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Page 58
The next portrait was a venerable man, who held his thumb under his
chin, and, through his spectacles, appeared to be attentively reading a
manuscript.
"Here we see the most illustrious Boston boy that ever lived," said
Grandfather. "This is Benjamin Franklin! But I will not try to compress,
into a few sentences, the character of the sage, who, as a Frenchman
expressed it, snatched the lightning from the sky, and the sceptre from
a tyrant. Mr. Sparks must help you to the knowledge of Franklin."
The book likewise contained portraits of James Otis and Josiah Quincy.
Both of them, Grandfather observed, were men of wonderful talents and
true patriotism. Their voices were like the stirring tones of a trumpet,
arousing the country to defend its freedom. Heaven seemed to have
provided a greater number of eloquent men than had appeared at any other
period, in order that the people might be fully instructed as to their
wrongs, and the method of resistance.
"It is marvellous," said Grandfather, "to see how many powerful writers,
orators, and soldiers started up, just at the time when they were
wanted. There was a man for every kind of work. It is equally wonderful,
that men of such different characters were all made to unite in the one
object of establishing the freedom and independence of America. There
was an overruling Providence above them."
"Here was another great man," remarked Laurence, pointing to the
portrait of John Adams.
"Yes; an earnest, warm-tempered, honest, and most able man," said
Grandfather. "At the period of which we are now speaking, he was a
lawyer in Boston. He was destined, in after years, to be ruler over the
whole American people, whom he contributed so much to form into a
nation."
Grandfather here remarked, that many a New Englander, who had passed
his boyhood and youth in obscurity, afterward attained to a fortune,
which he never could have foreseen, even in his most ambitious dreams.
John Adams, the second president of the United States, and the equal of
crowned kings, was once a schoolmaster and country lawyer. Hancock, the
first signer of the Declaration of Independence, served his
apprenticeship with a merchant. Samuel Adams, afterward governor of
Massachusetts, was a small tradesman and a tax-gatherer. General Warren
was a physician, General Lincoln a farmer, and General Knox a
bookbinder. General Nathaniel Greene, the best soldier, except
Washington, in the revolutionary army, was a Quaker and a blacksmith.
All these became illustrious men, and can never be forgotten in American
history.
"And any boy, who is born in America, may look forward to the same
things," said our ambitious friend Charley.
After these observations, Grandfather drew the book of portraits towards
him, and showed the children several British peers and members of
Parliament, who had exerted themselves either for or against the rights
of America. There were the Earl of Bute, Mr. Grenville, and Lord North.
These were looked upon as deadly enemies to our country.
Among the friends of America was Mr. Pitt, afterward Earl of Chatham,
who spent so much of his wondrous eloquence in endeavoring to warn
England of the consequences of her injustice. He fell down on the floor
of the House of Lords, after uttering almost his dying words in defence
of our privileges as freemen. There was Edmund Burke, one of the wisest
men and greatest orators that ever the world produced. There was Colonel
Barr�, who had been among our fathers, and knew that they had courage
enough to die for their rights. There was Charles James Fox, who never
rested until he had silenced our enemies in the House of Commons.
"It is very remarkable to observe how many of the ablest orators in the
British Parliament were favorable to America," said Grandfather. "We
ought to remember these great Englishmen with gratitude; for their
speeches encouraged our fathers, almost as much as those of our own
orators, in Faneuil Hall, and under Liberty Tree. Opinions, which might
have been received with doubt, if expressed only by a native American,
were set down as true, beyond dispute, when they came from the lips of
Chatham, Burke, Barr�, or Fox."
"But, Grandfather," asked Laurence, "were there no able and eloquent men
in this country who took the part of King George?"
"There were many men of talent, who said what they could in defence of
the king's tyrannical proceedings," replied Grandfather. "But they had
the worst side of the argument, and therefore seldom said any thing
worth remembering. Moreover their hearts were faint and feeble; for they
felt that the people scorned and detested them. They had no friends, no
defence, except in the bayonets of the British troops. A blight fell
upon all their faculties, because they were contending against the
rights of their own native land."
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