Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-04-30

lublT ONu liNlUH-ltdft
dent fortune and you ensure their destruc
ton. Having thus made your will. glC,
outright all you wish to the various chari-
! ties you deem worthy of your notice. Do
it now. The mex. hour Is not your own
Does this meet your views? With kind re-
CARDS to Mrs Smith,
| am ever yours,
- April 1875. JOHS JOHNSON
EAlracIs from xr. CGrtls's Grafton at Concord.
THE ALARM.
IL was brilliant April night The VIII
ter had been unusually mild and the spring
very forward The hills were already
green. The early grain waved in the fields,
and the air was sweet with blossOmlng or
chards. Already the robins whistled, the
bluebrd sang, and the benedction of peace
rested upon the landscape Under the
cloudless moon the soldiers silently march
ed, and Paul Revere swiftly rode. galloping
through Mediord and West Cambridge,
rouslng every house as he went, squirting
for Lexington and Hancock and Adams,
and eyading the British patrols who had
been sent out 70 stop the news. Stop the
news Already the village churches were
beginning 10 ring the alarm, a. the pulpits
beneath them had been ringing 1t for many 4
year. In the awakening hours lights Hash
ed from window to window Droms beat
family far away on every side. Signal guns
flashed and echoed. The wateh-dogs bark
ed. the cocks crew. Stop the news Stop
the sunrise The murmuring night trem
bled with the summons - earnestly ex-
nocted, 50 dread, 50 desired.
TIE RETREAT FROM CONCORD.
/ " hen Col Smith ordered the retreat.
/ although he and his officers may have had
D IaI haL
| them in the contempt Of regulars for the
militia. But from tie moment Of the firing
at Merriam Corner they were undeeeived.
The landscape was alive with armed men.
IleY swarmed through every wood-?ath
and bY-way. across the pastures. and over
the hills. Some came up in order along
the roads, a. from Reading and Billerica,
from East Sudbury and Bedford. and John
Parker company from Lexington waited
IN a woody deti.e 10 avenge toe death Of
their comrades. The British column march
ed steadily on, while from trees, rocks and
fences, from houses, barns and sheds, blazsd
the witherIng American fire. The hills
echoed and flashed. The woods rang. The
road became an endless smbuscade OF flame.
The Americans seemed 10 the appalled, Brit
ish troops TO drop from the clouds, to
spring from the earth. With every step
the attack was deadlier, the danger more
imminent. For some time discipline and
the plain extremity Of the peril sustained
the order OF the British line. But the still
Ing clouds OF dust, the consuming thirst,
the exhaustion OF utter fatigue, the wagons
tall OF wounded man moaning and dying
matly pressing through the ranks to the |
front, the constant falling of their COM
rades, officers captured and killed. and, !
through all, the fatal and incessant shot Of 1
an unseen foe, smOte with terror the |
naughty column, which, shrinking, bleed /
ing, watering, reeled through Lexington /
pAnic-strieken and broken. Their officers,
seeing the dire extremity, fought their way
q the front, and threatened the men with
death if they advanced. The breaking line
recoiled but little, and even steadied under
one OF the sharpest attacks Of the day. For
NOT = yet were Hessians hired to enslaTe
Americans, and it was English blood and
pluck On both sides.
TIE MINUrE-xAN.
Tie minute-man OF the American revolu-
tll-WhO was he lie was the husband /
and father who. bred to love liberty, and to
know that lawful liberty Is the sole guaran-
" 10 peace and progress, left the piow in
the iurrow. and the hammer on the bench.
and. kissing wiie and children, marched 10
cic OF be free. He was the son and lover.
the plain say youth Of the singing school
and the village choir, whose heart beat to
arms for his country. and who felt. though
he could not say with the old English ca
Waller -
:, could not love thee, delrc, s. much.
Loved not honor more"
The minute-man of the Revolution lie
was the Old. the middle-aged and the young.
lie was Captain Miles of Concord. who said
that be went to battle a. ne went 70 church.
lie was Captain Davis of Acton, who re-
proved his men for testing on the march.
lie was Deacon Josiah Haynes of Sudbury.
