, a very poor man. In fact, he has 
 been called " the poor gentleman." But now his country 
 glories in his illustrious name and record. (5) John Han 
 cock was a born leader, and at the age of thirty-nine he was 
 elected President of the immortal Second Continental Con- 
 
 Elbridge Gerry 
 
 Robert T. Paine 
 
 John Adams 
 
 Samuel Adams 
 
 John Hancock 
 
174 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 gress. Though a rich man, he was a sincere patriot, for 
 when it was proposed to bombard Boston, he gave a prompt 
 and hearty assent, though it would have caused his financial 
 ruin. He loyally declared that his private fortune should 
 on no occasion oppose an obstacle to the liberties of his 
 country. Of all the signatures on the Declaration, we re 
 call Hancock s first; for he said, when he wrote his name, 
 -he wrote with unusual distinctness. that "George III 
 might read it without spectacles." Hancock was Governor 
 of Massachusetts for many years. 
 
 VIRGINIA 
 
 The Virginia signers all came of prominent families. 
 ( i ) Carter Braxton was educated at William and Mary 
 College, and this was followed by a three years sojourn 
 abroad. On his return he was drawn into local politics, 
 and for many years he was a notable figure in the history 
 of his colony. (2) Benjamin Harrison entered public life 
 while he was still a young man. Great Britain recognized 
 his influence and sought to conciliate him, but his patriotism 
 was sturdy and he was not to be bought over. In time 
 he became Governor of Virginia, and a popular one he 
 proved. (3) Thomas Nelson, Jr., was one of the richest 
 men in Virginia, in those far-away days. Like Carter 
 Braxton, he was born to wealth, and his education was 
 completed in England. One incident of his life shows us 
 how true a patriot he was, for when he was in command 
 of the State militia at Yorktown it was thought that a de 
 cided advantage might be gained by bombarding his home. 
 He at once directed the gunners to attack it, saying, " Spare 
 no particle of my property so long as it affords comfort or 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 175 
 
 shelter to the enemies of my country." In this he followed 
 Hancock s unselfish example. The name of Lee has been 
 an honored one in Virginia for many years. (4) Francis 
 Lightfoot Lee was a close personal friend of Washington, 
 and though he cared little for public life, he did not shirk 
 its duties. For seven years he was a member of the House 
 of Burgesses, and for four years a member of the Continen 
 tal Congress. In his own home he was always the charm 
 ing host, the bright and witty companion, the self- forgetting 
 friend. His more brilliant brother, (5) Richard Henry 
 Lee, was so gifted an orator that he was called " the Cicero 
 of America." He was always eager for complete inde 
 pendence, and so it is not to be wondered at that it was this 
 ardent patriot who was the first to propose that " these 
 united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and inde 
 pendent States." This was immediately seconded by that 
 other ardent lover of liberty, John Adams. Jefferson al 
 ludes to Lee as " eloquent, bold, and ever watchful at his 
 post." (6) Chancellor George Wythe was a famous figure 
 in the early history of Virginia. He was born to wealth, 
 he was finely educated, and in time he won high distinction 
 at the bar. But to-day he is recalled as the wise teacher of 
 Thomas Jefferson. Both master and pupil signed the 
 Great Document. 
 
 In thinking of the Declaration, one name always stands 
 out like a great mountain peak, towering above all others 
 -the name of Thomas Jefferson; for it \vas this gifted 
 man who drew up the document, and he did it with such 
 skill that hardly a word of it was changed. As Richard 
 Henry Lee was the first to make a motion suggesting in 
 dependence, it would have been the usual and courteous 
 thing to make him chairman of the committee to draw up 
 
! 
 Benjamin Harrison 
 
 Carter Braxton 
 
 Francis L. Lee 
 
 George Wythe 
 
The Signers of the Declaration 177 
 
 the document. But Lee was suddenly recalled to his Vir 
 ginia home, and so it seemed only fair to assign the delicate 
 task to some other delegate from the same colony. Jefferson 
 was no orator, but he had already earned an enviable repu 
 tation as a writer of important state documents. So to 
 him was assigned the delicate but momentous task. How 
 well he performed we may know from the fact that his 
 four associates could suggest only a very few changes. 
 
 Many of the signers reached high offices in the young 
 republic. Many became governors of the new States, and 
 two were elevated to the Presidency, Jefferson and John 
 Adams. One truly remarkable fact may be recalled in 
 connection with these two, namely, that both men died on 
 the same day; and, what was still more remarkable, they 
 died just fifty years to a day after the united colonies were 
 declared independent, namely, on July 4, 1826. And 
 when they passed away there was but one signer living, the 
 venerable Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who survived 
 Jefferson and Adams for six years, for he lived to be 
 ninety-six years old. 
 
 And who shall describe the actual signing of the Great 
 Document ! We can imagine these fine and courtly gentle 
 men going, one by one, to the broad table which may be 
 seen to-day in Independence Hall. William Ellery, one of 
 the Rhode Island delegates, afterward declared : " I placed 
 myself beside the Secretary and eyed each closely as he 
 affixed his name to the document. Undaunted resolution 
 was displayed in every countenance." It was, indeed, the 
 proudest moment in the lives of these fearless men who, be 
 lieving in the righteousness of their cause, hazarded lives 
 and fortunes in the great name of Liberty. 
 
178 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 THE PORTRAITS OF THE 56 SIGNERS OF THE DECLARA 
 TION OF INDEPENDENCE 
 
 (Arranged in alphabetical order. From the Emmet collection, New 
 
 York City) 
 
 i. John Adams. 2. Samuel Adams. 3. Josiah Bartlett. 4. Carter 
 Braxton. 5. Charles Carroll. 6. Samuel Chase. 7. Abraham Clark. 
 8. George Clymer. 9. William Ellery. 10. William Floyd, u. Benja 
 min Franklin. 12. Elbridge Gerry. 13. Button Gwinnett. 14. Lyman 
 Hall. 15. John Hancock. 16. Benjamin Harrison. 17. John Hart. 
 18. Joseph Hewes. 19. Thomas Heyward, Jr. 20. William Hooper. 
 21. Stephen Hopkins. 22. Francis Hopkinson. 23. Samuel Huntington. 
 24. Thomas Jefferson. 25. Francis Lightfoot Lee. 26. Richard Henry 
 Lee. 27. Francis Lewis. 28. Philip Livingston. 29. Thomas Lynch, 
 Jr. 30. Thomas McKean. 31. Arthur Middleton. 32. Lewis Morris. 
 33. Robert Morris. 34. John Morton. 35. Thomas Nelson. 36. Wil 
 liam Paca. 37. Robert Treat Paine. 38. John Penn. 39. George 
 Read. 40. Csesar Rodney. 41. George Ross. 42. Benjamin Rush. 43. 
 Edward Rutledge. 44. Roger Sherman. 45. James Smith. 46. Rich 
 ard Stockton. 47. Thomas Stone. 48. George Taylor. 49. Matthew 
 Thornton. 50. George Walton. 51. William Whipple. 52. William 
 Williams. 53. James Wilson. 54. John Witherspoon. 55. Oliver Wol- 
 cott. 56. George Wythe. 
 
THE BATTLE OF PRINCETON (1777) 
 FROM THE OFFICIAL REPORT 
 
 BY 
 GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON 
 
 I have the honor to inform you, that, since the date of 
 my last from Trenton, I have removed with the army un 
 der my command to this place. The difficulty of crossing 
 the Delaware, on account of the ice, made our passage over 
 it tedious, and gave the enemy an opportunity of drawing 
 in their several cantonments, and assembling their whole 
 force at Princeton. Their large pickets advanced towards 
 Trenton, their great preparations, and some intelligence I 
 had received, added to their knowledge, that the ist of 
 January brought on a dissolution of the best part of our 
 army, gave me the strongest reasons to conclude, that an 
 attack upon us was meditating. . . . 
 
 On the 2d [of January, 1777], according to my expecta 
 tion, the enemy began to advance upon us; and, after some 
 skirmishing, the head of their column reached Trenton 
 about four o clock, whilst their rear was as far back as 
 Maidenhead. They attempted to pass Sanpink Creek, 
 which runs through Trenton, at different places; but, find 
 ing the forts guarded, they halted, and kindled their fires. 
 We were drawn up on the other side of the creek. In this 
 situation we remained till dark, cannonading the enemy, 
 and receiving the fire of their field-pieces, which did us 
 but little damage. 
 
 179 
 
180 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Having by this time discovered, that the enemy were 
 greatly superior in number, and that their design was to 
 surround us, I ordered all our baggage to be removed 
 silently to Burlington soon after dark ; and at twelve o clock 
 after renewing our fires, and leaving guards at the bridge 
 in Trenton, and other passes on the same stream above, 
 marched by a roundabout road to Princeton, where I knew 
 they could not have much force left, and might have stores. 
 One thing I was certain of, that it would avoid the appear 
 ance of a retreat (which was of consequence, or to run 
 the hazard of the whole army being cut off), whilst we 
 might by a fortunate stroke withdraw General Howe from 
 Trenton, and give some reputation to our arms. Happily 
 \ve succeeded. We found Princeton about sunrise, with 
 only three regiments and three troops of light-horse in it, 
 
 
 Nassau Hall, Princeton University, a famous relic of the Revolution. 
 
 two of which were on their march to Trenton. These 
 three regiments, especially the two first, made a gallant 
 resistance, and, in killed, wounded, and prisoners, must have 
 lost five hundred men; upwards of one hundred of them 
 were left dead on the field ; and, with what I have with me 
 
The Battle of Princeton (1777) 181 
 
 and what were taken in the pursuit and carried across the 
 Delaware, there are near three hundred prisoners, fourteen 
 of whom are officers, all British. . . . 
 
 . . . The militia are taking spirits, and, I am told, are 
 coming in fast from this State [New Jersey] ; but I fear 
 
 % 
 
 House at Rocky Hill, from which Washington, in 1783, issued his 
 " Farewell Orders." 
 
 those from Philadelphia will scarcely submit to the hard 
 ships of a winter campaign much longer, especially as they 
 very unluckily sent their blankets with their baggage to 
 Burlington. I must do them the justice however to add, 
 that they have undergone more fatigue and hardships, 
 than I expected militia, especially citizens, would have done 
 at this inclement season. I am just moving to Morristown, 
 where I shall endeavor to put them under the best cover I 
 can. Hitherto we have been without any; and many of 
 our poor soldiers quite barefoot, and ill clad in other re 
 spects. . . . 
 
