THE TIM BUNKER PAPERS. 163 



NO. 49. TIM BUNKER ON BREASTWORKS. 



ME. EDITOR : There never was such a stir in Hooker- 

 town before, since the days of the Revolution, and I 

 doubt if the fathers were any more lively than our 

 folks are. I never shall forget the Sunday when the news 

 came that Fort Sumter was on fire. I shouldn t felt worse 

 if Connecticut River had sunk, or Hookertown been de 

 stroyed by an earthquake, and since that Sunday we 

 haven t talked about much else but the war. The next 

 Sunday, Mr. Spoouer preached a sermon from the text, 

 &quot;He that hath no sword, let him sell his garment and buy 

 one,&quot; that made every man s heart go like a trip-hammer. 

 The next day, we had a liberty pole raised a hundred feet 

 high, and a flag hung out, that went through the last war, 

 with several shot holes through it. We have raised a 

 company of eighty men, and money enough to sup 

 port them for a year. Almost every family that had any 

 grown-up boys has sent one or more to the war. The 

 middle-aged men and old ones have formed themselves 

 into a Home Guard, and if the boys don t put things 

 through in good shape, we are going ourselves to straighten 

 them out. 



John came home from meeting after Mr. Spooner s ser 

 mon, and says he : 



&quot; Mother, I am going to enlist.&quot; 



Mrs. Bunker raised her spectacles from Scott s Bible, 

 which she happened to be reading just then, and said she: 



&quot; I can t make any objections, John. Your grandfather 

 fought at Bunker Hill, and Mr. Spooner says this is a con 

 tinuation of the same war, a war for the life of the nation. 

 I hope you will show that the Bunker family has not de 

 generated.&quot; 



John being our only boy brings the thing pretty close 

 home to us, but now that the ministers and women are 



