Jasper Weekly Courier, Volume 18, Number 14, Jasper, Dubois County, 14 April 1876 — Page 6

i:t:CO.'ClI.IATllX. , , it lAitunTA 1'iiiiu.

WocrotMl llil1 illWKIlM'U'lH tlt'OVV vtilll W rc:tllt of Imvh, We )ntn ; I --! huml tin- wtviesl flow er. VV hen nil inimi'ill nuv k;rioo A ohm W a ixl eio lr nil Dm loving rniir lor wl.uh. rrrlu,.. U.rouKh near, , uul.le.1 The heart I. ut hmircnst. We aro 1' to rove The t'ii!rrt o ve lii'l, lilt miiiio I:ir k. ility We no i..i..ht but Imiw tuir tit iel an. I i r.ty That Iwatron uur loach uh how t nu uur love. May it lid t'liil on I lie other Ki'lo Thev w.i t !r ik. Mil I, lilo tm, Ion t. m.iko The'sad wrongs rijjtit, re.ely to (tie uul l.tke Tho l)n'l c !) ami the iiin here lo isl . 7 A J mil " M'tent . A CLXTKSSIAL STOKY. IIiv Jeremy Javier llrlprtl the HrllUti Out of Itotton. MY M HS. . J. I'KITCII iKI. It Commander-in-Chief Washington's birthday, and it was Jeremy dagger's birthday. (Jeneral Washington was forty-four year old that birthday, a hundred years ago. Jeremy Jagger was fourteen, and early in the morning of the V-M of Febrnafy, 1776, the (Jeneral and the lad were looking upon the same bit of country, but from uitlerent positions. (Jeneral (Jeorge Washington was reviewing hisi precious little army for the thousandth time ; the lad Jeremy was looking from :i hill uiwm the camp at Cambridge, ami from thence across the Kiver Charles over into Host on, which had for many months been held by the ltrilish solditrs. At lat Jeremy exclaimed : "1 say, it's too chestnut-bur bad; it is." " 1 id you step on one?" pietioncd a tall, hard-handed, earnest-faced man, who at the instant had come up to the tonc v... cn wic c.rctiy toon, our-1 veying the ramp and its surroundings. "No,I didnV'retortodthe lad; "but I wish iSoston was aral all over with chestnut-burs, and that every pesky British oflicer in it ha-l to walk l):irefo)t from end to end fourteen tinirs a day, 1 do; and t he fourteenth time I'd order two or three Colony generals take a turn with 'em. (Jeneral liates for one." "Come along, Jeremy," called his . ... 1. . L.. I I . . . . 1. . i'uili anion, who uau mtouo across uiu wall and gone on, regardless of the boy's j word When Jeremy had ended his expressed wishes, he gathered up hi hatchet, dinner-basket, anil coil of stout cord, anil plunged through the snow after his leader. When he2 hail overtaken him. the impulsive lad's heart burst out at the lips with the words : "Me could take Boston mu; just as easy a any thing, without wasting a jot of powder either. Skip across tho ice, don't you see, and be right in tin re before day light. A big army lying still for month and mouths, and just doing nothing but wait for folks in Boston to starve out! I it's shameful; now, to, when the ice has io m; that Jeneral Washington has been waiting all winter for." Vou won't help your country one bit by scolding about it, Jeremy. You'd Utter save your strength for cutting willow-rods u-day." "I'd out like a hurricane if the roil were nly going to whip the enemy with. But jut for sixpence a day pshaw: l say, it don t pay "Iamk secret ?" here, lad, can you keep a " Trust me for that," returned Jeremy Jaggor. Turning suddenly upon his questioner, he faced him to listen to a supposed bit of information. " I hen why on earth are you talking to m in that manner, Wy?" questioned the man. " Whv you know all about it, just as well as 1 d' ; and a fellow viut speak out in the woods or somewhere. Why, I got so mad and so hot sometimes that it seem aa if every thought in me would hurn right out on my face, when I think about my poor mother over there," pointing backward to the three hilled city. The two wore standiug at the moment midway of a cornfield. The February wind was lifting and rustling and shaking rudely the withered corn-stalks, with their dried leaves. To tho Borth--ward lay tho Cambridge camp, across the Charles ItiveT. To the south and east, jut over Muddy Kiver and Stony Brook, lay the right wing of the American Army, with here a fort and there a redoubt stretching at intervals all the distance between the camp at Cambridge and Dorchester Neck, on the southeast side of Boston. Behind them, to the westward lay Cedar Swamp, while not more than half a mile to the front there was a four-gun battery and Urnokline Fort on the Charles, near by. While Jeremy Jagger was pouring forth his words with vociferous