Freneau (p. 96), a poet of the Revolution, thus expresses in verse some of
these events:--

"When a certain great king, whose initial is G,
Shall force stamps upon paper and folks to drink tea;
When these folks burn his tea and stampt paper like stubble,
You may guess that this king is then coming to trouble."


THE ESSAYISTS

The pen helped to prepare the way for the sword and to arouse and prolong
the enthusiasm of those who had taken arms. Before the battle of Lexington
(1775), writers were busy on both sides of the dispute, for no great
movement begins without opposition. Many colonists did not favor resistance
to England. Even at the time of the first battle, comparatively few wished
absolute separation from the mother country.

THOMAS PAINE (1737-1809) was an Englishman who came to America in 1774 and
speedily made himself master of colonial thought and feeling. Early in 1776
he published a pamphlet entitled _Common Sense,_ which advocated complete
political independence of England. The sledge hammer blows which he struck
hastened the _Declaration of Independence._ Note the energy, the
directness, and the employment of the concrete method in the following:--

[Illustration: THOMAS PAINE]

"But Britain is the parent country, say some. Then the more shame upon
her conduct. Even brutes do not devour their young, nor savages make war