4:.01W..................                              ------2--




















THE


AMERICAN SPY,
OR
FREEDOM'S EARLY SACRIFICE:
A Tale of the Revolution,
FOUNDED UPON FACT.
BY     J.   R. SIMMS,
Author of "The History of Schoharie County," "Border Wars
of New York,' " Trappers of New York," &c.
"How beautiful is death, when earned by virtue!
Who would not sleep with those? What pity is it
That we can die but once to save our country."-ADDISoN'S OATO,
ALBANY:
J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET.
1857.





Entered according to act of Congress in the year 1846,
BY J. R. SIMMS,
In the Clerk's office for the Northern District of New York.





TO
ISAIAH TOWNSEND, ESQ.,
A GENTLEMAN        FOND OF LETTERS,
AND WHO CAN JUSTLY APPRECIATE THE MOTIVES THAT PROMPTED
THEIR WRITING,
THIE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,
BY HIS FRIEND,
THE AUTHOR.





INTRODUCTION.
The American Revolution brought out upon the stage of action many men
of distinction and worth, who are, as yet, but little known to the general
reader; not a few of whom were gallant sons of New England. Of this
number was the hero named in the following pages, whose real character
is here by no means overdrawn. A desire to interest young readers in the
early history of the country, and at the same time do justice, in some degree,
to the ennobling virtues of a brave man, has prompted the writing of the following tale, a greater proportion of which will be found not doing violence
to truth than it is usual to meet with in pictures to which imagination has
lent its assistance.
Several customs of the times have been introduced, such as still live in the
memoiy of the aged, and which it may be well for the American people to
note, as the habits of life are constantly subjected to innovation and change,
by the comparative infancy of the country, and the eagerness of the great
mass of community to try the last experiment, or adopt the latest fashion.
The most fastidious moralist can not, as we trust, be either shocked or offended by the perusal of this story, should it fail to compensate for its reading.
Many who write novels, labor to weave scenes which the greatest stretch
of imagination could hardly suppose real. The reader will readily perceive
however, that stich has not been the aim of the author of this tale, but that
he has rather sought, so far as possible in the space allotted, in the most familiar language, and probable figures,
" To weave the deathless evergreen
Around the name of HALE."
Fultonville, N. Y., 1846.





THE AMERICAN SPY.
CHAPTER I.
"And yet I find no words to tell
The shape of her I loved so well.--Byron.
SSamuel, I spent the last vacation of old Yale with you, and
trusting you will fulfill one of the many promises you have made
to visit our family, I shall expect you to spend the approaching
classic holidays with me. I much regret that the illness of my
sister prevents me from staying out the last week of this termbut, as fate orders, I submit, and shall hasten home to unite my
prayers with those of fond parents, for the recovery of one whose
life is dearer to me than my own." At the close of the above
sentence, a tear moistened the eye of the speaker; and seizing
the hand of his friend, he added in a low voice, in which sympathy and reproof were mingled-" You have so often expressed a
determination to visit me without doing so, that I could wish for
once you would bear in mind my simple motto, and-"
"Now cousin Nate," interrupted Samuel, "pardon past shortcomings, and I promise to render myself more deserving of your
friendship. I have quite too long deprived myself of the pleasures in store for me in Coventry, and shall, if possible, visit you
within a fortnight. You will carry my regards to all the family,
and write me the state of Elizabeth's health on your arrival at
home. But I had nearly forgotten, my dear fellow, that you was
abuut to tell your own motto, which must be a fastidious morselpray what is it?"
"Never lie!"
" Well Nate, you have indeed adopted a very conscientious
one, and were I a prophet I would predict that it is broken more
than once before you shake off flesh and blood; why, it's shorter
than the, shortest of rebel mottoes now going the rounds. The one
originated in Rhode Island the other day by a sprig of wisdom,
and mooted for its brevity, has three ominous words-Join or die!





6


The sAmerican Spy,


and were I to correct it, it would read, Disjoin and live! But I
am about to dash off into politics I see, which we will discuss
hereafter. Here's the hand of true friendship, and as that clumsy
old wagon is now waiting for you with your classmate, Newton,
already in, a match to your motto in brevity is-good bye!"
Reader, the young friends to whom we have thus unceremoniously introduced you, were cousins, as you may have inferred.
Samuel was the only son of John Hale, of New Bedford, Massachusetts; and Nathan was the fifth son of Deacon Richard Hale,
of South Coventry, Connecticut. The Hale brothers,.for such
were Richard and John, were descended from respectable ancestry, and were noble specimens of New England men in the middle of the eighteenth century. John, the elder of the brothers,
was a lawyer of some repute, and early in life established himself
in business at New Bedford, where he subsequently became a
colonial officer of some kind under pay of the British government. Richard, having married Elizabeth Strong, a meritorious
young lady of his own town, settled down upon the homestead,
and proved himself a good practical farmer. The beginning of
difficulties between England and her American colonies, found
the Hale brothers entertaining different opinions respecting the
policy their own country should pursue. In other words John
was a Royalist, and Richard a Republican. Newton, mentioned
as the classmate of Nathan Hale, was a son of Erastus Fitch, of
Windham, Connecticut; the latter being a descendant of James
Fitch, one of the founders of that town.
Between Nathan Hale and Newton Fitch a warm friendship
existed, which had been nourished by the sports of youth. They
had often met in Thanksgiving and other visits of the Hale and
Fitch families, which had for generations reciprocated kindly
feelings. As students, the young friends received their academic
acquirements at the same school; and having entered Yale College together, were in one class. They usually rode to and from
college in the same conveyance; and although the present term
lacked a few days of its completion, still Newton would not consent to remain and task his friends to send for him-or what is
quite as likely, his desire again to behold in life one with whom
he had frolicked in childhood, induced his return. Two young
men more alike in their dispositions and habits, were probably
not to be found in all New England. Manly excellence and
dignity were personified in the personal appearance of Nathan
Hale. His figure was tall and commanding, his jetty hair curled
in profusion around a brow of intellectual mould, his countenance
ever beaming with mildness, was illumined by the fire of a dark
and penetrating eye, while his uniform deportment was truly
prepossessing. Young Fitch could not boast of as genteel a form





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


7


as that of his chum, nor had nature given him as florid a complexion; yet his was a keen black eye, glossy black hair, and a
visage in which frankness and affection were happly delineated;
and if less admired for manly beauty than young Hale, he was
no less esteemed for his urbanity of manners, and no less respected
for the proper cultivation of his intellect.
The wagon bearing the students and drawn by two horses,
though an uncouth, was a very rare vehicle for the times in any
part of New England, and as there were at that period no postcoaches for the conveyance of travelers, any conveyance furnished with a driver was thought by the quiet inhabitants along the
road, who seldom journeyed much distance from home, a very
luxurious-indeed, almost aristocratic mode of traveling. The
spires of the public edifices of New Haven were seen in the distance, and yet the classmates had scarcely exchanged a.word
since they had started-Nathan evidently buried in deep study,
and his friend unwilling from delicacy to break the reverie. But
they had long been confidents, and Nathan ended the irksome
silence by expressing his surprise at his cousin's suggested
amendment of a then popular motto, relating the latter part of
his conversation with his kinsman; when, as if a new thought
had crossed his mind, he added-"Ah, I have the secret! his father is a government officer, and cousin Samuel is inclined to
favor royalty." The two then exchanged views on several important subjects which were agitating the country, and coincided
in opinion. Both the young patriots, for such in truth they were,
manifested deep sympathy for their country under her continued
oppression; and after naming several causes of grievance, among
which were the Stamp and Tea.Jcts, the quartering of soldiers
in seaport towns, and the massacre of several Bostonians by the
troops under Captain Preston, they again fell into a studious
silence which was seldom broken until they arrived near Connecticut river, when an unexpected incident sent their thoughts
into a new channel.
In a by place, at a little distance from the road and the river,
a solitary individual was seen with a shovel digging up the
ground. The attention of the passengers was directed to this
object by the exclamation of the driver-"See that old fool of a
money digger!"
As they arrived opposite the stranger, Nathan, rather more inquisitive than his companion, requested the driver to rein up.
Leaping from the wagon, the high box of which made the feat
one of some danger, he ran towards the man who he discovered
had a foreign appearance, and was about to enquire if he was
diggihg a grave; but observing that several holes had been dug
in a soil not as stony as that of some other parts of the state,





8


The Jmerican Spy,


consequently not unfavorable for sinking a grave, he civilly accosted him, and enquired in true Yankee style, " My friend, what
are you searching for?'.
The digger, who had not ceased his avocation on hearing the
wagon stop, now did so; and after thrusting his nether garment
beneath the waistband of his breeches-a liberal portion of which
garment, for the want of braces, protruded beneath his jacketand cramming into one corner of his mouth a leaf of tobacco of
fearful dimentions, he drew his shovel before him, and placing
both hands upon it leaned forward, and for some moments continued to eye the student without speaking. Having finished a
very scrutinizing gaze, he thus responded: "Now, ash I likesh
yoor looksh, I schall shpeakl zo ash I doon't ouften shpeak mit
sthrangers. Yoo poorhaps heert von Hans Casper Shtaudt-vell,
dat ish my naume. I kumd vrom Sharmany in dish coonthree
look' for mindsh: vell, I looks droo Noo Inglandt, finds note
manne-den zoombody saysh to me, von Kit ash vas a birat hides
moonish in dis blace, zo I kums to fint um."
" Then your name inlplain English," said the student, "is John
Casper Staudt; you are a German chemist who came to New
England to examine mines, and are now searching for Captain
Kidd's money?"
Shifting the contents of his mouth to the opposite side with an
ease of contortion that would quite astonish modern tobaccochewers, he quickly responded-"Yah, yah, eekzactly zo, Mynheer."
"Well, Mr. Staudt," said the student, "I am truly gratified to
meet a German mineralogist in Connecticut, and hope you may
be successful in obtaining some of Captain Kidd's gold, yet I fear
the chances for it are small, as numerous places of its supposed
secretion, some an hundred miles distant, where that freebooter
was supposed to have landed, have already been dug over without
finding any. Two or three miles fron my father's house, under
the bank of a small river, a spring issues, which appears to flow
from a mine, as it holds mineral properties of some kind in solution; and if ever you come into our neighborhood, 1 will visit
the locality with you."
" I danks yoo mooch-vot ish yoor naume, den?"
" Nathan Hale; and should you ever go to Coventry, enquire
for the Hale family, to the hospitality of which you shall be made
welcome."
"I danks yoo moor ash mooch, Misthur Ale-I vill gAl onto
yoo ash I goesh dat vay."
Taking a hasty survey of the manifest-labor of the honest
dupe-he having dug over several rods of ground-and bidding





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


9


him  a kind farewell, young Hale again seated himself beside
his companion, to whom he related the above adventure.
"Do you expect to see your German friend again?" enquired
Fitch.
"I should not be surprised to," said the former. "We are approaching a period in the history of this country deeply interesting; one in which men of his character will be called in requisition in most of the colonies."
" Pray, for what purpose?"
" To look up iron to be manufactured into cannon, to find lead
for bullets, and sulphur for powder."
"And do you then suppose a general war of the colonies with
England, is to follow the disturbances in the Bay colony?"
"./s surely," was the earnest reply, "as we ever possess the
privilege of free thinking and free acting again! Do you not
perceive that so long as the principle of right to tax the colonies
is maintained, the breach is widened, confidence impaired, and
we are farther from effecting a reconciliation? And believe me,
the principle of right to tax the American colonies will never be
given up!! Had you attended the spirited meeting in New Haven
last evening at which were assembled a large number of THE
SoNs OF LIBERTY, some of whom were pretty old sons, you would
have heard some animated and able reasoning-some patriotic
views worth remembering."
" And was such a sentiment advanced at that meeting?"
" Not in so many words; but opinions were expressed which
squinted bravely that way."
The students had repeated occasion to observe the industrious
habits of their countrymen, so justly proverbial; but little else of
importance to this narrative occurred during their journey to
Windham, where they arrived on the afternoon of the second
day.
Young Hale halted at Fitch's to rest his team, and there
learned, to his gratification, that Lucy Ripley, a step-sister of his
friend Newton, was then in Coventry with his own sister. Another ride of ten miles brought the students near the close of a
sultry day to the foot of Prospect Hill, on which stood the Hale
mansion. The horses had ascended but a few rods, when a large
dog which lay beside the road unnoticed, sprang impetuously at
their heads. At his sudden and furious yelping, they were frightened, sprang aside, and so quickly as to jerk the reins from the
hand of the driver, who was unprepared for the movement, and
in another instant they had wheeled about-upset the wagon in a
ditch, and with the fore wheels of it went dashing down the road
with a speed only rivaled by that of Morse's telegraph. By the
accident, which came with the suddenness of a thunder-clap, the





10


The V American Spy,


driver was landed upon a stone wall and his passenger by the
roadside beneath the wagon box. Both were a little bruised and
still more frightened, but soon had regained their senses and their
feet, and were in pursuit of the horses. The runaways were a
fine span of rmettlesome blacks, and now supposed to be ruined,
but as good luck would have it, they ran but a short distance,
entered a gateway which chanced to be open, brought up in a
neighbor's barn-yard, and there stood, trembling like a cedar-top
in a hurricane. Meeting a messenger with an assurance that the
horses were,uninjured and already secured, Nathan left the driver
to procure them,, and just at twilight, limping a little and covered
with dust, he reached home on foot, and learning with thankfulness
of heart that a favorable change in his sister's health had taken
place, and that although a burning fever had left her much reduced, she was exercised with no pain, and only required prudent
care and good nursing to restore her to health.
The meeting of Nathan with his sister was an affecting one.
They were devotedly attached; their souls being drawn together
by a love no sensual desire had fostered-by chords no sinister
motives had braided.,After Nathan had been for some minutes leaning over the sickly form of his sister, regardless of another inmate of the room,
she feebly articulated the name of her female friend, who, on
hearing Nathan's name announced, had retired to a shaded part
of the room-and in an instant she was at the bedside to tender,
as she supposed, some needed cordial.
" What willyou have, dear?" was the earnest inquiry of Miss
Lucy, in a voice of tenderness and spirit of love.
'"Nathan," said the invalid reprovingly to her brother, 'ho had
stepped back from the bed as the nurse approached, " do you not
remember Lucy Ripley? do nbt for the world neglect one so kind,
so devoted."  At the recollection of her almost constant attention
and watchfulness for the last ten days, the feeling heart of the
speaker yielded to nature; she sobbed audibly, while tears of gratitude trickled fast through her transparent fingers; and for a little
time her emotions tbreatened the separation of her gentle spirit
frohi its enfeebled tenement. But proper restoratives were applied-her nerves were quieted, and she sunk into a gentle slumber, which proved the most salutary rest she had experienced
during her sickness.
After Nathan saw his sister quiet, taking the soft hand of Lucy
in his own, he led her to a seat across the room; and, as a tear
glistened in his manly ey---offering an apology for not sooner
inquiring after her, heexpressed his thankfulness for her solicitous
attentions to his sister, f6i which he trusted Heaven would some
day reward her. They conversed a few moments in a low tone of





Or Freedom's Early Sacrfice.


