Peggy Owen at Yorktown

"Alone by the Schuylkill a wanderer roved, And bright were its flowery banks to his eye, But far, very far were the friends that he loved, And he gazed on its flowery banks with...

"Impossible or not, it hath really happened," answered Drayton, laughing gleefully at their amazement. "I was detailed, at my own request, to bring the news to Congress. I wante...

When at length the two maidens started forth in the early afternoon they found that the news of the victory at the Cowpens was upon every tongue. The streets were filled with an...

An exclamation of intense astonishment burst from the young fellow's lips, and he drew rein quickly. If it was his intention to come to them he was not allowed to carry it out,...

"No," he said in answer to Harriet's eager questioning. "I found him not. I went to both the old and the new jails, but he was in neither. In fact, no prisoners have been receiv...

"Thou art a traitor: False to thy gods, thy brother, and thy father; Conspirant 'gainst this high illustrous prince; And from the extremest upward of thy head, To the descent an...

"I feel less anger than regret. No violence of speech, no obloquy, No accusation shall escape my lips: Need there is none, nor reason, to avoid My questions: if thou value truth...

"I wish you good-morning, Mrs. Owen. It grieves me to enter David Owen's house upon such mission as I must this day perform, but war is no respecter of persons. Were it my own h...

"The sweetest lives are those to duty wed Whose deeds both great and small, Are close knit strands of an unbroken thread, Where love ennobles all. The world may sound no trumpet...

"Such was the season when equipt we stood On the green banks of Schuylkill's winding flood, A road immense, yet promised joys so dear, That toils and doubts and dangers disappear."

As the little caravan turned from Chestnut Street into Seventh so that she could no longer see her home Peggy's lips quivered, and it was with difficulty that she refrained from...

"Oh, I wonder if Lady Washington hath returned yet from headquarters," cried Peggy so interested in the fact that she might again behold that lady that she forgot that it was ra...

For one long moment the girl stood staring at that flag, so stricken with terror as to be incapable of motion. Too well she knew the meanings of its presence. The descent of a B...

"Thy love shall chant its own beatitudes After its own life working... A poor man served by thee shall make thee rich; A sick man helped by thee shall make thee strong; Thou sha...

Half hidden by lilac bushes and trellised grape-vines the cottage of Nurse Johnson stood in Nicholson Street. A tiny garden lay on one side of the house, and back of it a small...

"Ah! then and there was hurrying to and fro, And gathering tears, and tremblings of distress, And cheeks all pale, which but an hour ago Blushed--at the praise of their own love...

Peggy leaned against the fence for support, trembling violently. General Arnold was evidently bound for the palace, and she must pass him if she continued on her way to the hosp...

"Snatch from the ashes of your sires, The embers of the former fires; And leave your sons a hope, a fame, They too will rather die than shame; For Freedom's battle once begun, B...

"Awake on your hills, on your islands awake, Brave sons of the mountain, the frith, and the lake. Be the brand of each chieftain like Fin's in his ire. May the blood through his...

"Why, I came as soon as I could, Peggy. When I knew that the Forty-third was to be sent down I went to Sir Henry for permission to accompany the regiment. The colonel's wife bor...

"How much the heart may bear, and yet not break! How much the flesh may suffer and not die! I question much if any pain or ache Of soul or body brings our end more nigh: Death c...

Westward rode Peggy at a brisk pace. There were not many people stirring, the hour was so early. The few who were abroad merely glanced curiously after her, as she passed, witho...

"Yes; and they plan to go to Charlottesville after dinner to capture the Assembly," Peggy told her before the youth could reply. "Friend Fairfax is to slip away to warn them."

"Then each at once his falchion drew, Each on the ground his scabbard threw, Each look'd to sun, and stream, and plain, As what they ne'er might see again; Then foot, and point,...

Fearful of what might result from the encounter Peggy hid her face in her hands as the two youths crossed swords. But at the first meeting of the blades, impelled by that strang...

"Now all is gone! the stallion made a prey, The few brood mares, and oxen swept away; The Lares,--if the household shrine possessed One little god that pleased above the rest; M...

Harriet, with her chestnut hair flying in a maze of witching ringlets, her eyes starry with radiance, came dancing to meet them as they entered the house which Colonel Owen had...

"The way is long, my children, long and rough, The moors are dreary, the woods are dark; But he that creeps from cradle on to grave, Unskil'd save in the velvet course of fortun...

"He is to die at sunrise." The announcement came with such suddenness that for a moment no one spoke. Peggy stood as though stricken. Colonel Owen was the first to recover himself.

"Tell him that I shall take charge at midnight," commanded Clifford. "I am going to stand guard myself so as to make sure that naught goes amiss." Then turning to Peggy he added...

"What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, now conceals, now discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, In full glory r...

"Oh! these were hours when thrilling joy repaid A long, long course of darkness, doubts, and fears-- The heartsick faintness of the hope delay'd, The waste, the woe, the bloodsh...