182 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 NOTE 
 
 Washington spent nearly three months near Princeton in 
 the autumn of 1783, his residence being at a modest home 
 above the hamlet of Rocky Hill. The house has been res 
 cued from decay, and is piously preserved as a colonial and 
 revolutionary museum. Well it might be. Near the scene 
 of his greatest strategic feat, perhaps while riding about 
 the battle-field itself, he may have conceived the substance 
 of what he embodied in his " Farewell Orders to the Armies 
 of the United States " and dated Rocky Hill, November 2, 
 1783. If so, Princeton saw the double climax of his civil 
 and military greatness. 
 
 Nassau Hall is a historic building indeed. It had been 
 the academy of Witherspoon s boys Madison, Ellsworth, 
 and the rest of them; Richard Stockton, from his near-by 
 home, had haunted it; and Elias Boudinot, too. All these 
 " high sons of liberty " had kindled revolutionary fires on 
 its hearthstone. And then for a season it had been bar 
 racks and cavalry stables, too, until freed again for aca 
 demic use by the last struggle in the battle of Princeton, 
 which was fought in its halls. Congress, fleeing from 
 Philadelphia before the foolish mutineers marching from 
 Lancaster, had now found a hospitable welcome in the col 
 lege chapel under its roof. They had brought Washington 
 thither to deliberate on what is certainly the most solemn 
 question which confronts a nation at the close of a war - 
 namely, the dispersion of its armed force. They welcomed 
 him in due form with the solemnity and dignity befitting 
 such an occasion. The first duly accredited foreign minis 
 ter, the Dutch envoy, was there received, in recognition of 
 independence not merely asserted, but won and acknowl- 
 
The Battle of Princeton (1777) 183 
 
 edged. The General-in-chief was a tired wayfarer on the 
 military road; he longed for the quiet waters and pleasant 
 pastures of Mt. Vernon. The sober advice he gave in his 
 " Farewell Orders " exhibits, above all other papers he 
 ever wrote, the soundness and quality of his civic virtue. 
 It is the compendium of a character which had exhibited a 
 colossal grasp of the problems of peace as well as those of 
 war, and which, in erecting a civil superstructure on the 
 foundations laid in war, was yet to expand the principles 
 of his orders into the broadest statesmanship. 
 
NATHAN HALE 
 BY MARY S. NORTHROP 
 
 In City Hall Park, New York City, stands the bronze 
 statue of a young man, the story of whose brief life thrills 
 all patriotic hearts. 
 
 The statue represents him pinioned, awaiting the gal 
 lows, as he uttered his last words. 
 
 Americans unite in admiration of his noble character, 
 pride in his self-forgetful heroism, and grief over his .un 
 timely death. Every boy and girl in America should know 
 by heart the life of Captain Nathan Hale. It is a story 
 which every son and daughter of the great Republic should 
 enshrine in their memories. 
 
 In the darkest hour of our country s struggle for liberty, 
 this self-devoted hero inspired with fervid patriotism 
 and eager to render service to his country laid down his 
 young life, a sacrifice to the cause of American liberty. 
 
 The days and weeks that followed that memorable Fourth 
 of July in 1776 were dark indeed for the struggling colo 
 nists. 
 
 Determined to crush with one effort the insurrection in 
 her American colonies, Great Britain sent that summer a 
 larger force than any which had before landed upon our 
 shores. 
 
 You know the story of the disastrous battle upon Long 
 Island where the few thousand ill-clothed, undisciplined 
 provincial troops faced a splendidly equipped army, many 
 
 184 
 
Nathan Hale 185 
 
 regiments of which were veterans. The raw American 
 troops, despite their courage and heroism, were no match 
 for the trained and skilled soldiery of Great Britain; and 
 even General Washington, undemonstrative and reserved 
 as he was, is said to have wrung his hands in anguish upon 
 seeing his troops defeated and driven back, he being power 
 less to aid them. 
 
 During the night of August 29, 1776, Washington es 
 caped with the remainder of his little army across the 
 East River. 
 
 The troops were so greatly depressed by their defeat, 
 and were in so alarming a state of gloom and despondency, 
 that men deserted by the score. 
 
 Washington sorely needed information of the strength 
 and probable movements of the powerful enemy. He 
 
 Birthplace of Nathan Hale, Coventry, .Conn. 
 
l86 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 deemed it necessary that some skilled soldier should go, as 
 a spy, within the British lines, and procure for him the 
 knowledge so much desired, that he might be " warned in 
 ample time." 
 
 He wrote to General Heath that " everything depended 
 upon obtaining intelligence of the enemy s motions," and 
 he entreated him and General Clinton to " leave no stone 
 unturned " to secure information. 
 
 The commander-in-chief s desire became generally known 
 among his officers, but so perilous was the service that for 
 a time no one offered to undertake it. 
 
 Captain Nathan Hale, a brilliant young officer belonging 
 to " Knowlton s Rangers," calmly decided it was his duty 
 to undertake the enterprise upon which the fate of the 
 dejected little army seemed to depend. His friends sought 
 him in vain to dissuade him from his purpose. tk I desire 
 to be useful," was his reply; his only thought seemed to be 
 to serve his country. 
 
 His fellow-officer and college friend, Captain William 
 Hull, entreated him as a soldier not to run the risk of his 
 military career by risking the ignominious death of a spy. 
 Hale s reply to his friend s argument was that " every 
 kind of service necessary to the public good becomes honor 
 able by being necessary." 
 
 The young officer presented himself to General Washing 
 ton as a volunteer for the dangerous service, was accepted, 
 received his instructions, and disappeared from camp. 
 
 He passed up the Connecticut shore, disguised himself as 
 a schoolmaster, and landed upon Long Island. He visited 
 all the British camps upon Long Island and in New York, 
 and made drawings of the fortifications, writing his obser- 
 
Nathan Hale 187 
 
 vations in Latin, and hiding them between the soles of his 
 shoes. 
 
 He had been about two weeks within the British lines, 
 had accomplished his purpose, and was waiting upon the 
 shore at Huntington, Long Island, for a boat that was to 
 convey him to Connecticut, when he was captured hav 
 ing been recognized a few hours previous by a Tory refugee. 
 He was taken aboard a British man-of-war, and carried to 
 Sir William Howe s headquarters in New York City. Here 
 he was condemned to be executed at sunrise on the fol 
 lowing morning. 
 
 In what prison or guard-house the noble-souled young 
 patriot spent that last sad night of his life is not known; 
 but of the brutality with which he was treated by the 
 provost marshal, into whose hands he was given over, 
 there is abundant proof. His request for the attendance of 
 a clergyman was refused. Even a Bible was denied him. 
 
 During the preparations for the execution, an English 
 officer obtained permission to offer the prisoner the seclusion 
 of his tent, where writing materials were furnished. 
 
 But the farewell letters he wrote to his mother, to his 
 sweetheart, and to a comrade in the army, were torn to 
 shreds before his eyes by the cruel provost marshal. 
 
 It was early dawn on Sunday morning, September 22, 
 1776, that our young hero was hurried away from the tent 
 of the English officer to the gallows. The spot selected 
 was the orchard of Colonel Henry Rutgers, on East Broad 
 way, not far above what is now Franklin Square. 
 
 A crowd had gathered, many of whom afterward bore 
 witness to the noble bearing of the young hero, and to 
 the barbarity with which he was treated by the provost 
 
l88 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 marshal. This officer said : " The rebels shall never know 
 they have a man who can die with such firmness." 
 
 As Hale was about to ascend the fatal scaffold, he stood 
 for a moment looking upon the detachment of British sol 
 diers, and the words that came from his loyal young heart 
 in that supreme moment will never die: " I only regret that 
 I have but one life to lose for my country." 
 
 The capture of Nathan Hale. 
 
 It is not known in what spot his body was laid, but the 
 bones of the young patriot crumbled to dust in the heart 
 of the great metropolis of the republic he helped to found. 
 
 So long as love of country is cherished, and devotion to 
 the cause of liberty is remembered, so long will the name 
 of Nathan Hale shine with pure and undimmed luster. 
 
 The birthplace of our hero is in the town of Coventry, 
 
Nathan Hale 189 
 
 twenty miles east of Hartford in the State of Connecticut. 
 Upon high ground, commanding a line prospect, stands the 
 large, old-fashioned farm-house where he was horn. He 
 was the sixth of twelve children: nine sons and three 
 daughters. So delicate was he as an infant, it was feared 
 he would not live; but when he became a lad, exercise in 
 outdoor sports, of which he was very fond, gave strength 
 and vigor to his body. 
 
 As a boy he \vas famous for his athletic feats. It is said 
 he excelled all his fellows in running, leaping, wrestling, 
 playing ball, and shooting at a mark. When a student at 
 Yale College he made a prodigious leap which was marked 
 upon the Green in New Haven, and often pointed out long 
 afterward. Colonel Green of New London, who knew him 
 later when he was a schoolmaster in that town, speaking of 
 Hale s agility, says : " He would put his hand on a fence 
 as high as his head and clear it at a single bound ; he would 
 jump from the bottom of one empty hogshead over and 
 down into a second, and from the bottom of the second 
 over and down into a third, and from the third over and 
 out like a cat." 
 
 He " loved the gun and fishing-rod, and exhibited great 
 ingenuity in fashioning juvenile implements of every sort." 
 He used jokingly to boast to his sisters over their spinning- 
 wheels, that he "could do anything but spin!" His 
 bright mind was quick to apply what he learned. 
 
 In those days high schools were unknown, and classical 
 academies were confined to the large towns; so boys of 
 the smaller towns who sought for a liberal education were 
 prepared for college by the ministers, many of whom were 
 accomplished scholars. 
 
 Doctor Joseph Huntington, the minister of the parish in 
 
190 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 which young Hale was born, " was considered in the 
 churches a pattern of learning," and from him Nathan Hale 
 and two brothers received their preparation for college 
 being intended by their father for the ministry. Enoch at 
 sixteen years of age, and Nathan at fourteen, entered Yale 
 College together, and were graduated in 1773. 
 
 Doctor Eneas Munson of New Haven, says of Nathan 
 Hale at this time : " He was almost six feet in height, per 
 fectly proportioned, and in figure and deportment he was 
 the most manly man I have ever met. His chest was broad ; 
 his muscles firm; his face wore a most benign expression; 
 his complexion was roseate; his eyes were light blue, and 
 beamed with intelligence; his hair was soft and light brown 
 in color ; and his speech was rather low, sweet, and musical. 
 His personal beauty and grace of manner were most charm- 
 ing. . . ." 
 
 At his graduation, he took part in a Latin dispute fol 
 lowed by a debate upon the question, " Whether the edu 
 cation of daughters be not, without any just reason, more 
 neglected than that of the sons." 
 
 A classmate wrote of this debate : " Hale was triumphant. 
 He was the champion of the daughters, and most nobly 
 advocated their cause." 
 
