CHAPTER XIV
"SONS OF LIBERTY"
One day Nathalie led the boys to a terrace, a few feet back of abrown-shingled cottage across the road from Peckett's, and which stoodon a lower spur of Garnet Mountain, facing the Franconia Range. Here, onthis grassy ridge, gently sloping down to a green meadow below, skirtedby a tree-fringed road edging the rocky pasture-land which graduallymerged into the lower slopes of the range, she pointed out KingLafayette, and his lower mate, Lincoln, with his two slides. TheSleeping Infant, lying between the latter and Garfield's sharply definedpeak, was immediately heralded by the little maid, Sheila, as thelong-lost infant, which some kind-hearted fairy some day, with her magicwand, would awaken. The Twins, and the huge Sleeping Giant, and some ofthe lower peaks, all came in for a share in the mystic doings of thelittle girl's fanciful imagination.
The atmosphere was so translucent that each shaggy crest, pointed dome,and spire of the range, sharply defined against the sapphire-blue of thesky, stood forth with a strange lucidity, seemingly so near that one hadthe inclination to put forth a hand to touch them.
Lafayette's craggy foretop, standing up from the deep green-verduredgorge that cleft one side of it, was startlingly like some hugeelephant's head, with a mouse-colored, wrinkly and baggy-skinned trunk.The boys accentuated the resemblance by locating two big rocks, which,they declared, were the beady eyes of the animal, while Sheila insistedshe could see the eyes move.
As they rested on the ledge of a little circling wall of cobble-stones,evidently the unfinished foundation of a stone tower, Nathalie told howLincoln's rounded dome had been named in honor of a great American namedAbraham Lincoln. "Some people used to call him 'Old Abe,' or 'FatherAbraham,' not from any disrespect," continued the girl, "but because hewas so kindly in his nature, his heart so filled with love for mankind,that it was a title of honor, and showed the love of the people forhim."
"Ain't he the gink that got to be President of the United States, andmade the darkies free?" inquired Danny eagerly.
Nathalie nodded, and then led the boy on to tell how Lincoln, from along-legged, ungainly pioneer youth, brought up in a log cabin in thewilds of Indiana, ended his career as the hero of the greatest republicin the world.
The little newsie told his story importantly, proud to think that he hadremembered these odd bits of knowledge from the little schooling he hadreceived. And what he didn't remember Nathalie did, dwelling at lengthon the part this leader of men took in freeing the slaves, and whatslavery meant to the negroes of the South.
As the little group listened with wide-eyed interest, the girl suddenlycried, "Oh, children! think what it would mean to you if you were notallowed to move about as you pleased, but were forced to do what you didnot want to do, although you might be tired and hungry, and were drivenabout like cattle, and lashed if you disobeyed your master!"
She then explained that all men were born free and equal, and that Godnever intended that any man should be a bond-servant to his fellow-men."Every one," she emphasized, "has the right to enjoy the beautifulthings of life without being subjected to cruel treatment, and forced tohard labor, as the slaves had been, just because their skin was blackinstead of white.
"But there is another kind of slavery." said Nathalie earnestly, "which,although it may not mean the slavery of the body, like that of thenegroes on a plantation, is the slavery of the will. That is, a man maynot be lashed on his back, but his will is made subject to another man'swill, and he has to obey and direct his life the way this man says,whether he wants to or not. All over the world, for centuries, thepeople of different nations have been forced to obey the will of oneman, that is, the ruler, or the king, of the nation to which theybelonged. The peoples of the world have not been free; they have not hadthe right, or the liberty, to do as they thought or felt."
She then tried to make the children understand that liberty wassomething as high and wide, and as vast, as the beautiful mountainswhich rose before them. "It is like the air," she said, "or theatmosphere, which stretches about you on every side, and around thegreat earth like a gray blanket. It is so big it can't be seen, like themountains, or measured, and yet it can be felt. For if you were shut upin a box without any air, or atmosphere to breathe into your lungs, youwould die. So liberty, God's special gift, is so dear and sweet to man,that without it he can't grow or expand, for he is like a man shut up ina box without air. He is like a little Tom Thumb, for he can only growjust so high."
