Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-05-13


Tucker were leaning over the rail op
posite. Jefferson and Colonel Benja.
min Harrison Of Berkeley sat together
Just below Peyton Randolph, the pres.
ident.
Colonel Washington sat far back,
hands on knees, quiet and meditating,
and just below her Mr.. Thomas Nelson
shifted nervously in his seat, turning
his eyes now there, now here.
Well to the front sat Richard Henry
Lee of Chanhlly, "the gentleman Of
the silver hand" The black bandage
he wore over his hand fascinated her.
She had heard it said he wore it to
hide wound he got swan shooting on
the Potomac.
Her attention came back with start
as she heard the resolution in answer
to Jamaica that at is the most ardent
wish Of this colony, and we are per.
)uaded Of the whole continent of North
America, to see speedy return to those
aalcyon days when we lived a free and
aappy people," AS she looked down at
Henry, Anne saw that he was scrib-
bling on scrap of paper.
There was a hush as he arose and a
buzz Of expectancy as he mounted the
ostrum. He held in his hand the pa
Der upon which he had been scribbling.
Anne felt touch of disappointment
1T the cold, measured quality of his
lone. With that Pickering half smile
which meant dissent he moved an
amendment to the Jamaica resolutions
He read without gesture, in pronun-
eiation as plain as homespun. His voice
moved evenly, almost carelessly, over
the periods.
But as he progressed the assembly
invoke with q shock, and Anne saw
certain ripple almost of alarm surge
over 1t. Henry had spoken the phrase,
..our inestmable rights and liberties"
At that moment the speaker raised
his voice, and the last words came
ehallenge-like, the snap of whip. 1--WE
DO resolve, therefore, that this colony
be put in state of defense and that
there be a committee to prepare plan
for embodying, arming and disciplin-
ing such number of men as may be
sufficient for that purpose"
Anne looked at Henry in the black
clothes and tie wig which set off his
face and drew breath. The humility,
the diffidence, the modesty Of address
were gone, and in their place was stern
ness. Even his voice had grown harsh,
as though in menace, and on the con-
vention, uncertain and wayering, those
lovers Of the "halcyon days." the men
ace fell. 1t was the plunge from hest
tation to resolve, from expostulation to
powder. The fire had fallen!
(, Henry knew his men. All these years
he had been learning them, drawing
them out, questioning, story telling,
watching effects, experimenting in their
emotions.
His eye held every man within those
walls. He turned it upon Richard Hen
~ Lee, and he. his polished oratory for
got, hurled a blunt second at the chair.
Mr.. Pendleton, Colonel Harrison,
limping from the govt, and Colonel
Richard Bland got upon their feet with
arched frowns, barking that such ac-
don was premature" and at the word
Anne saw a pale scorn burn Henrys
face. These, who had so lately sat in
the Continental congress, prated Of
"dignifed patience" "hlial respect and
discretion" "the relentng Of the SOW
ereign," 1.-THE nakedness of the col
onies."
/ 80 n( or1 nQrf i'm rQPOl-
lection Of how Henry began in answer.
All impression was swallowed up in
that thrill which held every hearer. 1t
!, has been said that he spoke as Homer
wrote.
"Shall we shut our eyes-we wise
men struggling for liberty-and listen
! 10 the song Of the siren till she trans
forms us to beasts?' he cried. "Shall
we, having eyes, see not, and, having
ears, hear not the tidings Of our tenn
poral salvation? For my part will
know the worst, and I will provide for
It. I cannot judge the future but by
, the past, and by the past how shall
you solace yourselves? What is there
In the conduct Of the British ministries
Of the past ten years to justify hopper"
! As he went on passion crept over his
face like the wind that precedes q
storm; his lean neck was scarlet and
corded with white lines, and his eyes
! glared hollowly.
/ "Do you regard the insidious smiles
with which our petitions are received
Be not betrayed with q kissg'
Sitting in CULVER of feeling, with
fingers clasping the gallery ledge, Anne
felt the shaken pulses Of the audience.
Under the intrepid metaphor she saw
the messenger of the colonial assembly
standing before the kings attorney gen.
s, eral entreating that Virginia had souls
j to be saved as well as England, and
the british answer: Cd your souls
Make tobacco" She saw the colonies
supplicating on their knees, spurned
condemned, spit upon. She saw the
chains forging, navies building, armies
gathering. She saw British ministers
i like harpies, with cold eyes upon the
green Of the Americas.
/ Henry's voice had risen louder, more
intense, and his colorless features and
/ eyes Of fire had become terrible to look
upon. He sat upon the whirlwind
The very walls seemed to rock with vi
brations.
'There is no longer any room fol
hope. II we wish to be free, if we
mean to preserve inyiolate those priv
leges for which we have been SO lone
contending, il we mean not basely t.
abandon the struggle we have vowed
never to abandon until Its object be OBJ
tanned, then we must fight. We mus