 The year after his graduation from college, he taught 
 school in the town of East Haddam. 
 
 When the news of the fight at Lexington rang through 
 the colonies, Nathan Hale was master of the Union Gram 
 mar School in New London. A town meeting was at 
 once called, at which the young schoolmaster made a stir 
 ring speech. " Let us march immediately," said he, " and 
 never lay down our arms until we have obtained our inde 
 pendence." 
 
Nathan Hale 
 
 191 
 
 The young teacher gathered his school-boys together, 
 and, after giving them wise counsel, bade them an affec 
 tionate good-by, and hurried away with the other recruits to 
 Boston. 
 
 He was soon made lieutenant in a company belonging 
 
 r; 
 
 The execution of the young patriot. 
 
 to a regiment commanded by Colonel Webb, and the next 
 year he was put in command of a company of a famous 
 corps Knowlton s Rangers, known as " Congress s Own." 
 One of the last letters written by Captain Hale before 
 starting upon his perilous mission was to his brother Enoch. 
 These brothers were very deeply attached to each other, and 
 the grief of the young minister Enoch for his brother s 
 tragic fate was most profound. It will bring the young 
 
192 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 hero nearer to children of to-day, that Enoch s son, Nathan, 
 was the father of the distinguished author of our time, 
 Edward Everett Hale, and of Lucretia P. Hale, especially 
 well known to many young people as the author of the 
 " Peterkin Papers." 
 
 When Captain Hale departed on his fatal errand, he left 
 his uniform and camp accoutrements in the care of Asher 
 Wright, a townsman who acted in the capacity of a servant 
 to the young officer. Some years after his discharge from 
 the service, Asher Wright returned to his old home in 
 Conventry, bearing the precious relics: the camp basket, 
 the camp book, and the tenderly-cared- for uniform of the 
 young officer. He lived to extreme old age, but to his 
 latest day he could not speak without tears of his young 
 master. His grave is in .the burial-ground at South Coven 
 try, within a few feet of those of the Hale family, and 
 near the granite monument erected in 1846 to the memory 
 of the " Martyr Spy " of the American Revolution. 
 
 President Timothy D wight of Yale College, grandfather 
 of the present President of the University, was Nathan 
 Hale s college tutor. He commemorated Hale s career in a 
 poem, highly praising the character and qualities of his 
 former student. 
 
 Four years after the execution of Captain Hale, Major 
 Andre was captured within the American lines ; it was Major 
 Benjamin Tallmadge, a college classmate and dear friend 
 of Nathan Hale s, who conducted Andre to Washington s 
 headquarters ; and on the way thither Andre talked of 
 Hale and his fate. 
 
 La Fayette, in his memoirs, speaking of these two young 
 officers, says: 
 
Nathan Hale 193 
 
 " Captain Hale of Connecticut, a distinguished young man, 
 beloved by his family and friends, had been taken on Long Island 
 under circumstances of the same kind as those that occasioned the 
 death of Major Andre; but instead of being treated with the like 
 respect, to which Major Andre himself bore testimony, Captain 
 Hale was insulted to the last moment of his life.. This is a fine 
 death for a soldier ! said one of the English officers who were 
 surrounding the cart of execution. Sir/ replied Hale, lifting up 
 his cap, there is no death which would not be rendered noble 
 in such a glorious cause ! 
 
 A fine bronze monument to the memory of Nathan Hale 
 is in the vestibule of the State Capitol, Hartford, Connecti 
 cut. It was erected in 1887, a large sum of money being 
 voted toward its cost by the State of Connecticut. It 
 bears the inscription : 
 
 CAPTAIN NATHAN HALE 
 
 1776 
 BORN AT COVENTRY 
 
 June 6, 1755 
 
 BURIED AT NEW YORK. 
 Sept. 22, 1776 
 
 " I ONLY REGRET THAT I HAVE BUT ONE LIFE 
 TO LOSE FOR MY COUNTRY." 
 
 But it is most fitting that the latest monument to his 
 memory should stand in the city of New York near the 
 
 spot where he suffered death for his country. 
 13 
 
LA FAYETTE 
 BY MRS. EUGENIA M. HODGE 
 
 One hundred and twenty-eight years ago, in the month 
 of February, 1777, a young French guardsman ran away 
 to sea. 
 
 And a most singular running away it was. He did not 
 wish to be a sailor, but he was so anxious to go that he 
 bought a ship to run away in, for he was a very wealthy 
 young man; and though he was only nineteen, he held a 
 commission as major-general in the armies of a land three 
 thousand miles away a land he had never seen and the 
 language of which he could not speak. The King of 
 France commanded him to remain at home; his friends and 
 relatives tried to restrain him ; and even the representatives, 
 or agents, of the country in defense of which he desired to 
 fight would not encourage his purpose. And when the 
 young man, while dining at the house of the British Am 
 bassador to France, openly avowed his sympathy with a 
 downtrodden people, and his determination to help them 
 gain their freedom, the Ambassador acted quickly. At his 
 request, the rash young enthusiast was arrested by the 
 French Government, and orders were given to seize his 
 ship, which was awaiting him at Bordeaux. But ship and 
 owner both slipped away, and sailing from the port of 
 Pasajes in Spain, the runaway, with eleven chosen com 
 panions, was soon on the sea, bound for America, and be 
 yond the reach of both friends and foes. 
 
 194 
 
La Fayette 
 
 195 
 
 On April 25, 1777, he landed at the little port of George 
 town, at the mouth of the Great Pee Dee River in South 
 Carolina; and from that day forward the career of Marie 
 Jean Paul Roch Yves Gilbert 
 Motier, Marquis de La Fay 
 ette, has held a place in the 
 history of America, and in 
 the interest and affection of 
 the American people. 
 
 When he first arrived in 
 the land for which he desired 
 to fight, however, he found 
 hut a cool reception. The 
 Congress of the United States 
 was poor, and so many good 
 and brave American officers 
 who had proved their worth 
 were desirous of commissions 
 as major-generals, that the 
 commission promised to this 
 young Frenchman could not 
 easily be put in force so far 
 as an actual command and a 
 salary were concerned. 
 
 But the young general had come across the sea, for a 
 purpose, and money and position were not parts of that 
 purpose. He expressed his desire to serve in the American 
 army upon two very singular conditions, namely; that he 
 should receive no pay, and that he should act as a volunteer. 
 The Congress was so impressed with the enthusiasm and 
 self-sacrifice of the young Frenchman that, on July 31, 
 1777, it passed a resolution directing that " his services be 
 
 Statue of La Fayette, by A. Bar- 
 tholdi, Union Square, New 
 York City. 
 
196 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 accepted and that, in consideration of his zeal, illustrious 
 family and connections, he have the rank and commission 
 of a Major-General of the United States." 
 
 George Washington was greatly attracted by the energy 
 and earnestness of the young nobleman. He took him into 
 what was called his " military family," assigned him to 
 special and honorable duty; and when the young volunteer 
 was wounded at the battle of Brandyw 7 ine, the Commander- 
 in-Chief praised his " bravery and military ardor " so highly 
 that the Congress gave La Fayette the command of a divi 
 sion. Thus, before he was twenty, he \vas actually a gen 
 eral, and already, as one historian says, he had " justified 
 the boyish rashness which his friends deplored and his 
 sovereign resented, and had acquired a place in history." 
 
 Notwithstanding General Washington s assertion to 
 Congress that La Fayette had made " great proficiency in 
 our language," the young marquis s pronunciation of Eng 
 lish was far from perfect. French, Spanish, and Italian 
 were all familiar to him, but his English was not readily 
 understood by the men he was called upon to command. 
 It was therefore necessary to find as his aide-de-camp one 
 who could quickly interpret the orders of his command 
 ing officer. 
 
 Such an aid was at last found in the person of a certain 
 young Connecticut adjutant on the regimental staff of 
 dashing Brigadier-General Wayne, " Mad Anthony " 
 Wayne, the hero of Stony Point. 
 
 This young adjutant was of almost the same age as La 
 Fayette; he had received, what was rare enough in those 
 days, an excellent college education, and he was said to be 
 the only man in the American army who could speak 
 French and English equally well. 
 
La Fayette 197 
 
 These young men, General La Fayette and his aid, grew 
 very fond of each other during an intimate acquaintance of 
 nearly seven years. The French marquis, with that over 
 flow of spirits and outward demonstration so noticeable in 
 most Frenchmen, freely showed his affection for the more 
 reserved American often throwing his arms around his 
 neck, kissing him upon the cheek and calling him " My 
 brave, my good, my virtuous, my adopted brother ! " 
 
 After the battle of Monmouth, which occurred on June 
 28, 1778, and in which La Fayette s command was engaged 
 against the British forces, who were routed, the marquis 
 was enthusiastic in praise of the gallant conduct of his 
 friend and aid. Not content with this, he sent to him some 
 years after, when the aid-de-camp, then a colonel in rank, 
 was elected to political honors, the following acrostic, as a 
 souvenir, expressive of the esteem and remembrance of his 
 former commander. The initial letters of each line of the 
 poem will spell out for you the name of this soldier friend 
 of La Fayette. And here is an exact copy of the acrostic 
 and of the postscript that accompanied it : 
 
 Sage of the East ! where wisdom rears her head, 
 Augustus, taught in virtue s path to tread, 
 Mid thousands of his race, elected stands 
 Unanimous to legislative bands ; 
 Endowed with every art to frame just laws, 
 Learns to hate vice, to virtue gives applause. 
 
 Augustus, oh, thy name that s ever dear 
 Unrivaled stands to crown each passing year ! 
 Great are the virtues that exalt thy mind. 
 Unenvied merit marks thy worth refined. 
 Sincerely rigid for your country s right, 
 To save her Liberty you deigned to fight; 
 
198 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Undaunted courage graced your manly brow, 
 Secured such honors as the gods endow. 
 
 Bright is the page; the record of thy days 
 Attracts my muse thus to rehearse thy praise. 
 Rejoice then, patriots, statesmen, all rejoice ! 
 Kindle his praises with one general voice ! 
 Emblazon out his deeds, his virtues prize, 
 Reiterate his praises to the skies! 
 
 M. D. LA FAYETTE. 
 
 P.S. The Colonel will readily apologize for the inaccuracies 
 of an unskillful muse, and be convinced the high estimation of his 
 amiable character could alone actuate the author of the foregoing. 
 
 M. D. LA FAYETTE. 
 
 So the name of the young general s friend and aide-de 
 camp was Samuel Augustus Barker. 
 