Nathalie now interested the children in the story of the Pilgrims, thepioneers of liberty in America, telling how, because they were notallowed to have liberty under the rule of the English king, they came tothis new world and sought to worship God as they deemed right. In doingthis, she explained, they not only founded a colony where they had theright to worship God as their conscience dictated, but they madereligious freedom possible for the people who came after them. By thesigning of the Compact in the cabin of the _Mayflower_, they gave thisnation democratic liberty, by giving every man the right to express histhoughts and feelings, thus giving him a say as to how the people shouldbe ruled, which meant a government for and by the people.
Nathalie now told of the patriots, and how, in the War of theRevolution, they fought the mother-country, England, in order tomaintain the liberty given them by the founders of the nation. "Byuniting the thirteen colonies into one, they not only added unity tojustice and liberty, but gave us the United States of America.
"These lovers of liberty also organized a society, in New York, whichbecame known as the Sons of Liberty, all the members determined todefend with their lives the liberty and principles given them by theirforefathers. As liberty means the right to express our thoughts andfeelings, it also means that these thoughts and feelings must be goodand pure, _the best within us_," added the girl with sudden gravity."And these Sons of Liberty were so called not only because they _foughtfor liberty_, but because _they gave of their best to mankind_."
Danny added another link to this story of liberty by telling about theDeclaration of Independence, and how the Liberty Bell was rung from theold State House in Philadelphia, so that every one should know that anew nation had been born. The ride of Paul Revere was described withspirited impressiveness by the boy, as well as what had occurred onLexington common, and the famous battle by the old North Bridge atConcord.
Whereupon Nathalie pointed out Mount Washington's cone-tipped crest,majestically rising above a wreath of silver-gray clouds, and explainedthat, although the Indians had named it Agiochook, in later years thewhite people had named it Mount Washington, in honor of the great manDanny had been telling about.
After dwelling upon Washington's magnificent character, and recallinglittle incidents from his life, Nathalie said that, like the greatmountain that towered so far above its fellows, so George Washington,the first President of this great nation, was known to civilization asone of the greatest men in the world, because he had given of his bestto help his fellow-men, and proved that he was a _true_ Son of Liberty.
Jefferson Mountain, its crest rising in low humility near Washington'sgreater height; Adams, whose stony front stood forth in rugged grandeuron the left; and Madison, Monroe, Franklin, Clay, and Webster, as wellas other peaks, were pointed out to the children, each one named forsome great American, who had proved his right to be known as a Son ofLiberty.
To be sure, some of the peaks were shrouded in a veil of mystical haze,while others were but dimly discerned, as they peeped between the gapsmade by their nearer mates, but each and every one served to illustratein whose honor it had been named, and why he was a lover of what everyone loved--liberty.
Nathalie now drew the children's attention to Mount Lafayette, and saidthat this peak had also been named in honor of a great man, also a Sonof Liberty, although he was not an American. The children had heard thename of Lafayette mentioned so often in connection with the present war,that they listened with greedy avidity as the
girl told about this "Boyof Versailles," as some one had called him, when, as the young Marquisde Lafayette,--a mere boy,--he used to lead the revels at that famousFrench palace in helping the girl queen, Marie Antoinette, make merry ather garden parties, when her boy husband was too busy in his workshop,taking some old clock apart, to entertain his guests at court.
She told how the little marquis loved to walk behind the brave soldiersof the day, the one ambition of his life being his longing to be asoldier. She told, too, of his life in the lonely castle among thesouthern mountains of France, where his only companions were governessesand masters, all intent upon drilling him to dance, to bow with courtlygrace, to pick up a lady's handkerchief, and other accomplishments ofthe court.
After leaving the College du Plessis, where his education as a courtierwas completed, he returned to his estate, now the heir to great wealth,where he used to spend his time making friends with the peasants,--thepeople who lived on his lands,--thus becoming acquainted with their modeof life. In this way he learned the need of liberty, the liberty thatgave people the right to think and feel, and to express their thoughtsand feelings, and the great need that the people of the nations in theworld should have a voice in their own government, and thus learn togovern themselves.
