FOOTNOTE:
[46] Address at the dispersal of the squadron at the close of the
Russo-Japanese war.
THE MINUTE MAN
GEORGE WILLIAM CURTIS
Citizens of a great, free, and prosperous country, we come hither to
honor the men, our fathers, who on this spot struck the first blow in
the contest which made our country independent. Here, beneath the hills
they trod, by the peaceful river on whose shores they dwelt, amidst the
fields that they sowed and reaped, we come to tell their story, to try
ourselves by their lofty standard, to know if we are their worthy
children; and, standing reverently where they stood and fought and died,
to swear before God and each other, that government of the people, by
the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.
The minute man of the Revolution! And who was he? He was the husband and
father, who left the plough in the furrow, the hammer on the bench, and,
kissing his wife and children, marched to die or to be free! He was the
old, the middle-aged, the young. He was Captain Miles, of Acton, who
reproved his men for jesting on the march! He was Deacon Josiah Haines,
of Sudbury, eighty years old, who marched with his company to South
Bridge, at Concord, then joined in that hot pursuit to Lexington, and
fell as gloriously as Warren at Bunker Hill.
Pages:
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409
410
411
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423