This was in the long, cruel war of the Revolution, when our fathers fought so bravely to make our country free and independent. THE CAMBRIDGE ELM. Washington was their commander. Not far from this very house stands an old elm tree under which he sat on horseback when he took command of the army. The children listen while their father tells them about Washington, how brave he was, how noble, how patient, how truthful. He wishes them to be brave, noble, patient and truthful. Perhaps he tells them this by repeating a stanza from his poems. "Lives of great men all remind us, And departing, leave behind us, On the same street where Longfellow lived, the village smithy used to stand. It was under a spreading chestnut tree. All day long the honest smith hammered at his anvil. Steady and slow and even was the beat of his heavy sledge, like the stroke of the Angelus bell at the sunset hour. It was pleasant to hear the bellows roar and to see the flaming forge and the sparks falling thick and fast. How the children liked to peep in at the open door on their way home from school! The poet tells this story for us very beautifully in "The Village Blacksmith." Have you read it? You will like it, as all children do. I will tell you what the children of Cambridge did to show Mr. Longfellow how much they liked his poems and enjoyed reading them. After many years the spreading chestnut tree was blown over in a violent storm. From the wood of the tree the children had a very fine chair made for the good gray poet and presented it to him on his birthday. This pleased him very much indeed. He wrote a poem to thank them for their gift, beginning: "Am I a king that I should call my own, This splendid ebon throne?" The children were delighted, as you may well suppose, and not only they, but all children the wide world over, who knew and dearly loved the poet's songs. After this, whenever a child went to see him, he made him sit in the chair and he gave him a copy of the of the poem. I do not wonder that children claim this poet as their own. He loved all children dearly and liked to write what would please them. But grown-up people like his poems just as well. They are so beautiful and so musical that every one loves to read them over and over. I am glad that such a poet has lived to make the world brighter and happier and better. "God sent these singers upon earth, WASHINGTON For a great many years after Columbus discovered America, different parts of the country belonged to England, France and Spain. From time to time, little companies came from those countries to settle here, and to make homes in the New World. Each company or colony was still governed by the mother country. There were thirteen of these colonies which belonged to England. Now, after a while, the king of England was very unjust to them, and oppressed them in many ways. He imposed taxes which were unjust and which the people would not pay. It was not so much the money as the fact of being taxed unjustly. They would not pay taxes on English cloth, so they wore coarse homespun clothes. They would not pay taxes on tea, so they would drink no tea. Have you ever heard of the "Boston Tea Party"? It is a stirring tale. This famous tea party was really quite a "surprise party," for it certainly surprised the English very much. They were determined that the people should take the tea sent from England, and the people were determined that they would not. They did not want the vessels to land their cargoes. One dark night a company of Boston young men, dressed up as Indians, went on board the vessels and threw the chests of tea overboard into the water. This was the "Boston Tea Party." Well, things kept getting worse and worse, and it was plain to every one that the Americans would have to fight for their rights. At first they did not |