The next day a procession of boys, headed by one of the "storming party," marched through the Common and halted before General Gage's headquarters. Three of the number were admitted to his presence and asked what it all meant. Nothing frightened by being surrounded by officers, glittering with armor, the young "captain," looking the great general full in the face, recounted the affair about the destroying of their fort by the soldiers.
General Gage patiently heard the statement and promised to reprove his men and see their sport should not be spoiled again in that way.
So the procession departed in triumph. The boys were no more molested.
But the Revolution soon came on, and instead of snowballs and snow forts and the sport of children, there were musket balls and roaring cannon, there were stone forts and "banners rolled in blood."
Seven years of war followed, in which the sword, the bayonet, the bullet, fire and famine, played their awful part, and—"the Britishers" went home to England.
America was free!
How many of those boys who snowballed "Old Snooks" and visited General Gage became Congressmen, I have never heard. Yet I dare say some of them got into the high places of the new nation.
But one of the best "resolutions" ever passed was theirs:
Never to have fun at the expense of such creatures as "Old Snooks."
Uncle C.