 Years passed. The Revolution was over. America was 
 free. The French Revolution, with all its horrors and suc 
 cesses, had made France a republic. Napoleon had risen, 
 conquered, ruled, fallen, and died, and the first quarter of 
 the nineteenth century was nearly completed, when, in 
 August, 1824, an old French gentleman who had been an 
 active participant in several of these historic scenes arrived 
 in New York. It was General the Marquis de La Fayette, 
 now a veteran of nearly seventy, returning to America as 
 the honored guest of the growing and prosperous republic 
 he had helped to found. 
 
 His journey through the land was like a triumph. Flow 
 ers and decorations brightened his path, cheering people 
 and booming cannon welcomed his approach. And in one 
 of those welcomings, in a little village in central New 
 York, a cannon, which was heavily loaded for a salute in 
 
La Fayette 199 
 
 honor of the nation s guest, exploded, and killed a plucky 
 young fellow who had volunteered to " touch of! " the 
 overcharged gun when no one else dared. Some months 
 after, the old marquis chanced to hear of the tragedy, and 
 at once his sympathies were aroused for the widowed 
 mother of the young man. 
 
 He at once wrote to the son of the man who had been 
 his comrade in arms in the Revolutionary days half a cen 
 tury before, asking full information concerning the fatal 
 accident, and the needs of the mother of the poor young 
 man who was killed ; and having thus learned all the facts, 
 sent the sum of one thousand dollars to relieve the mother s 
 necessities and to pay off the mortgage on her little home. 
 
 I have before me, as I write, the original letter written 
 by the General to the son of his old friend, the paper 
 marked and yellow with the creases of many years; and 
 as I read it again, I feel that of all the incidents of the 
 singularly eventful life of La Fayette there are none that 
 show his noble nature more fully than those I have noted 
 here: his enthusiastic services in behalf of an oppressed 
 people, his close and devoted affection for his friend and 
 comrade, and the impulsive generosity of a heart that was 
 at once manly, tender, and true. 
 
 And as I \vrite, I am grateful that I can claim a certain 
 association with that honored name of La Fayette; for the 
 young adjutant to whom the acrostic was addressed and the 
 friend through whom the gift to the widow was communi 
 cated were respectively my grandfather and my father. 
 
 It is at least pleasant to know that one s ancestors were 
 the intimate friends of so noble a man, of whom one 
 biographer has recently said : " He was brave even to rash 
 ness, his life was one of constant peril, and yet he never 
 
2OO The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 shrank from any danger or responsibility if he saw the 
 way open to spare life or suffering, to protect the defense 
 less, to sustain law and preserve order." 
 
 At the southern extremity of Union Square, in the city 
 of New York, there is a bronze statue of La Fayette. It 
 represents him in graceful pose and with earnest face and 
 gesture, " making offer of his sword to the country he ad 
 mired the country that sorely needed his aid. The left 
 hand is extended as if in greeting and friendly self-sur 
 render, and the right 
 hand, which holds 
 the sword, is pressed 
 against the breast, 
 as if implying that 
 his whole heart goes 
 with his sword." 
 La Fayette s words, 
 " As soon as I heard 
 of American inde 
 pendence, my heart 
 was enlisted," are 
 inscribed upon the 
 pedestal of the 
 statue ; and a short 
 distance from it, in 
 the plaza adjoining 
 the square, is an 
 equestrian statue of 
 Washington. It is 
 fitting that the bronze image of those two great men should 
 thus be placed together, as the names of Washington and 
 La Fayette are coupled in the affections of the people. 
 
 The statue of La Fayette given to the 
 French people by American school-chil 
 dren, courtyard of the Louvre, Paris, 
 France. 
 
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 
 
 Being an account of our first envoy to the Court 
 of France, 1776-1785 
 
 BY H. A. OGDEN 
 
 When Dr. Benjamin Franklin stood before the monarch 
 of France in 1778, it must have seemed to him the exact 
 fulfilment of a prophecy; for it is said that, when a poor 
 little boy, his father used to repeat to him Solomon s prov 
 erb : " Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? he shall 
 stand before kings." 
 
 Of course, like most remarkable events that happen in 
 this world, it seemed to come about very naturally. After 
 the signing of the Declaration of Independence, that first 
 great step toward making us a free people, Congress de 
 cided to send a special envoy to the French court, in order 
 to enlist their aid in our struggle for freedom. 
 
 Their choice fell on their ablest and most patriotic mem 
 ber upon him who had been one of the originators of 
 the Declaration, and who, on signing his name, made the 
 witty remark : " Now, gentlemen, we must hang together, if 
 we would not hang separately." 
 
 On October 26, 1776, with his two grandsons, William 
 Temple Franklin, a youth of seventeen, and little Benjamin 
 Franklin Bache, his daughter s boy, of seven, the old 
 Doctor set sail in the sloop-of-war Reprisal, one of the 
 swiftest craft of our infant navy. 
 
 201 
 
202 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 He was then over seventy years of age, and his fame as 
 a printer, editor, inventor, philosopher, and statesman ( for 
 the old gentleman was a many-sided genius) was well es 
 tablished. The learned societies of the civilized globe were 
 proud to enroll his name among their members ; the French 
 people, from the nobles down to the servants, all were 
 familiar with his quaint and witty sayings, as translated 
 from " Poor Richard s Almanac," as well as with his love 
 of liberty and his broad sympathy with his fellow-men. 
 Silas Deane, the agent of the American Congress, then 
 living in Paris, afterward said, " Here is the hero, philoso 
 pher, and patriot who, at the age of seventy-four, risks all 
 dangers for his country." 
 
 To show that the enemy fully realized his power as an 
 advocate for the cause of independence, the Marquis of 
 Rockingham, one of King George the Third s advisers, re 
 marked that he considered " the presence of Dr. Franklin 
 at the French court more than a balance for the few ad 
 ditional acres which the English had gained by the con 
 quest of Manhattan Island." This was said not long after 
 the battle of Brooklyn, whereby General Howe had se 
 cured possession of New York. 
 
 Shortly after his arrival in Paris, the Doctor was in 
 vited to make his home at Passy, then one of the little 
 towns outside of the city, although now it is inside of the 
 fortifications. Here, on a hill overlooking the river Seine 
 as it flows past villages, chateaux, and palaces, stood the 
 Mansion Valentinois, the owner of which insisted on 
 Franklin s sharing his apartments with him without cost, 
 saying, "If your country is successful in the war, and your 
 Congress will grant me a small piece of land, perhaps I may 
 take that as payment." Wherever the Doctor went, crowds 
 
Benjamin Franklin 203 
 
 followed him ; he was cheered in the streets or at the opera ; 
 his sayings were quoted; and engravings, miniatures, 
 medals, snuff-box lids, and souvenirs were made to bear his 
 kindly features. He wrote home to little Benjamin s 
 mother that they had " made her father s face " - by which, 
 of course, he meant his own " as well known as that of 
 the moon." 
 
 He always dressed plainly; and his hair, which was 
 gray and quite thin, was not concealed by a wig, though 
 he often wore a fur cap, pulled down nearly to his spectacle- 
 rims. 
 
 Ignorant people whispered that he was a wizard, en 
 gaged in separating the colonies from England by means of 
 his magic spells. All showed their admiration of his at 
 tainments; but amid all of the compliments paid him and 
 the extravagant attentions he received, he remained the 
 simple-minded, plain republican, ever keeping in mind his 
 country s trials and her need. 
 
 The court of France, while friendly and willing to aid us 
 as it could, \vas not as yet ready to acknowledge our inde 
 pendence, and by so doing to provoke a conflict with Great 
 Britain. The war, thus far, had gone against us; news of 
 the one bright ray in the gloom Washington s victory at 
 Trenton had taken five months to reach France, so diffi 
 cult was it to escape from the British cruisers watching our 
 coasts. 
 
 Some muskets and a private loan of $400,000 were se 
 cured, and single volunteers were plenty. To fight for 
 America became with the young French nobles what now 
 adays we should call a " fad." Franklin was besieged by 
 requests to be officers in our army, or for letters of recom 
 mendation to Congress, and he was at his wits end to re- 
 
204 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 fuse with kindness, so that he should not make promises of 
 rank that he could not fulfil. 
 
 During this winter of darkness for freedom s cause, 
 Franklin must play his part in the gay world of Paris. 
 
 
 ?. 
 
 Franklin and his young relatives in the streets of Paris. 
 
 To make friends for our country was his constant aim ; her 
 enemies he defied, and everywhere he expressed his cer 
 tainty of the final triumph of America in the struggle. 
 
 We have all heard of the phrase, " These are the times 
 that try men s souls." These words were used at just this 
 time by Thomas Paine, who wrote a series of articles on the 
 
Benjamin Franklin 205* 
 
 American war. For, while it was dark indeed on our side 
 of the ocean, it seemed also as if no nation abroad would 
 help us. Franklin sent his associates, Lee and Deane, to 
 the courts of Spain and Prussia for aid, but neither was 
 disposed to take the first step. 
 
 Diplomacy among nations is often a tedious and selfish 
 proceeding. Meanwhile the Doctor did what he could to 
 ward arming ships and making easier the lot of prisoners 
 of war -abroad. As to the ships, he was somewhat success 
 ful, and was gratified by his success; for he was eager to 
 give England some of the treatment the colonies had re 
 ceived from her men-of-war. 
 
 All of these matters kept the envoy very busy so 
 much so, that his grandson Temple was obliged to act as 
 his secretary, and the idea of his going to a university was 
 given up. At last came the sunshine through the clouds, 
 for the wise Providence that guides the affairs of nations 
 as well as of men brought about the surrender of Burgoyne 
 and his army in October, 1/77, after the battle of Saratoga. 
 
 The news was despatched with all haste to our represen 
 tatives abroad. Massachusetts sent the glad tidings by 
 special messenger, a young Mr. Austin. Before his depar 
 ture, a prayer was offered from the pulpit of a church in 
 Boston the minister, it is said, being so absorbed in pray 
 ing especially that the despatches might be delivered that he 
 made no mention of the messenger! 
 
 In a little over a month, however, both messenger and 
 packet arrived in Paris, and the scene when he drove into 
 the courtyard of the Hotel Valentinois was a memorable 
 one. 
 
 Our representatives had received word of his landing, 
 but knew nothing of the nature of his news. As the chaise 
 
206 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 dashed up to the group around the door, and the messenger 
 alighted, Dr. Franklin grasped his hand, exclaiming : 
 
 " Sir, is Philadelphia taken?" 
 
 " Yes, sir/ was Austin s reply. 
 
 Then the old statesman wrung his hands in disappoint 
 ment and had begun to return in sadness to the house when 
 the messenger cried : 
 
 " But, sir, I have greater news than that! General Btir- 
 goyne and his whole army are prisoners of war! " 
 
 Temple carried the news to the French prime minister, the 
 Comte de Vergennes, and a few days later a private inter 
 view took place at Versailles. 
 