violence the man by his side glanced eagerly about the wide field ; but, satisfying himself that no one was within hearing, lie said, resting his hatchet on tho lad's boulder while speaking: "Seo here, my boy. The brave man never boasts tf his" bravery nor the trustworthy man of his trustworthiness. How you learned what you know of the plans of (Jeneral Washington I do not care to ak ; but to-day and all days keep mitt and nhow yourself worthy of Wing trusted." , " I'll try as hard a. I can," promised Jeremy. " Nottody can hav e tried his best w it hout accomplishing something that it was grand to do, though not always just u h'U he was trying to do," responded tho man, glancing kindly down upon the fresh, eager lad. Don't forgot. Silence is golden,' in war always. Not a word, mind, when you get home, about the work of to-day." They wore cxme now to a snot where the marsh seemed to be lillod with sounds of wood-cutting. As they plunged into Cedar Swamp, the sounds jfrew nearer and multiplied. It was like the rapid tiring of muskets.

Banning through the swamp .hero was n trout-brook, that bore along its ' borders a dense growth of wator-wi!-

1 lows. .lull ill. , irn.inii n iuiiii riHi of nt least two hundred men and boys, every one of whom worked away us . thtiUtfli his lift dope", led on i,iu il certain amount of w illow-boiighs m :i i given time. i What dtM'S it all moan'" questioned ! Jeremy. It means," replied his companion, "work for your eountry to-day with all your might and main." Hut, pray tell mo," porsi-tod Jcr- ! einy, " w hat "under the miii the things j are for, any way. They're good fur : nothing for firewood, green." I Mr. Wooster turned anil looked at : the lad ami said : "A "rood soldier nks ; no questions and marches without I knowing whither. Ho also cuts without I knowing for what. Now to work!"i ! and at the instant they mingled with I the workmen. In less than a minute Jeremy's din- ' ner-h:isket was swinging on a willowbough, his coat was hanging protect - ingly over it (you must remember that it contained Jeremy J agger's birthday cake), and the lad's own arms were working away to the musical sounds of a hatchet boating on a vast amount of whist le-stutT, until mid-day and hunger i arrived in company i At the signal for noon Jeremy Jaggor U'gan his birthday feast. He torched himself on a stout willow-branch, hanging the basket on a conveniently grow- j ing peg at his right hand, and, by fre-; (pjeut examinations of the store within, was able to solace two or three lads, less foi lull itltt llmu hliijself, Hlto were' taking tho ruid-day re.st, refreshed by! plain bread and cheese, seated on a 1 branch, lower down on the same tree. ! " It isn't trcry day that u fellow eats ! his birthday dinner in the woods," he explained, by way of apology for the dainties that he tossed down to them in the shape of sugar-cake and "spicepie." "Aunt Hannah was pretty liberal with me this morning. I wonder if she knew anv thing, for she said: I'd find plenty of squirrels to help eat it.' Where do you live, anyhow?" he ques tioned, after he bad fed thorn. " We live in Brookline," answered the elder. "Well, do you know what under the sun we are cutting such bundles of fagots for to-day?" he slyly questioned. Wing beyond the hearing of the ears of his friend, and so safe from censure. "I asked Father this morning," spoke up the younger lad (of not more than nine years), "and he told me he guessed (Jeneral Washington was going to take Boston on the ice, and every soldier was going to carry a bundle of fagots along, so as to keep from sinking if the ice broke through." This bit of military news was received with shouts of laughter, that echoed from tree to tree along the line of the brook, and then the noon dav rest w ai over. The wind Wgan to blow in cooler and faster from the sea, and busy hain'ii were compelled to work fast to keep from stiffening under the power of the growing frost. When the new moon hung low in the west and the sun was gone the brookside, the cart-path, even the swamp fell back into its accustomed silence, for the workers, in groups of eight or ten, had from minute to minute gone homeward, leaving huge piles of fagots near the log-bridge. . Jeremy Jagger went early to Wd thtt night. Hi right arm was weary and his left arm ached; nevertheless, he went straightway into dreaming that both arms were dragging hi