11


voice, and he could not fail to notice, as he spoke of her growth
since they last met, (which had been nearly two years,) the motion
communicated to the bosom of her white muslin dress, as she
attempted to withdraw her hand from his, which still held it in
durance. Imprinting a kiss upon theprisoner, he obeyed a summons to supper.
Several young ladies residing in the neighborhood had called
at Deacon Hale's in the afternoon, among whom was Julia Rose,
a genteel girl of some eighteen summers, and had kindly offered
to watch with Miss Hale thatnight, but Lucy, her bosom friend
would not consent that any hand but her own should smooth the
patient's pillow that night-so Jull of hopes and fears. The
family retired early, so as not to disturb the invalid, who was
left with her faithful attendant.
At dawn of day Nathan relieved the watcher, who had been
acting the midnight angel at the bedside of his sister, who seemed
much improved by her night's rest. Seeing only her brother in
the room, she turned her lustrous brown eye upon him and with a
look of anxiety inquired for her female friend.
" She has laid down to rest," replied Nathan, "shall I call
her?"
" Not for the world," said the invalid," my prayer is that her
watchful care over me may not task her strength t9, illness. Oh,
my dear brother! I can not tell you in words, how kind-how angelic a creature she has been to me, anticipating my most trifling
wants."
Seing grateful tears again filling those beautiful orbs, her
brother took her hand and begged of her to be quiet.
" I am much better this morning," said the fair sufferer, "and
can now control my nerves; fear not my feminine weakness, it
will not again get the mastery."
As Nathan walked across the room to procure some article
for his sister, she discovered that he walked lame, and then first
learned the nature of the accident he met with the previous evening, the matter having been studiously kept from her knowledge.
Clasping her hands upon her brest, she feebly articulated a
prayer of thankfulness to HIM who "notes the sparrow's fall," for
the providential termination of an accident which endangered the
lives of two persons, one of whom was so dear to herself.
Miss Hale was some eighteen months the senior of her confident, Miss Ripley, who was then not quite seventeen. The former was the tallest, and, in health, was by some persons denominated the prettiest; while others, admired the fullness of contour
which the latter possessed, accorded to her pre-eminence infigure
and feature. Elizabeth had glossy black hair and black eyes,





12


The AJmerican Spy,


while to her friend nature had given tresses of richest brown, and
eyes of mildest blue; they both had very fair skin.
But, kind reader, I do not conceive it very important minutely
to describe the personal appearance' of those young ladies; let it
suffice when I assure you, Without speaking of their dimpled
cheeks and cherry lips, that they were both denominated handsome at the period in which they lived-would be sopronounced
if maidens of the present generation-and probably would be of
the generations inhabiting this goodly heritage a thousand, or ten
thousands years hence, unless perchance Galvanism, Mesmerism,
or some other ism, is to communicate new charms to the daughters
of mother Eve.
On the day after young Fitch returned. home, he rode up on
horseback to inquire after the health of Miss Hale and meet his
sister. He was much gratified to find his young friend, the invalid, cqnvalescing, and remained during the day. On the following
morning, having left her patient with Miss Rose and the family,
Lucy, mounted on a pillion behind her brother, as was the New
England custom of riding at that period, returned home, promising, however, to see her bosom companion within a week.
At the earliest practicable moment, Nathan penned a letter to
his cousin Samuel, telling him in all sincerity, the joy with which
he communicated the improving state of Elizabeth's health,
reminding him of his promised visit, and urging him by several
pleasing allurements to remember his own motto.
CHAPTER II.
" Pale, silent, and unruffled lake,
Tell me a tale of other times."
Within a fortnight after Nathan Hale returned home from college, his cousin Samuel arrived at his uncle's in Coventry. KDeacon Hale's dwelling, which was a large white house of two
stories, was delightfully situated on Prospect Hill. It fronted
nearly north,and was approached from the King's highway through
a grove of graceful populars. The prospect from theHlale dwelling was one of the richest in New England; hence the appropriate name given to the eminence on which it stood. Fertile dales
circumscribed by distant hills, all covered by the green velvet
mantle of nature, met the wandering eye of the visitor, while his
ear was greeted, if not by the shrill voice of the loon from the
shores of lake Wangombaug, by the murmers of the more distant
Willimantic.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


la


On th *s 'e day -that Samuel arrived at his uncle's, young
Fitch and his amiable sister, each mounted uponla fine horse,
reined up on Prospect Hill, toincrease the joy of its inmates.
Samuel had never before seen his charming cousin, with whom he
was much pleased; but he was still. more charmed with Miss' Ripley, and'most of ali with MisslRose, who made one'oftheir afternoonparty.., Julia was rightly named; for the rose, fit emblem of
purity and love, was happily blended in-the color of her cheeks,
wh~le her gentle, fawn-like nature seemed to impart fragrance to
every object airound0.
Although Elizabeth was yet feeble, she could sit up and enjoy
her full share of the pleasantry of the afternoon; 'and never, perhaps, was an afternoon more satisfactorily enjoyed by Deacon
Hale and his virtuous wife. When parents see their child nd
frends happy, they are seldom otherwise themselve. Perhaps IP
should here state that Deacon Hale became a widower in 1767,
apd afterwards married the, vidow of Capt. Samiuel Adams, and
I may add, his children were more fortunate in the possession of
a step-mother than is at all times the' case.*
Young Ji'itch and his sister had intended to rerain only a day
C~nov`re;i'ry, but.as there was no urget necessity for their ret'ur
spoonr, they were persuaded, on Sa-m'el Hale's account, to extend
their visit two das Ioger. Afishing eXcursion on lake Wangombaug, distant 'perhas  two miles, was proposerd for-the morrow; and, as rid.ing and othermop!derate exercise had been recommended her by Elizabeth's physiciand, it was understoo that she
was to be qyqinee aoftheter party if-the weather wapropitio.us..
The morning betokened one' of those lovely day i June, pe?
cular Ito a New  England sk.y. After 'somebustl in prepri
refreshmnits',etc., the party, consistingofNathan, his sister and
cousin Samel,  Fitch anad his sister, and Miss Rose, yere ready
for a start. Afalithfuplslave, the'"n ~ntperdage  most dof the
wvealthy famii.s in New Englapnd, belonging.to the Hale familY,
who answeredto the cognomen ofJob, and often figured as waiter
in go od company, wasc a tereron.the occasion. Job was,ready
betimes with a" wg   to carry the ladies, while the young men
prepred, as the weather was fne, 't ak to the landing on
theeast  'id'e ofthe lake-,' 'or pond, as all such bodies. of'water
(fouror five'milesin circui t)  PireaenoinY ted i P.c.icut
which'landipg was near ajburying.ground,  dating its antiquity
vtih the first settlementofit.the of town.
The Hale.family owned:a commdious and fine sailing skiff,
* In a public resting place for the dead, in Canterbury,Ct., is a stone bearinig the following inscription." Capt. SamuelAdams ~died, Dec. 29, 1 760;j aged,
31. Also Abigail H-ale, his wife, the late wife offlDea. Richard Hale of.Coventry, died, Aug. 21, 1809; aged 89."





14


The JAmerican Spy,


and Job had been sent the evening before to bail it perfectly dry;
which he declared on his return he had performed, "so as not to
wet de foot ob his darlin missus."  The faithful domestic had not
only cleansed the boat, but of his own accord had provided and
arranged a row of evergreens so as completely to shade one
side of it.
In the neighborhood of the lake dwelt a young man named
John Coleman, who, when a boy some ten years old, was one of
the most promising lads in the town; but a severe fit of sickness,
with his case badly managed by a quack physician, left him a
little shattered in the garret; about which time he heard some
person remark, in a conversation respecting the motion of the
earth, that the world went round. The sentence, which seemed
so well to accord with his own senses, fastened upon his mind,
and long after, many times in a day, he might have been heard
to exclaim: "I tell you the world goes round;" especially if the
word round, or any word rhyming with it was uttered in his presence. Crazy John, as was'often remarked by his neighbors,
" was nobody's fool." He was kind-hearted, and often seeking an
opportunity to run an errand or do a kind act. During the summer months he spent much of his time about the lake, either in
fishing or skipping flat stones upon the water. Whenever he
uttered his favorite maxim, and any one choose to take exceptions
to it, which was not unfrequently done by the malicious, his pugnacious organs were excited; but one kind word, or the admission
of his truism, always brought back his good nature.
When Job was preparing his boat for the party, crazy John,
who was a particular friend of his, was curious to know the
object, and being told, he assisted the former in arranging his
evergreens. Seeing the preparation completed, he resolved to be
at the landing next morning when the party should arrive. He
was quite particular about his personal appearance, and consequently was never avoided as some idiots are, because an object
of lothing.
The wagon containing the ladies, and driven by Job, arrived
at the landing a little in advance of the footmen, where stood
crazy John drawing imaginary circles with-his hand, as if repeating his'stale maxim. He had received many little tokens of
regard from Miss Hale, and when the wagon stopped he ran forward to claim her notice. In fact, he had not let a single day
pass during her illness, without calling at her father's to inquire
about the state of her health. The ladies remained in the wagon
until the gentlemen came up, and crazy John, who had climbed
upon a wheel to receive the hand of the jnvalid extended to him
in kindness, could not refrain from tears of joy at seeing her so
far recovered.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


15


Job knew that his young master would be pleased with his
foretaught in preparing the shade, which he had done by riddling a narrow plank with auger holes, into each of which he
had placed green boughs festooned with blooming sweet-briarand standing at his horses' heads, he watched the approach of
young Hale. On his arrival, seeing the fine condition of the
fishing tackle and the boat, he exclaimed, "Job, my faithful old
boy, what have you been about? Why, the little ' Rover' is
transformed into a Mayflower."
"0, massa, I only shade 'em for Missus;" replied the kind
negro, showing the white of his eye as he looked to see what
effect his words might have on the invalid. Sensible of his intended kindness, she remarked: " Ishall never be without afriend
while Job lives; nor will he while I live! Besides," she added,
turning her speaking eyes upon another who could appreciate a
kind look and a kind word, "I have a pretty goodfriend in you
John, have I not?"
The words of the speaker, uttered in a feeling manner, to
which crazy John replied, " Guess pretty Miss Libby won't get a
better friend nor I while the world goes round-ha, ha, ha, ha,"
drew a grateful tear into the eye of the slave, who felt himself
already compensated for his previous pains taken. The truth is,
he had been fondly attached not only to Elizabeth, but also to
Nathan from their infancy, and would never hear a word spoken
disparagingly of either of them, which was sometimes done by.
their friends to tease him, without manifesting warm resentment.
The party seated themselves in the boat,,which was designed
to carry six persons besides the oarsman, and Job, having properly secured his team, was called in to row it, a task which
uncommon strength and much experience enabled him to perform
to the entire satisfaction of its inmates. The party would cheerfully have admitted crazy John, had not all the seats been filled
without hii, seeing which he expressed a willingness to stay on
shore and look to the horses, which, since their affright, it;was
thought well to keep an eye upon.
The, friends were seated, young Fitch in the bow of the boat,
Nathan and Samuel on the seat back of Job, Miss Rose arid Miss
Ripley in front of him, with the invalid bundled up in the stern
seat. When all were ready, Nathan required the oarsman to
turn the boat round and row to "The Deep Hole," as a certain
part of the lake was denominated.
When Nathan uttered the word round, in his instructions to
Job, a response came from the shore, with-"I tell you the world
goes round, ha, ha, ha, ha."
"I believe that, John."





.16


The.rmerican Spy,


'Do you, Mister Nathan?-a--    ha, ha, ha."
" Well, my good fellow, what if the world does go round?"
asked Miss Rose.
"Oh, nothin inichJulie, ony as sartain as it goes rtind that
way, (throwing his hand in a circle,) auntDebby'spot will spill
all the beans out, pork'n all, if it aint kivered up darned tight,
ha, ha, ha', haa.
Crazy John had composed a song, two simple stanzas, which
he often sung for his friends, in a tuie borrodwed frot several
others. Apprized of the fact, young Fitch, as the boat shot off
from the shore, desired him to favor the party with a song; and
in a clear, minusical voice came the following:
" The world goes rourid the world goes round,
Jist so, I tell you't goes (describing a circle With his hand);
It keeps going roundand round,
Just as I turn my toes" (marking a circle with them on the sandy beach)
" The world goes round and back again,            [ofthe:lake)
Jirst like a water wheel (pointing in the direction of a mill on the outlet
Or like a pig outside its pen,
How loud I hear it squeal" (assuming the position of a listener).
"This is indeed romance in real life," said Miss Ripley, as
crazy John end-ed his song," a vocal sereniade upon the Water,
bene ath the, shade of an evergreen."
The Deep Hole1 had never been satisfactorily fathEroned, and
the students had prepared a line one hundred and twenty-five feet
long, for the purpose. Job knew where it was, but in his fishi
ing excursions he usually avoided it, having an aversion as h
expressed it," to rowing in de black water.": Prpoa'eiing the
little craft 'for a fev minutes, which seemed to  r   iy befoke his athletic arm-, h e lifted his oars from the water with the exclarmation,
"Gosh AJlassa JVkat'n, Job wouldn't fall in dis fountumnfor all
Cobedtry -and Vworld * besides!"
'' My  ld boy, how deep do you think this fountain is '" asked
Samuel familiarly, as h was aiding his cousin to attach a weight
to the liine for sounding.
"Now Massa Hale, Job couldn't make no. specleimation bout
de matotr, cause you see he's got no book larnin.  But it must
be mighty deep!   Why I spose,"
"Spose w'ha1t?" interrogated Samuel, as the honest old slave
hbesitated.
" Why, dat him deepaside Bay State water, wherde Btitsh
peace makers is!"
To the tiimates of the boat, a crimson tinge 'might have been
seen manhtlirng the cheek of S-atuel, at the answer of Job, but
suppressing his political emotions, he continlued to asist Nathan
as though he heeded not the negro's voice.   Many a pldasing





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


17


joke was enjoyed by the party in this water excursion, not exactly at Job's expense, for his lantern jaws were constantly spread
whenever his passengers were convulsed with laughter, although
his own simple words may have originated it. This negro was
rather a privileged person in South Coventry; being allowed, as
were many New England slaves, that freedom of speech which
only can develop the African's true character and incite his
shrewdness and cunning. As more than once observed by the
party to encourage his mirth-giving speeches, he had never been.
frightned by an owl. In fact, he was one of the most cautious,
trusty and witty servants that ever lived in New England.
The cousins began their sounding in the black water, and incredible as it may seem, their lines could not fathom it. Curiosity
being satisfied for the present, Job sent the boat where soundings
were not difficult, and, where, to use his own words," de parch
liked angle-dogs, as well as he did bacon and eggs."
Many a silvery fish fatally lured by the bait, was hooked on
that morning by Lucy (to whom the amusement was novel,) and
Miss Rose, to the great deligt of Job, whose sole duty it became
to bait their hooks and take the fish from them. As they caught
more than all the gentlemen, Job claimed to understand the art
of angling better than they did, the ladies being under his in.
struction; and ashe loosened one of the finy tribe and adjusted
the bait, he ever and anon spit upon it, and exclaimed as he cast
it over the boat's side, "dar'sfor nuther, right off."
Although Elizabeth was too feeble to enjoy with her friends
the pleasure of drawing the fish from the water, a spoirt of which
she was fond, still she participated in the general joy of the
party, seated in the midst of Job's artificial grove.
After the atnusenent had been indulged inr for some time, it
was thought prudent on Miss Hale's account to return home; besides, the western horizon indicated a shower. Job rowed the
boat to the landing, where crazy John was waiting to render his
assistance, who received from the ladies a fine mess of fish for
his attentions. As they were still alive and flouncing, the idiot
was reminded of his favorite maxim, which he more than once
repeated.
The aquatic party;with as little delay as possible, hurried back
and was sheltered within th  iale dwelling; the well members
of it just sipping each other's health in a glass of good Madeira,.a fashionable custom at that period, either on the arrival of
friends, or after a pleasure excursion, when the portending thunder-gust came whistling through the poplars, and soon burst in
wild fury.
2





18


The A/merican Spy,


CHAPTER III.
" The strife is done, the vanquish'd had their doom."-Byron.
Dinner having been announced by Mrs. Hale, her guests surrounded the table, and after a blessing had been asked by Deacon
H., upon the bounty spread before them, they seated themselves
and satiated an appetite-sharpened as is that of all good fishermen-with an excellent dinner. The events of the morning passed in review, when ample justice was done the character of Job
and crazy John in their absence by the charming invalid, who,
in an old-fashioned rocker, was bolstered up atthe table. Indeed,
the sayings and doings of the old slave were a source of no little
merriment on the occasion.
When the party were in the boat, Nathan and his sister, as did
Newton and his sister, previously apprised of Samuel's royalty,
readily divined the cause of his silence as Job alluded to the
British troops at Boston; but Miss Rose, ignorant of his politics,
repeated that part of the conversation, a.nd inclined to rally him
for dropping the subject without comment. The other girls both
sought to give her some token for silence, but without effect, and
as she continued her pleasantry, the young royalist, evidently
confused, was compelled to parry her jokes with any thing but
ease. He felt sensibly the delicacy of his situation. He knew
how unpopular his real views would be in that circle; in fact his
father had cautioned him before leaving home, to avoid, if possible, any political discussion--especially among the Hales and
Fitches, whom he expected to meet.
"In reply to Miss Rose," said Samuel, " I was afraid Job
might play the poiltician if further questioned, and-would
-might-prove to be-a son of liberty."
"Indeed!" and pray, what would you have him prove?', continued his unsuspicious tormebtor, little thinking that his hesitancy in a reply was attributable to a cause, which, if known,
could not fail to lessen him in her estimation, or that he fairly
despised the title by which patrit4s were proud of being distinguished.
" Why," continued Samuel, driven to the wall with the blood
mounting to his temples," I would have not only Job, but every
one else to be a real friend of his country; one who could not be
moved by trifles to forget his duty, either to his.Makler or his
King!"
The last sentence had hardly closed, when Miss Hale, to arrest





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


19


the coversatioh at this point, and spare the feelings of her cousin,
turned to MissiRose and in.a soft voice enquired, whether she or
Miss Ripley had caught the greatest number of fishes in their late
excursion?  So unexpected a question caused Miss Rose to look
at the speaker, when she received a sig.nificant look, which; in
connexion with Samuel's last sentence, she rightly construed, and
iri turn deeply blushed for having pursued her sallies to so unpleasant an issue.
The lovely Lucy, with the quickness of female perception, partially relieved Miss Rose from her dilemma by happy reply to
the invalid; confessing herself beaten by her fair competitor,
which she attributed to former practice in angling and Job's partiality in baiting her hook; and then adroitly shifting [the subject
to one more foreign, enquiredof Deacon Hale if he had ever heard
of the battle of the frogs in her own town.
He replied that he had not only heard all the circumstances
related when the occurrence trahspired, but that he knew all of
the men actors of the conflict: adding, that even at that late
period he never passed the pond along the King's highway,
without imagining he saw the deadly fight.
Miss Rose, happy at being relieved from her temperory embarrassment, requested the Deacon to relate the circumstances, as she
had never heard them in detail, to which he consented. The
party-having finished their dinner, thanks having been returned
as they had arisen from the table; retired to another room to hear
the Deacon's narrative, which ran much as follows:
On a very warm sultry night, about the middle of July, 1758,
when a thick cloud veiled every star, the good people of Windham were alarmed about midnight by the most terrifying sounds
they had ever heard, which sourids, a density of the atmosphere
and the intervention of a hill between the village and source of
sound, caused to appear overhead. Many threw up their windows
and attempted to descry objects in the surrounding darkness, but
they might as well have sought for the elixir-of-life on a huckleberry mountain. The more superstitious were ready to anticipate
the noctural visit of a host of witches, for such bipeds were still
known to the aged in them days, not only in our own but in the
Bay colony. Some thought the judgment-day had arrived; and
others supposed the town infested with hostile Indians, as we were
then in the midst of that horrid strife called the French and Indian
war; all, to say the least, were greatly terrified. The fears of
several citizens were not a i-itle increased, by hearing their own
names echoed in the surrounding gloom, among whom were Colonels Dyer and Elderkin, ien of legal renown, and Flint and Fitch,
two other noted citizens--the lattei the grandfather of Newton.
As a gruff voice was heard exclaiming, Col. Dyer! Col. Dyer"!





