Elsie Yachting with the Raymonds

by Martha Finley

  CHAPTER XI.

  A few days were spent in Boston, principally in visiting places ofhistorical interest,--Christ Church on Salem Street, where as theCaptain told the children, Paul Revere's signal was hung out fromthe steeple, in the Revolutionary War, by Captain Pulling, a Bostonmerchant; and the Old South Church, about which they had already heardso much.

  "In 1775," the Captain said, as the little group stood gazing about itin deep interest, "the British soldiers desecrated this place by usingit for cavalry drill, having first torn out the galleries and coveredthe floor with earth. It is now no longer used as a church, but, asyou see, is a historical museum. Now we will go to Faneuil Hall,--'thecradle of liberty.'"

  They did so; and next visited the Old State House.

  As the Captain told them, the Boston Massacre occurred in the streetbefore it; and there, during the excitement in regard to the Stamp Act,the stamped clearances were burned by the mob. From the balcony theDeclaration of Independence was read. Many town-meetings were heldthere, and many patriotic speeches made,--among them those of Otis,who foretold probable war, and urged resistance to tyranny "even untoblood" if necessary.

  "Who was Otis, Papa?" asked Lulu.

  "A Boston lawyer of that time, a patriot,--as evidenced by even thefew words of his I have just quoted. He was advocate-general with agood salary at the time when the revenue officers in Boston took outsearch-warrants to look for smuggled goods, and called upon him todefend their cause; but he at once resigned his office and took theother side,--that of the merchants of Boston, who were protestingagainst the writs. They offered him a large fee, but he refused it,saying, 'In such a cause I despise all fees.'"

  "That case was tried in this old State House; and Otis made a grandspeech of such length that it took him five hours to deliver it."

  "What was it all about, Papa?" asked Gracie.

  "It was on the question whether Americans were bound to obey laws whichthey had no share in making, and all the arguments in the wonderfulspeech answered doggedly, 'No.'

  "John Adams, who heard the speech, afterward said that on that day 'thechild Independence was born;' and no doubt the argument assisted thepopular leaders very much in furnishing them with weapons for theirwork."

  "Weapons, Papa?" Grace asked with a puzzled look.

  "Yes, daughter; arguments with which to show the people what theEnglish Government was doing to take away our liberties.

  "Otis afterward, when Governor Bernard called upon the General Assemblyof Massachusetts to rescind the resolution it had passed against theright of the English Parliament to tax the colonies without theirconsent,--which they boldly disregarded,--made a powerful speech inwhich he said, 'When Lord Hillsborough knows that we will not rescind_our_ acts, he should apply to Parliament to rescind _theirs_. _LetBritons rescind their measures, or they are lost forever!_' He wenton speaking in that way for nearly an hour, till even the Sons ofLiberty began to tremble lest he should go too far, and be charged withtreason."

  "And did he fight for the country, Papa?" asked Gracie.

  "No, poor fellow!" replied the Captain, with a slight sigh; "beforethe war had fairly begun he became insane from injuries inflicted byone Robinson, a commissioner of customs, who, with several army ornavy officers set upon, beat, and otherwise injured him, inflicting asword-cut on his head from which he never recovered."

  "And he didn't have the pleasure of seeing his country free andseparated from England?" Lulu said, half inquiringly.

  "No; he was killed by a stroke of lightning in 1778, which you willremember was several years before the war was over."

  Our little party next visited Lexington and Concord.

  "How far must we travel to get there, Papa?" queried Gracie, as theytook their seats in the car.

  "Only a few miles to Lexington, and a little farther to reach Concord,"he answered.

  "That won't seem very far by rail," remarked Max; "but it musthave seemed quite a distance to the soldiers who marched there inRevolutionary times."

  "I find we are early," the Captain said, looking at his watch; "and aswe have the car nearly to ourselves, it may be well for us to talk overwhat occurred in 1775 at the places we are about to visit. I think itwill make the visit more interesting to you."

  "Oh, do tell us the whole story, Papa," requested Gracie, with a lookof pleased anticipation.

  The others all joined in her petition, and the Captain good-naturedlycomplied.

  "Matters had been growing worse and worse between the BritishGovernment and the colonies," he said, "till a struggle seemed almostinevitable. General Gage discovered that the patriots were privatelyconveying arms out of Boston, that some brass cannon and field-pieceswere at Salem; and on a Sunday in February, 1775, he sent some troopsto seize them.

  "An express from Marblehead arrived at Salem while the people were inchurch, with the news that British troops were landing from a transportat that place, and were about to march to Salem.

  "The congregations were at once dismissed, and, led by ColonelPickering, stopped the British at a drawbridge. Pickering succeeded ineffecting a compromise, and the troops marched back again to Marbleheadwithout having done the errand upon which they had been sent.

