Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1911-09-08

remarked Grandmother Hartman one
afternoon, asa lot Of us young folss
gathered about her and asked for s.o.
ry' a real, true story, and please might
y not be about the Revolution, for we
were sure there would be adventure in
1t then, and thus hesieged and pestered
poor old grandmother had begun.
"Well, there's whole volume Of ro.
nance in those two lines. and seeing
as bow you asked fol- story of Old
times, ! am going TO tell you just how
this young girl blew up liberty pole
o prevent its beng taken for Sims
spar by the British.
III wss way down in Martha's Vine.
yatd, an island just off the southern
coast OF Massachusetts, and 1t was only
few months before the Revolution
nroke cut. The whole country was ex.
cited over the tax on tea, and up ia
| session town a party of patriots, dis
guished as Mohawk Indians, had gone
ABOARD vessel that had recently ar
rived from Eng land and had tumbled
the hated stuff, chest by chest, INTO
! tue waters of the harbor-an object
lesson TO King George and all his Off
Gals. The report of this rebel act
reached in due time the little island
where young girl lived. | think we
shall call her Bessie, though that was
not her real name. The people of the
village were so excited over il that they
called meeting to take some action
regarding their approval of the act.
"fhey gathered IN the little meeting
house, and Bessie was there, you mag
be sure, though she was only fourteen,
among the young and Older people of
the island. There was not dissenting
voice to the vote of approval that was
taken upon the action of the Boston
patriots, and to give further expression
TO their detestation of the acts of King
George they voted to raise Liberty
pole, and to bury at its base sach of
the taxed tea as had found its way to
their island.
"a party Of boys and young men
went into the woods in search Of a
suitable tree for that purpose. They
found one towering Ii se Saul above his
brethren, veriiable monster, which
was felled and trimmed aud made
ready for erection. The whole island
was out on the day it was set up. they
had six yoke of oxen to draw the pond
erous pole to its place, and they made
regular holiday of the occasion.
Squire Emerson, the chairman of the
board of selectmen, managed the affair
and Elder Cummings was on hand to
lend religious character to the event.
son the height of the hill above their
village no had been dug, broad and
deep, and every housekeeper brought
what tea she had in the house, not a
leaf was kept back and it was all
dumped into the bottom of the hole
and few handfuls of earth thrown
| upon it. The pole was then raised into
its place, amid tumultuous cheers from
the boys, while the girls aud women
clapped their hands and waved their
handkerchief. But the shouting and
the clapping were nothing to that
which succeeded when the flag was
run up.
Sand this flag? 1t was of blue silk,
made of the cherished wedding gown
of the good clergyman's wife, and on
it in one corner the women had stitched
the red cross of st. George, made from
the scarf that Captain Vincent had
brought home 10 his wife his last voy-
age to the East Iudies. And on the
cross they had embroidered piue tree
of New England.
"You can have no idea how that flag
and Liberty pole were priced by those
men and women. The flag was only a
piece of silk and the pole was only a
straight stun of fragrant pine, but they
meant good deal. They were symbols
the pole especially, standing for tree
dom and pointing directly To heaven,
symbol also of seIf-denial for free
dom's saKe.
>"Even the young folks felt this and
understood it, and they loved and re-
verenced the old Liberty pole. And
after the war broke out and they heard
of the slaughter of patriots at Lexing-
ton and Concord, that towering SYM
Dol meant even more to them. The
war was a good ways from their doors
and no one ever dreamed of al injury
coming to their cherished Liberty pole.
They regarded it a sort Of holy shrine,
ana troops o. children used to waneer
up at The sunset hour and sing songs
beneath it as the sun went down.
"One morning as Bessie was spin
ming wool for the winters supply OF
stockings and mittens, saw great