.20~


The A/merican Spy,


another more shrill but;equally unearthlyej~aculated, Elderkin too!'
Elder/cinm too'!-hiIle other's in 4a sharp tone,chimed in, Flint!
FlUn- Int Fitch! Fi" tch! -!,The mili-tary chieftains, their fear yielding at, length- to.'p0ride,- imagining..themselves -datred to combat,
sallied forthý,got a drummer. and beat up. for volunteers to repeal
an: invasion, whileother citizens, confiding infa'ith witho-ut zvorkes,
fell upon. their knees 'and implored Almighty protection. At the
head of a respectable number of volunteers with hunting guns. of.fearfullength; -we'll lo'aded,-Col. Dyer marchedi up the hill east of
the ivillage;, andI: becoming too well satisfied from the increase of,noise, that theenemy were not only in that direction hut on terra
firma, his -couragee failed hilml, and when he - ouldhave advanced
east'ward, his knees: s9mote their fellows'witbhdangerous colli'ion.,
At thisjuncture, Jack., a sprightly young slave owned by Col.
Dyer, who had been to visit his lady-love and was then" returning
home, passed near the, pond, i e hea rd the: Me of his master
relpeated;with'astonishinmnt,:and -halted supposingV, in a darkness
would prove a perfect- levelrei, some person had mistaken him for
his master, whose oldiclothes he chanced to have on;-:but' hearing
a guttural voice from almiost ýbenieath his.feet shout Elder/em  too!
ýwhich~his dilatedi 'organs of hearing readily converted into ctch'a-~nigger-too!he fled toward& the village at the top. of his speed,
ýmumbling over to himself toihncreaseehis courage,"You nýo1ketch
de.ý nigger in dese breches-darnA:your e yes ' PAfter. running
nearly three-fourths ofa 9mile he.tcame! upon the top of the hill
when his heavy footsteps being heamd. by hbis master who had just
arrived in-that vicinity, a few shots were directed, that way and a
h.asty retreat ordered by the Colonel. The flash and report which
followedý. with theo whistling of several balls just *over hisT head,
brought Jack to a4dead stand, wvhobegan most vehemently to pray
for theý assistance of good old parson White, and beg for quarters.
Ihe retreating W~inidhamites d(idnot linger to hear the slave's
unique petition,. butim-ade the best of4 their W.ay down the hill,
while: he, -with: hair e'ledrified,: i souight by - a: circuitous route his
mastei.'s, kitchen..~ -Jack stepped cautiously as he neeared the viPf
lage,-and emerging in the Ilight reflected from a.hack windowv of
his home, which was then in the ~possessioni of arm~ed mhen, he was
recognized and:spared ithe chan'ce: of a: second v-olley. -When
questioned- by the Co'lonel:as to:;where he: had been, he replied
tremblihng from headto' foot--."''Massa, Jacký must a-lways tell de
truthi; he,been to see- de Lilly ob-ide 'valley',' 'a name.`by l:which
he, chose 'to designate his sweet-heart.
"Wha~,-what m:akes you:trec;tremble so?.' asked hisi master,
wvhose obwn knheebs werie stillquuiit'e friendly.
Pressino 'down:the woolly locks upon hisopate Jack: responded
with emphasis, " 1Oh- gosh,.Massa Dyer! Ingens! In ens! 'de'





Or Freedom's. Early Sacrifice.


21


&yfor ketchý disgnigger too-he hrun-dey get afore em-shoothe, dode; de: balltaef dee, bush-un byaintomr' grape vbe,round Larabie's garden-over Swift's 'tatoepatchi ad get home
s.aft!"
"Did you see the,:ndians?" demanded several. voicesat- once.
"Yes,, by dar! light ob dar own powder-,-hill, all, cobereduwid. eem!"
From this'moment. amore vigilant watchwas kept. ovitfor the
foe. -The fearful sounds however, graduallydiedi away in th.ed Istance,. and before day-light had ceased altogetiher, thb eaffr~ighted
inhabitants. supposing their foes dared, not attack - them intheir
dwellings,. Early on the following morning some ofthq n.ksb
courageous yentured, wefll!.armed, to proceed in.a body over the,
hill, to d-iscover some, evidence of a,medlitated- invasjio, when 1o,!
the road along the mill-pond, now known as. Frog--pond,,ay4lit erally covered with dead bull-frogs.
What. was it supposed at the,time:bhad aus~ed the frogs,to
fight?"-.asked: MIisgsRose, seemingly much pleased with the narrative,. and, not, aware that'frogs were such, pugnacious animals..
This:frog-fight took place, said Deacon Hale, at an unusually
dry time.;A,mill-pond situated some distance above and not dissimilar to the,one near theroad, wasdrawn  off torepair.the dam,
and4its frogs, unwilling, to lose.the bevjerage they so9. scantily
enjoyed, floated: down with its. current to,theiponql below;.,the
wtaters! of both pondsunited. were lhowe,ver.a ascaot patteri for
milling privileges. As. the frogsý were-,excedingly, numerous,
and without a foramall in troduction were thus unceremoniov sly thrust
upon-each other's acq.uaintance,; they fell to-fighting;,;and like.the
battle of the Kilkenny cats, this ended only in extermination.
" Well if they were exterminated then," said Samuel, "there
has been a fresh importation to the lower pond long since, for
they almost deafened me with their croaking when I came by it
yesterday. Uncle Richard, were there as many frogs killed in
that most singular of all,"battles, as the o`ld people tell for?"
"Yes," responded the Deacon, "many thousands were_ suppose       e-  i  e  M  bb'shels'. o     Ii: a''h
ed tohave''been killed, -and bushelsof them were lying upon the
ground:afterwards, to be fed upon by bogs aondcrows, twoanimals
whi-ch.; I. rather guess. wi~ll eat. almost.any thing."
After a little pleasantry which. Deacon Hale's, historicallfacts
had. called, forth,: the conversation.of the party glided off into A
pleasging channel, corresponding with the reappearanceofi fthe
sun's golden *rays, and any allusion, to, mwatters: of aý political cast
were studiouslylavoided. When SamueL parted with his cousin
at New Haven scarcelytwo weeksb,'efore, he loingedrfor an opportunity to convince-him of the -,,charms and -claims of royalty,
but a ýsensible cautlorio from his father,-and  ossibly the smiles. of
Miss Julia, who, from her own blushes at the dinner table,.he





22


The J1merican. Spy,


suspected of rebellion, led him to believe that an expose of his
sentiments would prove neither very agreeable to the company or
creditable to himself.
After the guests at Deacon Hale's had tasted the luxuries of a
New England tea-table, and washed down several daintiesamong which was a dish of strawberries donepup with cream and
sugar, with a decoction of the aromatic root of the sassafras, the
sipping of which beverage caused Samuel some blushes, independent of those occasioned in attempting to parry the witty sallies of Mrs. Hale, who kept the whole company merry; Miss
Julia returned home accompanied by him, yet what fender expressions were uttered on the way can be better imagined than
repeated at this late day. We may very reasonably suppose from
appearances, however--although aware they sometimes deceive
us-that the young royalist had now found a bud he might some
day desire to see blooming a bridal-rose.
Samuel, who had made the journey to his uncle's on horseback
with a part of his wardrobe deposited in a good-sized pair of
saddle-bags, (for Sir Dederick Knickerbocker' was not the only
personage of olden time who traveled with such a convenience,)
after spending a week very pleasantly returned home, tarrying
with young Fitch and the beautiful Miss Ripley over night.
Having examined with some care several files of newspapers at
his uncle's, filled with rebellious sentiments, such as he had not
before taken pains to read, and from his observation on the road,
he carried home a belief that opposition to British ministerial
oppression was becoming a settled principle throughout his native
colony.'
CHAPTER IV.
"The proud are always most provok'd by pride. -Cowper
At the commencement of Yale College early.in 1773, young
Fitch and the Hale cousins graduated, all with deserved honorsNathan, though scarcely eighteen years of age, bearing off the
literary palm of the institution. It was evident that Samuel remembered with pleasure his visit in Coventry, as he needed little
urging to accompany his cousin home from New Haven. Fishing parties, in which Job, and sometimes crazy John figured,
hunting and riding excursions, etc., were enjoyed by him with
peculiar zest at hislsecond visit, which was protracted to several
weeks, a part of which timehe spent in Windham with the Fitch
family.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


23


One rainy day while Samuel was at his uncle's engaged in a
studied g'me of checkers with his charming cousin, who, instead
of the invalid he had left her some months before, was now as
healthy and as pretty a maiden as man could wish to see-ever
sprightly without folly, and witty without sarcasm-a loud rap
was heard at the door. On its being opened, a vbice with a foreign brogue enquired--" Misthur Natan Ale lives here?"
" He does," said Nathan, who with a newspaper was poring
over a debate on American grievances in the English House of
Commons, and recognizing in the voice of the speaker his German friend Staudt, he sprang to the door, extended his hand and
bade him welcome. John Casper Staudt was a man some forty
years of age, of athletrc form and good nature, natural gifts of a
German ancestry; and seemed well fitted to endure the buffetings
of life. Arriving in a north-easter, wet and chilly, at the house
of his young friend, he was conducted into the kitchen to warm,
where dinner was cooking over a fire which sent its oak and
chestnut sparks in every direction from beneath the mantle-tree of
an immense fire-place. The kitchen of nearly every New England farm-house, at this period, contained a piece of furniture
called a screen-a bench with sides at the ends to rest the arms
upon, and a back rising from the floor above the head of the persoil seated upon it. The kitchen screen usually was seen, particularly in winter, with one end against the wall near a corner of
the fire-place, the other extending into the room so as to protect
the fire if possible from the air of an outside door. Screensupon which no little courting has been done 'lang-syne '-were
sometimes furnished with a cushion of feathers, of which luxurious kind was the one under consideration. Divesting his person
of a heavy pack, containing his wardrobe and numerous chemical
implements, the money digger was given a seat upon the screen,
and soon after served with a glass of cider-brandy and molasses
'to warm his stomach.'
The new guest on Prospect Hill remained there a fortnight,
and often amused the Hale family and other visitors with anecdotes of his own life in Germany and America, not forgetting to
tell how near he had been more than once to some of Captain
Kidd's money, when a charm was unfortunately broken by the
utterance of a single word, or the carol of a bird, and some sprite
bore away the iron chest and its contents to-the Lord knows
where. While in Coventry, in company with the Hale cousins
and their friend Fitch, (who, with Miss Ripley, chanced to visit
them during his stay,) with Job for a waiter and crazy John a
hanger-on, he visited ' The Pool,' as there denominated. It is a
spring in the easterly part of the town, issuing from beneath the
south bank of the Willimantic, where that river separates the





24


The.3merican Spy,


towns of Coventry apd Mansfield. After a partial examination,
the chemist pronounced the mineral properties of the pool to be
iron. Taking a hasty survey of the ground around the spring,
the soil being sandy and covered with white birch and alder of
stunted growth, he said, " It wouldn't bay de'cosht to work himdere bees no mooch: iron round here."
"I tell you the world goes round, ha, ha, ha,,ha," responded a familiar voice to the last words of the German; and the
party returned home, much pleased with their pedestrian excursion.
No member of the Hale family was more highly delighted with
the honest -German than Job; and it was really amusing to hear
him attempt to instruct the former in his English pronunciationevidently proud to meet a white man who spoke his own language
worse than he did. The chemist endeavored to compensate:the
slave by instructions in gardening, by telling-him how to manufacture and drink wine; how to proceed to obtain Kidd's money,
if so lucky as to see a chest containing it, causing the negro's
organs of vision greatly to dilate;-and also how to proceed,
should he ever travel in Germany, a circumstance quite as likely
to take place as his erial flight to the moon. Crazy John also
became much attached to Job's particular friend, who seemed to
appreciate his feelings better than most others did; and on visiting the Hale mansion one morning and learning that heihad gone,
not expecting to return, a tear was seen to moisten his eye.
Miss Hale and her friend Lucy, during the stay of the latter,
were often delighted by Staudt's pleasing yarns; while he in return was half enamored with the sweet temper of the former, and
the witty, candid conversation of the latter. After receiving
more than one substantial evidence of generous regard from different members of the Hale family, and a keepsake froi Lucya Silken money purse of her own make-all of which he carefully stowed away in his mammoth pack, he left Coeentry, manifesting for the kindness of his new acquaintances every demonstration of heartfelt gratitude-promising, if ever an opportunity
was afforded him, to repay in some manner his kind entertainment.
When he had mounted his pack, he took no little pains before
starting, to shake hands with every member of the family, not
forgetting Job, but to the young ro.yalist who was still there, he,
for some cause unknown at the time, did not extend his hand. It
was noticed by several of the family, but as the slighted one did
not speak of it,, his friends did not think proper to. By some remark made by him after the German left, it was supposed he had
in some manner intentionally hurt his feelings.
While Samuel was on this his last visit to Connecticut, several
social parties were made in Coventry and in Windham on his ac




Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


25


count, and he added numerous agreeable acquaintances to his
former list; but pf all his Windham county friends, Julia Rose
was the favorite. Hie was more cautious if any thing than on
his first visit about avowing his political sentiments; yet there
were oecasions when allusion was made to some patriotic movement it seemed impossible to avoid, which unconsciously drew
from him evidence of his kingly predilection. On the day before
he left, he made a confident of his charming cousin, and revealed
to her the fact that he. had ventured certain tender proposals to
Miss Julia, which were rejected, as he thought, with evident
pride. He said.she had refused his hand because of the difference
in his and her own political sentiments, adding, that "he thought
it ridiculous young ladies should even think of politics, much less
be influenced by them."
That not only Miss Rose, but thousands of other women in the
colonies, did investigate, and carefully, the political causes then
agitating them, is a matter of notoriety worthy especial notice,
as they exerted a powerful influence on the destiny of the republi,. Whether the general reader will justify Miss Rose in rejecting a lover because he opposed measures she firmly believed he
should advocate, we know not; but approve her course, however,
since' a house,'especially in revolutionary times,' divided against
itself can not stand,' neither can that family waring in sentiment
ever live happily. The political bias of the mothers and daughters of the Revolution, who espoused the cause of their suffering
country, whose memory every true American should cherish, was
a great, an indispensable wheel in rolling on the car of American
Liberty.
Samuel had been treated at Deacop Hale's, with the generous
hospitality extended in former days to guests in New England;
not that we would intimate they were now treated inhospitably;
but at the period of which we are writing, there was known far
less formality than at present, which often savors of insincere
professions of friendship-professions which extend courtesy and
heartless sincerity, because it it fashionable to appear civil; although in the kitchen, the family visited may wish their parlor
friends in Heaven, or almost any other place, so that they are rid
of them. When the young royalist mounted his horse to proceed
homeward, he did so, notwithstanding his attempt to conceal it,
evidently displeased with all aroundhim; even Job couldnot fail
to notice his incivility, while attempting to place his feet properly in his stirrups. His leaving Coventry in such evident ill
humor, was a source of no little uneasiness to Deacon Hale and
his wife, until his love affair was made known after he left, by
Elizabeth, who felt it a duty, as no injunction of secresy was imposed, to relieve her parents' anxiety. He passed by his Wind




