“‘But the harmless drink now started the just and patriotic people to revolt against the tyranny of the Crown. For the next three years after England imposed the high tax on tea, it became the symbol with which men conjured. As for trying to ship tea from England at this time, one would as soon have introduced the Black Plague. “‘So the contention went on—England remaining proud and defiant in her attitude that British sovereignty must never yield, and the young American colony holding that a great principle underlay the act—that freemen should only be taxed by a representative. And during this time seventeen million pounds of tea had heaped itself in the store-houses of the East India Company. “‘The northeastern colonies were strenuous examples of precocious political development; Massachusetts embraced the vast territory of Maine, and from this northern boundary to the shore where the Pilgrim Fathers landed, were dotted the decent little villages, and these buzzed and hummed with zealous activities of the people. “‘It had required a hundred and fifty years from the first step of Plymouth Rock to the beginning of the Revolution. Boston, now a town of 18,000 folk, sent forth a tongue of flame that bespoke defiance to the mother country across the sea. The highest sense of public duty grew in these people as weeds flourish in others. What a time that must have been: Heroes springing up over-night to live forever in the history of the nation. English spies, traitorous Indians, tea parties and tea-ships riding the waves of Boston Bay, not dreaming it was the open mouth of the dragon. “‘When the _Dartmouth_, the _Eleanor_, and the _Beaver_, therefore, laden with 342 chests of tea, sailed into Boston harbor, the hitherto loosely-membered colonies became welded together, for they were determined to stand together for their principle—Taxation with Representation. Thus the tea that lay scattered one night on the bosom of the sea off Boston, was much the same tea that rotted in the cellars of Charlestown and the South, or mouldered in Philadelphia and New York stores. “‘Tea stood for Toryism, and no tea meant Independence. All over the land activities started up such as were never before heard of. Looms and spindles whirred as fabrics were woven of home-grown flax and wool, and material hitherto imported from England now began to be made by the colonists at home. Even weapons and ammunition began to be spoken of, and old recipes for manufacturing gunpowder were brought out and experimented with. “‘Then the “glove” was dropped and the struggle began.’” CHAPTER IV WASHINGTON THE GENERAL “I think the rain will soon stop—the sun seems to be breaking through. While we wait for it to clear shall I read about the first battle of the Revolution for the boys?” said Mrs. Parke. “Now that you’ve got us as far as the Boston Tea Party, keep right on and finish it up, even if the sun does shine,” remarked Jack.