770 THE IMPENDING REVOLUTION. 



' 'That was the time for solemn faces and deep silence. 



"At last, hark! The door opens the committee ap- 

 pear. Who are these men who come walking up to John 

 Hancock's chair? 



" The tall man, with sharp features, the bold brow and 

 sand-hued hair, holding the parchment in his hand, is the 

 Virginia farmer, Thomas Jefferson. That stout built man, 

 with resolute look and sparkling eye-r that is a Boston 

 man, one John Adams. And the calm-faced man, with 

 hair dropping in thick curls to his shoulders; that man 

 dressed in a plain coat and such odious home-made blue 

 stockings that is the Philadelphia printer, one Benjamin 

 Franklin. 



' ( The three advance to the table. The parchment is 

 laid there. Shall it be signed or not ? 



u Then ensues a high debate; then all the faint-hearted 

 cringe in corners, while Thomas Jefferson speaks out his 

 few bold words, and John Adams pours out his whole soul! 



"Then the soft-toned voice of Charles Carrol is heard 

 undulating in syllables of deep music. 



' ' But still there is doubt, and that pale-faced man, 

 shrinking in one corner, squeaks out something about axes, 

 scaffolds and a gibbet! 



" 'Gibbet!' echoes a fierce, bold tone, that startles men 

 from their seats and look yonder! A tall, slender form 

 rises, dressed, although it is summer time, in a faded red 

 cloak. Look how his white hand trembles, as it is stretched 

 slowly out; how that dark eye burns while his words ring 

 through the hall. 



' * ' Gibbet ! They may stretch our necks on all the 

 gibbets in the land; they may turn every rock into a scaf- 

 fold, every tree into a gallows, every home into a grave, 

 and yet the words of that parchment can never die ! 



"They may pour blood on a thousand scaffolds, and 

 yet from every drop that dyed the axe, or drops on the saw- 



