Dennis came out on the green, full of honorable pride.
His first words were characteristic:
“Oh, all ye people, all of the cedars, you well may gather together—now. Hear ye, hear ye, hear ye, for it is good news that I bring to ye all. Boston has fallen; it has tumbled into our hands, and Castle William has gone down into the sea, to the Britisher, and the same will never play Yankee Doodle there any more.
“Oh, but you should have seen him, as your brothers and I did—General Washington. He looked as though he had been born to lead the world. And what did he call our Governor—now, that is what I am bursting to tell you—what did he call our Governor?”
“The first patriot in America,” answered a merry farmer.
“Not that, now, but something better than that. Hear ye, open the mouths of your ears, now, and prepare to shout; all shout. He called—so the officers all say—he called him what you call him now. Colonel? No, no; not that. Judge? No, no; not that. Governor? No, no; not that. He called him what the heroes here who ran from the fields with their guns call him; what the good wives all call him; what the old men call him; what the children call him; what the dogs, cats, and all the birds call him; no, no; not that, but all nature here catches the spirit of what we called him. He called him Brother Jonathan! Shout, boys! Shout, girls! Shout, old men! Shout all! The world will call him that some day. My soul prophesies that. Shout, shout, shout! with the rising sun over the cedars—all shout for the long life and happiness of Brother Jonathan!”
Lebanon shouted, and birds flew up from the trees and clapped their wings, and the modest old Governor said:
“I love the soul of the man who delights to bring the people good news. I wrote to Washington, when he took command of the army at Cambridge, these words:
“‘Be strong and very courageous. May the God of the armies of Israel shower down his blessings upon you; may he give you wisdom and fortitude; may he cover your head in the day of battle, and convince our enemies of their mistake in attempting to deprive us of our liberties.’ And, my neighbors, what did he answer me? He wrote to me, saying: ‘My confidence is in Almighty God.’ So we are brothers. And my neighbor Dennis brings good tidings of joy out of his great heart. His heart is ours. What will we do for such a man as Dennis O’Hay?”