  "Let me see," continued the Captain, meditatively; "I think I canrecall some lines by Trumbull, referring to that incident:--

  "'Through Salem straight, without delay, The bold battalion took its way: Marched o'er a bridge, in open sight Of several Yankees arm'd for fight; Then, without loss of time or men, Veer'd round for Boston back again, And found so well their prospects thrive, That every soul got back alive.'

  "It was some two months after this that the battles of Lexington andConcord took place. On April 18, the patriots learned that the nextday British troops were to visit Concord for the purpose of destroyingsome military stores there, and passing through Lexington seize thepersons of John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were both in that town atthe house of the Rev. Jonas Clark.

  "Gage had tried to keep all this a profound secret, but somehow thepatriots had learned what he was attempting, and were making theirpreparations accordingly. Warren and his friends had gone, Paul Revereand William Dawes had just rowed across the river to Charlestown,taking a message from Warren to Adams and Hancock. They were very nearbeing captured by the guard at Charlestown, but escaped, and reachedLexington a little after midnight.

  "They went at once to Mr. Clark's house, but found a guard of eightminute-men placed about it to protect Adams and Hancock.

  "These refused to let Revere and Dawes into the house, as orders hadbeen given not to allow the inmates to be disturbed by noise.

  "'Noise!' exclaimed Revere, 'you'll have noise enough before long; theregulars are coming!'

  "They were quickly admitted then, roused Hancock and Adams, and knowinghow unlikely to escape being taken prisoners they were, should theyremain in Lexington, persuaded them to retire to Woburn.

  "Then Revere and Dawes pushed on to Concord to give the alarm there.

  "By two o'clock in the morning a hundred and thirty of the Lexingtonmilitia were collected at the meeting-house upon the green. The rollwas called; then, as the early morning air was very chilly, they weredismissed with orders to remain within drum-beat."

  "Papa, the British marched very quietly, didn't they?" asked Max.

  "Yes, in perfect silence; hoping and believing that none of theAmericans were aware of their movements."

  "Ha, ha, how mistaken they were!" laughed Max.

  "Yes," his father said, "there were vigilant eyes upon them. As theypassed through West Cambridge they were seen by Lee, Gerry, andOrne,--members of the Provincial Congress,--and as I have told you,others learned the secret also.

  "As the British neared Lexington their ears were greeted by the soundof bells and guns, warning them that their expedition was known."

  "I s'pose they didn't like that," observed Gracie, "but what did theydo about it, Papa?"

  "Colonel S
mith dispatched six companies of troops under Major Pitcairn,with orders to press on to Concord and secure the two bridges. He alsosent a messenger to Boston for reinforcements.

  "Pitcairn hastened on toward Lexington, capturing several personson his way. One of them--a man named Bowman--escaped, hurried intoLexington on horseback, and notified Captain Parker, commander of theminute-men, that the enemy was approaching."

  "And did they make a great fuss and wake up all the people, Papa?"asked Gracie.

  "They rang the bells, fired guns, and beat the drum, so that doubtlesseverybody was soon aroused.

  "It was between four and five in the morning. About one hundred of themilitia were quickly collected on the green; but being raw troops, anduncertain how large a force was coming against them, they were in someconfusion.

  "And indeed it was an overwhelming force they presently saw marchingtoward them, their scarlet uniforms gleaming out through the earlymorning mist.

  "The British halted within a few rods of the meeting-house and loadedtheir pieces. But the Americans stood firm and undismayed.

  "Their orders were not to pull a trigger till fired upon by the enemy,and for a moment there was silence and hesitation on both sides;neither Americans nor British seemed willing to become the aggressors.

  "But it was only for a moment; Pitcairn and other officers gallopedforward, waving their swords over their heads, and followed by theirtroops in double-quick time.

  "'Disperse you villains!' they shouted, 'lay down your arms anddisperse. Why don't you disperse, you rebels? Disperse!' And as thepatriots did not instantly obey the command, Pitcairn wheeled hishorse, waved his sword, and gave orders to press forward and surroundthe militia.

  "At that instant some random shots were fired by the British, andpromptly returned by the Americans."

  "Oh, Papa, was anybody killed?" asked Gracie.

  "Not by those shots," replied her father; "but the next minute Pitcairndrew a pistol and discharged it, at the same time shouting 'Fire!'

  "His troops instantly obeyed that order. Four of the patriots werekilled, and the rest dispersed. They were fired upon again whileretreating, and several of them halted and returned the shots, thenconcealed themselves behind buildings and stone walls.

  "Eight Americans were killed, three British soldiers and MajorPitcairn's horse were wounded."

  "I thought you said only four Americans were shot, Papa," said Gracie,looking up inquiringly into his face.