26


The American Spy,


ham friends without calling on them, and rode home, to use a
vulgar phrase, ' with a flea in his ear,' or somewhere else; out of
humor with every thing and every body republican; and safely
arrived there, he was more strongly inclined than ever to promote
royalty. Again at home, he entered his father's office as a law
student, where for the present we will leave him.
Soon after Newton Fitch had received parchment evidence of
scholarship, he began to read in a law office in Hartford; about
which time Nathan Hale, to gratify the wishes of his friends,
would have commenced fitting for the ministry, had not the difficulties with England increased with every eastern gale, and his
country demanded his first service. Several things had occurred
recently to prove the Americans determined in their opposition
to tyranny, but none more so than the destruction of the British
revenue cutter, Gaspee, in Providence river, which occurred just
after Samuel's first visit in Coventry. This transaction also
showed that they were actuated by principle, for when gold can
not bribe, virtue retains an enviable seat. The act was one of
such daring, that the British offered a large reward to discover
the perpetrators: more than this; they promised full pardon to
the informant if guilty himself, yet of the very many engaged,
there was no Judas.
During the year in which the Hale cousins graduated, colonial
assemblies began to take a bold stand against oppression, and in
most instances were arrayed against their own governors. Those
legislative bodies appointed committees to correspond with each
other, and to further their designs, committees were organized
in almost every town. Of the Coventry committee, young Hale
was an efficient member. The principal object of the town associations, was the early spreading of important information. It
will be remembered that printing presses were then few, and the
means of communicating news by telegraph unknown in the land;
while the advantages of steam power existed only in the minds
of the scientific. Patriots not only did without India tea in accordance with their voluntary agreements, but in December of
this year the Bostonians, to prevent a ship's cargo from being
landed, dedicated it, with little ceremony, to old Neptune, to be
served up to the sea-serpent, then in his teens, and numerous
small fry assembled' by general invitation. This lawless act of
the Bostonians added fresh oil to the discordant flame, and Parliament soon after levied a tax on the town of Boston and removed
its Custom House to Salem. The climax of oppression, however
was the provision made for the trial in England of American
criminals.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


27


CAPTER V.
" 'Tis hard; but when we need must bear,
Enduring patience makes the burden light."--Spectator.
A military life has peculiar charms for individuals of an ardent
daring temperament; such was that of Nathan Hale, our hero;
and when an organization of the militia of the land was proposed, he entered fully into the spirit of the requisition, with the
young men of his own town. The time had now arrived, when
the position of the colonies with the mother country could solely
be maintained by the bloody, heart-sickening clangor of arms;
for the American motto " United we stand," had gone forth to the
world, and the distinguishing characteristics of Whig: and Torythe one then denoting submission to nothing clearly wrong, the
other a willingness to put up with any thing to retain place-had
already been heralded from Maine to Georgia.
The reader has discovered that Lucy Ripley, so far as we have
shown her true character, was an object worthy of any man's
love; so thought our hero from the moment he beheld her at the
bedside of his sister when ill, and the intimacy of childhood ere
long had ripened into reciprocal love. When minds ennobled
by every virtuous principle, are silently drawn together by their
magnetic affinity, Cupid twines his silken cords around them, and
they become influenced by corresponding feelings-each as if by
nature prompted, admiring the acts and drinking in the spirit
which influences the other. True, we are to a great extent creatures of habit; and although Lucy, from the part her father,
Fitch and many of her relatives were acting, would doubtless have
admired the spirit of manly resistance her countrymen were making to tyranny, still it is hardly probable rebellion would have
occupied so much of her thought had not her lover been an active
partisan.
The gambrel-roofed two story dwelling of Erastus Fitch,
painted red, and standing so pleasantly on a knoll in Windham,
embowered in the summer amidst fruit trees and a thrifty woodbine which crept along its front wall, had received " its airing"
for the spring and again" been put to rights " just previous to the
first day of April, 1775. On the morning of that day, a day of
rare serenity, Lucy resolved to invite in a few female friends for
an afternoon visit, and in accordance the parlor and keeping
room floors were scoured clean, and each received a liberal coat
of pure white sand, that in the former room presenting a prettily





28


The 'imerica-n Spy,


grained appearance, by its having had a hair wist made for the
purpose, lightly drawn over it in transverse directions, to exhibit
different figures. My young reader is hardly aware that carpeting is a luxury of more modern introduction, and that probably
few, if any, wealthy farmers in. New England had a yard of it at
a period so early as that under consideration.
On the day above mentioned, soon after dinner, to which he
sat down, as most New England people did, precisely at twelve
o'clock, a single horseman might have been seen well mounted,
and wending his way from Coventry to Windham, evidently in
very deep study, either about his own or his country's welfare;: or
both as is likely; a revery not unfrequently broken by the cackling of wild geese, then taking their oerial flight northward in
great numbers for. incubation: As the horseman turned into an
avenue which led from the King's highway to the house of Erastus Fitch, several rods distant, his ear was greeted with vocal
music, which drowned the noise made by his horse's hoofs, and
he approached sufficiently near unobserved, to hear severalfemale
voices warble melodiously the following homely, though patriotic
lines in the then favorite air, Yankee Doodle.
Hark! hear ye not that distant drum,.
That trump*et's signal blast, sir I
Great Britain's troops to awe have; come,
Americans at last, sir,!
They. think us Yankee boys so few,
We will not dare resist, sir!
But with clearheads and hearts all:true,
We'll show John Bull our fist, sir 1
No silk we'll wear--drink no bohea,
Till GEORGE revokes his laws, sir!
And if he don't, we will be free,
And shovw our eagle-claws, sir!
No more to kings we'll bow the iknee,
But bid them all beware, sir!;
We Yankee boys may plant a tree
That liberty will bear, sir!
"Bravo! American girls against the world!" shouted the
horseman, as the music ceased. He was delighted to hear a bevy
of girls chanting alone a.national air, and his unexpected plaudit brought several:of them covered with blushes, to an open
Window.
" Nathan,i" said a familiar, voice from an opendoor to which
his own had invited the speaker, "your arrival is most opportune;
whether by your eaves-dropping you have been rmade an April
fool, or the serenaders, by unconsciously giving a Yankee Doodle
concert, I am unable to say. But you are not to be a tro6per in
any event, so you will just dismount and entertain the songsters,
with whom one might suppose you much pleased."





Or Eprgedom's Early Sadcrfice.


29


'f I am;sure all: the poets in the country would open their escritoirs and puzzle their wits zat midniglt to write so'ngscould  thy
hbut hear theem sungiby the Windhamgirls,"- said our hero,:as.he
surrendered, his horse'to Zeb, a',young slave, belonging to the
Fitch family, and followedMissRipley into thebhall, T: he goodnatur'e'd black took the.b ridle-rein's and bounded into the-saddle
with a chuckle, giving 'his youngimistress t'the time asignificant
wink and nod,Ias& much as to say, ' do`you, know tthat -fellow?"?hich increased 'the cherry hueo f& herý cheeks. -Having doffed
his -hat andispurs, Lucy conducted her lover into -the presence of
some half a dozen girls, who,4 adopting his remark, might have
been. pitted against the same number of youngladies from       any
land.   To speak of them   in general terms,zthey werelhanidsome
without being vain of their beauty, and: socia~ ble: without. 'ani ex.
hibition of affectation, or an: ostentatious aping-of unpossessed
wit.
We. have not.. time. to introduce -the: reader personally toeach of
the company into which our hero had so unexpectedlyý been ush-.
ered, with several of whom'he had a partial acquaintance, or
exhibit the playful 'conversation of theafternoon. Hours glided
pleasantly away, and after tea, (a- decoction,:of sage,) several
young gentlem~en residing in the neighborhood.,'came by inviaon
to ýspend -the i even'ing, and: aid young Hale. in entertaining the fair
circle.  Much of 'the evening's conversation was -about patriots
and roy alists; and the health of severall of the' former lw as toasted
in- a glAass of wine.  That of Hale was as follows: "The health
of Dr. Joseph   Warren--r-the statesma-n annd. herowho so -nobl-dar'ed.to bear-d the British, lion in his den! May all true s ameariw
cansappreciate his worth.*'"'
* On the evening, of ' 'March 5, 17.0, several citizens of.,loston were flred
upon andkilled by a company of British soldiers; then luiartered in that'town,.
The anniversary:of the event was _ celebrated every year, until;the ensuing war
was closed. and Dr,.Warren delivered, two of the orations-ohe in.17 72, and
the' otherin.1774.
Just previous to the deliveryof. Warien's last oration, the British 'officers
then s4ationed in Boston,' had'mad6, the threat oopeniy, that whoever spoke on
that occasion woul4 do,, it at the: price-of his life. The so~ul of this patriot
took fire at the threat, and he solicited the honor of bravirig it.
When the day came, the old South meeting-house (temples of worship' denominated churches in' New York, are6 called meeting-houses in New' England.)
was 'fdled at an eprly hour, the 'British,-officers occupying the aisles and the
steps to the pulpit,, several even presuming to enter that consecrated place, in
the hope  e 'better'lto over-awe the' speaker.' Finding the. usual entrance obstructed, supposed purposely, 'the orator assisted by several friends, effetedone
at the pulpit window by a ladder.
As the speaker took his.place at the desk, an awful silence pervaded the
assembly. He. comrienced in a. firm tone of voice. and. as heproceeded with
energy and boldness to -depict the evils attendant on stationing armedmen in
populious towns', the patriotic spectatro  s often 'turned, their eys from h Im to
the burni~sheddweapons of his' foes; but  a stillnes like' that found in the
house of death, was broken only by the pathos of the orator, who finished





30


The American Spy,


The party, which broke up at an early hour in the: evening,
was conducted much as are modern similar assemblings; to the
disinterested observer, however, there was one very apparent difference. The guests of Miss Ripley seemed all on an equality,
whereas in modern times it is becoming exceedingly difficult to
bring a dozen young people together, but what some will evidence
that they consider themselves far from being:flattered, if, in fact,
they do not take it in high dudgeon that some of their schoolmates who were less vain than themselves are invited guests, although possibly they may be richer in both prospective wealth
and good sense. It is anti-republican, entirely so, for individuals
to manifest hauteur towards their worthy fellows, and not less
impolitic to assume aristocratic airs in company.
Nathan and Lucy had been plighted for several months, and in
the morning when he was just ready to return home, they might
have been seen in private conversation. He wished her to name
a day when ceremony should make them one, as afection for some
time had done.
Apprized that his birth-day would be on the sixth day of the
approaching June, and flattering herself with the vain belief, because she hoped as much, that the national difficulties would, at
all events, be likely to be settled ere that time, she replied, half
leaning against his person, with her hands tenderly locked in his,
and her lustrous eyes amorously upturned to his own:
"-Let it be on the anniversary of your next birth-day!"
" Be it on that day then, although it will seem an age," said
the patriot lover, "and may that God in whom we both trust,
approve the time and act." 'So saying, his arm encircled her
waist; he drew the gentle creature to his own person, and again
and again, and possibly yet again, imprinting the lover's seal for
similar contracts on her nectarine lips, peach-blushing cheeks and
ruddy neck; then suddenly, as if a sense of duty chided, a shade
of melancholy passed o'er his brow, and relaxing his hold on her
beautious form, he started, as from an unpleasant dream.
"What is the matter, dearest-what so alarms you?" anxiously
inquired his companion, "does'the prospect of our certain union
awaken such speedy repentance?"
"No, my own dear Lucy," said he in reply to her closing
words, as. he gazed anxiously upon her countenance, from which
the blood had stolen insensibly away. " No, fair one, such were
not the thoughts now occupying my mind. Alas! wereit not for
his oration unmolested. The British soldiers were not the only persons
armed among the spectators, and it is highly probable the manifest preparations
made by the "Sons of Liberty" to punish the dastardly act, alone prevented
the threatened assassination. The scene throughout must have been exciting
and sublime.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


31


the chances of war, we might with more certainty anticipate the
consummation of our earthly hopes. The next post may bring
us intelligence of the shedding of more blood than flowed from
American veins on that occasion, which the noble Warren so
recently and so eloquently depicted, with an hundred bullets
awaiting but a signal to pierce his unawed heart. The long
pent up storm must soon find a crater from which it will burst
in all its fury; and the liberty of privilege we seek to enjoy,
will only be obtained, as I fear, through rivers of blood-yes,
seas of gore! I would not anticipate horrid scenes of carnage,
yet come they must, and your Nathan is as likely to prove a
victim as others."
At this hasty speech the blood chilled in Lucy's veins; she
had only anticipated war at a distance, or as a means of distinction for the ambitious, and possibly had fancied a laurel
chaplet upon the brow of her lover; she had, in fact, looked
only on the bright side of the picture, and imagined glory and
fame without wounds and death. In turn, her sweet countenance was overcast with the clouds of fear and doubt, and
with a look in which hope was but faintly reflected, she inquired:
"And will you go into the heat of battle; will you encounter
the hazard of certain death?"
"I'll go where duty bids me-and trust there to be followed
by your prayers!" he responded.
" Dear Nathan, I still hope a general war is not to follow
this accumulated oppression of the Bostonians; and that our
good king's advisers may yet be influenced by reason, and the
dictates of humanity."
" Hopes indulged for years, dear girl, but what have they
availed? We have petitioned, till petition have become a nuisance, and are not even read. We have remonstrated, till renmonstrance has become a' by-word; We even sent our great
philosopher and lightning tamer with the olive-branch, 'saying they will reverence him,' but he was buffeted and spurned
from Parliament. The storm is fast gathering, and we must
fight-and I am resolved to stand or fall with my injured countrymen; so good-by, dear Lucy, and with'this seal of our love,
I tear myself from you."
Scarcely had their lips parted from a long and blissful kiss,
when he sprang from her side-bounded into his saddle, and
was soon out of sight.





32


The./rmerican Spy,


CHAPTER VI.
" The storm cloud gathers fast, the hour's at hand,
When it will burst in fury o'er the land."
Eighteen days from the interview of our hero with his ladylove, noticed in the preceding chapter, Gen. Gage, then in command of the British troops stationed at Boston, sent a detachment
of his men to destroy a quantity of military stores accumulated at
Concord; the Lexington battle followed, the details of which are
familiar, or ought to be, to every American. The news of this
conflict spread through the colonies like fire upon a prairie before
a gale of wind. It was heralded by swift-footed messengers, and
was soon known in every hamlet from Maine to Georgia. The
militia of Coventry, imitating the example throughout New England, were soon on their march to the theatre of war.
Passing through Windham, Nathan obtained a brief interview
with Lucy, the troops having halted in the neighborhood of the
Fitch dwelling to rest. The moments flew rapidly, and when the
gifted hero drew his watch and observed that the time of rest had
nearly expired, a shade of regret clouded his brow, but it was only
for a moment; and as the rolling drum warned that the interview
must close, although the eye of Lucy moistened with a tear, the
vdyers parted full of hopes and bright visions of bliss. Our heroine
had been too zealous in the cause of liberty,to attempt, as some
would have done, to detain her lover, yet he could not fail to infer
more than once, that she would rather the crisis had not arrived.
As; the stirring sounds of the fife and drum died away in the distance, doubts came to torment her, but against them and the
pulsations of, her youpg heart, which almost threatened its rupture, she struggled--she conquered, though not until several
hours after her lover had been marching on the road towards Boston. His thoughts on this journey may perhaps be better imagined than described.
Arriving in the vicinity of Cambridge, all was bustle and
activity; thousands of New England's hardy sons had already
congregated, some in the garments they had on at the plow or
anvil, which they had not deemed it prudent to take time to lay
off; and all actuated by one feeling-drawn together by one sympathetic chord.
Gen. Gage, seeing the hills around Boston occupied by the
armed yeomanry of New England, for some time confined his
operations to the city; the besieging Americans however, were





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


33


organizing and disciplining for subsequent duties. Many of the
militia who first rallied near Boston, when they discovered they
were not needed, returned home; while others enlisted to see the
end of the Lexington tragedy. Of the latter number was young
Hale, who was given a captain's commission, in Col. Webb's
regiment.
Early in June several thousand fresh troops arrived ih Boston
when Gen. Howe, commissioned so to do by the British government, offered pardons to all Americans for past offences, except
to Samuel.Jdams and John Hancock. The manner of their exceptions shows them entitled to the very front rank of American
patriots. Neither the prospect of peace, with all its blessings, if
to be purchased at the possible sacrifice of national privileges,
or the prospect of war, with all its horrid details, could change
the settled purpose of the Bostonians.
It having been rumored abroad that the British troops intended
visiting the country, active measures were on foot in the camp
to prevent it. After a good night's repose, Gen. Gage, then in
command of the troops at Boston, was startled by a loud rapping
at his door.
" Who's there?" he inquired, raising his head from his downy
pillow, just as the rap was-violently repeated. Immediately he
heard the disturber of his morning dreams hold off the latch, vainly
attempting to enter his appartment. " Who's there?" again interrogated the occupant of the bed-chamber.
"My name is Henry Clinton, sir," said the intruder, "and I
would speak with Gen. Gage this moment."
Springing from his bed he unlocked the door, and seeing his
brother officer there at so unusual an hour, he exclaimed, " Gen.
Clinton, what has happened-what the d--l brings you to my
door by daylight? Have the Yankees carried us all by storm, at
the point of mop-sticks and pitch-forks? or has some most important news just arrived from England?  Speak; do tell what has
happened."
"I am only waiting an opportunity to do so, your honor!"
said Clinton, dryly, tipping his chapeau very gracefully. "The
Yankees have not altogether carried us by storm, but they might
very easily if we all slept as soundly as yourself. Why sir, Col.
Allen had not half the difficulty to arouse the commandant of Old
Ti,* that I have had to wake you. But I am on business. To be
brief, sir, the rag-tags of the would-be generals, Mr. Ward and
others,t are strongly intrenching themselves on Breed's Hill, and
*Allusion is here made to the capture of Fort Ticonderoga, by Col. Ethan
Allen, in May, 1775.
t At this period of the contest, the British officers were unwilling to extend
the title of General to Americans, and when Gen. Gage first communicated
3





