Thee and thou, a stationary hat, bad grammar and worse manners, with an
ugly coat, are not George Fox to-day. You will recognize him in any one
who rises from the lap of artificial life, flings away its softness, and
startles you with the sight of a man. Neither do I acknowledge the right
of Plymouth to the whole rock. No, the rock underlies all America; it
only crops out here. It has cropped out a great many times in our
history. You may recognize it always. Old Putnam stood upon it at
Bunker Hill, when he said to the Yankee boys: "Don't fire till you see
the whites of their eyes." Ingraham had it for ballast when he put his
little sloop between two Austrian frigates, and threatened to blow them
out of the water if they did not respect the flag of the United States
in the case of Martin Koozta. Jefferson had it for a writing-desk when
he drafted the Declaration of Independence and the "Statute of Religious
Liberty" for Virginia. Lovejoy rested his musket upon it when they would
not let him print his paper at Alton, and he said: "Death or free
speech!" Ay! it cropped out again.
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