Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1892-11-30

The story is told in two lines in tbt
school histories-how three girls, Iivinp
ON the island called Martha's Vine
yard, blew up Liberty pole to pre-.
vent IFS being taken for ships spar
by the British.
/ always knew there must be a vol.
ume Of romance shut mp in those two
lines, concerning which | could only
dream and speculate until I read GER
tain old yellow letters in the archives
of Balsall Hall, Warwickshire In these
letters, one Of the Three Fair Rebels,
named Barbara, tells the whole story
TO her cousin Edward.
I he incident took place soon after
the great and famous Boston tea-party.
when a company of the gentlemen OF
that town, disguised as Mohawk
Indians, went down to Grffiu's Wharf,
and boarding the vessel laden with the
tea upon which a tax of threepence
the pound had been laid by George
III, tumbled it chest by chest INTO the
Laughing sea ;" - an object lesson
for that somewhat obstinate poten-
tate upon their favorite aphorism, "No
taxation without representation"
The contagiOn of this rebellious act
spread like wildfre, aud soon r. ached
the lovely island, lying south of Massa-
chusetts, within the influence of the
Gulf Stream. whereon Barbara lived.
At once, with one accord, the inhabi-
tants tlocked 70 the meeting house to
consider the action of the Boston gen.
tlemen, TO declare their approval of it,
and TO devise some way in which
they too could give expression to their
loyalty to the aforenRmed axiom, and
their detestation of George Ill and
his government. 1t was voted to raise
Liberty pole, and to bury at its base
such of the taxed tea as had found its
way on to their island.
And SO, writes Barbara, We went up
to the Dark Woods, Beatrix, Priscilla,
and |, with all the men and women, to
find tree tall enough and straight
enough and fair enough to be our brave
Liberty pole. We chose one, towering
like Saul above his brethren5 and
in its top an eagle had builded her
nest; the proud, free bird which has
since been taken as its crest by Barba-
ra's country.
They hewed it down, each man tax
ing a tnrn at the axe, and it fell at
last with a mighty crash crushing a
some of the more superstiti, Us among
the women took for a bad omen; and
with its crash mingled the cheers of all
the men and women, boys and girls,
who stood round about.
The branches being Topped of, and
the huge trunk hewn INTO shape, twelve
pairs of oxen we're hitched to it, and it
was hauled to the summit of the high
hill On the slope OF which our village
lies, says Barbara for she is always
the speaker in this story-we following
all the way; and my father said it was
q grander sight than the Kings pro-
gress through Westminster, about
which my grandfather had often told
him and us. 1 do not see how that
can be, but then my father knows
A hole both broad and deep was
dug, and we brought our tea, every leaf,
for there were to be no lying Sapphiras
among us, to hold back part of the
price, as among the Boston women, some
of whom, it was rumored, took the tea
that had fallen unwiltingly into their
husbands top boots, when the chests
were broken open, and so made them
cups of tea and drank 1T l wonder it
did not choke them, the wicked baggag-
es
So every woman brought her tes-
whether it we're only a few DRAWINGS
or a whole chest like that of Mrs. Cap
tain Marchant-and tumbled it in, each
herself, and glorying in the doing it.
And then it was buried-my mother,
because she was the truest woman of
them all, they said, throwing in the
first shovelful of earth-buried with
the base of the Liberty pole many
feet below the surface.
When it was all done, we cheered
again, the bows throwing up their
caps, and we giils waving our aprons
and fuckers, till mother said, what
with the fog that was creeping in from
the Sound, and the fatigue and excite
ment, we would surely be i'll, and so
took 'Trix and me home much against
our wills. For girls must obey, as yon
know, cousin, though boys may some
times be permitted to have their own
way Not that / do not love to obey
my father and my mother; that is
quite another thing from obeyiDg the
red headed schoolmsster, whom and
whose ways ] bate. But my mother
SAYS honor must be paid to dignitariI
for their offire' cake, even though IN
their owc person they be disagree
able
From a sentence here and there in
Bari ara's lt ttels, l infer that though
she could not love the red-headed
schoolmasteI he found no difficulty in
cultivating that feeling for his fair
pupil.
The next day our mother and some
other of the women brought out flag
they lad secretly made, aud the mo-
ment | saw it | knew 1t was made OF my
mothers cherished wedding gown,
beautiful silk of heavens own blue, and
which she was keeping for 'Irlx and
ne, when We too shall marry. In one
corner was the red cross OF St George,
made from a scarf Mistress Vincents
husband had brought her from the
Fast Indies on hrs last voyage; on the
cross was embroidered pine-tree OF
New England
Some OF the men objected 10 the
cross, and would fsin have cut 1t out
bs Governor Endicott had once done
But my father laid gravely that we
had not yet broken u legiance with the
mother country; when we had,it would
be time enough to cut out the cross