 About a year from the landing of Franklin on the coast 
 of France, his errand to that nation was accomplished. She 
 became the ally of the American colonies, and thus was the 
 first to welcome the United States into the circle of nations. 
 
 A main condition of the treaty was that we should not 
 make peace with Great Britain unless our independence was 
 recognized a condition to which our representatives 
 gladly agreed. 
 
 Our new ally s first act was to send a frigate carrying M. 
 Gerard, a special envoy to Congress, with tidings of the 
 treaty. He was received with great honor, and joy filled 
 all patriot hearts. On February 6, 1778, the treaty was 
 officially signed by Benjamin Franklin, Silas Deane, and 
 Arthur Lee, on the part of the United States. The signing 
 was followed by the important ceremony of being received 
 by the King in person. As no one in those days ever 
 thought of being presented to a monarch of France with his 
 head uncovered by a wig, Dr. Franklin ordered one for the 
 occasion. The hair-dresser, or perruquier, as he was called, 
 brought the all-important article, and proceeded to try it on ; 
 
Benjamin Franklin 207 
 
 but try as he would, he could n t force it down over Frank 
 lin s head. After several trials, the Doctor said: 
 
 " Perhaps it is too small ! " Dashing the wig to the floor 
 in a rage, the perruquier cried, " It is impossible, monsieur ! 
 No, monsieur! it is not that the wig is too small; it is that 
 your head is too large ! " 
 
 As there was no time to remedy the misfit, the Doctor 
 (Jecided to go before the King without a wig. Therefore 
 it was without a wig, or even a sword, considered an in 
 dispensable article of a gentleman s dress in those days, 
 but in a plain black velvet suit, with ruffles at the neck and 
 wrists, white silk stockings, and silver-buckled shoes, that 
 our great republican drove to the palace of Versailles. On 
 the morning of the 2Oth of March, 1778, accompanied by 
 his fellow-envoys Dr. Franklin was ushered into the pres 
 ence of his majesty King Louis XVI of France. After the 
 formal introduction, the monarch expressed himself as well 
 disposed toward his new ally, and gracefully complimented 
 the tact that Franklin had displayed during his sojourn in 
 the capital and among the French people. 
 
 In the evening, during the games that the court were en 
 gaged in, the Queen, Marie Antoinette, conversed with 
 Franklin in her own charming and gracious manner. His 
 wit, fascinating conversation, and sound common sense at 
 tracted the admiration of the gay and frivolous court, and 
 he was lionized by all. 
 
 At a brilliant fete given in his honor, he was crowned 
 w r ith laurel by one of three hundred young ladies. The old 
 statesman accepted all these attentions modestly, considering 
 them as offered, through him, to his native land. 
 
 During the rest of his visit to France, Franklin s life was 
 filled with solicitude for his native land; but now, bv the 
 
208 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 authority of the French king, armies and fleets were sent, 
 by the help of which we were finally able to capture Corn- 
 wallis and secure our independence. 
 
 At length, weary and ill, Franklin asked for his recall; 
 he had signed the treaty of peace with England, thus crown 
 ing his mission with success. So in March, 1785, after 
 nearly nine years residence abroad, Congress was pleased to 
 declare that " the Honorable Benjamin Franklin, Esquire, 
 was permitted to return to America." 
 
PAUL JONES 
 BY MOLLY ELLIOT SEAWELL 
 
 " Traitor, if you will, was Monsieur John Paul Jones, aft 
 erward Knight of His Most Christian Majesty s Order of 
 Merit but a braver traitor never wore sword." 
 
 Such were almost the last words traced by the hand of 
 Thackeray, and they show the astonishing misconception of 
 Paul Jones which prevailed in the mind of one of the justest 
 men that ever lived. Washington was a hero even to his 
 enemies ; yet Washington had actually held a commission in 
 the British army, while Paul Jones could say proudly to 
 the American Congress at the close of the war: "I have 
 never borne arms under any but the American flag, nor 
 have I ever borne or acted under any commission but that 
 of the Congress of America." This singular distinction 
 against Paul Jones extended to tne whole of the feeble naval 
 force of the colonies. Soldiers were treated from the be 
 ginning as prisoners of war, while until Paul Jones forced 
 an exchange of prisoners upon equal terms, American sailors 
 were formally declared to be " traitors, pirates and felons." 
 
 Let this " traitor, pirate and felon " enumerate his services 
 in his own words : 
 
 In 1775 J. Paul Jones armed and embarked in the first American 
 ship of war. In the Revolution he had twenty-three battles and 
 solemn rencountres by sea ; made seven descents in Britain and 
 her Colonies ; took of her navy two ships of equal and two of 
 far superior force, many store ships and others; constrained her 
 14 209 
 
21O The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 to fortify her ports; suffer the Irish volunteers; desist from her 
 cruel burnings in America, and exchange as prisoners of war, the 
 American citizens taken on the ocean, and cast into prisons in 
 England as traitors, pirates and felons ! 
 
 In his perilous situation in Holland his conduct drew the Dutch 
 into the war, and eventually abridged the Revolution. Congress 
 bestowed on him the following honors: The thanks of the United 
 States, April 14, 1781 ; election as first officer of the navy, June 
 26, 1781 ; a gold medal October 16, 1787. This last favor was 
 granted to only six officers: ist, General Washington, the com- 
 mander-in-chief, for the taking of Boston. 2nd, General Gates, 
 for taking the army of Burgoyne. 3rd, General Wayne, for tak 
 ing Rocky Point, of which the garrison was much stronger than 
 the assailants. 4th, General Morgan, for having cut down and 
 destroyed eleven hundred officers and soldiers of the best troops 
 of England, with nine hundred men, solely militia. 5th, Gen 
 eral Green, for having gained a decisive victory over the enemy 
 at Eutaw Springs. 
 
 But all these medals, although well merited, were given in mo 
 ments of enthusiasm. He had the satisfaction solely to receive 
 the same honor, by the unanimous voice of the United States 
 assembled in Congress, the i6th of October, 1787, in memory of 
 services which he had rendered eight years before. 
 
 Besides Thackeray in England, Cooper in America and 
 Halevy and Dumas in France have taken Paul Jones as a 
 hero of splendid romance. He \vas a true as well as a ro 
 mantic hero, however. If Washington, Franklin, Jefferson, 
 La Fayette, Adams, and Morris are to be believed, he was a 
 man of lofty character and true patriotism. 
 
 The two war-ships taken by Paul Jones were scarcely 
 felt by mighty England, with her six hundred fighting ships. 
 But the wound to the honor of the greatest and proudest of 
 nations was deeply felt, and was earnestly sought to be 
 avenged. In a feeble ship he twice cruised up and down 
 the narrow seas of the greatest naval power on earth, rais- 
 
Paul Jones 
 
 211 
 
 ing her coasts as had not been done since the days of the 
 Spanish Armada, threatening her northern capital, landing 
 whenever and wherever he liked, burning her shipping, and 
 capturing the only two war-ships that came within hail of 
 him ships manned by the hardy sailors of the Mistress of 
 the Seas. Until then England had made good her proud 
 boast : 
 
 And not a sail but by permission spreads. 
 
 flag 
 
 this boast was no 
 
 After Paul Jones hoisted his 
 longer good. 
 
 In his twenty-seventh year a great and fortunate change 
 occurred to him. His brother William, who had emigrated 
 to Virginia and died there, left him an estate. There is no 
 doubt that Paul Jones was often afterward in want of 
 
 The Bonhommc Richard and the Serapis. 
 
212 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 ready money; but it must be remembered that everybody 
 was in want of ready money in the eighteenth century. 
 
 Certain it is, from his papers 
 preserved at Washington, that 
 he might be considered at the 
 beginning of the war a man of 
 independent fortune. 
 
 On December 22, 1775, was 
 made the beginning of the 
 American navy; and from this 
 point the true history of Paul 
 Jones begins. He was then 
 twenty-eight years old, of the 
 middle height, his figure slight, 
 but graceful, and of " a dash 
 ing and officer-like appear- 
 jance." His complexion was dark and weather-beaten; 
 his black eyes very expressive, but melancholy. 
 
 His first duty was as first lieutenant of the Alfred, Com 
 modore Hopkins s flag-ship. On this vessel he hoisted for 
 the first time the original flag of the Revolution the rat 
 tlesnake flag. In a letter to Robert Morris in 1783, Paul 
 Jones says : 
 
 It was my fortune, as the Senior of the First Lieutenants, to 
 hoist, myself, the Flag of America (I Choose to do it with my 
 own Hands) the first time it was displayed. Though this was 
 but a light circumstance, yet, I feel for it s Honor more than I 
 think I should have felt had it not so happened. 
 
 There was great confusion in the tables of rank first 
 adopted in the navy, and thence proceeded a grievance that 
 Paul Jones never ceased to protest against bitterly, until in 
 1781, many years afterward, he became, by the unanimous 
 
Paul Jones 213 
 
 election of Congress, the ranking officer of the American 
 navy. 
 
 As Paul Jones had been the first to raise the original flag 
 of the Revolution, so he was the first to raise the Stars 
 and Stripes over a ship of war the Ranger. This 
 occurred at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in the autumn 
 of 1777. 
 
 On November 14 he sailed for France, being recom 
 mended to the American commissioners at Paris by the 
 Marine Committee as " an active and brave commander in 
 our service." 
 
 From the beginning of his acquaintance with Franklin a 
 mutual respect and a deep affection sprung up between them. 
 The wise Franklin saw at a glance what manner of man 
 Paul Jones was, and in one noble sentence described him 
 better than many volumes could : " For Captain Paul Jones 
 ever loved close fighting." 
 
 Paul Jones foresaw the use of torpedoes, and experi 
 mented boldly with very primitive ones. He understood as 
 fully as a great contemporary writer the " influence of sea 
 power upon history," and wrote, a century and a quarter 
 ago : " In time of Peace, it is necessary to prepare, and 
 to be always prepared for War by Sea." He advocated the 
 establishment of a naval academy, and a supplementary 
 course for officers closely resembling the Naval War Col 
 lege, and advocated the constant study and practice of fleet 
 evolutions. This was in the days when Britannia ruled the 
 waves with a vengeance, but without " tactic." In his ad 
 miration for this fascinating part of his profession, Paul 
 Jones certainly underrated the British; but when he came 
 to fight them, he showed them, in his preparations, every 
 mark of respect. 
 
214 lh e Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 There exists, in his own handwriting, a complete list 
 of every ship of every kind in the British navy, when built, 
 where built, and by whom built, with the names, rates, 
 dimensions, men, guns, and draft of water; also the num 
 ber of boats of every kind attached to them. It is sup 
 posed he had secret correspondence with some person high 
 in the British admiralty to have secured this. 
 
