=Historical Note.= Thomas Paine (1737-1809), an interesting figure of the Revolutionary period, did much by his writings to help win the war. Franklin on one occasion said, “Where liberty is, there is my home.” Whereupon Paine answered, “Where liberty is not, there is my home.” He came to America from England in 1774 and fought for America’s freedom as a volunteer under Washington. After the Revolution he went to France, where again he fought for liberty in the French Revolution. This selection is from a pamphlet called “The Crisis,” published in 1776 by Paine. Washington had lost the battle of Long Island and had been compelled to retreat from New York toward Philadelphia. In Philadelphia there were many royalists who hoped that England would win the war. Washington’s soldiers, who had enlisted for short terms, were encouraged to desert or to resign at the end of their terms. The situation was serious. Washington ordered that “The Crisis” be read before every company of soldiers in his army. =Discussion.= 1. Select from these paragraphs sentences that would make good mottoes. 2. What political and military situation did Paine have in mind in the opening sentences? 3. What do you think of the argument of the tavern-keeper at Amboy as compared with Paine’s? 4. What do we think today of our “remoteness from the wrangling world”? 5. What, in the last one hundred years, has brought Europe and America closer together than they were in Paine’s day? 6. Under what conditions does Paine think war is justified? =Phrases= summer soldier, 397, 1 sunshine patriot, 397, 2 celestial an article, 397, 9 expression is impious, 398, 5 unsupportedly to perish, 398, 9 calamities of war, 398, 11 single reflection, 398, 23 foreign dominion, 398, 30 pursue his principles, 399, 3 offensive war, 399, 6 PART IV LITERATURE AND LIFE IN THE HOMELAND _“One flag, one land, one heart, one hand,_ _One Nation evermore!”_ —Oliver Wendell Holmes. [Illustration: Copyright by M. G. Abbey (from a Copley Print, copyright by Curtis & Cameron, Boston) PENN’S TREATY WITH THE INDIANS] LITERATURE AND LIFE IN THE HOMELAND INTRODUCTION