The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1897-05-03
nov; ..s..s,ss, !, NJ s, veg ,eyfully. III.

NOV, ssoaining, nos yay toyfully, hi
pistol, and came on bshind
TIE rsdooat felt sure that chs mysterious
eomms9d must be obeyed. Once before
he had heard thai. Quaker "thse, and the
memory was most clear, II not most pieas-
ant. When frst brought 30 England from
his German home, be had, when given
over 10 ale and ale Allied companions, tried
to break up one Of the peaceful meetings
Of some Quakers. He had vivid rsoollec-
tion OF Q young man In . ooflarless coat,
who, following him out Of the Mttle meet
Ing house, had said, although IL is to the
great hurt Of my soul, 1t may be to the
betterment Of thine; therefore / shall try
to drive satan out OF thee" and had there
upon given him such thrashing that 1t
hurt him yet to think of II.
With many muttered oaths and specula-
lions as to who his captors could be, the
Hessian strobe along, making no effort to
escape, for he heard the clink Of the sword,
and where it was he felt the pistols must
be also.
A strange and most ludicrous picture
the trio presented, as they marched one
after another down the path toward the
river, over the fields where the shocks of
corn stood In the golden October sunshine,
and the pumpkins lay changing from green
to yellow. Down through the rich mead
ows, shaded here and there by great oaks
and tulip trees, they marched and through
the spioewood thickets close by the water
side.
At last they emerged from the bushes
into an open grove, beside which rippled
ppa a
trees were the white tents and the nom
descript lean-tos of the Continentals' camp
No sooner was the queer procession seen
than it was surrounded by laughing
cheering crowd of soldiers, for discipline
was not strict in those days, and the mer-
riment was redoubled when the HessiaD,
daring at last TO look around, went wild
with rage and ohagrin upon discovering
the size of his oaptors.
But David and Ezra were on their dig.
nifty, and without smile they brought
the prisoner up to where the gray haired
colonel stood, drawn from his tent by the
commotion. David there called out, lust
as he had heard the soldiers do: HALT,
prisonerl Attention. He then brought
the great sword to his shoulder and salut-
ed with the pistol, Ezra following suit
what Is this, boysf" said the colonel,
with kindly smile. "Haye you been
raiding King Georges camp and brought
back prisoner"
''Ho," answered David, "but, thee SEES
this soldier was sleeping in our barn, and
had killed our chickens, and probably
meant to do more, go we got his sword and
pistols and made him come down here to
thee, and'--
Here Ezra broke in: "Thee won't tell
mother, will thee3 For she would think 1t
was fighting, and then Friend Cope would
speak about us in First day meeting"
Ezra's voice was drowned by q roar of
laughter from the circle of soldiers, and
the colonel, smiling, promised to make 1t
all right with their mother by going home
with them and telling her what brave
boys she had, If they would first honor
him by taking dinner in camp at which
the boys were struck with pride and en-
barrassment in way wonderful to see
That dinnerl The boys looked back to
1t 7" pride for the rest Of their lives.
How, they toasted their country, and Wash
lngton, and the army, and everything else
they could think Of, in sweet Delaware ci-
der, and how, much to their own confu-
sion, they were toasted themselves
But the browning touch of all came
when the Hessian, who had recovered his
spirits after hearty meal, entered, at
ended by his guards, and begged leave in
'ery bad English to shake his two captors
~ the hand and asked permission to pre-
ent David with the sword and Ezra with
he pistols which they had held before I'M
Ter different circumstances, saying that
hey were from "vun old soldier to two
oung vuns." So he was good hearted
iessian after all
That sword and those pistols, after do
ng even better service than before for their
ountry In the war of 1912, now hang in
n old colonial mansion on the banks of
he Brandywine, and many youth has
zen inspired to true patriotism by tho
tory of how his ancestors used them in
he days gone by.-Henry S. Candy in
'outh's Companion.