beloved mother forth from Boston. At midnight hi companion of the morning came and stood under hi chamber-window, and tapped lightly with a bean-pole against the glass, to awaken him. Jeremy heard the sound, but in his dream thought it was a pun fired from one of the ships in the harbor at hi mother, and himself, and Boston. "Jeremy, get up!" said somebody, touching his shoulder. "( 'ome, mother ! " ejaculated Jeremy, clutching at the air and uttering the word under tremendous pressure. Come yourself, lad," said the somebody, shaking him a little roughly; whereupon Jeremy awoke. "(Jet up, Jeremy Jagger. llitch the oxen in the cart. Put on the hay-rigging. Stay, I must help you to do that ; but hurry.' Jeremy rubbed hi eyes, wondered what had become of his mother, and how Mr. Wooster found his way into the house in the night, and, lastly, what was to be done. Furthermore, "he dressed with speed, went to the barn and awak ened the oxen by vigorous touches and moving words. "(Jet up! get up!" ho importuned, and work for your country, and maybe you won't be killed and cnten for your country when you are old." The large, patient eyes of the oxen slowly opened into the night, and after awhile the vigorous strokes and voicefnl "get up!" of their master had due effect. Mr. Wooster helped to adjust the hay-rigging, and then the large-whoel-ed cart rolled grindingly over the frozen ground of the highway, until it turned into the path leading into the swamp, over which tho sno lay in unbroken surface. Jeremy dagger's was but the pioneer cart that night. A half-dozen rolled and tumbled and reeled over the uneven surface behind him, to the logbridge. It was still and cold. A the topmost fagot was tossed on the pile in his cart he drew off a mitten, thrust his benumbed fingers Wtween his parted lips, and when he removed them said : " I hope (Jeneral Washington ha had a bettor birthday than mine." I know one thing, my lad." Jeiemy turned quickly, for he

did not recognize the voice, liven then he could not discern the face; but he knew instantly tli.it it vas no common person who had spoken. Novel tholes, w ith the sturdy good-as-anv-bodv air that made the

men ol April r. ami .Mine l. ugril so gl "I'M i"iil , lie : niandcil. h.1 il you know . " "That (otier.d Washington would gladly change places with )oii to-night, if u arc tli- hoiu'st lail joii m-oiu to be'." "(ioand ask him in his comfortable !ed ocr there in Cambridge," :is .Jeri'.ny'.s repone, uttered in the same breath with the word to his oven to luiivci.n. The med on. The fagots reeled and swaed, the cart rumbled over the hgs of the bridge, and boy, oven, a'ld cart were presently lt to igbt and hearing in the cedar thickets of the swamp. Through the next two hours they toiled n, Jeremy on f.ot, and often ready to lie down with the healthy sleep that would not leave its hold on his weary . . . . brain. It w as day-dawn when the fagots had ' been duly delivered at the appointed 1 place and Jeremy reached home. i He had been cautiously bidden to see ' that the cart w as not left outside, w it i it's tell-tale rigging. He obeyed the j injunction, shut the oven in, gave them 1 double allowance of hay, and was ( startled by Aunt Hannah's cheery call! of: "Jcrrv, my boy! Come to breakfast." : " Breakfast ready ! " said Jeremy. j 'Why, yes. I was up early" this morning, and thought of you." And that was the only allusion Aunt Hannah made to his night's work. H longed to tell her and chat about it all at the j but, remembering his promise in the swamp, he said uot a word. ' Six nights out of seven Jeremy and ina oxen wurM'u ;vii iiiltiii ami stent , nearly all dav The brtxjk in Cedar Swamp was robbed of it willows, and many another bit of woodland and watercourse suffered in like manner. Then came the or lor to make the fagots into fascines. Two thousand soldiers wore got to work to effect this. J remv Jagger Wgsn to understand what w:w, going on behind the linos at ! Koxbury. He w is the happiest lad in existence during tho ensuing days. He forgot to eat, oven, when the fascine j were in making. Perceiving the mannor in w men iney wore i oe iormeu, ne Toluntecred to help, ami soon found he i couid drive the crossed supports into ' . l?t .. . t It tne grounif, lay the saplings ujnu tfiem, 1 and even aid in twisting the green withes about them, a well as any other ! soldier of them all. " Bales of "screwed" hav began to ap- j pear in groat numWrs within the linos, ! ami empty barrels by the hundreds , sprang from somew here. ; And this time, guess as every man j might and did, the coming event was known only to tho commander-in-chief and to the six generals forming the j council of war. Monday night, before sundow n, .lore-i ray Jagger received an order It wa : M vr.ni (in. Jr. nr. my .Ivt;irR: W ith x n ami cart (hjy-rii'injr onl, be st the lexNiiry line !y niHn-ri-e to-niht. Takr -i pocketful of jriii;;Ttrval about. Wi n is i . With manly pride the boy set forth. He longed to put the note in his aunt's hand ere he went; but she (long ago it seemed, though only a few day had passed) seemed to take no note of his fro'pictit absence. He had scarcely gone a rod ere the cannon-ball Wgatj tlvir march iuto Boston from all the fortification of the American ; and in return from Boston, Hying north and south and west, came shot and shells. Undaunted and excited by the mere possibility of being hit, Jeremy went onward. When he arrived in Koxbury he found every lxly and every thing astir. Hi cart was seized, tilled with bundle of screwed" hay, and ere he knew it he was in line with two hundred and ninety-nine other carts, marching forward to fortify Dorchester Heights. Before him went twelve hundred troops, under the command of (Jeneral Thomas; before the troops trundled an unknown number of onrt, filled with Intrenching tools; before the tool went eight ' hundred men. Not a word wa.sspokxn. In silence and with utmost care they trol the way. At sight of Ihe clock the covering party of eight hundred reached the Height and divided one-half going toward the point nearest Boston, the other to the point nearest Castle William, on Castle Island, held by the British. Then the working party began their labor with Muthusiam unbounded, wondering w hat the British general would think, when he should behold thoirwork in the morning. They toiled in silence by the light of the moon and the home music of 114 shot and Kl shell going into Boston, and unnumbered shot and she'd coming out of Boston. (Jridley, whose quick night vmrk at Breed's Hill on the 10th of June, had startled the world, headed the intrenching party a engineer. Poor Jeremy wa not allowed to go further than Dorchester Neck with hi first load. The bundles of hay were tumbled out and laid in line, to protect the supplying party, in case the work goinon on the hill beyond should be found out. The second time, to hi extreme delight, he found that fascines wore to go in his cart. When he reached Dorchester Height quick work wa made of unloading his freight, and, without a word spoken, he was ordered back with n move of the hand. , Four time too lad and the oxen went up Dorchester Hill tkat night. The fourth time, as uo order was given to

return, Jeremy thought lie might as well stay and see the battle that would lu'gin w ith the d.ivv n. He left the oven behind an embankment, with a big bundle of hay to the froot of them ; and, after live minutes devoted to ginuet bread, he wont to work. Morning would come long before they, re ready to have it unvial the grow ing forts to t ho ocs of Admiral Shuidham, with his ships of war lying in the harbor; or to the sentinels at Castle William, on Castle Island, to the right of litem; or to (leneral Howe, with his vigilant thousands of F.iiglishmon afe and snug in l'oton, to the no it It of them. Jeremy was rolling barrel, to the brow of the hill they were fortifying, and tumbling into them with haste shovelful after hhovelflll of good solid earth, thM they might hit hard when rolled down mi the foe that should dare to mount the height, when a cautious oiee at his side uttered the one word "Iook!" aceoni-

