Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1875-05-12
LEXINGTON AND CoNcoRp.
One hundred years ago next Nor

| LIZA NoIVN hND CONtOhb'
One hundred years ago next Mon
day, as every school-boy knows, the
shot was fired that opened the
long war by which the American
colonies gained their independence.
1t was war, which lasted only
about eight years; but the war
which the good people Of Massachu-
setts have since wagcd among them
selves for the honor Of the first place
in the history Of that eventful opening
day has lasted fully half a century and
is scarcely concluded even now, when
the centennial Of Lexington and Con
cord is at hand. To most Of us II is q
question of comparatively little conse-
quencc just where "thc embattlcd
farmers stood and fired the shot heard
round the world" or which of them it
was that fred first, since we know
that they did ERE, and that we enjoy the
fruits Of their resistance. But to their
own grandchildren and great-grand-
children il is a personal concern, and
each one of them stands up for his par
ticular sire, or for his own town, with
a natural pertinacity. In no part Of
the country have the memories and
traditions Of colonial and revolutionary
times been so carefully cherished as in
tho towns of Eastern Massachusetts,,
where the descendants Of the select
men" Of those times are the selcct.men
of today, where early forms and Gus
toms are still handed down from father
to son, and where every family has its
own special interest in guarding the
common heritage. IL is not surprising,
therefore, that Lexington and Concord
and Acton should watch the historians
sharply, nor is il surprising that the
historians should have themselves open
to attack. 1t is hard enough to reach
the exact truth in regard even to cur
rent events whose consequence is ap-
preciatcd by those who take part in
them, and which are recorded with
the utmost exactness IN the newspapers
the day after they occur. But here
was an event occurring a hundred
years ago, when there were no enter
prising reporters present TO put IL
down in their notebooks, nor special
artists to photograph the scene; occur
ring suddenly and without prcmedita-
ton, and with such hurry and excite
ment that the actors themselves scarce
ly knew what they were doing, or
recognized at the time the immense
results that must follow from their act
The wonder, then, is not that ac-
counts of the affair should differ, but
that we are able at this long distance
to tell the whole story with reasona-
bic assurance that we have lost no
essential detail. OF course il is the
picturesque incidents of the affair that
are most firmly impressed on the pop
ular mind Most Of us learn little Of
history in any other way, and between
Peter Farley and the Concord and
Cambridge poets, the local heroes of
the Massachusetts towns have been
well cared for. Every child knows
how Paul Revere carried the news of
the departure Of the troops from Bos-
ton; how the minuto-men sprang to
arms before the break of day, and how
Captain John Parker drew up his lit
tie troop on Lexington green TO await
the coming of the regulars, and ordered
every man to load his gun with pow
der and ball. "Don't fire. said he,
"uness fired upon but if they want a
war, let IL begin here" How the
British Major Pitcairn cried, 'Disperse,
ye rebels and how they did disperse,
but not until there was need of ten
new graves at Lexington. How the
regulars then pushed ON to Concord
and burned the colonial stores there /;
how the men of Concord and Acton
met them at tho old bridge, and how
the first yolley from the troops killed
Captain Davis, who commanded the
Acton minute-men. How Major But
trick, seiziDg musket from fallen
comrade, cried, Fire, fellow-soldicrs,
for Gods sake, firel' and how the
command was obeyed with such effect
that his Majesty's soldiers turned and
run. These and many minor facts and
legends of the day are familiar to us
all, and VIC all know how Sam Adams,
as he and bold John Hancock were
making their way from Lexington,
cried out, ooh, what glorious morn
ing is this But the exact relation of
these incidents TO one another, or to
the history of April 10, as n whole, is
less firmly fixed in the minds of most,
and we are afraid that only a small
portion of our many readers could give
a connected account of the events of
the day BUTT is small blame to them
if they cannot, for precisely this rela-
ton Of the parts to the whole is what
the people Of Concord and Lexington
themselves cannot agree about The
carnestness with which they have
carried ON the controversy is really
delightful to sec. Learned ministers
and doctors and deacons hurl pamph.
lets at one another with the sublimest
gravity and glorious scorn, until the
world, which can see in the history of
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