The advocate., 1895-04-17

WHITTIER.
AT intervals the boom of the Independence can
non shook the JAIL and at times the ear of Nathaniel
Stone caught the thrilling sounds Of drum and fife
playing the martial airs to which he had so often
marched. AS he gazed through the grated window
his eye rested upon the flag beneath which he had
marched against the British, beneath whose folds he
had seen many comrade fall; the flag upon which
he had so often looked, while courage rose, during
that winter of awful hardships at Valley Forge.
What mockery was this holiday to himl Inde-
pendence had been achieved. By eight weary years
Of sublime courage and ndescribable pEiVation, by
thousands of lives by horrible mutilation of still V
ing men, the Declaration of Independence had been
affirmed to the nations of the earth; and ten years
after its promulgation the declaration ''that all men
are created equal" and "sre endowed by their Gre
ator with certain insliensbe rights, among which
''are life liberty and the pursuit Of happiness, had
come to practically mean the Revolutionary soldier in
prison for debt, under government controlled by
men who had stayed at home and grown rich while
patriots had gone to the front and got poor; the
Revolutionary soldier in jail for poverty, while rich
men were celebrating the victory he had helped
achieve. With the hand the war had left him, the
veteran Of the Revolution brushed tear from his
cheek as the procession, with the flag and the mar
tR band in front, approached the jail on its line Of
march to the grove but his disposition to weep
turned to burning rage when in the first carriage he
saw Isaac Stilwell-the very man who had shut him
up In prison to die.
Leaving the children with friend at the grove
for Mrs. Stone did not wish them to carry the re-
membrance of having seen their father in prison
Sydney and his mother visited Nathaniel Stone,
arriving not long after the procession had left the
town. 1t was fortunate that they had come early,
for as it was holiday the jsilor did not wish to be
put to any unnecessary trouble in the afternoon and
no visitors could then gain admittance- without
consideration for the privilege.
The meeting between husband and wife was affect
ing, as first meetings in prisons always are. Mrs.
Stone made anxious inquiries to how her husband
had slept, whether he had eaten all his supply of
food whether he had sufficient tobacco, and whether
she could in any way add to his comfort. She told
him why she had not brought the children and he
commended her thoughtfulness and urged her to let
them have full enjoyment Of the pleasures they had
so eagerly anticipated. In answer to an inquiry
from his anxious wife, the old man said
''I cannot tell. may never leave this place. 1t
will require money to get me out, and where are we
to get itP"
Then Sydney spoke:
''There is something that even yet, thank God, is
more powerful than money. Lead and bayonets
were potent enough to overcome naughty king and
they are not too weak to put down proud
upstart aristocrsts even believe that sledgeham-
mers and pick-axes might serve as well as money to
get you out of here"
"Sydney--where did you come by such Scandalous
notOnsp On this day devoted to patriotism hear
YOU tax sol DO you imagine would leave this
spp "a iail,bzsaksrg dld not 80 through q