 Paul Jones spent some weary months at Brest in a vain 
 effort to get a better ship than the Ranger. He improved 
 her very much, for his practical knowledge of ships was 
 great; but still, as he wrote Franklin, " the Ranger is crank, 
 sails slow and is of trifling force." Nothing better was 
 to be had for him, and many years after he wrote: " Will 
 posterity believe that the Sloop of war Ranger was the best 
 I was ever enabled by my country to bring into active 
 service? " 
 
 Having determined to traverse the British seas in his lit 
 tle vessel, while d Orvilliers, with his huge fleet, stayed at 
 home and evolved tactics, Paul Jones was offered a cap 
 tain s commission in the French navy, the alliance between 
 France and the United States being then consummated. 
 This he promptly declined; and on an April evening he 
 picked up his anchor and steered straight for the Irish Sea. 
 He had lost many of his crew by desertions, and the ship 
 was worse manned and no better officered than when he 
 left America. 
 
 Then began a long series of promises and disappointments 
 about ships and prize-money. The last was of great conse 
 quence, as without it it was almost impossible to get a 
 crew. The French court made much of Paul Jones, and 
 the Due de Chartres, the Prince of Nassau, and others 
 with high-sounding names, were eager to enlist with him, 
 
Paul Jones 215 
 
 especially La Fayette, who became very intimate with him. 
 But no ship was forthcoming. Franklin had the good will, 
 but no money. Paul Jones wrote letters to everybody in 
 power at Paris, even the king himself, begging for any 
 sort of a ship. At last it is said taking Franklin s ad 
 vice in " Poor Richard s Almanac " : "If you would have 
 your business done, go. If not, send " -he went to Paris, 
 and the result was that he was put in command of the most 1 
 extraordinary squadron ever seen, under the most extra 
 ordinary circumstances ever known. His flag-ship, which 
 he named the Bon Homme Richard out of compliment to 
 Franklin, was an old Indiaman so much decayed that it 
 was impossible to make any alterations in her. She was 
 mounted with forty guns, mostly old and defective, and had 
 a motley crew of all the nations on the earth, many of them 
 raw peasants, and about thirty Americans whom Paul Jones 
 utilized as petty officers. 
 
 Many persons had difficulty in persuading themselves 
 that the mysterious vessel which was seen cruising about 
 was really the American ship. A member of Parliament 
 who lived on the Scotch coast sent out to the Bon Hominc 
 Richard supposing it to be a British cruiser, for British 
 colors were usually worn asking for some powder and 
 shot to defend himself against an attack by Paul Jones. A 
 barrel of powder was sent him, with a civil message re 
 gretting that the supposed British cruiser had no suitable 
 shot ! Another day a pilot was enticed on board, and per 
 suaded to give the private signals. Meanw r hile the time for 
 the cruise to be up was fast approaching, and it may be well 
 imagined that Paul Jones suffered anguish at the idea of 
 returning to France without having exchanged a shot with 
 the enemy. Such, however, was not to be his fate. At 
 
216 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 noon on September 23, 1779, he sighted the first ship of the 
 Baltic fleet coming around Flamborough Head, and be 
 fore midnight he had fought the most extraordinary and 
 the most heroic single-ship fight recorded in history. 
 
 The fleet of forty ships was convoyed by the Serapis, 
 Captain Pearson, and the sloop of war Countess of Scar 
 borough, Captain Piercy. The Serapis was a splendid frig 
 ate, lately off the stocks, and 
 carrying fifty guns " the 
 finest ship of her class I ever 
 saw," Paul Jones wrote to 
 Franklin. She carried a crew 
 of four hundred, chiefly picked 
 seamen. Paul Jones had ac 
 tually on board about three 
 hundred and forty men, and 
 only one sea lieutenant 
 Dale. His crew had been de 
 creased by sending prize crews 
 away ; while one of his lieu 
 tenants, with sixteen men, had 
 
 been captured, and another during the battle was absent 
 from the ship on a boat expedition. The weight of the 
 Serapis s broadside was 576; of the Bon Homme Richard s, 
 390. But the Bon Homme Richard fired only two broad 
 sides when two of the old guns constituting her main-deck 
 battery burst, and the rest cracked and became useless. 
 
 The Serapis and the Bon Ho mine Richard both cleared 
 for action about one o clock. Each captain knew whom he 
 was fighting. The Serapis manoeuvered to get the Bon 
 Homme Richard under the guns of Scarborough Castle, 
 
 Captain Paul Jones. 
 
Paul Jones 217 
 
 but Paul Jones outmanceuvered him. Meanwhile the 
 Pallas alone obeyed the order given the rest of the fleet, 
 and eventually captured the Countess of Scarborough very 
 handsomely. The Vengeance never came into action at all, 
 and the Alliance, out of gunshot, reconnoitered cautiously. 
 As the Pallas passed, Captain Landais shouted that if the 
 frigate should prove to be the Serapis, all they had to do 
 was to run away! 
 
 There seems to have been a good deal of indiscriminate 
 hailing going on while the ships were approaching each 
 other. The first hail from the Serapis, " What ship is 
 that ? " was answered, " Come a little nearer and we ll tell 
 you." The Serapis people called derisively, " What are 
 you laden with ? " to which the Americans shouted, " Round, 
 grape, and double-headed shot ! " 
 
 With the best disposition to fight in the world, the two 
 ships did not come to close quarters until seven in the even 
 ing. The Bon Homme Richard fired the first broadside, 
 which was promptly returned. Of what followed Paul 
 Jones himself, in his official report, tells the story better 
 than anybody else. 
 
 The battle being thus begun Was Continued with unremitting 
 fury. Every method was practised on both sides to gain an ad 
 vantage and rake each other ; and I must confess that the Enemie s 
 ship being much more manageable than the B. h. R. gained thereby 
 Several times an advantageous Situation in Spite of my best en 
 deavors to prevent it, as I had to deal with an Enemy of greatly 
 superior force I was under the necessity of Closing with him to 
 prevent the advantage which he had over me in point of manoeuvre. 
 It was my intention to lay the B. h. R. athwart the Enemie s bow, 
 but as that operation required great dexterity in the management 
 of both Sails, and helm and Some of our braces being shot away, 
 
218 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 it did not exactly succeed to my Wishes. The Enemie s bowsprit 
 came over the B. h. R s. poop by the mizenmast and I made both 
 ships fast together. 
 
 Here the Enemy attempted to board the Bon Homme 
 Richard, but was deterred from it on finding Captain 
 Jones with a pike in his hand at the gangway. They im 
 agined he had, as they said, " A Large Corps dc Reserve," 
 which was a fortunate mistake, as no man took up a pike 
 but himself. 
 
 Naval experts have agreed that there were no new prin 
 ciples evolved, and no extraordinary tactics shown, in this 
 remarkable fight. But it stands alone among sea fights in 
 that the ship which finally forced a surrender might have 
 been considered a beaten ship from the beginning. There 
 was not a moment, after the second broadside, that the Bon 
 Homme Richard was not technically whipped. But her 
 captain was unconquerable, and by an unexampled tenacity 
 and courage forced the surrender of a good ship to the 
 shattered, disarmed, and burning shell of the Bon Hommc 
 Richard. 
 
 Franklin wrote a very beautiful letter to Paul Jones, in 
 which he said : 
 
 For some Days after the Arrival of your Express, nothing was 
 talked of at Paris and Versailles, but your cool Conduct and per 
 severing Bravery during that terrible conflict. You may believe 
 the Impression on my mind was not less strong than that of 
 others, but I do not chuse to say in a Letter to yourself, all I 
 think on such an occasion. ... I am uneasy about your Pris 
 oners, and wish they were safe in France. You will then have 
 Compleated the glorious work of giving Liberty to all the Amer 
 icans who have so long Languished in British Prisons: for there 
 are not so many there as you have now taken. 
 
Paul Jones 
 
 219 
 
 Soon after this he was unanimously elected the ranking 
 officer of the American navy, and appointed to superintend 
 the building and to have command of the Government s only 
 seventy- four, the America, then on the stocks at Ports 
 mouth, New Hampshire. Nearly two years were spent in 
 this employment, at the end of which time the ship was 
 presented to France, in lieu of one that had been lost in 
 Boston harbor. 
 
 By 1791 his health was quite gone, and he speaks of him 
 self as an old man, although he had barely turned five and 
 forty. He suffered from a complication of diseases, and 
 kept his bed much of the time. There is a very touching 
 letter from him to one of his sisters, trying to heal a family 
 quarrel. He inculcated charity and forbearance with no 
 mean skill, and his allusions to his belief in a future life 
 were frank and forcible. 
 
 On July 1 8, in the afternoon, seeing he was fast failing, 
 Gouverneur Morris induced 
 him to draw up his will. It 
 is a simple document in which 
 he divides his property between 
 his sisters, and names Robert 
 Morris as his sole executor. 
 
 In the funeral discourse over 
 him it was said : " The fame 
 of the brave outlives him; his 
 portion is immortality." 
 
 So long as ships sail the sea 
 will the name of Paul Jones 
 be respected. His country 
 owes him a great debt; for he truly said, "I have ever 
 
22O The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 looked out for the Honor of the American Flag." And 
 it may be said of him, as of the great Conde: " This man 
 was born a captain." 
 
THE STAMP-ACT BOX 
 BY DAVID WALKER WOODS, JR. 
 
 Looking over some deeds the other day, I noticed that 
 on most of them were several stamps ranging in value from 
 ten cents to ten dollars. Every boy who has a stamp-album 
 knows that these are revenue-stamps which represent a tax 
 imposed by the United States government in order to raise 
 money to carry on the war for the Union. Very few peo 
 ple in the North objected to this tax, for they were support 
 ing the Union soldiers and the government at Washington. 
 
 But these stamps remind us of two other wars with 
 which stamps had much to do. During our war for the 
 Union the stamps were sold to raise money to resist and put 
 down rebellion. The other wars were \vars against unjust 
 taxation, and this taxation was represented by the stamps. 
 In- one case rebellion produced the stamps; in the other 
 two cases the stamps produced rebellion. 
 
 One of these latter wars resulted in the independence of 
 Cuba. Perhaps my readers already know that the Cubans 
 complained of the taxes of the Spanish government. Every 
 merchant in Cuba had to have the pages of his account- 
 books marked with a government stamp fixed there by an 
 inspector who examined the books every three months or 
 oftener. Every shopkeeper had to pay a tax for each let 
 ter of the sign over his door. These things cost a great 
 deal of money. If the money were used in Cuba, and for 
 the benefit of the Cubans, perhaps they would not have re- 
 
 221 
 
222 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 sisted the tax. But most of it, the Cubans said, went to 
 Spain; they also claimed that the little that remained in 
 Cuba was used to pay Spanish officials and soldiers who 
 oppressed the Cubans. 
 
