The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1912-12-26
DO YOUR LEVEL BEST.

Standing at the grave Of General
Stark this morning a little incident re-
lated l believe by DR.. Hale, came to my
mind which may still be useful to some
young man In shaping an earnest, pur-
poscful life. General Burgoyne had
spent June and July Of 1777 in organ
ling and equipping an army Of 10, 900
IN Canada, intending to descend upon
Albany, from a junction at New York
with Howe and so isolate the New
England states from the rest of the
country. Ticonderoga, Mount Hope
and Fort Edward were captured, but
Bennington vas his Waterloo.
General Stark, with his hastily raised
brigade, met h British forces at Ben
nington. having left orders for Col.
force from Manchester as rapidly as
possible. During the early part of the
action August 16, 1777, the British
were driven back. but some Hessian
reinfercements arriving. the contest
was renewed. Stark pulled out his
watch saying, "They ought to be here
and Just at the moment Warmers
drums were heard, and his men, though
few in number, a an extra supply
of arms, and firing right and left they
day.
On his way over the hills, Colonel
Warmers horse. a high-spirited animal.
had lost a shoe and 1t was absolutely
necessary in that rocky country to have
1t replaced. Fastening down to a little
hamlet of two or three houses, a store
and a blacksmith shop, they found the
smiths shop closed and no one in the
village but some women n a lame
1~6-year-old boy. "All the men have
gone to the army" said he, but I could
do nothing"
The boy saw the situation. 'Tve
blown the bellows for Peter and some
times helped him a little, may be I can
help you." Try" said the horseman,
do your level best. my boy, but don't
Lighting the fire, the boy hunted up
three nails, made the other five, fitted
a shoe to the delicate footed beast-a
soldier blowing the bellows meanwhile
nailed 1t on and dropped with sheer
* na,n as and excitement as he drove
the officer, as he slipped some money
into the boys hand, and
But a soldier stayed behind a min
ute and said to the boy: Perhaps
you don't know what you have done
today. o work has been worth that
of a dozen soldiers. That man whose
horse you shod is Colonel Warner"
Possibly the boy did not grasp then
the full importance Of what he had
done, but when he afterwards learned
that warner arrived just in time to
save the battle of Bennington where a
detachment Of Burgoyne's army was al
most annihilated-that Burgoyyle him
self was thunderstruck-all his plans
for dividing the American army
ruined-that in less than so days more
he was hemmed in at Saratoga by
Gates, n in another 80 days obliged
to c~apitulSte and surrender his army,
now reduced to 5000 prisoners OF war,
that this released the American troops
for service elsewhere. opened the way.
for the treaty which brought the assist
ance OF France, raised the hopes Of the
nation, assured Europe of our ulti-
mate Independence, and was really the
hrst link In the chain which ended in
CORVALLIS surrender at YORKTOWN
the boy could truly think that, lame
and useless as he thought he was, he
had a hand in shaping the destiny of
the revolution.
Bennington was the harbinger OF
Saratoga and Greasy gives Saratoga
as n OF the fifteen decisive battles