PAUL REVERE THE TORCH BEARER OF THJE DEVOLUTION BY BELLE MOSES ACTHOB OF LOUISA U. AlCOTT, tEWIS CAHBOl L, CHAELE3 DICESNS, ETC. H. LTISTBA. TED D. APPLETON AND COMPANY NEW YORK LONDON 1918 On, on the good horse galloped, his rider shouting his message as he went. Paye no COPYRIGHT, 1910, BY D. APPLETON AND COMPANY TO THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA FOREWORD IT has been wisely said that Time must lay a finger on events to make them into history. The further away we stand from certain pictures, the more dis tinct they appear. The events we read of in todays newspaper are not history, but twenty years, or fifty, or a century hence, our descendants will pore over the musty, dusty files, and history will be born. Paul Revere never imagined that he was living in an epoch-making period yet the story of his eventful life holds a fascination of its own, appealing strongly to the interest of readers, old and young. He stood for so much in the history of our country in those stirring Revolutionary times, that we cannot lightly pass over the many services he rendered to the cause of Liberty. With the heart of a boy and the soul of a patriot, Patil Reveres watchword in those dark days was Prepare Look to your arms and your ammuni tion, gather your stores and provisions set your houses in order for the enemy is upon you And he mounted his big gray horse and carried the mes sage like those swift runners in the Scottish hills vii viii FOREWORD who bore the flaming torch, that fiery call to arms, from clan to clan. Yet this was but one side of his character. He had wit, sagacity, courage and loyalty to overbal ance his rash spirit and somewhat fiery temper. Added to which he was a mechanical genius rarely to be found in those times and rare enough even in these more modern days. Above all, he was a man of the People, that great body of men who then as now formed the back bone of this nation. Through his long and useful life he never forgot this fact, and though his family in past generations could show a coat-of-arms, a seal and crest and other insignia of gentle birth, Paul Revere was content to be known as a Master Mechanic, a Citizen of Boston, and a true Son of Liberty. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I How THE REVERES CAME TO BOSTON , . . 3 II A SON OF LIBERTY 25 III BOSTONS BIGGEST TEA PARTY 41 IV THE TIMES WHICH MADE THE MAN ... 69 V THE STORY OF THE RIDE 91 VI WHO HUNG THE SIGNAL LANTERNS . . . 123 VII ACROSS THE RIVER . 139 VIII GUNPOWDER 155 IX THE PENOBSCOT EXPEDITION 171 X JACK OF ALL TRADES 189 XI COPPER ROLLING AND THE FRIGATE CONSTI TUTION 211 XII FRIENDS AND ASSOCIATES . 229 XIII A RIPE OLD AGE 247 XIV A MEMORY 259 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS On, on the good horse galloped, his rider shouting his message as he went . . Frontispiece FACING PAGE Engraving of the Boston Massacre by Paul Revere . 46 Incoming ships brought fresh regiments instead of produce to the starving Boston people . . . .86 It must have been a breathless crossing . . . 106 By the trembling ladder so steep and tall To the highest window in the wall . . . . 128 Portrait of Sir Wilbraham Wentworth, engraved by Paul Revere 192 Paul Reveres House on North Square 250 The Gilbert Stuart Portrait of Paul Revere . . , 264 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.