 The war in Cuba was very much like the American Revo 
 lution, in which our forefathers rebelled against the British 
 
 The Stamp-Act box. 
 
 government. Most of us think of the Revolution as begin 
 ning with the vicToi^oTthe " Minntemei^^at ..Concord in 
 1775. It really began in 1765, and was marked by a vic 
 tory in 1766. In 1765 the British government passed the 
 Stamp Act, which obliged the Americans to put stamps on 
 their deeds and other legal papers and to pay for stamps 
 placed on British goods. The Americans resisted this by 
 refusing to buy British goods. Lawyers refused to put 
 the stamps on their papers, and ladies gave up wearing 
 dresses of English cloth, and wore homespun gowns. 
 
 The men went further. In Boston they made an effigy 
 of the stamp-collector, Oliver, to which they tied a boot, in 
 ridicule of Lord Bute, the British minister. These were 
 placed on a bier, and then burned in front of Oliver s house. 
 
The Stamp-Act Box 223 
 
 In New York the men broke into the governor s coach 
 house, took out his coach, on which they put a stuffed 
 figure, and burned both coach and effigy in front of the gov 
 ernor s residence. Finally, things came to such a pass that 
 the British government repealed the Stamp Act, and that 
 was the colonists first victory. The repeal papers were 
 sent over in a little wooden box covered with leather. 
 
 Ten years later this box fell into the hands of a member 
 of the Continental Congress who was also a signer of the 
 Declaration of Independence. After the war he gave it 
 to his wife, who gave it to her daughter, and she probably 
 used to keep her gloves and ribbons in it. It happens that 
 this daughter was my grandmother, and that is how the box 
 came into our family. 
 
 If you could see the box, you would find that the leather 
 and the wood are full of little holes. They were made by 
 insects, which might have destroyed the box. But it has 
 been saturated with a strong chemical which we hope will 
 save it for many years. In the picture you are looking 
 down at the top of the box. The little brass handle by 
 which it was carried lies upon the letters " G. R.," which 
 stand for Georgius Rex, that is, King George. Above the 
 letters is a crown, and below you can read the words, 
 " Stamp Act R p d , March 18, 1766." The letters and the 
 figures which ornament the box are in gilt. 
 
 This box is a trophy of a victory .against unjust taxation. 
 But all true men of that day thought of something more 
 than money and taxes. They believed in uprightness and 
 honor and truth. It is the duty of a government to do 
 justice, and this was well understood by John Witherspoon, 
 who gave an ancestor of mine the Stamp-Act Box. It is 
 very well to have a strong navy and a strong army ; but it 
 
224 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 is well also to remember the words of Wither spoon of the 
 Continental Congress on the true nature of national 
 strength : 
 
 " He who makes a people virtuous makes them invincible " 
 that is, the true strength of a nation is uprightness. 
 
THE ORIGIN OF OUR FLAG 
 BY PARMALEE MCFADDEN 
 
 Did it ever occur to you that 
 the bunch of colored ribbons you 
 wear in your buttonhole or 
 pinned on your dress if you are 
 a girl at commencement, or at 
 a baseball or foot-ball game, is 
 really a flag? It tells to what 
 class or school or college you be 
 long, or which of these for the 
 time, has your interest and sym 
 pathy. And for somewhat sim 
 ilar reasons do nations wear their 
 colors. At first maybe it was to 
 tell one another apart; but after a while the colors the 
 flag came to represent the nation itself; and the way the 
 people acted toward the nation s flag was supposed to show 
 the way they felt toward the nation. 
 
 When the American army was encamped at Cambridge, 
 just outside of Boston, General Washington felt the need 
 of a distinctive flag. There were thirteen colonies repre 
 sented in that army, and each had its own flag, while some 
 had more than one. Among this miscellaneous lot of flags 
 was the one, of which you have often seen pictures, showing 
 a rattlesnake, and bearing the motto : " Don t tread on me." 
 But what the country needed was one flag, with a design 
 is 225 
 
226 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 that meant something. So Congress sent a committee, 
 headed by Benjamin Franklin, which consulted with Gen 
 eral Washington, and recommended a flag to stand for all 
 
 Fig. i. Fig. 2. Fig. 3. 
 
 The early flag of Efng- The early flag of The king s colors, 
 
 land, St. George s Scotland, St. An- adopted 1606. 
 
 Cross. drew s Cross. 
 
 Fig. 4. Fig. 5. 
 
 The flag of Great The flag of the United 
 Britain and her col- Colonies of Amer- 
 onies, adopted 1707. ica, first used Janu 
 
 ary, 1776. 
 
 Fig. 6. 
 
 First flag of the 
 United States of 
 America (13 stars 
 and 13 stripes), 
 adopted 1777, 
 
 Fig. 7- 
 
 The flag adopted in 
 1795 ( J 5 stars an d 
 15 stripes). 
 
 Fig. 8. 
 
 The flag when it had 
 45 stars and 13 
 stripes. 
 
The Origin of Our Flag 227 
 
 the colonies. After much discussion the one adopted was 
 that shown in Fig. 5. 
 
 To understand how this flag grew from older flags, let 
 us for a moment go back to the early flags of England. 
 
 In the early part of the fourteenth century the flag of 
 England bore simply the red cross of St. George on a white 
 ground (see Fig. i) ; while the flag of Scotland was a white 
 St. Andrew s cross on a blue ground (see Fig. 2). In 1603 
 England and Scotland were united, and three years later 
 the two flags were combined to form what was called the 
 "king s colors" (see Fig. 3), England and Scotland, how 
 ever, retaining their own individual flags. Indeed, it was 
 the red cross of St. George that the " Mayflower " flew at 
 her masthead when she brought her precious load of Pil 
 grims to Plymouth that cold winter of 1620, for she was 
 an English ship. 
 
 In 1707 Gre at Britain adopted for herself and her colonies 
 the flag shown in Fig. 4, the main part being red, but hav 
 ing in its upper corner the " king s colors," or " union " 
 flag, which represented the union of England and Scotland; 
 and since that time this part of the flag has been called the 
 " union," or " jack," and sometimes the " union jack." 
 The term " jack " is supposed to have come from Jacques, 
 the French spelling of James, which form the then King of 
 England, James I, used in signing his name. 
 
 This (Fig. 4) was the flag of Great Britain down to the 
 year 1801, when Ireland was added to form the United 
 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This further ex 
 tension to the nation was represented in the union by the 
 addition of the cross of St. Patrick, which was a diagonal 
 cross, like that of St. Andrew, only it was red on a white 
 field. The combination of these three crosses of England, 
 
228 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 Scotland, and Ireland has formed the union in the flag of 
 Great Britain from the year 1801 down to the present day. 
 But this last form of the union jack is not shown here, for it 
 has nothing to do with our flag, and never was used by 
 any of the American colonies. 
 
 From the flag shown in Fig. 4 we come to that shown in 
 Fig. 5 the one that begins to show a resemblance to our 
 own familiar flag. This was the flag recommended by Dr. 
 Franklin s Congressional Committee. It was called the flag 
 of the " United Colonies of America," and had for its union 
 the union jack, made up of only the St. George and St. 
 Andrew s crosses of the British flag: but its main field con 
 sisted of thirteen stripes, alternately red and white. There 
 is nothing definite known as to what suggested the idea, of 
 the stripes, unless, as has been claimed, the stripes that ap 
 peared on the coat of arms of the Washington family; al 
 though a flag with stripes was used by the troop of light 
 horses that escorted Washington from Philadelphia to New 
 York when he took command of the army; and stripes 
 were also used on one of the flags of the Fast India Com 
 pany. 
 
 This flag was first used by the American army encamped 
 at Cambridge. The next stage in the evolution of our flag 
 was in 1777, when by resolution of Congress it was ordered 
 " that the flag of the thirteen United States " (not colonies 
 now) " be thirteen stripes alternately red and white" (just 
 as in the flag then in use), but "the union to be thirteen 
 stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constella 
 tion " (see Fig. 6). In this new form we find another sug 
 gestion of the Washington coat of arms, which contained, 
 in addition to two wide red bars, three stars; at least, they 
 were in the form of stars, though in heraldry they would 
 
The Origin of Our Flag 229 
 
 probably be called " mullets " or " rowels " the sharp- 
 pointed wheels used in riding-spurs. 
 
 At the time the stars and stripes were adopted Congress 
 was sitting in Independence Hall, in Philadelphia. There 
 was living in the city a widow named Elizabeth Ross, who 
 for several years, had made government and other flags. It 
 was by this woman, in her home in Philadelphia, that the 
 first flag authorized by Congress was made. It may be in 
 teresting to know that Mrs. Ross s home the " Betsy 
 Ross House," it is called is still standing at 239 Arch 
 Street, Philadelphia. 
 
 About five years ago a number of citizens were given a 
 charter under the name of the " American Flag House and 
 Betsy Ross Memorial Association." The object of the as 
 sociation have been partially fulfilled by its purchasing the 
 old Ross house and converting it into a museum. 
 
 It was in the back room of this house, then, that General 
 Washington, Robert Morris, and a Colonel Ross discussed 
 with Betsy Ross the details of the flag. It was here j;hey 
 decided that the thirteen stars should be placed in the form 
 of a circle to show that it was for all times and had no 
 end. When considering how many points the stars should 
 have, it is reported that Betsy Ross suggested they be given 
 five points, because the cloth could be folded in such a way 
 that a complete star could be made by one cut of the scissors. 
 It is interesting to note that our flags all have five-pointed 
 stars, while those on our coins are six-pointed. 
 
 This (Fig. 6) was the flag that was used at the battle of 
 the Brandywine and at Germantown. It was with our 
 army when Burgoyne surrendered ; with Washington at 
 Valley Forge; at the surrender of Cornwallis at Yorktown; 
 and at the evacuation of New York by the British in 1787. 
 
230 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 After Vermont and Kentucky were admitted as States, 
 Congress ordered that after May i, 1795, the flag have 
 fifteen stripes ancl fifteen stars (see Fig. 7). This was the 
 flag that our army and navy carried in the War of 1812. 
 
 But, scarcely less interesting to patriotic Americans is the 
 fact that this particular form of the flag was the one used at 
 he attack on Fort McHenry, when Francis Scott Key waited 
 with others for the return of morning to learn whether the 
 fort had fallen; and when "by the dawn s early light " he 
 saw through the mist " that our flag was still there," and 
 was stirred into writing " The Star-Spangled Banner," 
 which has since become our national anthem. 
 
