The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-04-10
THE GRAY CHAMPION.
BY NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE,

THERE was once a time when New
England groaned under the actual pres
sure of heavier wrongs than those
which brought on the Revolution. James
the Second had annulled the charters of
all the colonies, and sent a harsh and
unprincipled soldier to take away our
liberties and endanger our religion. For
two years our ancestors were kept in
sullen submission by that filial love
which secured their allegiance to the
mother country. One afternoon in
April. 1889. Sir Edmund Andres and his
favorite counsellors, being warm with
wine, assembled the red-coats of the
Governors guard and made their ap-
pearance in the streets of Boston. The
roll of the drum, at that unquiet crisis,
seemed to go through the streets less as
the martial music of the soldiers than
as muster call to the inhabitants
themselves. A multitude by various
avenues assembled in King street, which
was destined to be the scene nearly a
century afterwards of another encounter
between the troops of Britain and a
people struggling against her tyranny.
Though more than sixty years had
elapsed since the Pilgrims came, this
crowd of their descendants still bore the
strong and sombre features of their
character. Meantime the purpose of the
Governor in disturbing the peace of tie
town, was almost the universal subject
of inquiry, and variously explained.
All this time the roll of the drum had
been approaching through Cornhill,
louder and deeper, till with reverbera-
tions from house to house, and the regu-
lar tramp of martial footsteps, it burst
into the street. A double rank of SOL
diers made their appearance occupying
the whole breadth of the passage, with
shouldered match locks and with
matches burning. so as to present a row
OF fires in the dark. The whole scene
was picture of the condition OF New
England, and the character OF her peo-
pie. On the one side the religious null
titude with their sad visages and dark
attire, and on the other the group of
despotic rulers with the High Church
man in the midst, all magnidcently clad,
flushed with wine. proud of unjust au-
thority and soothing, at the universal
groan; and the mercenary soldiers
waiting but the word to deluge the
streets with blood. showed the only
means by which obedience could be Sc
cured. 20 Lord of Hosts" cried voice
among the crowd, provide Champion
for Thy people,"
The crowd had rolled back and was
now huddled together nearly at the
extremity of the street; while the SOL
diers had advanced no more than a
third of the length. Suddenly there
was seen the figure of an old man, who
seemed to have emerged from among
the people, and was walking by himself,
along the center of the street, to confront
the armed band. He wore the old Puri-
tan dress. dark cloak and a steeple-
crowned hat, in the fashion of at least
fifty years before, and held a staff in
his hand to assist the tremulous gait of
age. When at some distance from the
multitude the old man turned slowly
around. displaying a face of antique
majesty rendered doubly venerable by
the hoary beard that descended on his
breast. He made a gesture at once of
encouragement and warning to the peo-
pie, then turned and drew near the ad.
vancing soldiers and as the roll of their
drum came full upon his ear, the old
man raised himself to a loftier mien,
while the decrepitude of age see med to
fall from his shoulders, leaving him in
gray but unbroken dignity. Thus the
aged form advanced on one side, and
the whole parade of soldiers and magis.
trates on the other, till, when scarcely
twenty yards remained between, the old
man grasped his staff by the middle and
held it before him. like leaders trun.
cheon.
Stand" cried he. The eye and face
and attitude of command. the solemn
yet arlike peal of that voice. fit either
to rule host in the battle field or to be
raised to God in prayer. were irresistible.
At the old mans word and outstretched
arm. the roll of the drum ceased and the
advancing line stood still. A tremulous
enthusiasm seized upon the multitude.
That stately form. combining the leader
and the saint. so gray. SO dimly seen, in