34


The.American Spy,


it is rumored in town that they intend to keep possession of it,
and    "
" The d-1 they do!" interrupted the dressing hero, who tore
one of his silk stockings half off, and ruptured his beautiful buff
breeches in two places in his hot haste to get them on.
Bang! bang! bang! went several loud guns at this moment.
" What does this firing mean?" said Gen. Gage, nearly letting
his gold watch fall in a vain endeavor to thrust it into its fob.
"A few morning guns for variety, your honor. You know our
men are complaining of ennui; before coming here I left orders
for some of our best artillerists to punish the cowardly rebels for
their temerity. They are very valiant in the night, when our
troops are asleep, but I dare say a few more shots will send them
scampering from the hill, like a flock of frightened sheep." Bang!
bang! bang!
"What! the firing seems to be in another direction from the
first," said the dressing hero, now about to leave his room, "what
can this mean?"
"Only that the ships in the harbor are joining in the salute,"
responded Clinton, as the two descended into the street. They
proceeded immediately to the tower of a meeting-house, which
afforded them a fine view of the American redoubt, a work which,
had sprung up as if by magic, while the two spectators had either
been playing cards over a glass of wine, or were sleeping off the
heavy charges their war-god, Bacchus, had literally loaded them
with. Raising a glass to his eyes and surveying the American
works on the hill, surprise was visible in his countenance, but
without seeming to lose his usual gravity, on which he prided
himself, Clinton handed the magnifier to his companion, barely
remarking as he did so,
" The Yankees can shovel gravel, if they can't do any thing
else!"
After a brief survey, Gage lowered the glass with an oath,
expressing his astonishment that the rag-tags, as his friend had
dubbed them, could have accomplished so much in so little time,
and that they should continue their unfinished works with such
apparent unconcern; as the shot of the enemy were plowing up
the soil all around them.
" This will never, never do; them rascals must all be caught
and gibbeted, or locked up in dungeons," said Gage, "and we
must set ourselves to work to do it. What, let a report go into
the country, that a handful of raw militia defied British regulars
with impunity?"  At this moment Generals Burgoyne, Howe
and Pigott, who had been notified tomeet Gage and Clinton there,
with Gen. Washington, by letter, it was superscribed to ( Mr. Washington"of course it was returned unopened, because it was not addressed to him in
his official capacity, although a business letter.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


35


came panting into the bellfry. '" This looks as though we were
to have a warm day of it," said Gage to Howe, as the latter sank
down upon the deck much exhausted.
After panting a few moments, grumbling at the great number
of steps he had to climb in his ascent, and wiping the perspiration from his brow, he replied to Gage as follows; "Depend
on't there'll be no righting. Send a regiment of red coats that
way, with bright bayonets, and then Jonathan fox-hunters will
show their heels in double quick time."  With emphasis he added, "I'l lay a wager of ten bottles of as good Jladeira as the
Pope of Rome ever tasted, that Pigott and myself with a few
troops, will rid the hill of them jackanapes in two hours!"
" I am not disposed to overrate the courage of the rascals,"
said Gage, " but some how or other they do not seem to mind the
shot of our cannon in the least, for which reason I will take your
bet. Yourself and Pigott shall have the honor of selecting your
troops for the occasion, and when ready to march, Clinton, Burgoyne and I will take our station here, (if we can press some
chairs into the service,) to witness the flight of the "rag-tags."
What say, Clinton, will you share the bet with me."
" I perfer betting to win, sir," said Clinton, " but I will promise to help drink the wine, standing upon that petticoat-looking
banner* they have planted on their works, long before noon;
will not you, friend Burgoyne."
"Indeed I will in full bumpers, from the head of one of their
butter-firkin drums," added Burgoyne. After a few preliminaries
were settled, the party left the tower to prepare to punish the
daring provincials. Thus commenced the great tragedy, since
known as the battle of Bunker Hill.
Considerable delay was experienced in getting the British
troops ready to march; in the meantime the Americans were prosecuting their labor with incessant diligence. It was nearly
noon when the men under Howe and Pigo'tt landed from boats in
Charleston, and marched up the hill to attack the provincials.
The trio in the steeple had waited long and anxiously to see the
" rebels scamper off," but when instead, they saw scores of their
own select infantry cut down before the American redoubt, like
grass before a mower, and the remainder fleeting towards their
boats, they bit their lips, which only parted to eject an occasional
oath, in anger; and when, on being rallied and brought by their
officers to a second charge, more fatal, even, than the first from the
Americans' fire, and before which they again retreated down the
hill, their rage knew no bounds.- Gage and Burgoyne flew into
a passioi--stamped upon the bell-deck, and each in turn swore
* In the years 1775 and 1776. the American flag was one of plain red that of
stars and stripes was adopted June 14, 1777.





36


The American Spy,


that Ihe line of the brest-work were manned by Englishmen, as
no other troops could stand such charges; while Clinton in a perfect rage, left his mortified companions, taking an oath that as
the honor of the royal flag was jeopardized, he would carry the
works or perish in the attempt.
Early in the morning of this day, fraught with such important
consequences to lovers of liberty, Captain Hale, having left his
company in commiand of his lieutenant, armed with a fowling
gun,* crossed the isthmus to the fortification on Breed's Hill, accompanied by Gen. Warren, who was also proceeding thither to
volunteer his aid to the brave Prescott. As they passed the neck
of land exposed to the cross-fire of the British, a grape shot
striking the barrel of Hale's gun, forced it from his hand upon the
ground. Snatching it up uninjured, he took deliberate aim and
fired at an officer on the nearest floating battery, with what effect
is unknown. Declining any command, Warren and Hale sought
the most exposed part of the American redoubt, where by counsel and example, they proved efficient auxiliaries.
The Americans under Prescott were not only without bayonets,
but were greatly deficient in powder and ball, not having on an
average at the commencement of the action, over three or four
charges to each man. It was, however, most judiciously expended during the first two attacks of the enemy, scarcely a charge
having been fired that did not take effect in some manner upon
the foe. More than one Briton bit the ground before the steady
aim of young Hale; who, with the old gun he had often shot
ducks with in the lake near his father's, he was now repelling
the invaders of his country.
Arriving with fresh troops at the landing, Gen. Clinton once
more 'rallied the dispirited soldiers under Howe and Pigott.
When about to lead them to a third assault, he addressed them
much as follows: " What! are a handful of green Yankees invincible? Are soldiers in the service of King George, well equipped, and their officers who have won laurels in foreign lands,
fighting with veteran troops man to man, to be disgraced forever
by a vein attempt to storm the mushroom works of a pack of
cowards and mint-tea-drinkers, armed, too, as they are?  Methinks I hear the village church bells ringing a merry peal
throughout America, at the defeat of disciplined troops by a few
ragamuffins! What think you Parliament will say, when told
that a thousand or even two thousand New England farmers
without bayonets, successfully resisted three or four thousand of
England's best infantry?  Tell it not in Gath, neither publish it
in the streets of London! I appeal to you as men, as English* In the early part of the Revolution, nearly all the American captains not
only wore swords, but carried guns.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


37


men, to redeem your national character for bravery! Let not the
sun go down with shame upon your heads, for disgraced you can
not fail to be in the eyes of all Europe, and your officers, too, if
yonder works are not stormed; nor shall I crave the honor of
commanding men after this day, who have not sufficient mettle
and pride of country, to plant successfully our floating lion, where
hangs like a dish-cloth, Jonathan's ball-riddled apology for a
flag! For myself, I declare, and call heaven to witness, I would
rather die an hundred deaths, than survive this day's defeat!"5
The appeal of Clinton had not been made in vain, and with
huzzas the troops desired him to lead them on.
At this moment, seeing the troops about to advance to a third
assault, a murmur ran through the American lines for ammunition
there being but a few charges in the whole redoubt. Leaping
over the brestwork, our hero, though greatly exposed, began to
rifle the cartridge-boxes of his fallen foes; and a few other patriots imitating his example, a little powder was thus obtained; but
not having bullets of suitable size, gravel stones were substituted,
and with this meagre provision to repel, the provincials awaited
the approach of the enemy. As they drew near and opened a
brisk fire. the discharge of the Americans betrayed their want of
ammunition more clearly than their recent attempts to obtain it
had done, and Clinton gave orders to scale the works. At this
moment the favored son of New England-the gifted Warren
received a bullet in his head, and fell into the arms of our hero,
who droped his gun to receive him. Although in a dying state,
young Hale would have borne his friend from the works no longer
tenable, but so impetuous was the onset of the enemy, that clubbed
muskets and the few spontoons at hand dould not restrain them,
and amidst the melee which followed, he bent himself over the
fallen chief, that his own body might shield him from British
vengeance.
" Your hand, Hale,"whispered the dying man, that I may
know you are here, for my brain is on fire,; and all is darkness."
As the young captain pressed the hand he held, the same voice
faintly articulated-" My dear wife, and children, and aged mother, tell them God will protect them, when I am gone; andmy-loved-but-injured-country," continued,the voice at intervals though husky, " may-you--be-f--free!"   The last
word thoughspoken with some emphasis, was but the dying effort
of that voice whose oratory had enchained thousands with delight;
it was now hushed forever.
Just as Hale caught the last words of the hero, he heard the
click of a gun near him, and turning his head he saw that it' was
aimed at himself. Gen. Howe had that moment halted near by,
leaning on the arm of Col. Small, and when the gun poised at





38


The /American Spy,


Hale was about to be snapped again, the Colonel sprang forward
and with his sword knocked up the piece with the exclamation
"You rascal, would you shoot down an unarmed man as you
would a dog?'  The bullet whistled harmlessly through the air.
Approaching near, Col Small addressed the victim of war, whose
head still rested upon the knee of young Hale. " My dear friend,"
said he," I hope you are not badly hurt?"  The muscles about
the eye moved as though he heard and recognized the speaker's
voice, for they had once been warm personal friends, and a smile
seemed to linger about his mouth; but it was only momentary,
for immediately after the blanched cheek gave evidence that the
messenger on the ' pale horse 'had passed by, and that the spirit
of the immortal Warren had gone with nearly a thousand others
from that eminence on that day, to their final rest.
"And to whom, permit me to ask, am I indebted for the preservation of my life?" said Hale to the stranger, with a graceful
inclination of the head. " My name is John Small,". he replied,
"and I would fain know in whose arms the illustrious Warren
expired?"
" By a providential circumstance in the arms of your prisoner,
Nathan Hale," responded our hero; at the same time loosening
the clasp which confined his sword-belt. Observing that he was
about to tender his sword, the gallant Colonel said quickly, "Retain it, sir. If not mistaken, I have the honor of now meeting
Captain Hale of the American Infantry."  The latter bowed his
assent. " I see how it is," continued the speaker, "the citizen's
dress tells me that my greatly esteemed but unfortunate friend
Warren and yourself, were volunteers in this terrible conflict."
" We were," said Hale, now choking with emotion, as his
eyes rested on the pallid countenance still reposing upon his
knee, and he thought of the anguish in store for his friend's surviving family. His thoughts wandered to an object far away,
and presage whispered, 'such may possibly be my fate ere this
contest is over.'
The day after the battle, Capt. Hale was exchanged for a British captain taken during the action, and returned to the American
camp. He was in Boston a sufficient length of time, however, to
witness the general mourning that pervaded the town: among the
Whigs for the many brave spirits that had sealed with their lives
their devotion to country, especially for the loss of death's noblest
victim, the intelligent, the generous Warren;* and among the
Tories (who felt little sympathy for their country or countrymen,)
for the sudden death of such a host of daring soldiers, in the front
rank of whom stood Maj. Pitcairn of Lexington memory.
* On the 8th day of April, 1776, the remains of Gen. Warren were reinterred,
on which occasion a fitting Oration was delivered at the King's Chapel in Boston, by Perez Morton, to a large and attentive audience.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


39


CHAPTER VII.
" For thee, love; for thee, love,
I'll brave fate's sternest storm."-Neele.
In a short time after the battle of Bunker Hill, our hero returned home on a furlough of ten days. He wished to obtain such
an outfit as would enable him to command the respect of his
fellows. A proper wardrobe is a powerful ally for a person
of either sex, who would figure in good society. On arriving
at Mr. Fitch's where he was not expected at the time, his meeting with his Lucy was one of the most joyful kind. There is
something in a military dress peculiarly pleasing to young ladies,
and our heroine in common with her sex, could not fail to discover the improvement said to be communicated to a fine figure
by lace trimmings on a coat; she thought she had never seen her
lover look as well before, while he in turn, found his betrothed
maturing in all that gives loveliness to woman.
From the time Nathan and Lucy last separated in April, as
occasion afforded opportunity, they had experienced the pleasures
imparted to intelligent friends when separated, by letter correspondence; now, however, their happiness seemed almost perfected.
The young warrior had not only been promoted to a captaincy,
but had been exposed to death and carefully guarded from harm
by Almighty protection. And as it was still thought by many,
and why should not Lucy be among them, that the British ministry would be brought to their senses when they saw the determined resistance of the colonists; and that at most a few months
more must end the contest, the happy couple anticipated that less
than a twelvemonth would end their probation between anticipated
and real pleasures. Lucy accepted an invitation from her lover to
visit his sister Elizabeth, and well mounted she accompanied him
to Prospect Hill, where, after a very delightful ride both were
most affectionately welcomed.
As four days at least were required by the young Captain to
make his journey from and to the Cambridge camp, a distance of
nearly one hundred miles, his visit must necessarily be of only six
days' duration-which time was industriously employed. Lucy,
and the charming Julia Rose, whom the reader could not have
forgotten, and who required no formal invitation in gilt edges to
become a guest at Deacon Hale's, assisted Elizabeth. and her mother in preparing that part of the young soldier's wardrobe which
Job, who begged to accompany the Captain as his waiter, could





40


The American Spy,


manage to carry on a horse. The one rode home by young Hale,
was owned by Col. Knowlton, to whose newly o0ganized regiment of infantry his own company was shortly af r transferred.
The six days of pleasurable bustle at the Hale' dwelling fled
rapidly away, and discovered on the morning of a lovely summer's day the trio-the lovers and Job all mounted, (the latter
astride a monstrous pair of saddle-bags,) and exchanging with
relatives and neighbors, hopes, fears and good-byes.
"I tell you the world goes round-ha, ha, ha, ha," said a
voice approaching the semi-circle of spectators.
"* My friend John," said the Continental Captain, as the circle
opened to let poor Coleman into the ring, " come this way and
shake hands with me, my good fellow. Why have you not been
to see me before?"
" Cause," said the honest boy," I ben sick all the time. You
know, Cap'n, I'd cum rite off if I'd ony ben well."
" Had 1 but known you were ill," said young Hale, kindly, " I
should surely have called on you."
" Wood you, Cap'n; that's clever-ha, ha, ha, ha."
" Indeed I would; but how do you know I am a captain?"
" 0, cause every body sez you is; besides I seed that shiny
stuff on yer coat, and folks sez as how Capt'ns always has
sich."
" But don't you mean to shake hands with me?" asked a gentle voice, the speaker at the same time extending a pretty
hand.
"Yes, Lucy," said the unfortunate youth, who felt grateful
for such marked attention, "I'd go a great ways to shake yer
hand-ha, ha, ha, ha."
"But I shall be jealous if you slight me," said Miss Hale."
" And I too," said Miss Rose, who stood beside her.
"You know I always loved you, Lizzy, and you too, Julie, and
always shall-ha, ha, ha, ha;" said the good-natured boy, taking
both the proffered hands at once.
Seeing the Captain about to start forward, he called to him
to know if he might not go along; " cause he knowed he could
shoot them darned red coats."
" Not this time, my good boy; perhaps you may at some
future day."
" Good by, Job; take nice care of the Cap'n and yerself tuha, ha, ha, ha."
With the good wishes of all, the trio set forward. As Job
brought up the rear, his figure when contrasted with that of the
lovers-as likely a pair as New England could produce--was
ludicrious in the extreme; the fullness of the saddle-bags thrusting his monstrous understandings to a fearful distance from his





