Martha Moulton saw Major Pitcairn mount his horse; heard the order given
for the march to begin,--the march of which you all have heard. You know
what a sorry time the Red-coats had of it in getting back to Boston; how
they were fought at every inch of the way, and waylaid from behind every
convenient tree-trunk, and shot at from tree-tops, and aimed at from
upper windows, and beseiged from behind stone walls, and, in short,
made so miserable and harassed and overworn, that at last their depleted
ranks, with the tongues of the men parched and hanging, were fain to lie
down by the road-side and take what came next, even though it might be
death. And then THE DEAD they left behind them!
Ah! there's nothing wholesome to mind or body about war, until long,
long after it is over, and the earth has had time to hide the blood, and
send it forth in sweet blooms of liberty, with forget-me-nots springing
thick between.
The men of that day are long dead. The same soil holds regulars and
minute-men. England, who over-ruled, and the provinces, that put out
brave hands to seize their rights, are good friends to-day, and have
shaken hands over many a threshold of hearty thought and kind deeds
since that time.
The tree of Liberty grows yet, stately and fair, for the men of the
Revolution planted it well and surely. God himself HATH given it
increase. So we gather to-day, in this our story, a forget-me-not more,
from the old town of Concord.
When the troops had marched away, the weary little woman laid aside her
silken gown, resumed her homespun dress, and immediately began to think
of getting Uncle John down-stairs again into his easy chair; but it
required more aid than she could give to lift the fallen man. At last
Joe Devins summoned returning neighbors, who came to the rescue, and the
poor nubbins were left to the rats once more.
Joe climbed down the well and rescued the blue stocking, with its
treasures unharmed, even to the precious watch, which watch was Martha
Moulton's chief treasure, and one of very few in the town.
Martha Moulton was the heroine of the day. The house was beseiged by
admiring men and women that night and for two or three days thereafter;
but when, years later, she being older, and poorer, even to want,
petitioned the General Court for a reward for the service she rendered
in persuading Major Pitcairn to save the court-house from burning, there
was granted to her only fifteen dollars, a poor little forget-me-not, it
is true, but JUST ENOUGH to carry her story down the years, whereas, but
for that, it might never have been wafted up and down the land.
Sweep, sweep, sweep! Up all this dirt and dust,
For Mamma is busy today and help her I surely must.
Everything now is spick and span; away to my play I will run.
It will be such a 'sprise to Mamma to find all this work is done.
THE CONQUEST OF FAIRYLAND.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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