Grace softly, with an affectionate, admiring smile up into her sister's
face.

"Yes, I believe you're right, Gracie," returned Lulu, with a pleased
laugh and giving Grace's hand a loving squeeze.

"Yes," assented Grandma Elsie, "our people were slow to break with the
mother country--as they used to call old England, the land of their
ancestors; they bore long and patiently with her, but at last were
convinced that in that case patience had ceased to be a virtue, and
liberty for themselves and their children must be secured at all costs."

"How soon were they convinced of it, mamma?" asked Walter.

"The conviction came slowly to all, and to some more slowly than to
others," she replied. "Dr. Franklin, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry
were among the first to see the necessity of becoming, politically,
entirely free and independent.

"It is stated on good authority that Patrick Henry in speaking of Great
Britain, as early as 1773, said, 'She _will_ drive us to extremities; no
accommodation _will_ take place; hostilities _will soon_ commence, and a
desperate and bloody touch it will be.'

"Some one, present when the remark was made, asked Mr. Henry if he
thought the colonies strong enough to resist successfully the fleets and
armies of Great Britain, and he answered that he doubted whether they
would be able to do so alone, 'but that France, Spain, and Holland were
the natural enemies of Great Britain.'