strained at Salem that nothing but great forbearance and presence of
mind on the part of the colonists prevented bloodshed. The Boston
massacre of less than five years before was still uppermost in men's
thoughts, and it was determined that the responsibility of the first
shot in the war, if war there must be, should rest with the Royal
troops.

Accordingly, the colonists accepted insult and abuse until they were
suspected by the British troops of cowardice. One officer wrote home
telling his friends that there was no danger of war, because the
colonists were bullies, but not fighters, adding that any two regiments
ought to be decimated which could not beat the entire force arrayed
against them. But the conflict could not be long delayed. It was on
April 18th, 1775, that Paul Revere rode his famous ride. He had seen the
two lights in a church steeple in Boston, which had been agreed upon as
a signal that the British troops were about to seize the supplies of the
patriots at Concord. Sergeant Monroe's caution against making
unnecessary noise, was met by his rejoinder, "You will have noise enough
here before long--the regulars are coming out."

Then he commenced his ride for life, or, rather, for the lives of
others. We all know the result of his ride, and how church bells were
tolled and signal shots fired to warn the people that the soldiers were
coming. It was a night of tumult and horror, no one knowing what
brutality they had to expect from the now enraged British soldiers. The
women of the towns, warned by the pre-arranged signals, hurried their
children from their homes, and fled to farm houses, and even barns in
the vicinity. Before daybreak the British troops had reached Lexington
Green. Here they found Captain Parker and 38 men standing up before
twenty times that number of armed troops, indifferent as to their fate,