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


41


horse. No matter if people do laugh at me, thought the faithful
slave, since I am happy in following the fortunes of my favorite.
Arriving at Lucy's father's, the young officer lifted her from
the horse, and halted awhile to let his steeds puff. The couple
met Mrs. Fitch at the door, who exclaimed as she welcomed
them, " I began to think you had eloped, you have staid so long
in Coventry; Mr. Fitch and I surely expected Nathan would
spend a day or two with us."
After partaking of refreshments which Mrs. Fitch had soon
in readiness, (which were also liberally bestowed on the old waiter, to the filling of all his empty pockets,) our hero, as he had
yet forty miles to travel that day, parted with his Lucy as young
lovers are wont to part who are expecting ere long another and
perhaps more joyous meeting, and was soon passing the Frog
Pond, of which he was reminded by his waiter,.,w-ho, on hearing
the gruff voice of a frog, exclaimed, " Gosk! Massa, dats de
frog wot wants Col. Dyer!"
Arriving at the Cambridge camp within his time, Captain
Hale again entered upon his military duties; sending home by
Job to Lucy and his sister each a ring, with letters which spoke
of bloody war, moral obligation, and immaculate love.
I perceive that the reader is ready to inquire,"' Why was not
the same anxious solicitude manifested at the last, as at the preceding separation of our young lovers?"  Now, although Lucy
had cautioned Job to take good care of his master, and laughingly
told him, as he showed her his ivory, that she was willing he
should go into the army with such a protector; yet we must still
believe that more than one sigh escaped her gentle bosom; that
the separation in fact caused her many a*tbjtter pang, such as her
sex does not always possess the art of conquering, but very often
does of concealing. Exposure to certain dangers always tends to
lessen the fear of them, and it is very probable that Capt. Hale
parted with Lucy at this time in better spirits; with brighter
visions of future usefulness and glory; and with far less fear of
death, than in the preceding April.
Gen. Washington had now assumed the arduous duties of
Commander-in-Chief of the American forces, and was endeavoring to infuse among them a spirit of discipline and subordination
to military rule, but the remainder of the season was one of comparative inaction. An occasional brush between the foraging
parties of the enemy and the vigilant continentals, and the seasonable capture by privateers of now and then a British storeship, were all that transpired in the vicinity of Boston worthy of
notice until the following spring.
In the latter part of the winter, Capt. Hale spent a few weeks
with his friends, and on returning to the camp he allowed Job,





42


The American Spy,


whose importunity had been incessant, to accompany him as
waiter. His visit was a very agreeable one, and his meetings
and partings with his friends-with his Lucy in particular, much
as they had been the preceding summer. The horse which bore
Job, if not in theatre of war, did at least to that of arms, was
sold by Capt Hale on his arrival in camp, who found the avails
very convenient pin-money.
About this time, as there was little to keep the minds of the
Americans occupied, and discontent was beginning to be heard,
troops whose terms of enlistment was expiring, and whose stay
until fresh troops should come in, the officers found it difficult to
persuade-our hero induced the men of his own company to
remain on duty, by borrowing money on the credit of his own
pay to liquidate their dues. This example, at that particular
time, gave the general officers renewed confidence, and Gen. Lee
sought the young Captain's tent, and tendered in person his own
grateful thanks for so unexpected a precedent.
On the evening of March 4th, 1776, the Americans, under
Gen. Thomas, took possession of Dorchester heights, and Gen.
Howe, who had succeeded Gen. Gage, fearing another Bunker
Hill affair, and probably the loss of another bet, did not dare
attempt to dislodge them, but embarked his troops on the 17th
of the same month, evacuating Boston, which had been subjected
to British dominion for nearly a year, to the unbourided joy of its
patriotic inhabitants. It was supposed that the destination of
the enemy would be New York city, and to that place Washington hastened his army. As the division of it to which our hero
belonged was about to march, he obtained permission of Col.
Knowlton to visit Coventry. As he had done in a previous visit,
he called on Lucy, who, as he could make but a soldier's halt,
was easily persuaded to accompany him to his father's. He spent
two nights and one day with his friends, in recounting the scenes
of the camp, and in talking over the past, present, and probable
future. He was confident in his belief that his country would
eventually triumph over her foes; but a kind of melancholy
seemed to hang about him; he was less mirthful than at the last
interview; and seeing that his nuptial day must now be indefinitely postponed, he evidently indulged a secret foreboding that
it possibly might never arrive. As his friends were all looking
on the bright side of the picture, he strove to appear cheerful;
and when he assisted his plighted upon her horse, and mounted
his own to see her home, his sallies of witty pleasantry were
mistaken by some of his friends for cheerfulness; yet two there
were, and two whom he dearly loved, who detected his attempts
to conceal his real feelings. Those two were his own sister and
his love, neither of whom communicated their suspicions through
fear of exciting uneasiness.





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


43


After spending an hour at the house of Mr. Fitch, our hero
again parted with the cherished one of his bosom-the day-star
ot his existence; and if his looks had not before betrayed his
feelings, his nervous hand would now have done it, as he held
the delicate one of Lucy in his own. Yes, that hand which did
not tremble in the deadly fight of Bunker Hill, did tremble when
it received for the last time forever, the warm hand of his intended; and imprinting a soul-thrilling kiss on those ruddy lips
his own should never again touch. He knew not that it was
the last time, however, and hope, the soul's great anchor, kept
not only his own, but the heart of his Lucy whole, although
anxious doubts did interpose.
Zeb, who had conceived a liking for Capt. Hale, led his horse
to the door and adjusted the stirrups, when he mounted, and
waving an adieu to the family who were all on a green lawn before the door, he took his final departure, and was soon out of
sight. We can not reenter the house with Miss Ripley, and witness the gushing of those scalding tears which would rind their
way out, despite the best efforts of a feeling woman to conceal
them-to hear those half stifled sighs which could not be suppressed, or see the wo-begone countenance that for days haunted
our accomplished heroine; but must follow the fortunes of her
lover. He directed his course towards New Haven, with far different thoughts, however, than those which occupied his mind
nearly two years before, while passing over the same road with
young Fitch and his cousin, and overtook his regiment and assumed the command of his company not far from the city, to the
undisguised joy of Job, who had guarded his effects and reputation, in his absence, with the anxiety of a parent.
Job, having become tired of a military life, was allowed to return home; and Capt. Hale fortunately procured a ride for him
nearly all the way. He exhibited no little sorrow at parting
with ' Massa Nathan,' and the curve in his under lip on the occasion, appeared an inch larger than usual. He was made the
bearer of several messages, all of which were verbal for the want
of time to write, except a brief note to Miss Ripley. Having
employed Asher Wright as secretary and waiter, our hero marched
on with the troops to New York.
As may be supposed, Job had many wonderful stories to tell
the stranger in whose company he road, and in due time he arrived among his friends, where the same yarn magnified, and scores
of others, each more marvelous than the last, were also related.
On reaching Windham, he was a most welcome guest at Fitch's;
and as he had seen her lover since herself, Miss Ripley propounded
not a few questions to his willing ears. Slipping the letter from
Nathan into her hand, she ran to her chamber to read it; and as





44


The A.merican Spy,


it proved to be the last she ever received from him, we make room
for it.
"AMERICAN CAMP, NEAR NEW HAVEN,
"March 25th, 1776.
"MY OWN DEAR Lucy:
" I am once more at the head of my brave lads; I say brave,
because I have no doubt they will prove such, if occasion requires. I have now too little time, bright star of my life, to
picture the regret and shaded reflection I experienced after our
last parting. I hurried on to overtake the troops, with your fond
image constanlty before me, and the wanton carol of every free
songster alohg the roadside, awakened a response of melancholy
that I was-indeed, that all my countrymen were less free. When
this contest will end, and whether it will end with such freedom
to our American Provinces, is only known to HIM 'who directs
the storm,' and protects the 'shorn lamb.'
" My faithful old waiter, who became tired of a monotonous
camp life, and now finds himself growing too infirm to makelong
marches, will communicate some requestsI have not time to note.
Write to me as often as you can find conveyance for a letterpray to that God who hath declared 'the battle is not always to
the strong,' for the triumph offreedom over tyranny; and whether our nuptial day shall ever arrive, or stern fate decree that I
become a sacrifice, (for, no oblation must be too great for my
bleeding country,) rest assured so long as life endures, you can
count on the sincere and devoted love of
SYOUR NATHAN."
A perusal and a reperusal of this letter, for it was read again
and again, could not afford that joyful solace the reader could
have wished in an epistle from a lover-indeed, how could it be
expected to, written in a moving camp, in the midst of a civil
war? Dangers were scattering broad-cast o'er the land, and well
did the.sensible Lucy Ripley know, that the first southern gale
might bring her tidings that her Nathan was either among the
wounded or slain-he having fallen a victim to British malice.
Although concibus that perils were round about the footsteps of
a soldier, still, thought Lucy, this letter is too self-sacrificing--
too willing to court hazard upon the die of war. True, thought
again whispered her, one of the noblest characteristics of a good
soldier must forever be, a readiness to seek that post the most exposed, and the duty of a good officer must beset his footsteps with
pit-falls and thunder-bolts; but why speak so seeming indifferent about our wedding day? 'Alas! our heroine did not then
know as well as her lover, who desired not to awaken hopes today to be crushed to-morrow, what terrible carnage was expected





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


45


soon to follow in the wake of the moving Briton; and well was
it for her she did not. The American and English armies had
been in close proximity for many months without much bloodshed, after the battles of Lexington and Bunker Hill, which circumstances tended greatly to allay the fears of many, and increase
their hopes of yet effecting a reconciliation with the mother
country; but, from the movements of an increased force, a portion of which had already been censured for inactivity by the
British Parliament, a crimson torrent drawn from thousands of
veins, was expected in a few months to flow over the length
and breadth of the land.
Lucy sustained herself under the separation as best she could,
in the meantime our hero marched on to the vicinity of New
York.
Many important events which transpired during the summer,
we must pass over in silence. On the 4th day of July the Declaration of American Independence, the title page of our National
History, was adopted in Congress, and cheerfully proclaimed
throughout the Union. The separation from England was now
effectually consummated, if the states could but maintain it. In
the same month the disasters of Long Island were added to the
catalogue of American trials, and the republican troops compelled to withdraw in the night from Brooklyn to New York city.
In one of the battles near Brooklyn, a body of Ainericans under Gen. Putnam were engaged with a superior force commanded
by Sir Henry Clinton, when our hero was afforded a fine opportunity to test the bravery of his men. While thus engaged, and
the company of the daring Capt. Dana, with that of Hale, were
keeping nearly a whole British regiment at bay, several companies of Hessians had almost surrounded Hale's before he would
order a retreat. Prest on all sides, the gallant sons of New England fought like tigers, and platoon after platoon of the disciplined soldiers, hired to slaughter Americans, were slain. The provincials had nearly forced a free passage to a larger body of their
fellows when of a sudden our hero found himself separated from
his 'brave lads,' by several of his foes and clump of trees; at
which moment he saw nearly a dozen Hessians bent on his capture., Preparing to sell his life as dearly as possible, he had
placed his back against a tree, when he heard the voice of his
orderly sergeant exclaim, " Not without our captain, will I leave
the ground!" With a desperate effort, in which several on both
sides were killed, the non-commissioned officer opened a passage
for himself and two others to the object of search. Grateful for
the temporary succor, our hero, striking down the first twxo who
dared resist his progress, succeeded with the aid of the trio, in
effecting his escape and joining the main army. He had come





46


The Jfmerican Spy,


off with a few slight wounds, but the consequences of war, ever
to be dreaded, were rendered vividly apparent, when, on mustering his men in the evening, he found that at least every third
man in his company had been left on the battle field, in a vain
attempt to repel the invaders of their soil.
Among other causes of distress known to the army of Washington from the beginning to the close of the war, was the want
of provisions and clothing. While the American army were at
New York, an English sloop known to be laden with such supplies, anchored in the East River under the protection of the
British ship Asia. To capture this sloop and bring her into New
York, was a project conceived by our hero, and boldly executed.
With ten stout-hearted and strong-fisted volunteers into a boat
with muffled oars, just after midnight, he put out fromi a small
cove to the sloop. So secure had the men of the vessel felt,
moored as they were within a cable's length of a mighty ship,
that two hours before, every one of them ltad gone below to sleep.
Passing round the vessel to satisfy himself no line extended from
her to the man-of-war, the Captain and three others gained the
deck, and secured the hatches. Having made a rope fast to her
bow, they re-entered the boat and cut the cable near the water.
All had been accomplished so silently as not to awaken a man
on the vessel, or attract the attention of the Asia's sentinels.
The boat's crew now began to ply their oars, and soon had the
satisfaction, favored as they were by the tide, of finding the stolen
craft to follow them. By incessant labor the prize was moored
before daylight out of the reach of the enemy's guns, and under
cover of an American battery. At break of day the sentry upon
the Asia's deck announced to the officer of the watch, that the
sloop had disappeared. Alarm was quickly communicated to the
naval commander, who at first supposed its Captain had turned
traitor, but a little reflection had satisfied him that the vessel had
been 'spirited away,' nof by its friends but by some shrewd Jonathans, " Who," he exclaimed with an oath, " were ever taking
advantage of honest men in their sleep." At daylight our hero,
who had kept vigilant watch upon his prisoners, some dozen in
number, entered the cabin, and awaking the Captain from a sound
sleep, enquired " if it were not time tbr business men to be up?"
Starting as from a night-mare and seeing an officer in Continental garb and several armed men before him, the English Lieutenant, for such he proved, exclaimed with great surprise, as he
reached for his side arms, which precaution had removed--"J/nd
who the d-l are you?"
An American, sir," replied Hale, " who, becoming tired of
the land service joined the navy last night, and for his debut took
yourself and men prisoners." The fact was too apparent to be





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


47


contradicted, when, on bounding from his berth he saw the scarlet
banner at the mast head; and with as good a grace as possible,
he yielded obedience to the new commander of marines. The
supplies thus seasonably obtained, Gen. Washington allowed our
hero, who he complimented for his daring exploit, to distribute
in such a manner as his own judgment should dictate. Of him
the great Washington said next day to Col. Knowlton-" With
ten thousand such spirits as that of Hale, your youngest Captain,
the liberties oJf Jmerica were safe!"
The food, clothing, and ammunition thus opportunely taken by
our hero, after giving a liberal share to the men who aided him
in its capture, he bestowed on the most needy -in the American
camp. Nor was the feat here related by any means the only
one originated and put in execution by him, in order to harrass
the enemy and provide the needful for the army, while stationed in the vicinity of New York. He had numerous expedients
on foot, not a few of which proved successful.
CHAPTER VIII.
" There is but one philosophy though there are a thousand schools-and its
name is fortitude."-Bulwer.
A few days before the Americans found it necessary to evacuate
New York, Gen. Washington conceived it to be of vital importance to him in shaping future operations, to learn the numerical
strength and intended movements of the enemy then in possession
of Brooklyn-indeed of all Long Island. Every reliable source
for such information had failed him, and yet on the acquirement of
such knowledge seemed suspended the destinies of the country.
A few officers in the advising confidence of the great Commander
were assembled in council, at which it was resolved to send an
individual competent to make the required observations, into the
heart of the British camp. Several persons were named from
which to select, and among them the generous and noble hearted
Hale, but at the bare suggestion of his name, the mind of Washington seemed to recoil with a shudder-" He is altogether too
valuable an oficer," said he " to risk in such an enterprise."  It
was finally left to Col. Knowlton to select a suitable person.
The Colonel soon after assembled the Captains of his regiment,
and enjoining secresy, made known the wishes of the Commanderin-Chief, and requested each of them to name the most suitable
person of his own command to execute the dangerous mission.





