a good end. They had not tools enough for making entrenchments, and
they actually used the bayonet, of which I had been proud, for this
purpose. In the confusion after the battle, I was forgotten. I was
left at the bottom of the works in the mud.

It was a hard thing for me to be parted from William, and to feel
that I should never be restored to my corner in his mother's room
behind the old clock; but I had a conviction that I had taken part
in a great work, and I enjoyed our triumphs greatly.

This, you will think, no doubt, was glory enough for one musket; but
a greater still was in reserve for me. It is with muskets as with
men, one opportunity improved opens the way for another, and every
chance missed is a loss past calculation; for every gain that might
have grown out of that chance is lost too.

Every one should remember that, as he fights his way through the
battle of life; and, when tempted to slacken his fire, think of what
the old revolutionary spirit, speaking through my muzzle, taught on
that day,--'hold on, and hold fast, and hold out. Never stop, stay,
or delay, but make ready!--present!-- fire!--and, again and again,
make ready!--present!--fire!--till every round of ammunition is
gone.'"

Here the dry, rusty, unmodulated tone, in which the old king's arm
had, up to this time, spoken, suddenly changed; and it seemed as if
a succession of shots had been let off. Then, bringing himself down
to the floor with a DUNT off of the little tea chest full of old
shoes, on which he had stood leaning against the brick chimney,
exactly as he used to do grounding arms seventy years ago, he