The L'Anse sentinel., 1907-05-25

the head OF the line, the spot where
he stood on that morning. The mus
ket and powder horn carved on it's
face point In the direction OF the bat
tie line, which ran along some eighty
men to the little knoll where Soldiers
monument now stands. Under the
horn and musket are carved his
brave and thoughtful words OF com
mand to his men as they stood before
receiving the British fire: 'Stand
your ground! Don't fire unless fired
upon! But II they mean to have a
war let it begin here!"
Something OF the spirit OF those
days thrilled in the heart as we read
those lines and walked over the very
ground where that little band ol
freemen stood for liberty. The
words OF Lowell came to me: Free.
dom, oh, fairest OF all the daughters
OF Time and Thought. -
How much was involved 10 the
giving OF that command on that
morning. What depths must have
been stirred that eighty men should
dare to stand against the majesty OF
the British Empire. These meu in
the eyes OF the imperial law were
rebels. They risked the gallows. 1t
was the sublime strength of noble
conviction that sustained them.
That they might be facing immediate
death they well knew, but they well
knew also that he who stands for q
principle must be willing to take his
life in his hand.
"They went where duty seemed to
call,
They scarcely asked the reason
why;
They only knew they could but
die,
And death was not the worst of all. :"
This is the true spirit of martyr
dom.
This action was well considered,
deliberate step, lacking entirely any
element Of rashness. For days and
weeks before it had all been careful
Iy planned. The immediate occasion
was an emergency, but for that
emergency there had been thought
ful, systematic aud prayerful prep
aration.
Nor was there any element OF ven.
geance here. AS the poet says:
"No maddening thirst OF blood had
they,
No battle cry was theirs who set
Against the alien bayonet
Their homespun breasts in that old
day "
The more marvellous was their con
duct in that they could have had
none OF that moral support which
might have come from knowledge oil
what the outcome was to be. For,
the poet tells Us:
''No seers were they, but simple men,
It's vast results the future hid
The meaning of the work they did
Was strange and dark and doubtful
then"
They followed simply and trustfully
that inner voice, which they believed
to be the voice of their God.
Every freeman that took his stand
that morning on Lexington Common
had loaded his gun not with bullets
only, but with q principle. That
principle was the majesty of the law
not of men made law, but the law OF
the British constitution, as inter
preted by the patriots in the light oi
Gods laws-the higher law And
when at the command of Captain
Parker he fired, he did so not t.
bring down only man, but a sys-
tem-a system as he conceived It, of
misguided men, a system OF oppres
sion, hostile to liberty, which took
from him his property without his
consent, which imprisoned and tried
him without due process Of law, and
which, when carried to its logical
sequence, made him slave.
We walked over 10 the old ivy
Soldiers monument, itself a
relic OF those days, having been
erected in 1899. Within the iron
railing lie the bones OF those who
fell on that eventful morning. Origi-
nally they lay 10 the old churchyard
but were brought here in 1885 and
placed in stone vault in the rear
Df the monument. In front of this
IN 1924 Lafayette stood
and school children scattered flowers
NJ his feet. What thoughts on that