Ten American Girls from HistorySweetser, Kate Dickinson
History
Ten American Girls from History
Sweetser, Kate Dickinson
United States -- Biography; Women -- Biography
Molly meanwhile bore her heavy burden across the fields for two miles
until she reached the farm, where she laid the wounded man gently down
on a bed which was blissfully soft to his aching bones, and where he
was cared for and nursed as if he had been Molly's own kin. When at
last he was well again and able to ride away from the farm, he
expressed his admiration for his nurse in no measured terms, and there
came to her a few days later a box of fine dress goods with the
warmest regards of "one whose life you saved." As she looked at the
rich material, Molly smoothed it appreciatively with roughened hand,
then she laid the bundle away among her most cherished possessions,
but making use of it never entered her mind--it was much too handsome
for that!
Every hour the British troops were delayed at Princeton was of great
advantage to the Continental forces, and by midnight they had come to
the end of their eighteen-mile march, to their great rejoicing, as it
had been a terrible walk over snow and ice and in such bitter cold
that many a finger and ear were frozen, and all had suffered severely.
The men had not had a meal for twenty-four hours, had made the long
march on top of heavy fighting, and when they reached their
destination they were so exhausted that the moment they halted they
dropped and fell into a heavy sleep.
While they were marching toward Morristown, Lord Cornwallis was
rushing his troops on to New Brunswick to save the supplies which the
British had stored there. To his great relief he found them untouched,
so he gave up the pursuit of Washington's fleeing forces, and the
Continental army, without resistance, went into winter quarters at
Morristown, as their Commander had planned to do. While John Hays,
with the American army, was following his Commander, Molly, at the
farm, had become the proud mother of a son, who was named John Hays,
Jr., and who became Molly's greatest comfort in the long months when
she had no glimpse or tidings of her husband. Then came news--General
Washington's troops were again on the march, passing through New
Jersey toward New York. There would be a chance to see her husband,
and Molly determined to take it, whatever risk or hardship it might
entail, for not only did she long to see Hays, but she could not wait
longer to tell him of the perfections of their son. And so Molly went
to the scene of the battle of Monmouth.
It was Sunday, the 28th of June, 1778, a day which has come down in
history, not only because of the battle which marks its date, but
because of its scorching heat. The mercury stood near the 100 mark,
and man and beast were well-nigh overcome.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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