20 



PACIFIC TREE AND VINE 



A Story for the Young* Folks 



. How the Tories Broke Up the Meeting 



For the third time little Ruth 

 Holley stepped out on the broad 

 flat stone that served as a door- 

 step, and shading her eyes with her 

 hand looked eagerly down the road. 

 "Oh, dear !" she sighed, glanc- 

 ing at the long slanting shadows; 

 "it's almost supper-time and they 

 haven't come, and Sister Molly is 

 never late." 



Then she turned and passed 

 through the narrow entry into the 

 kitchen, where her mother was 

 bending over a big iron pot which 

 hung from the crane in the wide 

 fire-place. 



"Well, Daughter, any signs of 

 'em yet ?" 



"No, Mother," answered Ruth, 

 almost ready to cry. "Perhaps 

 Gray Duke has run away, or some 

 of the dreadful Tories have stopped 

 them; and if anything should hap- 

 pen to Geordie or the twins, I don't 

 know what I should do." 



Mrs. Holley raked the embers 

 forward and put a fresh log on the 

 fire. "I wouldn't borrow any 

 trouble, Daughter," she said quiet- 

 ly; "real trouble comes thick and 

 fast enough into this dark days 

 without any need of borrowing 

 more." 



The kitchen door opened and a 

 tall, gray-haired man entered. 



"I've put the milk in the pantry, 

 Mother. Where are Molly and the 

 children? Haven't they come ?" 

 Mrs. Holley shook her head. 

 "Ruth is worrying, Father, for 

 fear that they have been caught up 

 by Tories or that Gray Duke has 

 run away with them." 



The farmer threw back his head 

 and laughed. 



"No fear of that, little girl ! 

 Molly Pidgin is a born horsewoman 

 and Duke may be fiery and unman 

 ageable enough with strangers, but 

 he's like a lamb with Molly. And 

 as for being caught up by the Tor- 

 ies, — why, I'd just like to sec 'em 

 do it, that's all ! There's isn't a 



horse in these parts that can keep 

 within sight of Duke's heels, I 

 knew his value well when I gave 

 him to Molly for a wedding gift. 

 And they are well matched for 

 spirit !" 



"I wish Molly had less spirit, 

 Father, for then when Edward went 

 away, she would have come up 

 here to stay with us," returned Mrs. 

 Holley. "Middlesex is no place 

 for her; it's a perfect nest of Tories! 

 But we had hard work to get her to 

 spend even this week with us !" 



"Well, I suppose she thought 

 some of the Tories would run oft" 

 the cattle or ransack the house while 

 she was away. We are passing 

 through dark days — dark days, 

 Mother ! It's bad enough to have 

 to fight an open foe, but when it 

 comes to having neighbors who are 

 on the watch for every chance to 

 plunder you and to give you over to 

 the Red-coats, it's almost more than 

 flesh and blood can stand !" 



It was the summer of 1781, the 

 darkest and most trying period of 

 the Revolution. The campaign of 

 1779 had proved a failure. The 

 British were everywhere successful, 

 and the American army had done 

 almost nothing toward bringing the 

 war to a close. And 1780 was a 

 still more discouraging year. The 

 winter was one of the coldest ever 

 known, and the suffering of the Con- 

 tinental troops in their winter quar- 

 ters at Morristown were terrible. 

 Early in 1781, several hundred of 

 the lioldiers revolted and were only 

 kept by the point of the bayonet 

 from going home, .so that this year, 

 too, opened most disastrously. The 

 dwellers on the Connecticut coast 

 lived in constant fear of the British, 

 who occupied New York City and 

 Long Island, and fre(iuently crossed 

 the Sound at night in boats, to 

 plunder the inhabitants and carry 

 them away captives. Norwalk, 

 Middlesex (now Darien), and .Stam- 

 ford were particiil;irl\- haled b\- tliu 



English on account of the patriot- 

 ism of their three ministers, and the 

 Redcoats had been planning for a 

 long time some way of punishing 

 the Rev. Mr. Mather, whose earnest 

 teachings served to keep up the al- 

 most failing courage of the people 

 of Middlesex. 



Mrs. Holley swung the crane 

 further over the fire.and then helped 

 Ruth to .set the table with the dark 

 blue china and the large pewter 

 platters, which had been scoured 

 until they shone like silver. 



"Hark! What is that?" said 

 the farmer, going to the door. But 

 Mrs. Holley and Ruth were there 

 before him, just in time to see a 

 powerful gray horse dash up to the 

 door and stop obediently at the de- 

 cided 'Whoa I" of his mistress, a 

 rosy-cheeked, bright-eyed young 

 woman. Behind her, on the pil- 

 lion, and securely tied to her waist, 

 was four-year-old Geordie, while in 

 front, encircled by her arms, sat the 

 baby twins, Ben and Desire, as like 

 as two peas. In a moment, Geor- 

 die was unfastened and Ruth was 

 smothering him with kisses, while 

 Mrs. Holley looked very proud with 

 a twin on either arm. 



"Well, Molly," .said her father, 

 looking at her admiringly as she 

 sprang lightly to the ground, "you 

 are as spry as ever. We had be- 

 gun to worry about you. What 

 made you so late?" 



"I was waiting lor dispatches 

 from I{d\vard, and they came just 

 before I left. They've had a terri- 

 ble winter, father," and the tears 

 gathered in Molly's eyes. "Our 

 l)rave men have been without shoes 

 and had only miserable rags for 

 clothin,!;, and liundredsof them have 

 died from hunger and cold. At 

 times they have had neither bread 

 nor meat in the camp, and the Con- 

 tinental money lost value so that it 

 touk four iiionths' pay of a private 

 to buy a bushel of wlieat ! Edward 

 says if it had not been for the great 



