The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-21

by writing magazine articles ard plays l It was short commons for him and his 1 beautiful Theo, borne through many
 many years with patience and courage
 and hope. Then one day the King died. and the royal death changed Georges
 whole life, for Sir Miles Warrington l caught cold at the funeral and followed
 his monarch So George Warrington's l lawyer came to him one morning and ad-
 dressed him as Sir George and poor | George Warrington, playwriter, became 1 Sir George Warrington with 4O00 Of the | richest arces In Norfolk.
 To Sir George when he did not need it,
 came Madam Esmonds forgiveness and
 her prayer that she might see her son l and daughter ere she died.
 Many years passed, however, before Sir l George finally went to Virginia He found
 a different America than the one he had | left The colonsts had begun to conf1s- l cate the tea imported from England rather l than pay the tax. The Lees, the Ran
 dalphs, the Washingtons, even Harry Warrington, much to the wrath of that
 uncompromising loyalist, his mother. had | signed rebellious proclamations. In the face of her neighbors she fn- l sisted on Haunting her royalist opinions and at every opportunity she cried, God I save the King till the mob attacked her | town house in Richmond and drove her to
 seek refuge in Castlewood, where she held 1 forth as doughtily as ever l George did not share his mothers un-
 reasoning hatred of the colonial side. He
 saw the mischief that English politicians, l and chief of all, the English King had done. But he thought the colonies were
 wrong for all that, and, though he wanted
 to go back to Norfolk again, he felt that l duty forced him to stay In his native land | and uphold England's cause. 1 One day Harry Warrington rode north | to join Gen. washington. Soon came | Lexington; and, the provinces, with | thrillOof wrath and fury, heard of the
 blood drawn there. The yirginian farm 1 CTS and country folk rushed toward the
 north; and George Warrington joined the English forces.
 By the middle of August following that famous Fourth of July when the colonies | broke away forever, George Warrington | was with MT. Howe before New York. 1 Gen. Washington had come over with
 almost his whole army to fight on a small | island where every British officer knew 1 the Americans were to be beaten, and | whence there was chance for escape. | A hundred British frigates were in the l harbor. George Washington fought His | nasty levies were utterly overthrown. His | artillery was taken. The remnants of his
 army huddled into an intrenched camp after the rout.
 ''They cannot escape" said the British I general.
 | That night whole army moved under | the British eyes in one single night to the mainland without the loss of a sin gle man. In the morning the whole Con-
 tinental force had crossed the East river, l and Englands empire In America had
 slipped away.
 | Sir George was badly wounded In the battle of Long Island. So it happened | that his next fight was almost year aft | erward, when Sir Henry Clinton conduct | ed an expedition up the Hudson river to | save Burgoyne. As usual, it was too late. But the force to which George was
 attached took Fort Clinton after hot fight.
 On the next day he was sent to the American general up the river with message. The American officer who met him was Harry. Then they learned that ] they had been engaged on opposite sides the night before. The two prayed hum. | bly, thanking God that they had not | met; and that night they slept side by 1 side as when they were boys. When Sir George Warrington parted from his brother 1t was with the deter imitation to withdraw at once from the
 fraticidal strife. Harry stood on the
 shore till his figure grew dim before his l misty eyes. Amongst our cold English men," thought George, "can hope 10
 meet with friend like thee? How brave you are and how modest: how eager to | S66 OlucTS uleTltS, uoW ulllQShl Ol JOuI ownl'
 A few weeks afterward he returned to l England with his wife. and the fleet that | bore them took the news of the great 1 disaster at Saratoga.
 | "Too late, always too late!" thought George. "Our supplies and reinforce- | ments always too late! Our fleet ap- | pears off Yorktown too 1ate-just after Cornwallis surrenders Burgoyne has d way of retreat open and reserves upon l 1t too late Our chiefs sQuabble ~ | Save a very few, very few indeed, the l abuse each other in their own defense. | actors in these great tragedies do not bear to be scanned too closely. The | oh iefs are often no better than ranting Quacks; the heroes ignoble puppets. The prize is not always to the brave. In
 this revolution it certainly falls, for once and for wonder, to the most de- | serving; but who will know his real II victories?
 His great and surprising triumphs are not over the enemy, but over Con gress; over hunger and disease; over 1 lukewarm friends or smiling enemies in his own camp. whom his great spirit has to meet and master. Here Is a 1 general who beats us with no shot at times, and no powder and no money, and his courage never capitulates. Through all the doubt and darkness tho danger ana long tempest oI tne war, think it is only the American leaders
 indomtable soul that has remained en- | tirely steady"
 And in after years Sir George War rington and General Harry Warning ] ton and General Lambert and Parson Blake, who wore a red coat at Mon- mouth, met to fight the battles again over their bottle at Warrington, in Norfolk.
 l "Ah, if James Wolfe had been aliya for 20 years more!' says Lambert.
 "Ah, sir" cries Hal, you should have heard the general talk about himv
 What general" asks George inno- gently with chuckle.
 MY General" says Harry, standing up with a full glass. His Excellency, General George Washington"
 With all my heart!" cries Sir George | Warrington.
 Next Sundays one-page classic will
 be "The Red Rover" by James Feni-
 more Cooper.
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