It was before the Battle of Bennington, fought and won in defiance of the orders of the too cautious Congress, that bold John Stark uttered his famous invocation to his men: _There they are, boys_, he shouted, waving his sword toward the enemy; _we’ll get ’em, or to-night Molly Stark’ll be a widow_. BENEDICT ARNOLD A pitiful story is told of the death in London, twenty years after the War, of Benedict Arnold, the traitor. His last request was for the old epaulettes and sword-knot given him by Washington. _Let me die_, said he, _in the old American uniform, in which I fought my battles. God forgive me for ever having put on any other!_ GEORGE THE THIRD It is well to remember, in these days, that George Washington was in reality an Englishman who fought a German king whom chance had seated on the throne of England. And it is well to recall also that George the Third, though obstinate and wrong-headed enough, gave in at last with a better grace than might have been expected. To John Adams, our first minister to England, he said: _Sir, I will be very free with you. I was the last to consent to the separation, but the separation having been made ... I have always said and I say now, that I would be the first to meet the friendship of the United States as an independent power._ THE LITTLE FIFER[H] By HELEN M. WINSLOW John Holden was lost. His mother’s faith that God would take care of her boy was rewarded, however, when it was discovered that John with his little fife was helping to drill the soldiers in Washington’s army. More than a hundred years ago there lived, in the town of Shirley, Mass., a bright, well-grown lad named John Holden. His father was a farmer, and the little fellow trudged about the farm, clad in home-spun and home-made clothing, feeding calves, driving cows, and doing whatever his hands found to do “with all his might.” One Saturday night John was early at the gate waiting for his father’s homecoming; for Saturday was the day when John Holden went to the village, and returned laden with packages and news from Boston--which to them was the centre of the world. A present was an unheard-of thing in little John’s life. What was his surprise, then, as his father rode up to the gate, to see him hand out a long black case, saying: “Here, my boy, see what I’ve brought you for a birthday present.” And imagine his greater astonishment, on opening the case, to see a beautiful fife of dark wood with silver trimmings! The boy could hardly believe his own eyes; and as he was passionately fond of music he lost no time in beginning to learn the use of his newly acquired instrument. He carried the fife with him everywhere and practised on it in every spare moment, and before many months he was able to greatly astonish the villagers and won many a compliment by his skillful playing.