Nathalie then told how, when the patriots of America began to fightagainst King George in order to gain their rights, that the youngnobleman, now tall and slender, with reddish hair and bright eyes, heardof it, and, although an officer in the French army, he determined to goto America and help these people of the colonies to win their liberty.He had a young and lovely wife,--they had been sweethearts whenchildren,--and yet so inspired was he to help the Americans that he lefther. With a friend, the Baron de Kalb, he eluded the spies and officersof his own country, and in various disguises finally reached Spain,whence he embarked for America, and gallantly fought with the Americanpatriots during the War of the Revolution, winning fame not only for hisbravery, but for his great friendship for Washington.
"Indeed," said the girl, as she finished her recital, he was a real Sonof Liberty, and it is a splendid thing to think that these two grand oldmountains, facing each other in such magnificent grandeur, should now bethe monuments to these two wonderful men, monuments, too, that can onlyperish when the mountains turn and flee away at the command of the MostHigh God.
"Lincoln, whose life-story you know," Nathalie pointed to thegreen-wooded heights of Mount Lincoln, "also proved himself a Son ofLiberty when he gave of the noblest and best that was in him to thepeople, in his great struggle to free the slaves. In fact," the girlspoke a little sadly, "this great man was not only a Son of Liberty, buthe was a martyr to Liberty." And then she told how he had lost his lifebecause of his heroic determination to do what he thought was right.
"Children," cried the girl suddenly, facing the row of intent, eagerfaces regarding her, "can any of you tell me who to-day are provingthemselves true Sons of Liberty?"
"The soldiers who are fighting in the trenches!" burst from Dannyquickly.
Before Nathalie could assent, a thin, quavering voice burst out with theringing cry, "Vive la Belgique! Vive la Belgique!"
"Good for you, Jean," cried the girl, as she enthusiastically clappedher hands in approval. "_It is long_ _live Belgium_. Yes, Jean, thesoldiers of Belgium, of France, England, and America, too, now, areproving themselves Sons of Liberty, because they are all fighting togive liberty to the world. And brave Belgium," patting the shoulder ofthe refugee, whose pale face was strangely illumined, "every man in thatlittle country has proved that he is a Son of Liberty, when, rather thandishonor the great principles of liberty and justice, he took up armsand defended it against the Germans when they made their mad rush toParis. They not only saved France, but every nation as well, saved it sothat each man in it could fight and thus give liberty to the world. Now,children, let us cry with Jean, 'Vive la Belgique.'"
When this cry ceased, Tony's velvety black eyes, with a sly gleam ofhumor lurking in their shadows, became scarlet flames, suddenlyremembering that his native land was also in the war, and, with dramaticfervor, he yelled, "Viva l'Italia!"
Danny, not to be outdone in this burst of patriotism, immediatelystarted in with the lusty shout of, "Hurrah for the United States!Hurrah for the United States!"
Altogether it was a very patriotic little company that stood by the oldstone ledge facing those blue-hazed mountains on that sunny afternoonand "yelled their heads off," as Danny said, in honor of the Sons ofLiberty, who were fighting in the trenches across the sea to giveliberty to the world.
After the shouting and demonstration of the patriots had begun to wane,Nathalie put up her hand for silence, and then, in her simple way, theway that somehow always seemed to go right to the heart of every child,said very softly, "And now, children, let us show that we, too, each oneof us, want to do what is right, to give of our best to make othershappy. Let us show that, although we cannot go and fight in thetrenches, we are still Sons of Liberty, by keeping a big, deep place inour hearts for the boys in the trenches, not only our American boys, butthe boys of the Allies, every soldier of every nation who is fightingfor the victory of peace and right.
"I know you all want to belong to the Sons of Liberty, that you wouldlike to show that you are real soldiers, fighting for the right; and so,will you not bow your heads for a moment, and down in the big, deepplace in your hearts, silently say a little prayer? Just ask God that Hewill bless the soldiers, these Sons of Liberty across the sea, who arefighting for you and me, and give them a great victory in this world'sbattle for the rights of men, a victory that means happiness, love, andpeace for every one in the world."