Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1893-05-18

COLONIES ARE, AND OUGHT TO BE, FREE
AND INDEPENDENT STATES John
Adams, OF Massachusetts,, seconded
the motion and a committee of five
was appointed to draw up a declara.
ton of independence. 1t was Thomas
Jefferson that wrote this strong and
torcible declaration. And now it was
submitted to congress for adoption.
The people knew that their destiny
was hanging in the balance. All day
the streets were crowded with anxious
men and women, impatiently waiting
to hear the decision. They surged
against the barred doors of the assem-.
bly, rooms and stood upon one
another's shoulders to peer in the win
dows.
"In yonder wooden steeple which
crowns the red brick state house stands
an old man, with white hair and sun.
burnt face. He is clad in humble at
tire yet his eye CLEANS as it is fixed
upon the ponderous outline of the bell
suspended in the steeple there. The
old man tries to read the incription
on that bell, but cannot. He
Is no scholar; he scarcely can spell
one of those strange words carved on
the surface of the bell.
''By his side, gazing in his face in
wonder, stands a haxen haired boy
with laughing eyes of summer blue.
"Come here, my boy; you are rich
mans child, you can read. Spell me
those words and I'll bless you, my
good childI'
"The child raised himself on tiptoe
and pressed his tiny hands against
ha halI onl paaI -, liy,,;nu tona, he
memorable words:
Proclaim liberty throughout all
the land unto all the inhabitants
thereof
"The old man ponders for a mo-
ment on those words; then gathering
the bov in his arms he speaks.
Look here, my child! Wilt do
the old man kindness? Then haste
you down stairs and wait in the hall
by the big door until a man shall give
you a message for me. A man with a
velvet dress and kind face will come
out from the big door and give you a
word for me. When he gives you that
word, then run upyonderin the street
and shout it upto me. Doyou mind?'
"It needed no second command. The
boy sprang from the old bellkeeper' s
arms anu IuTctueu uiS way uoWh Iue
dark stairs.
"The old bell-keeper was alone.
Many minutes passed. Leaning over
the railing of the steeple his face to-
ward Chestnut street, he looked anxi-
ously for that fair-haired boy. Mo-
ments passel-an hour-yet still he
came not. Impatiently the old man
shook his head and repeated: They
will never do it; they will never do 1t y
GAS the words were on his lips a
merry, ringing laugh broke on the ear.
There among the crowds on the pave
ment stood the blue eyed boy, clap,
ping his hands, while the breeze blew
his fiaxen hair all about his face, and
swelling his little chest he raised him.
self on tiptoe and shouted a single
word 'Ring!'
do you see that old mans eyes fire?
d. you see that wlthered hand grasp
ing the iron tongue to the bell? The
old man is young again; his veins are
filled with new life. Backward and
forward with sturdy strokes he swung
the tongue. The bell speaks out! The
crowd in the street hears it and break
forth in onelong shout. Old Delaware
hears it and gives it hack in the hur-
rah of her thousand sailors. The city
hears it and starts up from desk and
work bench, as though an earthquake
mad spoken.
"Yet still, while the sweat pours
from his brow, that old bell-keeper
hurls the iron tongue, and still boom
boom-boom-theb bell speaks to the
city and the world.
"Yes, as the old man swung the iron
tongue the bell spoke to all the world.
That sound crossed the Atlantic,
pierced the dungeons of Europe, the
workshops of England the vassal
| fields of France. Proclaim liberty
throughout the land and to all the in.
habitants thereof
"That iron tongue spoke to the
slave-bade him look from his toll
and know himself a man.
"That iron tongue startled the
kings upon their crumbling thrones.
"That echo was the knell OF king
craft and priestcraft, and all Other
crafts born of the darkness OF ages and
baptized in seas of blood.
| "Yes, the voice of that little boy
who, lifting himself on tiptoe, with his
f1axen hair blowing in the breeze
shouted 'Ring!' had deep and awfu
meaning in its infant tones.
"Yes, sturdy John Hancock, presi
dent of the congress had signed tn,
declaration of American independents,
i'm that bold hand which the king o
England could read without specta
cles,' and the other signatures followed
and our nation was born"
When the British foes approached
Philadelphia in 1777 the bell wa
taken down and carried to Allentown
to prevent its falling into the hands O
the enemy. In 1871 it was placed il
the brick tower of the state house
For more than fifty years the bell wa
rung on the anniversary of Indeper
dence day, when it cracked while rims
ing. For many years the old bell re
manned in silent dignity in the tower
when it was taken down and place
on a platform in Independence Hal
where it has ever since remained. Th
great bell was conveyed to New Or
; leans for the exhibition held there i
1884, and now 1t restsin the Pennsy
vania state building in the "Whit
) Cstr,