“Then people farther off heard and caught up the shout, and I suppose not many minutes had passed before everybody else in the whole city knew that the Declaration was signed.”
“And everybody was glad?”
“Everybody but the Tories, I think. No doubt there were some of them even there.”
“But it seems to me the rejoicing was premature, as they could not be certain of winning in the fight that was hardly more than begun.”
“Perhaps so; but they had been so very patient and borne repeated wrongs till they felt that they could bear no more, but would fight on till death, if victory didn’t come before that.
“Oh, I must tell you of a strange coincidence in connection with the bell that rang to tell that the deed was done! It had been cast years before, and there was a motto on it that couldn’t have been made more suitable to what it did on that 4th of July, if all the doings of that day had been foreseen.
“Oh, I’d forgotten that I’ve read that the declaration was only adopted on the 4th of July and proclaimed on the 8th.”
“But what was the motto?” asked Marian.
“It was a verse from the Bible,” Lulu answered. “‘Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land, to all the inhabitants thereof.’ Wasn’t it a strange coincidence!”
“Very, I think,” Marian replied. “I’d like to see that old bell. I suppose they keep it in memory of that time?”