284 HISTORY OF COHASSET. 



with the glorious news that Boston had at last thrown down the 

 gauntlet for the king of England to pick up.* 



It is no small honor that three of our young men were 

 among those who boarded the vessels in that last manly- 

 endeavor to maintain the bulwarks of fundamental human 

 justice. 



The oldest was Jared Joy, of Beechwood, then twenty- 

 four years of age and afterwards a soldier of the Revolu- 

 tion. His tombstone in the Beechwood Cemetery, where 

 he was buried in his forty-third year, receives annual 

 decoration at the hands of the Grand Army. 



The second was Abraham Tower, twenty years of age, 

 the grandfather of our present town treasurer, and after 

 the Revolution owner of a large commerce at the Cove. 



The third was James Stoddard, a lad of seventeen, 

 afterwards "major" in the local militia. The bits of tea 

 which lodged in his clothing and shoes were scattered 

 upon the floor at his boarding house in Boston the next 

 morning, and caused him no little alarm lest he might be 

 discovered and punished. But honor and not punishment 

 is now measured to all three of these Cohasset boys. 



However, the wrath of English officials was to be 

 poured out upon Boston. The next April, 1774, General 

 Gage was commissioned to take control of the Common- 

 wealth and to annul the charter of rights. On the first 

 day of June he was to close the port of Boston and thus 

 he was to starve the citizens into obedience. 



The growth of patriotism that summer was rapid and 

 strong. Contributions of cattle, sheep, corn, vegetables, 

 and fish came pouring into Boston from all the neighbor- 

 ing and distant towns where sympathizers abounded. 



The Correspondence Committee recommended the or- 

 ganization of a provincial congress to meet in a safe 

 place and to plan for self-protection. Deacon Isaac 



♦John Fiske's .American Revolution, Vol. I, p. 90. 



