Mad with shame and rage, Pakenham rode quickly among them to rally and lead them forward, and the officers sprang around him, smiting the fugitives with their swords, and cheering on the men who stood. For a moment the troops halted, and again came forward to the charge; but again they were met by a hail of bullets from the backwoods rifles. One shot struck Pakenham himself. He reeled and fell from the saddle, and was carried off the field. The second in command was wounded, and then all attempts at further advance were abandoned, and the British troops ran back to their lines. Another assault had meanwhile been made by a column close to the river, the charging soldiers rushing right up to the top of the breastworks: but they were all killed or driven back. A body of troops had also been sent across the river, where they routed a small detachment of Kentucky militia; but they were, of course, recalled when the main assault failed.
For the first time in a quarter of a century the British soldiers, the men who had conquered the conquerors of Europe, had met defeat. Andrew Jackson and his rough riflemen had worsted in a fair fight a far larger force of the best of Wellington's veterans, and had accomplished what no French marshal and no French troops had been able to accomplish throughout the long war in the Spanish Peninsula. For a week the sullen British lay in their lines; then, abandoning their heavy artillery, they marched back to the ships and sailed again for Europe.
IMPORTANT NOTICE.
TO THE READERS OF "HARPER'S YOUNG PEOPLE."
HARPER'S ROUND TABLE? We imagine how puzzled and surprised a great throng of you are when your favorite Harper's Young People suddenly puts on a new dress and wears a new name. Yet it is the very same paper which has been your favorite ever since you first read it—the same, except that it has taken on some additional features of interest, and will be more pleasing to you than ever.
Of course you wish to know why a change has been made, and what the Editor means to give you in the Round Table which will make up for the disappearance of Young People. The Round Table will be so big and bright that it will accommodate more young people than you can count—all, in fact, who belong to the wonderful Order you all love. Listen to our programme for the future:
Serial stories by our best authors, short, timely, and entertaining articles, and the regular departments will be continued. You will find that not one of the attractions is omitted. The only alteration in the periodical, beyond the title and make-up, is to be found in the additional departments. Something new has been added which is sure to interest everybody.
Part of this addition is the athletic department, entitled Interscholastic Sport. This department is to be conducted by "The Graduate," who is an experienced writer and student of scholastic athletics, and who, while following the course of school athletics all over the United States, will give you many valuable suggestions on physical training. Another part of this addition, which will be sure to please you just now especially, is a department on Bicycling, which will contain charts and maps showing pleasant bicycle trips in or near the large cities of the United States. This department will be under the editorship of an expert wheeler, who will have the assistance of the officers of the League of American Wheelmen. Besides these features the type will be changed so that about two hundred words will be added to each page of the paper, thus increasing the amount of letter-press by nearly one-fourth. You will now receive nearly one-quarter again as much reading matter as heretofore for the same amount of money. You will approve of this, we know.
But why give the paper another name? Because the Order of the Round Table, founded by Harper's Young People four years ago, has grown to such enormous proportions, has spread so far and wide, has gone into so many corners of the States of the Union, and European countries as well, that it demands some definite recognition, as one of the largest organizations of its kind in the world. But the title Harper's Round Table means something more than this. It not only acknowledges the growth, the power, and the interest of the Order of the Round Table, but it is the journal which goes into the home of its readers as they sit about the family "round table" of an evening. It brings with it reading of interest to the children and to the young men and women of the family, as well as to the parents; and its purpose is to introduce and maintain in the family of this nineteenth century some of the manly qualities, some of the chivalry, honesty, and uprightness which have made the Table Round of King Arthur so famous in history. Harper's Round Table represents the chivalry of brother to sister and sister to brother, children to parents and parents to children, in this present day. It maintains that all the good qualities of King Arthur's Order are equally applicable and necessary in the family circle of to-day, and it purposes to stand for them week by week. The Round Table, therefore, is not only the title of a great organization of young Americans, but it also stands for a periodical which should be a welcome visitor in every family circle. Its readers will find in its pages amusement, interest, instruction, as well as suggestions of what courtesy and courage mean, and what they can accomplish. Harper's Round Table is Harper's Young People in a larger form, with its field broadened and its interest increased. You will endorse this change, not only for itself, but because it also furnishes you with more reading matter than was promised you when you subscribed for Harper's Young People.