Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-04

They will never do it! They viii
never do it"' stopped. grasped the bell
cord with all his might and began &c
rrng with his whole bursting soul
The Declaration of Independence had
been signed!
The story of the signing is familiar
to every schoolboy in the land. but
familiar as it is, it never fails to thrill
again in the telling, TO rouse the heart.
fire the imagination and send those
queer little shivers along the spine
which great, momentous human ac-
lions alone can produce.
In small room in independence
Hall, Philadelphia. the Congress sat
on that eventful day. Under consid-
Grafton by the delegates present was
the Declaration. 1t was the fourth
day of discussion and argument-f1rst.
by the Congress as a committee OF the
whole: second by the Congress itself.
1t was hot, as only July is hot in
this latitude SwarmS of flies buZZed
in and out the open windows, rising
from a nearby livery stable. Around
the silk -stockinged legs of the dele
gates they buZzed. on them they
alighted and through them they stung
their august and austere owners. The
delegates fought them off in vain:
they returned in greater numbers;
their pestiferous annoyances infiamed
the temperS of the patriots. The
delegates felt themselves stung to ac-
ton: il was flies and argument or
agreement and adjournment. Agree
ment followed and the flies were trans
ferred Immediately from their legs to
the kings ointment.
X 4
THE borderland between tears and
laughter is of such shadowy de-
sign that 1t Is scarcely perceptible. So,
also, between tragedy and comedy.
The nerves of the Congress were so
distraught on that tremendous day
that all of their emotions mingled on
the high plane in which they were
cast. In the moment Of seVering the
last political tie which united their re-
spective colonial governments to the
mother country the delegates found
momentary relief in jocose remarks
over their serious and solemn action.
There! John Bull can read my
name without spectacles and may dou
BILE his reward of $500 for my head.
That is my Defiance cried John Han
cock, as he affixed his name to the
Declaration in letters as bold as his
flaming spirit.
To the ever-ready wit of Benjamin
Franklin goes, Yes, we must, indeed,
all hang together, or else. most assur-
eddy, we shall hang separately" fol
lowing on the heels of an admonition
by Hancock to the signers that they
must now hang together" And to
that luxurious. heavy gentleman"
Benjamin Harrison of Virginia. goes
the thrust at slender Elbridge Gerry
of Massachusetts, that at the hanging
he would have the advantage. for long
after the hanging was over with him,
Gerry would still be kicking around
in the air.
THE signing of the Declaration of
independence by the colonial dele
gates lifted the Revolution from
fight between the colonies and Eng
land. from one of Subject rights" to
the status of one government against
another. It's adoption brought into
the world a new nation. 1t is not to be
wondered at. therefore, that it was so
long in coming. The ground must be
plowed beforehand and many rains
must fall for the crop to mature. An
internal revolution was necessary-a
revolution In thought. in national al
legiance, in perception of fighting
cause.
This internal revolution was IS
months taking place. 1t started when
the cause of Boston-the closing of
the Boston port-became the cause of
the rest of the colonies. 1t found its
champions in John and Samuel Adams
Samuel in the colony of Massachu-
sets and John in the Continental Con-
gress. From the day the latter knock
ed the mud of the road off his long
coat at the assembling of the second
Continental Congress, in May, 1775,
until the 4th of July, 1916. he, as re-
vealed by his diary, never let the
question of independence for the colo
MES rest. When he was not dining
and dinging at it before Congress he
was dinging and DINING at it. He
kept steadfastly before his mind and
the minds of Congress independence,
confederation and negotiations with
foreign powers.
Jefferson, writing February 10,
1913, to William p. Gardner, says of
him: mo man better merited than
Mr.. John Adams to hold most con-
spicuouS place in the design of the
adoption of the Declaration; he was
the pillar of it's support on the floor
of Congress, it's ablest advocate and
defender against the multifarious as
saults that it encountered" In 1924
he is quoted again as saying: John
Adams was our Colossus on the floor.
He was not graceful. nor elegant, nor
remarkably fluent, but he came out
occasionally with a power of thought
and expression, that moved us from
our seats
THE growth of independence was
logical and may be traced through
the tortuous channel of individual
minds forced upon It by Tory opposi.
ton. The physical events that led to
its advocacy were: The closing of the
Boston port; Lexington and Concord;
the burning of Falmouth and Norfolk:
reverses of the Army in the field, and
the act of Parliament declaring the
colonists out of the kings protection.
The majority of those who desired
separation from England lived In or
about Boston. according to a letter
from DR.. Benjamin Church intercept
ed by Washington at Cambridge in
October, 1775. "A view to independ-
ence grows more and more general
Says he. Before this. however, on the
9TH Of April, Samuel Adams writes
from Boston to Arthur Lee. brother
OF Richard Henry Lee and London
agent Of the Virginia province: 80
Il the British administration and gov
eminent do not return to the prin-
ciples of moderation and equity, the
evil which they profess to aim at pre-
venting by their rigorous measures
will sooner be brought TO pass. VIZ,
the entire separation and independ-
ence of the colonies. 1t requires but
q small portion Of the gift of dis.
cernment for any one to foresee that
Providence will erect a mighty en-
pire in America. ."
It was not, however, until after
Lexington and Concord and the loss
Of the brave Warren at Bunker Hill
that the star of independence began
to twinkle brightly through the thick
ening gloom. In March Patrick Henry
xlA ~ hA fvrev