48


The.merican Spy,


Each named his man, but not one of the number could be persuaded to undertake it. " Do you think I wish to be hung up like
a stalled ox?" said the first; " Can you suppose I never wish to
see my wife and children again?" asked the second; Would you
subject me to the mercy of cut-throats and villains?" interrogated
a third; " Pray, would you have me die before my time?" responded a fourth; and with similar objections did all excuse
themselves from the unenviable task.
Dejected at not finding a person willing to undertake the
duty with which he was entrusted, Colonel Knowlton sought the
tent of our hero-the interview was one of thrilling interest.
"I can not ask you to undertake this unenviable project," said
the Colonel, " and yet, somehow or other, my mind seems to
whisper me that'unless you do, it will not be successfully accomplished,"
Hale had secretly resolved that if no one else in Knowlton's
Infantry could be induced to, he would incur the hazard. He
knew the stigma which the custom of nations cast upon the conduct of a spy. He knew, too, how his motives might be impugned if unsuccessful, and he suffered the penalty of. the law. He
keenly felt how dear his Lucy was to him, as also his parents, sister, other relatives and friends. But the love of country triumphed
over all other loves. " What would be wife and friends to mewhat life itself," thought he, "if my country be shackled with
the chains of despotism?"
After a few minutes' communion with himself, in which his face
was buried in his hands, he said, with a degree of calmness which
quite surprised the Colonel- " My life, sir, although peculiarly
dear to me at this time from the consideration of possessing many
sincere friends-and one still dearer than the rest to whom I am
now plighted, our bridal-day having been delayed by the duties
of this campaign, is at the service of my suffering country, in
any duty our great Commander may impose. It was not a desire for personal fame which induced me to adopt the life of a
soldier-no, I entered the army in the hope of being useful to my
countrymen; and had I a thousand lives, 1 would cheerfully give
them, if necessary, to purchase liberty for my country! I will
immediately prepare for this business, but must require of you a
promise, my dear Colonel, that if I am unsuccessful, the motives
which influenced me shall be made known to the world."
" That promise I most cheerfully make-but you do not anticipate such a result, I trust?" said the Colonel.
" I scarcely know how I ought to answer your question," replied our hero, "but I must say that of late I seem to have a
presentiment that some dread catastrophe is about to happen,
either to myself or the army. But of this, enough. You have





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


49


long known my respected father; you know what he now thinks
of me; if on a gibbet I end my days, go to him-dry up his tears
with the consolation your words will have, when you assure
him that a sense of duty and devotion to country alone influenced
me, and that trusting in the God of battles I undertook this perilous service.
The brave Knowlton, whose tears gushed forth unbidden at
the evidence of so much disinterested benevolence-such selfsacrificing devotion to country, communicated the specific information Washington desired; and taking the hand of our hero,
as he arose to depart, he agreed, if his life was spared to do it,
to execute, in case of necessity, his every wish.
Again left to himself, Hale instantly began arranging his affairs
for an early start on the morrow. Several of his fellow officers,
in the secret, vainly endeavored to dissuade him from his perilous
engagement; and at the dawn of day, having given his lieutenant
directions about his command, attended only by his own servant,
he quit the American camp. He proceeded directly to Norwalk,
in Connecticut, distant from New York nearly 50 miles, where
he left his horse with his waiter, young Wright, to whom he confided a secret message for his intended bride, in case he did not
return. He would have written to her, but for the want of ink
and paper, articles often desired though seldom at hand among
the American soldiers, in the early part of the war. Thrice while
communicating to his faithful attendant the message for Miss
Ripley, he thrust his hand into his bosom, as though he would
remove some cherished object, requiring an effort of the mind,
and then he said to himself, " No, no; we must not part yet."
Doffing his military garb, he assumed that of a private citizen,
and with it the character of a school-master. From the vicinity
of Norwalk he procured a passage across the sound in a small
boat, and landing on Long Island, directed his steps, on foot,
toward Brooklyn. Arriving there, Hale learned that most of the
British army had passed over to New York, evacuated by the
Americans the day before; and after making the requisite observations on the Island, he proceeded to the city-well sustaining the character he had chosen, and well executing the object of his disguise.
Entering New York so soon after it fell into the hands of the
enemy, when most of its citizens were strangers to their officers,
Hale found it not very difficult to pass for a citizen neutral in
the contest. His previous stay of some weeks in the city seemed to favor such a notion, for he appeared to the officers and
men with whom he conversed, to be familiar with every street,
lane and avenue.
A night or two after he arrived in the city, it was visited by a
4





50


The.~Aeritan Spy,


destructive fire, which cousumed nearly a thousand buildings.
Going to the scene of conflagration soon after the fire broke out,
Hale discovered across the street his German friend, Staudt. Being at Boston when the war began, the British had taken him
into their service under moderate pay, and had retained him
literally to do nothing, but ostensibly to keep him from proving
in any degree serviceable to the rebels, in the practice of chemistry. Watching an opportunity when unobserved in the confusion attendant iupon such scenes, our hero approached the honest German and made himself known. The foreigner was about
to express his surprise and joy at their cognition; but turning his
head at the moment the young continental saw two British officers arm in arm coming directly towards them; placing his hand
significantly on his mouth, with an inclination of his head which
caused his companion to look around, he said in a low voice,
" Secresy, my friend-meet me in John street;" and in the next
moment he had disappeared.
As the two officers came up to Staudt, one of them who
thought he " smelt a rat," in vulgar parlance, addressing him by
name, casually inquired, "Who he had just been talking with?"
Surprised at hearing his own name, the German looked up
and instantly recognized the'speaker as Samuel Hale, to whom
he respectfully raised his hat and replied:
" Yas, ow shood I no, Moosther Ale-he pees somepody vat
kums to the vire."
" But you seemed to be in earnest conversation; what was it
about? Be careful old.fox, you don't deceive me," continued
the royalist lieutenant, for such he proved.
"Ho, I ton't deseves nopoty. He vos jist telling me pout de
hoose as vas plown up mit bowter, an I vas surprise."
"What do you say, a house blown with powder?"
"Yes, yes," said his companion, pulling him by the arm, " I
heard of it before I overtook you; the house chanced to contain
several kegs, supposed to have been concealed by the rebels;
come along, I will tell you all about it. But who," he inquired,
as they moved on a few paces, and again halted within his hearing, " is this old Dutchman with whom you seem acquainted?"
" It is a pretended chemist, an old codger I met some time
since in Connecticut," said Hale, " and I'll lay a dollar he is this
day more of a Whig than a Tory; although he is under pay in
our camp. Seeing him reminds me of a little love affair I had
at the place where I met him."
"Indeed!" exclaimed the young Briton, " pray do relate it."
"It was hardly worth remembering till now," said the Tory,
"I fancied a country girl to be rather pretty, because her name





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


51


was Rose; but on acquaintance I changed my mind and gave
her the go-by."
" 0, that's all, is it? 'and thereby hangs a tale,' I suppose,"
said his friend, as they resumed their march.
"Ha, ha, ha! shower grape, dat Miss Rose vor you," said
Staudt, as the young bloods walked on. "Val, me make von
cute turn mit de bowter; but I must look vor vind Moosther
Natan Ale."   So saying the German started in the direction of
John street, muttering to himself sundry imprecations on the
head of his loyal catechist, for sneering at his knowledge of
chemistry, which, it now appeared he had also done in Coventry.
No street could be very dark in' a city, the half of which, to
appearance, was on fire, but in the most shaded part of John
street, the German found the object of his search. Within an
old building in a lane now known as Dutch street, a long arid
secret conference was held by the two friends.  Some of the information desired by Washington, the spy was enabled to obtain
from his friend, who readily promised to undertake the collection
of still more. Agreeing to meet at 8 o'clock, three evenings
after, near the leaden statue of King George,*the two now
sought their own lodgings.
The appointed interview of our hero with Staudt took place,
as did several subsequent ones, at all of which the especial business of the former went swimmingly on.    At the second interview he learned, however, and to his unfeigned regret, that in a
battle fought above New York soon after the Americans left it,
his warm personal friend, the daring Col. Knowlton, had been
slain; that the cause -in which his own life was periled, had
thus sustained its greatest loss since the death of Warren.
Having completed his observations, all of which were carefully
nioted down in a small pass-book and concealed in an inner part
of his vest, the spy took leave of his colleague and left the city
about noon, in the direction of the American camp.
Destiny shrouds her acts in mystery
Often, lest man in horror from them shrink.
Proceeding leisurely along, our hero passed party after party
of straggling troops without exciting the least suspicion. He felt
* At the beginning of the Revolution, a leaden statue of King George was
standing at the foot of Broadway, where now stands a water fountain in the
Bowling Green. At an early period itwas taken down by the patriots and
moulded into bullets. It is believed that the British restored it, on gaining
possession of that city.
Next to nothing was known of the geological resources of the country, and
so difficult did the Americans find it to procure lead in the Revolution, that
they were compelled to pay most extravagant prices for it; on which account
many of the antique leaden window casings and sash imported by the early
Dutch settlers of New York and Albany, which would now be highly valued
as curiosities, were melted up by their penurious owners, and sold to the
government.





52


The.American Spy,


how important to the American cause had been his mission, how
rejoiced would be the great Washington to learn so many future
plans of the enemy; and conscious that he could not be far from
the American pickets, he began to breathe more freely. At
length he had passed the last British outpost, and on yonder
eminence saw an American fire. He entered a little coppice of
wood, and on emerging from its opposite side, he observed near
and directly in his course, a small company of soldiers he could
not mistake for continentals, for they were clad in British uniforms. " If I go back to the wood," thought he, " I shall surely
excite suspicion, if I go to " The'Cedars," (a country inn a little
way off,) I shall find that occupied by the enemy. I will therefore approach them. Could he have known that any of the number would recognize him, he certainly would have returned, and
by a circuituous route and possibly a chase, taken the hazard if
need be, of their fire. He continued to advance as if impelled
by fate, and when too late to retreat if he would, discovered to
his dismay that the officer commanding the corps, was Lieutenant Hale, his Tory kinsman. The recognition was mutual, and
as Samuel advanced and extended his hand, he exclaimed,
" How are you, cousin Nate? We rebels " never lie!"
After a few formal questions and answers about far-off friends
our hero would have resumed his journey, but by a signal from
the lieutenant, the bright bayonets of his followers were presented at his breast, with the imperative order from a corporal to
stand. " Sir," said the lieutenant, " the appearance of a continental officer coming from the direction of our camp in a citizen's dress, and approaching that of the king's foes, look most
suspicious; and although we are relatives, I should be unworthy
of the trusf reposed in me, did I not arrest and conduct you before Gen. Howe. You will therefore consider yourself my
prisoner. And lest you should attempt to escape, I shall be
constrained," added the sprig of loyalty in a most haughty and
insolent manner, " to put the cords of stability upon your pretty
arms, my chop-fallen cousin!" and at a given signal two of
the men stepped forward to bind him.
That the countenance of our hero grew sad can not be doubted,
since from the first salutation of his cousin he read his fate,
knew that his days were probably numbered, and in fancy saw
the gibbet; but if dejected, it was not that he feared death-for
that he had long been prepared. Such cold-hearted indifference
to the just claims of human nature, such base ingratitude in fact;
for more than one untold act of kindness had the prisoner rendered his kinsman, aroused his spirit, and self-possession if waning; and folding his arms across his breast with dignity, and fixing his eyes talmly on the epauletted sprig of nobility, in a tone of





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


53


sarcastic irony, he thus addressed him: " Call me not cousin,
most valiant hero! I scorn to own a kinsman, who is either so
great a coward he dares not in open day, with twenty brave men
well equipped, convey one unarmed citizen into camp without
"cords of stability," as he is pleased to term them; or who is so
entirely dead to all the dictates of common humanity, asto treat
with such cold indifference a long known and often tried personal
friend. '0 shame, where is thy blush?' And believe me, sir,
if my countenance indicates sadness, it is caused more by sympathy for a man devoid of moral principles-for one whose nightly debauches, if his looks and actions do no belie, must soon
prove his ruin, than by the apprehension of any danger which
awaits my own person."
" Well Nate, I don't see but you can preach morality as well as
ever; and as we are in want of chaplains just now, possibly Gen.
Howe will retain you in the service. But my dear coz, do tell
me what you was doing here on this neutral ground, for I declare,
in the midst of your sermonizing, I had forgotten to ask you."
He had no doubt divined his errand.
Without deigning a reply to the' insolvent servant of tyranny,
the spy turned round as if ready to be bound, but the two soldiers
with the cord, admiring his spirit of manly daring, had gone
back to the ranks, supposing from the tenor of his address, the
order would not be enforced. Seeing the men in their places he
again ordered them out, and at the end of a dozen horrid oaths,
he exclaimed: " Bind the moral rascal, or yourselves shall be
bound!"
Men however depraved or however dissipated, in their sober
moments, unless so steeped in pollution as to become stone-dead
to sensibility, seldom fail to look approvingly on those who possess virtues of a rare and ennobling quality. The cord was now
fastened (evidently with an ill-grace by the soldiers,) to the arms
above the elbows-the lieutenant approaching to see that it was
adjusted sufficiently tight to suit him, and the party moved on
towards the city. The feelings of our hero in retracing his steps
may be better imagined than described. He felt conscious from
the infamous treatment of his kinsman, that he was walking on
the very brink of worldly ruin; and yet his step was firm and
unshaken, for he feared not to die.
Few words passed between the Hale cousins while returning to
New York, and about the going down.of the sun, our hero was
ushered into the presence of Gen. Howe. The standing of the
prisoner as a partizan officer, was known to the General from his
Bunker Hill acquaintance; and the testimony of the lieutenant as
to his arrest and the circumstances attending it, which evidence
was corroborated by several of the soldiers present, made the case





I54


The American Spy,


so clear against him that he confessed the object of his mission.
His confession seemed, to render the search of his person unnecessary, and so slight wa's it, that all the evidence of guilt upon him
was not discovered: a few drawings of the camp at Brooklyn,
with descriptions written out in latin, were however found between
thie soles of the pumps which he wore. That the memorandum
should not fall into the hands of his enemies, and that possibly it
might reach Gen. Washington in time to have some portions of
it prove serviceable, was the reason of his frank avowal.
Without calling a court-martial--without entering into 'even
the forms of a trial, or granting a single day's respite for the soldier to contemplate on death, Howe gave ordersfor his execution
upon the gallows, at the rising of the morrow's sun; and he was
instantly conducted to prison. Whether Lieutenant Hale took
any pride in his ungrateful conduct towards his kinsman or not,
we can:not say. He had the satisfaction, if such it was to him,
when at the prison door, of hearing him utter in a spirit of gentle reproof and triumph, his New Haven motto, as the Tory called
it; and ever after did the words never lie! ring in his unwilling
ear.
Staudt was allowed a peep into almost every corner of the
city, he being a source of no little amusement to the British
soldiers, w;ho were pleased with his adventurous narratives and
imperfecti English. Learning in the street that his friend was
confined under sentence,of death, to the prison door he directed
his steps. Under some pretext he was permitted to enter and see
the prisoner. His emotions at first threatened to thwart the
plans of 1our hero, whose only wish seemed now to be, that the
present 'interview should not be lost.
As soon as his friend could control his feelings, our hero gave
'him the pass-book containing the information so much desired by
Gen. Washington, with instructions how to convey it to the American camp-cautioning him against danger of its being found
lupon his person. He communicated several brief messages to all
the members of his father's family, not forgetting even Job; and
told 'him that if he went to Coventry, he would always find at his
father's, not only friends, but a home--to his class-mate, Fitch,
crazy John, and Miss Rose, the condemned sent also a dying memorial. That to the latter was merely a last farewell with a congratulation that she had rejected a suitor, who had not only betrayed his country, but, one of his sincerest friends. In all that
he had said he betrayed no emotions, until unloosing his vest he
drew from his bosom a locket--" This," said he, in a low and
tremulous voice," is the last friend with whom Imust part, except
yourself, this side of eternity. Give it to her whose lovely image it bears, and tell her I restore to her the sunbeam of my ex




Or Freedoms Early Sacrifice.           55
istence-tell her, too, thak I release her from  our nuptial vow,
and that I die cherishing her memory!"
Hale knew that the integrity and retentive memory of his
friend would enable him faithfully to execute his every trust, if
he but lived to revisit Coventry. The honest German was about
planning an escape, but the brave man would not listen to it, and
had barely time to give his visitor a few articles about his person
to convey to his friends, and urge his acceptance of a small purse
of money, which he said would go to that greatest of all unhung
knaves, Cunningham, the jail marshal, if he did not receive it,
when the keeper returned and the interview closed. For a little
time after Staudt had left his cell, the emotions of the prisoner,
breathing as he was a contaminated atmosphere, had nearly suffocated him; but the consolations of religion burist upon his soul,
and calm devotion at length occupied his thoughts. Kneeling
down, he prayed long and fervently; and in that petition was
not only remembered the cause of his distracted country, his (soon
to be) heart-broken Lucy, and other near and now doubly dear
friends; but the reformation and salvation of his. refugee cousin
was devoutly implored.
With his mind thus fortified, the prisoner requested of the
keeper, who was not devoid of all sensibility, materials for writing, which were granted and paid for. He then wrote an affectionate letter to his honored father, to his beloved sister, and
still dearer Lucy; in all of which he had given evidence in the
strongest terms of his willingness to die for his country; and
with only a few hours between him and the invisible world, he
laid down upon a scanty heap of straw and slept.
The day-king had scarcely illumined the eastern horizon, when
the brutal Cunningham, with an executioner, was at the cell of
the doomed; and as the latter awoke on Sabbath morning, the
22d of September, to a consciousness of his real situation-for his
dreams had been blissful, there stood, impatient for his blood, the
hirelings of Britain. All communications written by prisoners
under sentence of death, were subjected to the perusalof the provost Marshal, who could allow them to 'be forwarded as directed
or destroy them. With an exulting smile he took up the one
nearist and read aloud its superscription: " To Deacon Richard
Hale."  " 0, ho! to a deacon, is it? well, I'll see whether a
deacon will be likely to prove more rebellious on its perusal."
He began to read, and as he advanced, the muscles of his face
grew more and more rigid, and ere he had finished, a scowl rested upon his brow. Without a word of comment he took up each
of the others and perused them with the same apparent look of
disappointment. Seeing him about to destroy them, our hero
entreated him as the request of a dying man, whom he might ere





56


The American Spy,


long meet in another world, to let the several letters, at least the
one to Aliss Riple3, go as directed. Profanity and intemperance
are war's attendants, and at the end of a terrible oath he said with
emphasis-" It would not do! and more than that, it shall not
be!" So saying, he spread them-tore them into threads, and
cast them contemptuously beneath his feet.
Hale now requested a few moments' interview with a chaplain; this favor was coldly denied him. As a last earthly petition, he desired only for a few moments, the loan of a Bible.
This little indulgence, too, was refused with an oath, and to the
infamy of the British officers on that station be it said, for knowing the fiendish character of Cunningham, they retained him;
indeed, for being a devil-on-foot had they given him his station.
In view of such base treatment, the prisoner exclaimed-" God
of Heaven, to whose mercy I commend my soul, bear me witness, that I die lamenting that I have only one lije to lose for
my oppressed country!"   He was then conducted in shackles to
the public gallows of the enemy behind the 'Upper Barracks,'
where he suffered death unpiiied by any eye, save that of Deity,
with such fortitude as excited the astonishment of his executioners, and possibly that of a few vagabond spectators. Thus
ignobly, fell Liberty's Hero-Freedom's Early Sacrifice!
The last written letters of Hale, glowed with a lofty strain of
patriotism and resignation. Could not even the one destined to
serve as balm to that heart must feel his loss most keenly, be
allowed to reach its destination? Alas! no. ' It would not do.'
Cunningham afterwards assigned to his friends as a reason for
their destruction: " That he did not wish the rebels to know that
one of their kidney could die with such fortitude."  In view of
this patriot's death, well might the poet, Dwight inscribe" Thus did fond virtue wish in vain to save
Hale, bright and generous, from a hapless grave;
With genius' living flame his bosom glow'd,
And Science charmed him to her blest abode,In worth's fair path his feet had ventured far,
The pride of peace the rising grace of uar,In duty firm, in danger calm as ev'n
To friends unchanging, and sincere to Heaven,
How short his course, the prize how early won,
While weeping friendship mourns her fav'rite gone."





