security dwelt at the fireside, as brothers whom no petty cause could
sunder nor ill report make foes. These remarks apply, especially, to
those who first threw themselves into the breach, and resolved that, if
the British ministry would adopt such measures as the stamp act, their
execution should be resisted and become difficult, and if such measures
were passed as the act taxing tea, coffee, and the comforts of life,
that the tea should never be landed, and thus prove a loss to its
owners. The men who threw the tea into Boston harbor were patriots
united by a sense that union was necessary for the salvation of liberty;
and they were attracted to each other by the same influence during the
bloody struggle which succeeded. What wonder, then, that they loved to
meet in after years, to wish each other health and happiness, and chat
over the stirring events in which they had participated, and to which
their first bold deed was as the spark to dry hay, kindling to a fierce
blaze the ready seeds of war.

It was the fourth of July in Boston. Throughout the city which cradled
the Revolution, the anniversary of the birth of the free and happy
United States of America was celebrated with rejoicings unknown to the
shackled people of monarchical countries. Meetings were held in various
parts of the city, patriotic and democratic speeches made, bells rung,
cannons fired, pistols, crackers, and fireworks of all descriptions
discharged, toasts drank, and festivities of all kinds indulged. The
soldiers paraded the streets with fine bands discoursing most excellent
music, and followed by the usual crowd. Bunker Hill was the scene of a
large patriotic meeting, and the events of the 'trying time' were again
and again recounted with much enthusiasm.

But a more unusual and far more interesting meeting occurred in Boston,
about a quarter of a mile from the wharf known ever since the