Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1909-04-15
THE LIFE OF PAUL REVERE.
Sketch of a Famous Patriot of Revo'
Iutionary Times.

Through ttngfellow we have heard OF
"the midnight ride of Paul iIl ere" and
a few cherished pieces OF Silverware beaT-
ing his mark have told us of his trade; but
we have been slow to realize the remark
able abilities and attainmentS OF this ar
dent patriot, and the extent and import
ance of the services he rendered in the
cause of liberty before and after his men,
orable ride.
His origin and life are filter for romance
than bald biography, and await the writer
who shall by mingling art with history re-
produce the spirit and influence which no
mere chronicle of his achievements can
portray. His sphere was outside that OF
great leaders OF statecraft and battle, but
il was none the less effective and indis-
pensable; in the emergencies OF the early
days, before events had shaped the pol
icy of union, he was the ready arm to ex-
ecute the will of Hancock, Adams and
Warren, and was often as well their guide
to the temper and resources Of the body
polite, of which he was an undiSputed
leader
Oppression drove his ancestors from
their native home in France, but the spirit
which they bequeathed him was undaunt-
ed, and under the rugged influence of a
new country met new oppression with
determined resistance. II is significant OF
the transition from the French Huguenot
refugee to the American citizen that APP
poloS Rivoire, who was born in France
in the year 1902, and when thirteen years
Of age arrived in Boston to be apprenticed
to goldsmith, in his early manhood mod
flied his name to Paul Revere to suit the
convenience OF neighbors whose Saxon
tongues but lily rendered the subtletieS of
his patronymic. He was sent here
and apprenticed by an uncle who had
emigrated to Guernsey and whom he had
sought on his departure from France.
His allegiance to his adopted country was
completed when, in the year 1929 as an
established goldsmith, he was married TO
Deborah Hitchborn, native OF Boston.
They had many children, but il is with the
third, the Paul Revere OF American his
tory, born December twenty-firSt, 1874,
that we are concerned.
He received his education from the ia
nous master Tiieston at "North Grammar
School," and then entered his fathers
shop to learn the trade OF goldsmith and
silversmith. The varied operation of
such work, more especially at a time when
appliances were few and primitive, de-
veloped his mechanical powers, while
natural refinement of taste and talent for
drawing found stimulative exercise in
designing and embellishing with the grav-
er the product of the shop. His abilities
in the latter early led him to practice cop
perplate engraving, and it was through
this channel that his influence on the po-
litical life Of the time first began to be
felt. Pictorial Illustration for publication
in those days was limited to a very few
processes. Wood engraving had been
highly developed by few great masters,
but as commonly practiced was very
crude and unsatisfactory. Lithography
was not yet invented, and so copperplate
engraving, which we are now accustomed
to associate with work of a i1ore luxu-
rious sort, was the most available means
of disseminating the caricattrcS and al
legories that always have formed an es-
sential part of an appeal to the judgment
of the people. To-day the execution and
publication of such for great newspaper
would be matter of but few hours !;
then the plates were slowly and labor
iously wrought, and prints slowly made,
but from the very rarity thus engendered
came corresponding importance, and to
these embodiments OF patriotic sentiment
may be traced much of the enthusiasm OF
the Colonial rights. The imposition and
repeal of the detested Stamp Act were the
subjects OF some of his earliest efforts in
this field, and they achieved an immediate
popularity. Later his illustration of the
"Boston Massacre" March 5, ITO, when
the British troops shot down Crispus At
tucks and his friends on King (now State)