! panied with a motion of the hand towant Dorchester .Neck In the moonlight, past the bales of hay, two thousand Americans were tiling in silent haste to the relief of the men who had toiled all night to build forts they meant to defend on tho morrow. It was four o'clock in tho morning j w hen they came. Jeremy was tired j and leepy too. His eyelids would drop ver his ey es, shutting out every thing j he mi longed to keep in sight. "You've worked like a hero,'' said a ; kind Voice to the l id. "It will be hot I work here by sunrise no place fur boys ; w hen the battle begins." j i can light," stoutly persisted Jt re my, nodding as he spoke; and, had any body thought of the lad at all after that. lie might have Won found in the oxcart, carelessly strewn over with hay , lanuix a n.. Admiral Shuidham was called in haste from his Wd by frightened men, who wondered w hat had happened on Dorchester Height. Castle William ht'o.l aghast with astonishment. Messengers went up the bay to toll the army the news. (Jeneral H we murched out to take a look through the fog at the old familiar hills he had known so long, and didn't like the looks of the now hats they wore, He wondered how in the world the thing had boon done without discovery ; ..1 . 111.1 oui mora u w as, larger a g "u ueai man life, seen through the fog, and he know also w hy ii was that the cannon had neon playing on iwston through the hours of three or four nights. He was angry, astonish d, perplexed. He had a 1 tile talk with Admiral Shuidham, and they agreed to do something. Y they vuuhl walk up and demand I.....Lthe hills looking over into Boston, Transports came hurry ing to pier and wharf, and soldiers wrnt bravely down and gave themselves to the work of a short sea-voyage. Meanw hile Jeremy .Tagger's nap was broken I y a numWr of trenching tool throw n carelessly over his back, as he I lay asleep in his cart. I Halloo there!" he shouted, striving to r;e from the not very comfortable j blanket that dropped in tw ain to the i left and the right, as he shook off the 'tools and returned from the land of sh op to Iorehotor Hcigthon the.'th of March. He was just in time to hear a voice like a clarion cry out : " Kememfer it is the oth of March, anil the death of vuur brethren." avenge It was the very voice that ha 1 said in the swamp in the night that " Jeneral Wa-shington would gladlv change places wit.-. leremy Jagger." it was the voice of (Jeneral Washington animating the troops for the coming battle. Meanwhile a new and unexpected force arrived on the field of action. It came in from sea a great and mighty wind, that tossed and tumbled the trausports to and fro on the waves and would not let them land anywhere save at the place they came from. Si they went peacefully back to Boston, and the Liberty Men over on the hill went on all day and all night, in the rain ami the wind, building up, strengthening, fortifying, in fact, getting ready, a Jeremy told hi aunt, w hen be reached home, on the morning of the sixth of March, "for a visit from l King (Jeorge and all hi army." The next day tteneral Howe doubted and did little. The next and the next went on, and then on the morning of the 17th of March something new had happened. There was one little hill, so near to Boston that it was almost in it; and lo! in the night it had been visited by the Americans, and a Liberty Cap perched above its head. (Jeneral Howe said : We must get away from here in haste." " Take u with you," said a thousand Tories of the town ; and he took them. bag and baggage, to wander up and i down on the earth. Ottrnn Bunker It recti's Hill wooden sentinels did duty whon the British soldiers left and for full two hours aftr ; ami then two brave Yankee guessed the men were wooden, ami marched in to take possession, just nine months from the day they bade it good-bye, Weause they had no powder with which to "tune" their guns. Over on Cambridge Common marched, impatient a over, (Jeneral Putnam, with hi four thousand followers, ready to cross the Bivor Charles ami walk once more the city street of the gitod old town. On all tho hills were gathered nu n, women, ami children, to see the British troops depart. Jeremy Jagger wa up before the dawn on that sweetest of Sunday mornings in March, ami he reached the Koxbury line just as (Jeneral Ward wa ready to put hi :Tm aWut Boston's Neck. The lad took his place with the

I live hundred men itnd walked by lln-ot, llii-haid's side, as ho proudly bore the standard up to t he ;ates, winch Klet( r 1-enriicd "uubam ed uin1 opened." ( ljl( ,. w ithin the lines, Jet einy , unmindful of j the crows-feet strewn over the Way, ' made haste through lane niid street to ' his old home on Iteaeon Hill. 'Could j that be bis mother, looking out at hint through the w indovv-paitc?" I.e thougat, as he drew near. She saw him. She knew him. p.m what could it mean that she did not open the door to let him in ; tb it she ' waved him away 'i It could not be th.n she, bis own mother, had turned Ton, J that her face had grown so rci: and an- , gry at sight of her son. ! Jeremy banged away at the door. There was no answer. I At 1 ist he heard the lifting at a sash, a head mullled carefully appeared from I the highest window in the house, and a voice (the lad knew whoso it was) s;ti! : "(Jo, Jeremy! (Jo away out of Ho-ton i as fast as vou can. I'll come to you as ! k.k.kll il J It IJ yif,i o