  "Four by the first discharge of musketry, and as many more while tryingto escape over the fences," he answered.

  "Did the British care for having killed those poor men?" she asked,tears of sympathy shining in her eyes.

  "If so they gave no evidence of it," her father replied. "They hurriedon to Concord in high spirits. But the news of their approach had beencommunicated, and a formidable body of militia was waiting to receivethem."

  "Oh, yes!" said Rosie, "I remember that Dawes and Revere had hurried onto warn them after doing the Lexington people the same service."

  "Yes," the Captain said, "but on the way they were taken prisoners bysome British officers. They had stopped to tell the news to Dr. SamuelPrescott, who escaped over a wall, they being captured. Prescott madehis way to Concord, reaching there about two o'clock in the morning,and gave the alarm. Then the bells were rung, and the people armedthemselves, so that before daylight they were ready to receive theBritish."

  "They knew what the British were after, and made haste to conceal thestores of powder, shot, and so forth,--didn't they, Papa?" asked Max.

  "Yes; the whole male population and some of the women assisted in thatwork, and succeeded in concealing them in a safe place in the woodsbefore the arrival of the British."

  "That was good," remarked Gracie. "And didn't the British get anythingat all, Papa?"

  "Yes, a little. They knocked off the trunnions of three irontwenty-four-pound cannon, cut down a liberty-pole, set the Court Houseon fire, and burned a few barrels of wooden trenchers and spoons, andsixteen new carriage-wheels. Also they threw five hundred pounds ofballs into a mill-pond, and broke open about sixty barrels of flour;but the people succeeded in saving a good deal of that, and Mrs.Moulton put out the fire in the Court House before much damage wasdone."

  "But was there no fighting, Papa?" Gracie asked.

  "There was fighting," the Captain answered. "While the British were atthe mischief I have been telling you of, the American party was rapidlyincreasing by the coming in of minute-men from the neighbouring towns.They formed into line as fast as they came. There were nearly fourhundred of them.

  "From the place where they were forming they could see the fire theBritish had started in the centre of the town, and of course the sightgreatly increased their excitement.

  "Joseph Hosmer, the adjutant, made a stirring appeal, after a briefconsultation with prominent citizens and members of the Committee ofSafety, who were present, and ready to take part in repelling theBritish.

  "It was agreed to dislodge them from the North Bridge. Captain Davissaying, 'I haven't a man that's afraid to go.'

  "They wheeled into marching order, and joined by other companies,pushed forward to the bridge, under the command of Major John Buttrick,of Concord.

  "The British guard were on the west side of the river, but crossed tothe east on seeing the Americans approaching, and began taking up theplanks of the bridge.

  "Major Buttrick called to them to stop, and urged his men on to try tosave the bridge.

  "The British formed for action as the Americans drew near, and some ofthe regulars fired, killing Captain Davis, Abner Hosmer, and woundinganother man.

  "Then Buttrick shouted, 'Fire fellow soldiers! for God's sake fire!'and instantly they gave the British a full volley.

  "In a few minutes the British retreated, and the Americans tookpossession of the bridge.

  "Their volley had killed three British soldiers, two of whom were lefton the ground. The Americans afterward buried them, and we shall findtheir graves only a few feet from the monument."

  But other passengers had entered the car, and the train was now inmotion.

  "There, that must do for the present," the Captain said; "the storywill have to be finished after we leave the train."

  Their first halt was at Lexington where they viewed with much interestthe ground where the skirmish took place, the monument commemoratingthe devotion of those who fell, and everything to be found that hadany connection with the events which have made the place famous in theannals of our country.

  Evelyn Leland gazed long at the inscription on the monument, then readaloud,--

  "Sacred to the Liberty and the Rights of Mankind!!! The Freedom and Independence of America--sealed and defended with the blood of her sons--This Monument is erected by the Inhabitants of Lexington ... to the memory of their fellow citizens ... the first victims of the sword of British Tyranny and Oppression, on the morning of the ever-memorable nineteenth of April, A. D. 1775. The Die was Cast!!! The blood of these Martyrs in the Cause of God and their Country was the Cement of the Union of these States, then Colonies, and gave the Spring to the Spirit, Firmness and Resolution of their Fellow citizens. They rose as one man to revenge their Brethren's blood and at the point of the sword to assert and defend their native Rights. They nobly dared to be Free!!! The contest was long, bloody and affecting. Righteous Heaven approved the Solemn Appeal; Victory crowned their Arms, and the Peace, Liberty and Independence of the United States of America was their glorious Reward. Built in the year 1799."

  "You didn't read it all, Eva," said Walter; "you skipped the names."

  "Yes," she said, "because I didn't want to take time to read it all;though I'd be ever so unwilling to rob the poor, dear, brave fellows ofany of the credit that belongs to them."