“I wish the people had tarred and feathered every man of them!” cried Charley.

“That wish is very wrong, Charley,” said Grandfather. “You must not think that there was no integrity and honor except among those who stood up for the freedom of America. For aught I know, there was quite as much of these qualities on one side as on the other. Do you see nothing admirable in a [faithful adherence] to an unpopular cause? Can you not respect that [principle of loyalty] which made the royalists give up country, friends, fortune, everything, rather than be false to their king? It was a mistaken principle, but many of them cherished it honorably and were martyrs to it.”

“Oh, I was wrong,” said Charley, ingenuously. “And I would risk my life rather than one of those good old royalists should be tarred and feathered.”

“The time is now come when we may judge fairly of them,” continued Grandfather. “Be the good and true men among them honored, for they were as much our countrymen as the patriots were. And, thank Heaven! our country need not be ashamed of her sons—of most of them at least—whatever side they took in the Revolutionary contest.”

Among the portraits was one of King George III. Little Alice clapped her hands and seemed pleased with the [bluff good nature of his physiognomy]. But Laurence thought it strange that a man with such a face, indicating hardly a common share of intellect, should have had influence enough on human affairs to convulse the world with war. Grandfather observed that this poor king had always appeared to him one of the most unfortunate persons that ever lived. He was so honest and conscientious that if he had been only a private man his life would probably have been blameless and happy. But his was that worst of fortunes—to be placed in a station far beyond his abilities.

“And so,” said Grandfather, “his life, while he retained what intellect Heaven had gifted him with, was one long mortification. At last he grew crazed with care and trouble. For nearly twenty years the monarch of England was confined as a madman. In his old age, too, God took away his eyesight, so that his royal palace was nothing to him but a dark, lonesome prison-house.”

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Discussion. 1. Describe the family group around the fireside. 2. What is the center of interest? 3. Contrast the pictures of Samuel Adams and John Hancock. 4. What is said about General Joseph Warren? 5. Would you have been able to recognize Hawthorne’s word picture of Benjamin Franklin without the name? 6. How does Grandfather explain the existence of these remarkable men just when they were most needed? 7. Do you know of any other time in our history when this seemed true? 8. Mention the humble origin of some of the Revolutionary patriots. 9. What do you think about them as fitting people to be founders of a great democracy? 10; What suggestion was there in this for Charley? 11. Name four famous Englishmen who took sides with the colonies. 12. What was their great service? 13. What do you think of Grandfather’s answer to Charley’s outburst against the loyalists? 14. Do you admire the quality Grandfather shows of seeing both sides of a question? 15. What was Grandfather’s comment on King George III? 16. Pronounce the following: abhorrence; gorgeous; courtier; admirable; ingenuously.

Phrases