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


57


CHAPTER IX.
" The scene of Death is closed! the mournful strains
Dissolve in dying languor on the ear;
Yet Pity weeps, yet Sympathy complains,
And dumb Suspense awaits o'erwhelm'd with fear."Y-Falconer.
Immediately after the execution of Capt. Hale, a flag was sent
by Gen. Howe to the American line, exultingly to proclaim the
fact of his arrest anid death; and if the prospect of patriots in
arms looked gloomy before, this event could not fail to increase
their despondency.  Long and bitterly did ' the father of his
country' mourn the untimely fate of the ripe scholar-the devout
Christian-the true patriot-the noble HALE. In a historical
work, the writer has already contrasted the death of this hero
with that of Maj. Andre, who afterwards became a victim in the
same war. The character of the former did not then-nor can it
ever suffer by the position, from the pen of fairness. The celebrated court which tried the British spy four years after the death
of the American, if not influenced in its decision by the unfeeling treatment meted to the latter, had it most vividly in remembrance.
Wright, the waiter of Capt. Hale, communicated his tragic
fate to the family, who were overwhelmed at the shock, and the
father deprived of his reason in consequence. What the secret
message was which he bore to the heart-stricken Lucy, we are
not informed-it must have been similar, however, to the one
communicated to Staudt in the city prison. The latter embraced
the first opportunity to leave New York, where he had sown some
of the seeds of rebellion among the Hessian troops, and gain the
camp of Washington, whose surprise at receiving Hale's memorandum must have been very great. Most of the information it
contained, however, was received a few weeks too late to prove
serviceable. For the faithful execution of his trust, the German
received the hearty thanks of the great Commander, and a suitable compensation.
Proceeding to Windham and Coventry, Staudt fulfilled the
dying commands of his military friend to the letter. From that
period he for several years found a home at the Hale dwelling;
and often did he and Job mingle their tears, when recounting the
many good deeds of our hero. In fact the honest negro more than
once contemplated going to Rhode Island and enlisting in Col.
Angel's regiment of blacks, for the purpose, as he expressed it,





58


The American Spy,


" ob 'venging de deth ob Massa J.at'n;" which he purposed to
do by slaying the ingrate who betrayed him. His inability to
endure the fatigues of thejourney,and his aversion, as he declared,
" to dem leetle cloth-housen wot let in de cold so in winter"probably kept him in Coventry, where his bones now moulder.
It became known in the American camp by a deserter, just
before Wright left it for Coventry, who had betrayed our hero.
Overhearing the messenger say that Samuel Hale had been the
means of his friend's death, crazy John w.as observed to clench
his fist and walk of. The first opportunity he had to speak to
Wright unobserved, he desired to go with him to the army and
seek an occasion to revenge, if possible, the death of his friend,
and an insult he felt had once been given by the royalist to himself.  He appeared more rational than he had done in several.years, and Wright, who knew little of him and desired a companion, if he was somewhat foolish, told him he could go, supposing, of course, he would get the consent of his parents to do it.
It chanced also, that Zeb, who had formed an acquaintance with
crazy John, had been sent on an errand the same day to Coventry.  He, too, as his dear "Missus" was so wo-begone, now
caught the spirit of revenge, and was easily persuaded by John
to accompany him on his singular mission-singular, because
they could not know at what point to seek their intended victim.
Agreeable to the arrangement of crazy John, who now, strange
as it may appear, exhibited little of his idocy, himself and Zeb
were to start in the night and proceed on the road towards Hartford, to be overtaken by Wright, where they would not be likely
to be khown. Fitch's slave was moving betimes, and before daylight, made the signal which called out his companion.  The
mysterious disappearance of John, who was not in the habit of
going any great distance from home, was the occasion of much
distress among his friends; so much so that that part of Lake
Wangombaug nearest his father's dwelling was raked for his
body; somnambulism, although in its infancy at that period, being
thought by some the only key to unlock the mystery of his exit.
It was several weeks before it became known in Coventry that
Zeb had vanished the very same night on which crazy John had
"stepped out," but when the fact was established it was readily
conjectured that the strange boys had gone together; on which
account the mother of the idiot concluded to defer putting on
mourning apparel for the present.
Wright, having been liberally compensated for executing the
trust of his sainted master, left Coventry and overtook his companions early in the afternoon, and the trio journeyed on, sometimes by a chance ride in the ox-cart of a farmer, but usually on
foot, to Hartford, and from thence accompanying,, by the most





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


59


eligible route, a corps of newly recruited infantry, to West
Point. From the latter place the boys soon after proceeded to
join the American army in New Jersey. It being understood in
camp what mission crazy John and his friend had undertaken,
many smiled at the idea of its accomplishment, but all pitied
them, and they were, allowed to follow the fortunes of their
country's defenders in the capacity of waiters and hangers on, the
latter being one in which they could go and come at their pleasure, or fight on their own hook or let it alone.
Lieut. Hale,whose conscience for his unfeeling conduct towards
his kinsman became in his sober nmoments his own accuser, was
engaged in the battle of Princetob.  When the air was most
vocal with the shrill song of war's leaden minstrel, a voice was
heard almost in advance of the American lines to exclaim-" I
tell you there he is, Zeb-I tell you there he is! ha, ha, ha, ha!"
The sentence closed with the crack of a musket aimed by the
speaker, which weapon not five minutes before had fallen from
the hands of a British soldier. Just at this moment a body of
the enemy rallied.and made a stand, when Washington's men
temporarily fell back.  The fear of a bayonet-charge sent the
Coventry boys, who were near together, into the rear. The battle
now raged fiercely for a time, and then came a shout above the
din of arms-it was LIBERTY'S voice-the British were in full
retreat. Among the fallen might be seen the scullions and suttlers of the victorious army plundering the dead-the waiters of
American officers taking care of wounded friends; and.,two individuals, a little republic in themselves, answerable to no one, and
at war on their own account, running hither and thither as if
frantic in the pursuit of some object.
" I tell you here he is, Zeb! I tell you here he is! haa, haha,
ha!" shouted crazy John, at a little distance from where he had
fired at his victim, scarcely an hour before. Sure enough, he stood
gazing at the object of his search. Mortally wounded, the Tory
captain had been abandoned by his friends in their flight; and to
gain temporary shelter, as the weather was piercing cold, he had
crept into a pig-stye. Weak from the loss of blood, benumbed
by the chilling blast, and tormented by a thousand phantbms his
now dying state had aroused, he was startled by that fearful
laugh he had heard at the moment he received his wound. Could
it be the laugh of the poor, unoffending lad he had once in a fit
of ill-humor, so provokingly called to his face, " the biggest fool
on earth?"  He opened his blood-shot eyes, and lo! there stood
the object of every good man's pity-now less unfortunate than
himself. As Zeb came up and observed that the Tory was still
alive, he claimed the satisfaction of finishing him. Seeing the
gun in the idiot's hand transferred to the black, the tenant of the





60


The AJmerican Spy,


stye raised his hand imploringly, and said " John, my good boy,
is that you? Have pity on me-don't let that fellow shoot me!"
" You didn't have no pity on the Cap'n, I'tell you, and golly,
you don't desarve any-ha, ha, ha, ha."
" No, dat he don't," said Zeb, cocking the piece, "for you
know he's made de old Deacon crazy's a loon-den dar's poor
Lucy, she looks so kinder pale and sorryful all de time, sittin'
lone and lookin' tudder way-den dar's all de rest ob um; how
you tink dey look?" he asked, raising the gun to his shoulder.
" O! mercy, good John; O! mercy, dear Zeb; is that you? O!
don't let him fire, John; O! quarters! quarters! pity! pity! don't
fire-I'll give you money!" said the wounded officer, his head
now sinking upon his breast.
In the midst of the Tory's appeal, Zeb snapped the gun and
it missed fire; seeing which his comrade grew impatient lest they
might not overtake the troops, and exclaimed-" I tell yo tofire,
Zeb; I tell you tofire! for the darned Tory didn't never pity nobody; he called me afool, and then called the good money digger
an imposter, and he killed the poor Cap'n and we'll kill him,
ha, ha, ha, ha."
While the negro was repriming the musket, for the wind had
blown the "powder from the pan, the royalist turned his bloodshot eyes once more upon his foes, raised his hand imploringly
and faintly articulated the word "mercy!" - At this instant
crazy John shouted-" The plaguy British wouldn't left him,
Zeb, if he'd been worth savin', so fire away, I tell you--fire
away; ha, ha, ha, ha.'"
" I'll fire," said the colored hero," gist soon's I can; cause the
Cap'n was better'n a hog pen full ob gis such uns as this
drunken dog."  At the close of this sentence, bang! went the
gun, and eternity received the Tory's spirit.
For a seeming want of pity in the two boys for thus finishing
the dying ingrate, who, like thousands of his fellows, was in arms
against the defenders of the soil which gave him birth, we make
no apology. They had followed the fortunes of war solely to
accomplish his destruction; for this had they endured fatigues,
hunger and cold, and now had they consummated their purpose.
Acting upon the principle that 'to the victor belong the spoils of
the vanquished,' they took from their victim his sword, watch and
a few shillings in money-lawful prizes in war, and hurried on to
join the victorious arms of their countrymen. In camp they were
treated with extreme kindness when it became known by the
effects taken from the person of Lieut. Hale, that they had not
only discovered but slain him. Disposing of their sword and
watch, the boys were thus furnished with the means of defraying
their expenses home, whither they journeyed with a body of





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


61


troops, whoseterm of service had expired in January, 1777. On
arriving in Coventry the runaways were treated with great benignity by the patriotic citizens, but none greeted them more joyfully than Job and his German friend, at the successful termination of their enterprise-now first disclosed to the astonishment
of the neighborhood,
Mr. Fitch readily forgave Zeb for causing him so much trouble,
while the mother of crazy John, who looked upon her unfortunate
son as one rising from the dead, was overjoyed, and expressed her
gratitude not only at his safe return, but that she had not procured
any black crape. The affection of a mother for her offspring seems
greatly increased by any constitutional or early misfortune. Much
of the time during his absence, crazy John had exhibited but little
of the idiot excepting when under great excitement; but on arriving at home and beholding familiar objects, his idiotism to a great
extent returned, with this peculiarity, however, that instead of
his former expression when his mind was wandering of-"I tell
you the world goes round," uttering which he never failed to
swing his arm if possible; pointing directly forward he now exclaimed with marked emphasis, " I tell you there he is, Zeb; I
tell you there he is!" Long did the poor fellow live to boast of
his Revolutionary exploit, and fish around the shores of lake
Wangombaug, after millions who set out in life when he did,
with prospects unclouded, had passed from the stage of existence 'to that bourne from whence no traveler returns.'
CHAPTER X.
" The face was young still; but its happy look
Was gone; the cheek had lost its color, and
The lip its smile; the light that once had played
Like sunshine in those eyes, was quenched and dim,
For tears had wasted it; her long dark hair
Floated upon her forehead, in loose waves,
Unbraided; and upon her pale thin hand
Her head was bent as if in pain; no trace
Was left of that sweet gaiety, which once
Seemed as if grief could darken not-as care
Would pass and leave behind no memory".-Landon.
War, the executive of the world's great slaughter-house, ever
brings with it dread attendants; and although many, particularly
such as can not be compelled to unfurl its bloody banner, may in a
time of peace almost invite it as a state to be desired; still few,
who have witnessed its inroads in the human family, its blighting curse on the morals of society, its great destruction of social





62


The American Spy,


relations and kindred ties; or few who can in prospective discriminate between the horrors of war or the blessings of peace,
will, without weighing every consequence, involve that country
in ignoble conflict whose prosperity demands peace.
At length, after a long and doubtful contest, the war for American freedom of thought and act, one of the few wars justifiable
by even, one of the parties, was ended; and the minstrel of peace
again turned her lyre over the graves of thousands of great and
brave men fallen; the plow of the husbandman once more moved
in its furrow of thrift; the hammer of the mechanic again resounded upon the anvil; and the chisel sought its mortise. Nearly
four years before the dawn of this most welcome period, the German, Staudt bade a long farewell to his Windham county friends
and journeyed westward, where he might better improve his geological and chemical talent. He ceased not his wanderings until
he arrived in the beautiful valley of Schoharie, where, finding
a friendly people who could converse with him in his native language, and an exhaustless mine of pyrites which he believed he
could work to profit, he became a permanent resident. At a good
old age did this mirth-making foreigner-called by some the
money-digger, by others the money-maker, and by all who knew
him clever Hans-descend to the chambers of that 'home,' which
though narrow its portals, receives the world's dying millions.
As his last request, he wished the silken purse presented him by
Lucy Ripley, whose virtues and misfortunes he often dwelt upon
with flowing tears, to be buried with him; and when placed in
his coffin, the hand of a friend laid the keepsake upon his breast.
Our heroine, like the tender plant overtaken by early frost or
crushed by some leaden weight, seemed withering under the terrible blow destiny had meted to her, but that religion whichpasseth
knowledge, that trust in Jehovah which had sustained her heroic
lover in the hour of trial, came also to her relief; and she recovered comfortable health; still the rose had left her cheek, and the
vivacity and cheerfulness of youth were gone. She desired to
live only that she might prove a comfort to her parents, or dispense blessings to the heart-stricken, whose misfortunes through
poverty rendered them objects of charity.
For hours might the thoughtful Lucy have been seen alone,
gazing with evident admiration'on the works of nature, and holding sweet communion, in spirit, with him, who, in his almighty
hand sustains the vast universe; and who in his guardian care
watches over the victim of war with a germ immortal, and the
wounded bird that perishes forever with its mysterious plumage.
Quitting the society of the world, which had now lost its charms
for her, she removed to the romantic and then wild banks of the
Housatonic, and there ended her brief existence in deeds of charity





Or Freedom's Early Sacrifice.


63


to a remnant of that Indian tribe after whom the stream was
called, Os an exemplary Christian of the Moravian sisterhood.
The father of our hero, who became insane on learning the
melancholy fate of his favorite son, lingered out several years of
sickly existence; but he could not be restored to reason, and 'in
sorrow did his gray hairs descend to the grave.'
Young Fitch, the classmate of our hero, who made the science
of law his profession, in the spring of 1779, led to Hymen's
altar the lovely Elizabeth Hale. He settled for life at Hartford,,
in which city his amiable wife became as much admired for her
great personal worth, as he had formerly been in her native
town.
The charming Julia Rose, who so fortunately rejected a suitor
because a Tory, began on the 17th of October, 1780-the very
day on which the mercenaries of Britain ravished the beautiful
valley of Schoharie, then a frontier settlement of Western New
York-to impart fragrance to Maj. Boynton, a worthy continental officer of her native state; and the writer is happy to addlong did that choice flower bloom in Tolland county, not only
gracing the circles of beauty and fashion; but setting an example, as an industrious and tidy housekeeper, worthy the imitation of not a few fastidious, kitchen-hating housewives of the
present day. The last account we can give of her is, she was
seen knitting a small red stocking, her knitting-pins moving with
a velocity that made the beholder stare; but the best part of the
joke is, she was surrounded byfour little humming-birds, each
of which in turn had sipped the nectar of life from that same
sweet Rose.















HALE'S MONUMENT.
Above is shown a view of a monument erected to the memory of
Capt. Nathan Hale, the hero of this tale, which was completed in
Coventry, his native town, in the summer of 1847.. It is constructel
of Quincy granite, is forty-five feet high, was erected at a cost of four
thousand dollars, is a most, creditable affair to its projectors, and one
that will claim the gratitude of posterity.