% years old who marched with his company
10 the south bridge at Concord, then Joined
n the hot pursuit TO Lexington, and fell
as sloriously as Warren at Banker Hill. lie
was James Hayward OF Acton, - years
old, foremost in that deadly race from Con-
cord - ChariestOwn, who raised his piece
lt the same moment with British soldier.
each exclaiming You are dead man -
Inc BriiOn dropped, shot through the heart
James Hayward fell. mortally wounded.
. Father he said, Il started with
-orty balls | have but three left never
Ind such days work before. Tell mother
not 10 mourn too much and tell her whom
love more than my mother, that am
not sorry that | turned out" This was
The minute-man of the Revolution. the rural
citizen trained in the common school. the
,larch, and the town meeting. who carried
bayonet that thought, and whose gun
oaded with principle, brought down. not
! man, but system
me AMERICAN PRIMARY.
No other practicable human Institution
las 02en devised or conceived to secure the
ust ends OF local government 50 felicitous
IS tne town meeting. 1t brought together Z
ne rlch and the poor, the good and the !
al, and gave character, eloquence and
eadership iull and free play IL enabled !
uperl1r experience and sagacity to govern. I
nd virtue and intelligence alone are rulers |
y divine right. The tories called the reso- !
ht'on Tor committees OF correspondence the
ouree OF the rebellion. but it was only 4 c
9rrespondenee of town meetings From I
hat correspondence came the Confederation !
1 the colonies. Out OF that rose the closer. :
majestic union OF the constitution. the
reaier phenix born from the ashes OF the I
ssseF, and the national power and prosDer I
iy, to-day, rest securely only upon the l
1unda'io1 OF the primary meeting. That c
. Nhere the duty of the citizen bsgins I
'esiect OF this is dislOyalty to liberty. No 5
9htTFanee Will supply its place, no excuse n
nsolYe the neglect; and the American il
no sgulity of that neglect is as deadly an o
neniy OF his country as the British soldier. II
century ago. "
THE PERIL OF TO-DAY.
Slavery had not been the fatal evil that il
as, II with Its abolition its CONSEQUENCES Ii
~ disappeared. Ii holds Us still in mort b
lH'n' I's dead hand Is strong, as its liv- il
lg power was terrible. Emancipation has n
III the republic exposed to a new and ex- o.
aordinary trial OF the principles and prac- ri
ces OF free government. A civilization b,
sung upon slavery, as formerly in part of IL
&c country, however polished and ornate. b,
necessarily aristocratic and hostile to re- m
lollcan equality while the exigencies of n,
lch society forbid that universal educa-
on which is indispensable to wise pcpalay
lvernment. Wlen war emaneipates the
aves and makes them equal citizens. the ~
noranee and venality which are the fatal :"
gacies OF slavery TO the subject class =. y,
neither white or black. and the natural ~
ienatl0n OF the master class, which alone a.
IS political knowledge and experience " "
ith all the the secret conspiracies, the ~
ekiess corruption. the political knayery. ~ ~
ringing naturally from such a situation -
I'd ending often in menacine disorder The, "a
ems TO invite the military Interference and ~
perylsion of the government-alI th;s o. i y.
m1lation OF difficulty and danger Laws ~ X
ram along the very fibre Of free institu- =.
ms For 1t suggests the two-iold cues u u
~, whether the vast addition of the Irno- d
pee oil the omaneipated vote to that of
IN grant vote may not overwhelm the
: aigen. vote oil the country, and whether MI
constant appeal to the central hand of o-
"er, however necessary it NAV seen. and
Whatever reason Of humanity and Justice SIC
may be urged. must not necessarily de- pr
10y tnas local self-reliance which was the Ia,
~ seed OF the American republic, and 49,
ally familiarize the country with that WI
'ployment of military power which is in mi
asistent with free institutions, and bold &c:
'ls'ance to which has forever consacrat- Of,
the spot on which we stand. "'
ine young nan who spelled the word :.