The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1881-05-26
STORY OF REVOLUTIONARY
TINES.

! u
this story, 1880, she was only a small
girl, who lived on plantation near th,
Santee River, in South Carolina. Sh,
was twelve years old, four feet ant
two inches high, and, for so young anC
so small person, she was as stanch
rebel as you could have found in al
America; for the War of Independence,
had been raging in the United State.
ever since Cynthia could remember.
When she was only five wears Ole
her little heart had beaten hard at the
story of the famous Boston Tea Par
ty," at which a whole ship-load of tes
had been emptied into the harbor be
cause stupid George III. insisted on ''a
threepenny tax
''And New York and Philadelphia
would "a done the same, but for the
ships turning tail, and going where they
came from. They've burned the stuf
in Annapolis. and it's spelling in tht
Charleston cellars. bless the Lord,'
said Mr.. Smith striking his heavy hand
on his knee. -''*3 rs 2al c,
"Hurrayp' shouted John, and Jack,
and William aud Ebenezer, CYNTHIA 5
brothers. "Hurrayr' echoed CYNTHIA.
as if she understood all about it. .a1
The following year, when England
shut up Boston Harbor with her t.Stamp
Act" never bit of rice did Cynthia
get to eat, for her father sent his whole
harvest North, as did many another
Southerner. fsas4yg-s ,t4,-.ss mr. i. 4.
After that, John went to Massachu-,
sets to visit Uncle Hezekiah, and the
next June they heard that he had been
shot dead at the battle of Bunker Hill.
Cynthia wept hot tears on her coarse.
homespun apron; but she dried them
in sort of strange delight when Jack,
all ON fire to take John place, insisted
on joining the Virginia Rifemen, and
following certain George Washington
to the war
"lt's Liberty or Death we have
marked on our shirts, and it's Liberty
or Death we have burned into our
hearts," Jack wrote home: at which
his mother wrung her hands, and his
father smiled grimly. -
Just wait, you two other boys,,,
said the latter; swell have it hot and
heavy at our own doors before We
through n
That was because VIII and Ebenezer
wished to follow in Jacks footsteps.
Cynthia longed to be boy, that she
might indulge in private skirmish
with the "Britlshers on her own ac-
count
But she had little time for even patri-
otto dreamings and warnings. There
was deal OF work to be done in those
days.
Cynthia helped to weave cloth for the
family gowns and trousers. and to spin
and knit yarn for the paternal and fra
ternal stockings. This kept her very
busy until 1776, when two great events
took place. e.,,.4e---'''
One was the signing Of the Declara-
ton of Independence; the other was
the birth OF red and white calf in Mr..
Smiths barn. Which was of the most
to Cynthia it is hard to saw.
10 be sure she tingled from head to
loot at her father ringing tones, as he
read from a sheet of paper some one
had given him, Cali men are born free
and equal;" but she also went wild
With JOY when her father said. lyon
may keep that bossy for your own. if
on IL agree to raise her, CYNTHIA. -
Cynthia took the calf into her Utmost
neart, and she named her " Free-'n-
equal; That was the way the words
sounded to her NO. -
II ever an animal deserved such a
name, this was the beastie. She scorned
Ill authority. kicked up her hind LEGS
md went careering round the planta.
lon at her own sweet will, only com
ne to the barn when Cynthia's call was
heard. " 90
Free equal was Cynthiasg only
playmate, for no children lived within
TX miles. As the calf grew into a cov
he more intimate and loving were the
wo. 10 Free-'n'- equal did CYNTHIA
'ontide all her secrets and chiefly did
he inform her of her sentiments in re-
,ard to the war. She even consulted
lef as to the number of stitches TO he
nut on pair of wristlets for Jack. who
7 TINS winter of 1777-78, had gone with
General Washington to Pennsvlyania'
MAS. Jack never wore those wristlets.
lie was one of the many who Law down
o dle OF cold and hunger in that awful
alley Forge. Cynthia believed thai
zee equal understood all the sor.
ow OF her heart when she told her the
itiful news. $50 = 1n
Quite as much did she sh are her iov
Ihen " nthia came flying to the barn
nth the joyful tidings that British Bur
oyne had surrendered at Saratoga.
Agaln the JOY vanished. and CYNTHIA
oooeu her woe into F'ree-'n' -enuars I
earwhen Sir Henry Clin- /
On N captured Charleston, only twenty
llies away. 4LissIz sr5
But she sobbed even more a few
lonths later. Esa sSk
For General Gates has come down
South Carolina, Free n equal. and |
'tner and Will and Ebenezer have GONE I
fight in his army" |
Free eqnatshook her head solemn
at that, and herlong, low +" Moo-or
'id' plainly enough: "What's to be- /
,me OF the rest of us, my poor little (
Iistress?'' F- -'''i0
g nthia brushed away her tears in a
yin lipr eSA' liz q