When General Francis Marion with his brave soldier boys was lying in
at Snows Island on the Pedee River, North Carolina, preparing to make
another one of his surprising and brilliant raids on the enemy, an
officer from the British post at Georgetown was dispatched to visit
him to treat for an exchange of prisoners. The blooming Britisher was
blindfolded and carried by a circuitous route into camp. The bargain
arranged, he accepted an invitation to dine. The meal was served on
pieces of bark and consisted entirely of roasted potatoes of which
General Marion ate heartily, requesting his guest to profit by his
example, repeating the old adage that "Hunger is the best sauce." "But
surely, General, this cannot be your ordinary fare" said the well fed
adversary. "Yes it is," replied Marion, "For months at a time my men
have lived on roasted potatoes, and we are especially fortunate on this
occasion to be able to provide a double allowance to set before so
honorable a guest." The young foreigner was so overcome with admiration
for the brave patriots fighting for their country in such a spirit that
on his return to Georgetown he retired from the service, declaring
his conviction that men who could with such cheerfulness, endure the
privations of such a life, could never be subdued.
The blooming Britisher was right. The God of William Tell, of Cromwell,
of Washington and Marion, of Garrison and Lincoln, of Moses and of
Bryan, never has and never will permit such enthusiasm and faith and
patriotism to go unrewarded. Men with purpose so intense, whose flame
of patriotism burns so brightly as to consume their love of comfort
and dependence upon external things, can never be subdued by hired
Hessians nor the combined forces of opulence, ease and greed.
Going out in such a spirit, demanding three full square meals each
day for every human being born into the world, yet to obtain this end
willing ourselves to live like Marion's band on roasted potatoes, like
the Cuban patriots on sugar cane and berries, or on graham bread and
apples, or to ease our hunger if necessary by grinding with our teeth
dry whole wheat, we will in the name of God and humanity take this
country and rescue our world from those who now make of it a living
hell.
This unconquerable, independent spirit that rises above physical
conditions, social limitations, comforts and luxuries, is and always
has been the conquering spirit of the world, always the sure omen of
victory.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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