Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1883-07-18
CHILDREN'S COLUMN.
A Brave Girl.

Washington were watching each
others movements near New York,
General Schuyler, having resigned his
command on account of unjust charges
made against him, was staying at his
house, which then stood alone outside
the stockade or wall of Albany. The
British commander, therefore, seeing
his opportunity, sent out John Walter
Meyer, with party of Tories and In
dams, to capture Gen. Schuyler.
When they arrived at the outskirs
of the city they learned from a Dutch
laborer that the generals house was
guarded by six soldiers. The Dutch
man, the minute the band was out of
sight, took to his legs and warned the
general of their approach.
Soon after a servant announced that
here was strange man at the back
door who wished to see the general.
Schuyler, understanding the trap,
gathered his family in one of the upper
rooms, and giving orders that the doors
and windows be barred, fired pistol
from one of the top-story windows to
alarm the neighborhood,
The guards, who had been Longing
in the shade of a tree, started to their
feet at the sound of the pistol; but alas,
too late for they found themselves
surrounded by a crowd of dusky fig
ures, who bound them hand and foot
before they had time to resist.
And now you can imagine the little
group collected in that dark room up
stairs; the sturdy general standing re-
solutely at the door, with his gun in
his hand, and his black slaves gathered
around him, each with some weapon;
and at the other end of the room, the
women huddled together, some weep
ing, some praying. Suddenly a crash
is heard which chills the very blood
and brings wildly to each ones mind
the tales of Indian massacres so COM
mon at that day. The band had broken
in at one of the windows.
At that moment Mrs. Schuyler,
springing to her feet, rushed toward
the door for she remembered that the
baby, only a few months old, having
been forgotten in the hurry of the flight,
was asleep in its cradle on the first
floor. But the general, catching her in
his arms, told her that her life was of
more value than the child's, and that,
if any one must go he would. While,
however, this generous struggle was
going on, their third daughter. gliding
past them, was soon at the side of the
cradle.
All was black as night in the hall,
except for a small patch of light just
at the foot of the stairs. This came
from the dining-room, where the In
dams could be seen pillaging the
shelves, pulling down the china, and
quarrclling with one another over theiT
ill-gotten booty.
How to get past this spot was the
question, but the girl did not hesitate.
She reached the cradle unobserved, and
was just darting back with her pre-.
cious burden when, by i'll luck, one of
the savages happened to see her.
Whiz went his sharp tomahawk with
in few inches of the haby's head, and
cleaving an edge of the brave girls
dress, stuck deep into the stair-rall.
Just then one of the Tories, seeing
her fit by, and surprising her to be
servant, called after her, "Wench,
wench; where is your master =" She,
stopping for moment, called back
"Gone to alarm the town !" anu, hur.
rying on, was soon safe again with her
father upstairs.
And now, very nearly all the plum.
der having been secured, the band was
about to proceed with the real object
of the expedition, when the general
raising one of the upper windows
called out in lusty tones, as if com
handing large body of men: Come
on, my brave fellows Surround
the house Secure the villains who
are plundering ~ The towards
knew that voice, and they each
and every one of them took to the
woods as fast as their legs could carry
them, leaving the general in possession
of the field.
The old Schuyler house looks now
as it looked then, except that the back
wing for the slaves has been torn down
and some few alterations have been
made around the place; but when you
are shown the house, you can still see
the dent in the stair-ral made by that
Indians Ratchet more than a hundred
years ago.--St. NichOiaS.
Peter the Great.
Ia ...,.. 1;