" Why, Mother, what's the matter.''" cried the boy. "Small-pox! I've had it. Kvorv body has it. Co!" " (Jimm. bye," cried Jeremy, running out of Boston as fast as any British soldierof them all and a good dc.J more frightened. Ho burst into Aunt II mUmIi's house with the news that he had Won into Boston, that the soldiers wore all gone, that he had scon bis mother, that .she had the small-pox an 1 sent hiiu oil' in a hurry. "Tut! Tut!" she cried. "It's wicked to tell lies, Jeremy Jaggor." " I'm not tolling lies. Kvorv word is is true as tne initio. rie:t give lue .some thing t eat But Aunt Hannah did not waittogive the lad food, nor oven t speak the praver of thanksgiving that went up like incense iroin iter heart. She. wont into the barn yard and throw corn on the barn-tloor, to which tin hens and turkey made hxste. Closing the doors, ho summoned Jeremy to kill the largest and lite best of thelll. That Sun. lay afternoon the brick oven glowed with fervent heat, the white, fat offerings went in, and the goldenbrow:: turkey. and t hickens ciue out; and as each in turu was pronounced "done," Aunt Hannah repeated tho words: Hungry! hungry! Hungry allwiuter!" The big clothes-basket was full of lint i m i.l . ior woumis inai now vvoum never no j made. (Jladly she tosed out the fluffy ) mass, and packed within it even dainty the house contained It wa nearly sunset when Aunt H innah and Jeremy st:irt"l forthwith the basket borne Wtwccn them to Mr. Wooster' hotist', hoping that ho would carry it in his wagon to Uoston. He was not at home. "(Jet out the cart," said Aunt Hannah to Jeremy, when they learned there ws no help to bo obtained. She sat by the roadside watching the basket until the cart arrived. "I'm going with yoti," she naid, after the basket was in; und she climbed up to tin? seat Wside tho lad, uud off they started for Boston. It was dark when they reached the lines, mill no passes granted, the officer said, to go in t hat night . " But I've footl for the hungry," said Aunt Hannah, in her swecte-t voice, from the darkness of the cart, "mol folks are hungry in the night as well a i j the .lay." She deftly threw aside the cover from the b;iskt and took out n chicken, which sh' held forth to the man, .saving: "TaV.eit. It's good." He hesitated a moment, then scicd it eagerly. 1 know you," spoke no Jeremy, at this juncture. You went up the Neck with us this morning. I naw vou." " I hen you are the boy w ho gut first into Boston tin morning, are you, sir r "I believe I did, sir." "(Jo on." The oxen went on. "Now, Jeremy, down with you, and wait hero for me. You haven't had small-pox," said Aunt Hannah. But the oxen won't mind you," said Jeremy. Aunt Hannah wa troubled. She never had driven oxen. At the moment who should appear but Mr. Wooster. lie gladly offered to take the basket and deliver it at Mrs. Jagger's door. Don't go in, mind. Mother's had sma'.'-nox," called Jeremy, as he started. , "I'm tired," gasK'd Aunt Hannah, who had done baking enough for a small army that day, a she sat down to rest on the board seat of the cart, and the two started for home. 'The soldier at the gate scarcely heeded them a they went out, for roast chit ken "tasted SO got )tl." "I'm so glad the British are out of Ilo.-ton," said Aunt Hannah, ns she touched home soil again and wont wearily up the walk to the little dark house. "Ami so am I," said Jeremy to the oxen, us he turned them in for the night; only, if I'd had my way, they wouldn't have gone without one good fair light. You've d mo your luty, anyhow," he added, soothingly, with a parting stroke to the honest laWrcr I who went in la-f, "ami you deserve well j of your country, too; for, like (Jon. ' Washington, you have served without ' hope of reward. The thing I like best j about the man i that lie don't work for money. I don't wan't any sixpence a ; day for cutting willows; ami I won't take it." Ar.d he didn't take it, con- ' soling himself with the rollet tion that j he would W like (.en. Washington in i one thing, anyhow. The I1 jnrulttU.