Evening star., 1935-02-24

original order book, in George WaShtngtOn'S
handwriting, is nOr in the Library OF
Congress.
r TE WON her in lottery. Or she
He was only a sergeant with
the Second Connecticut troops of
the Continental Line. Daniel Bissel from
Windsor. He looked frightened when Hetty
Blanchard came forward with the number she
had drawn. 1t matched the one he clutched;
but he merely gaped at it, and at her eyes, her
bare shoulders, her wide skirts. She was wear
ing purple silk trimmed with lace, none too
fine dress for grand ball given in honor of
the French troops and General Washington's,
all united in one grand army and simply
maneuvering above New York till the French
fleet under DeCrasse should appear in the
harbor. Then Washington and RoChambeau
would roll down and recapture the city whence
the patriots had been driven five long years
before.
There were dances nearly every evening
Most of the girls fiirted with the officers
especially the French; but Hetty Blanchard
felt sorry for the enlisted men and the non
CONS, who might die tomorrow. So she put
into her eyes tenderer fire than Sergeant
Bissel was ready for when she said:
Sergeant, belong to you. believe"
Gosh! wish that was So"
The pompous minuet soon broke into a
lively country dance and Hetty went into the
arms of the sergeant. and was so sweet and
1.-THE there that he would not let her dance
with anybody else, and nearly had fight with
a jigging dragon who caught his spur in
Hetty's skirt and ripped off long strip of it.
Daniel pursued the lout, and retrieved the
purple patch, but kept bit of it to stuff
inside his blouse.
1t was two in the morning before he took
her all the way to her home: yet he fingered,
though she kept reminding him that he would
be late to reveie. He spoke very disrespect-
fully of freveille Also of war. of the army. ofthe
treatment of the soldiers She had to protest:
That's deserter talk
Plenty of it round the camp
There was another dance the next night.
He did not wait for the lottery. He took
from his pocket the purple patch and said:
This is my ticket"
"Why, it's shaped like heart! Who did
that?''
Cant you guess?"
He held her tighter She held him tight.
She noted that General Washington watched
the dancers while. She danced again and
again with her Sergeant Bissel.
One dance night the sergeant was absent.
The next day Hetty's brother brought her
cruel news.
They tell me your. sergeant was called to
General Washington's tent this morning. He
came out looking white as sheet. He got
away on a stolen horse. The dragons chased
him and shot him. But he got into the British
lines before he fell Off"
Hetty tainted. Her brother tried to con-
sole her:
Don't worry. Well hang him when we
take New York"
But they did not take New York. The
French fleet would come no further north
than Chesapeake Bay. Suddenly Washington
and Rochambeau marched off to the South.
Times we're dull for Westchester girls.
Even after the golden word that CORVALLIS
had surrendered, and the return of Wash
ington and his men to the North again, times
were dull in Westchester, for the army stayed
idle on the other side of the Hudson.
One night as Hetty sat on the lonely porch
in the moonlight, there was clatter of hOofs.
A horseman rode up to the steps. Before he
could dismount his horse collapsed and fell
with him. and on him. Hetty ran to pick him
up. but the horse lay across his thigh.
1t was her sergeant! In British uniform!
AS she shrank from him, her father ran out,
dragged him from under the horse, and tore