 As will be seen from the illustration, this fifteen-stripe 
 flag has not so graceful proportions as those of the preced 
 ing forms, and it soon became evident that if a new stripe 
 were to be added for each State admitted into the Union, 
 in the course of time the flag would become unwieldy. 
 So in 1818, when there were twenty States, Congress passed 
 a law to the effect that after the following July 4 the num 
 ber of stripes in the flag should be reduced to the original 
 thirteen, but that the union should have twenty stars; and 
 that as each new State was admitted another star should be 
 added, to take effect the Fourth of July next following its 
 admission. 
 
 From that time down to this day the stripes have stood 
 for the original thirteen States, and the stars for all the 
 States. 
 
Boston in 1757. From an old print. 
 
 BOSTON 
 BY THOMAS WENTWORTH HIGGINSON 
 
 The summer traveler who ap 
 proaches Boston from the land side 
 is apt to notice a tall and abundant 
 wayside plant, having a rather stiff 
 and ungainly stem, surmounted by a 
 flower with soft and delicate petals, 
 and of a lovely shade of blue. This 
 is the succory (Cichorium Intybits of 
 the botanists), described by Emerson 
 as " succory to match the sky." But 
 it is not commonly known in New 
 England by this brief name, being 
 oftener called " Boston weed," simply 
 because it grows more and more abundant as one comes 
 nearer to that city. When a genuine Bostonian (which the 
 present writer is not, being only a suburban), returning to 
 his home in late summer, sees this fair blossom on an un 
 gainly stem assembled profusely by the roadside, he begins 
 to collect his bags and bundles, knowing that he approaches 
 his journey s end. 
 
 231 
 
 Succory, or Chicory. 
 
232 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 ...;^ 
 
 The original Boston, as founded by Gov 
 ernor John Winthrop in 1630, was estab 
 lished on a rocky, three-hilled peninsula, in 
 whose thickets wolves and bears were yet 
 harbored, and which 
 was known variously as 
 Shawmut and Tri- 
 mountain. The settle 
 ment itself was a sort 
 of afterthought, being 
 taken as a substitute for 
 
 ^1 
 
 Charlestown, where a 
 temporary abode had 
 been founded by Win- 
 throp s party. There 
 had been much illness 
 there, and so Mr. Black- 
 stone, or Blaxtone, who 
 had for seven years 
 been settled on the pen 
 insula, urged the trans 
 fer of the little colony. 
 The whole tongue of 
 land then comprised but 
 783 acres an area a 
 little less than that orig 
 inally allotted to the 
 New York Central 
 Park. 
 
 Of the original three 
 hills, one only is now noticeable by the stranger. I myself 
 can remember Boston in my college days, as a pear-shaped 
 
 Old South Church. 
 
Boston 233 
 
 peninsula, two miles by one, hung to the mainland by a 
 neck a mile long and only a few yards wide, sometimes 
 actually covered by the meeting of the tide- waters from 
 both sides. The water almost touched Charles Street, 
 where the Public Garden now is and it rolled over the 
 flats where the costliest houses of the city at present 
 stand. 
 
 Boston has certainly stood, from an early time, in the his 
 tory of the country for a certain quality of combined thrift 
 and ardor which has made it to some extent an individual 
 city. Its very cows, during its rural period, shared this at 
 tribute, from the time when they laid out its streets by their 
 devious wanderings, to the time when " Lady Hancock," as 
 she was called, helped herself to milk from the cows of her 
 fellow-citizens to meet a sudden descent of official visitors 
 upon her husband the governor. From the period when 
 Boston was a busy little colonial mart the period best 
 described in Hawthorne s " Province House Legends " and 
 "My Kinsman Major Molineux " through the period 
 when, as described in Mrs. Ouincy s reminiscences, the gen 
 tlemen went to King s Chapel in scarlet cloaks, down to the 
 modern period of transcontinental railways and great manu 
 facturing enterprises, the city has at least aroused a peculiar 
 loyalty on the part of its citizens. Behind all the thunders 
 of Wendell Phillips s eloquence there lay always the strong 
 local pride. " I love inexpressibly," he said, " these streets 
 of Boston, over which my mother held up my baby foot 
 steps and if God grants me time enough, I will make them 
 too pure to be trodden by the footsteps of a slave." He 
 lived to see his dream fulfilled. Instead of the surrendered 
 slave, Anthony Burns, marching in a hollow square formed 
 by the files of the militia, Phillips lived to see the fair-haired 
 
234 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 boy, Robert Shaw, riding at the head of his black regiment, 
 to aid in securing the freedom of a race. 
 
 During the Revolution, Boston was the center of those 
 early struggles. Faneuil Hall still stands the place 
 where, in 1774, a letter as to grievances was ordered to be 
 sent to the other towns in the State ; the old State House is 
 standing, where the plans suggested by the Virginia House 
 of Burgesses were adopted; the old South Church remains, 
 whence the disguised Indians of the Boston Tea-party went 
 forth, and where Dr. Warren, on March 5, 1775, defied the 
 British officers, and when one of them held up warningly 
 some pistol-bullets, dropped his handkerchief over them 
 and went on. The old North or Christ Church also re 
 mains, where the two lights were hung out as the signal for 
 Paul Revere s famous ride, on the eve of the battle of Lex 
 ington. 
 
 So prominent was Boston during this period that it even 
 awakened the jealousy of the other colonies; and Mr. 
 Thomas Shirley of Charleston, South Carolina, said to 
 Josiah Quincy, Jr., in March, 1773: " Boston aims at noth 
 ing less than the sovereignty of this whole continent. 
 . . . Take away the power and superintendence of Brit 
 ain, and the colonies must submit to the next power. Bos 
 ton would soon have that." 
 
 One of the attractions of Boston has long been that in this 
 city, as in Edinburgh, might be found a circle of literary 
 men, better organized and more concentrated than if lost in 
 the confusion of a larger metropolis. From the point of 
 view of New York, this circle might be held provincial, as 
 might Edinburgh from London; and the resident of the 
 larger community might at best use about the Bostonian the 
 
Boston 
 
 235 
 
 saying attributed to Dr. Johnson about the Scotchman, that 
 " much might be made of him if caught young." Indeed, 
 much of New York s best literary material came always 
 from New England ; just as Scotland still holds its own in 
 London literature. No doubt each place has its advantages, 
 
 The old State House. 
 
 but there was a time when one might easily meet in one 
 Boston book-store in a day such men as Emerson, Parker, 
 Longfellow, Lowell, Holmes, Whittier, Sumner, Agassiz, 
 Parkman, Whipple, Hale, Aldrich, and Howell; with such 
 women as Lydia Maria Child and Julia Ward Howe. Now, 
 if we consider how much of American literature is repre- 
 
236 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 sented by these few names, it is evident that if Boston was 
 never metropolitan, it at least had a combination of literary 
 ability such as no larger American city has yet rivaled. 
 
 The very irregularity of the city adds to its attraction, 
 since most of our newer cities are apt to look too regular and 
 too monotonous. Foreign dialects have greatly increased 
 within a few years; for although the German element has 
 never been large, the Italian population is constantly in 
 creasing, and makes itself very apparent to the ear. Statues 
 of eminent Bostonians Winthrop, Franklin, Sam Adams, 
 Webster, Garrison, Everett, Horace Mann, and others 
 are distributed about the city, and though not always beau 
 tiful as art, are suggestive of dignified memories. Institu 
 tions of importance are on all sides, and though these are 
 not different in kind from those now numerous in all vigor 
 ous American cities, yet in Boston they often claim a longer 
 date or more historic associations. The great Public Li 
 brary still leads American institutions of its class; and the 
 Art Museum had a similar leadership until the recent great 
 expansion of the Metropolitan Museum of New York City. 
 The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the New 
 England Conservatory of Music educate large numbers of 
 pupils from all parts of the Union; while Boston University 
 and Boston College hold an honored place among their 
 respective constituencies. Harvard University, Tufts Col 
 lege, and Wellesley College are not far distant. The public- 
 school system of Boston has in times past had great 
 reputation, and still retains it ; though it is claimed that the 
 newer systems of the Western States are in some degree 
 surpassing it. 
 
 It is now nearly two hundred years since an English 
 
The old North Church, with its so-called Paul Revere Tower. 
 
238 The Colonists and the Revolution 
 
 traveler named Edward Ward thus described the Boston 
 of 1699: 
 
 " On the southwest side of Massachusetts Bay is Boston, whose 
 name is taken from a town in Lincolnshire and is the Metropolis 
 of all New England. The houses in some parts joyn, as in Lon 
 don. The buildings, like their women, being neat and handsome. 
 And their streets, like the hearts of the male inhabitants, being 
 paved with pebble." 
 
 The leadership of Boston, during these two centuries, in 
 a thousand works of charity and kindness has completely 
 refuted the hasty censure of this roving Englishman; and 
 it is to be hoped that the Boston of the future, like the 
 Boston of the past, will do its fair share in the development 
 of that ampler American civilization of which all present 
 achievements suggest only the promise and the dawn. 
 
INDEX 
 
 Baltimore, Lord, 21-23 
 Boston, 231-238 
 
 Calvert, Leonard, 20-22, 27 
 Chesapeake Bay, 20-28 
 
 Declaration of Independence, 157- 
 
 178 
 Dutch Colonists, 3, 65-69 
 
 Flag, Origin of, 225-230 
 Franklin, Benjamin, 31-46, 51, 52, 
 
 201-208 
 Fur-traders, 96-102 
 
 Hale, Nathan, 184-193 
 Home-life in the Colonies, 3-8, 20- 
 28, 70-82, 83-87, 88-95, 113-124 
 Huguenots, 5 
 
 Indians, 61-^-64, 83, 96-102, 103-112 
 Indian Wars, 9-19 
 
 Jones, Captain Paul, 209-219 
 King Philip, 15, 18 
 Lafayette, 194-200 
 
 Maryland Colonists, 14, 20-28 
 Massasoit, 15 
 
 New England Colonists, 12, 13, 15, 
 17, 19, 27, 54, 55, 85-87, 88-95 
 
 Penn, William, 49, 52, 53, 57, 58, 
 
 63 
 
 Pennsylvania, 29, 30, 47-56, 57-64 
 Philadelphia, 47-56 
 Princeton, Battle of, 179-183 
 Puritans, 4, 17, 67, 88-95 
 
 Quebec, 129-137 
 
 Revolution, Causes of, 35-40, 43, 
 
 126-128 
 
 Revolution, Table of, 102 
 Revolutionary Times, 113-125, 129- 
 
 137, 179-183, 184-238 
 
 Smith, Captain John, 9 
 Stamp-Act, Box, 221-224 
 
 Washington, George, 138-148, 149- 
 156, 179-183, 196 
 
 239 
 
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