V


Says my friend Jack in his journal:

"The boys were in these times keen politicians whenever any unusual event
occurred, and the great pot was like soon to boil furiously, and scald the
cooks. Charles Townshend's ministry was long over. The Stamp Act had come
and gone. The Non-importation Agreement had been signed even by men like
Andrew Allen and Mr. Penn. Lord North, a gentle and obstinate person, was
minister. The Lord Hillsborough, a man after the king's heart, had the
colonial office. The troops had landed in Boston, and the letters of
Dickinson and Vindex had fanned the embers of discontent into flame.

"Through it all we boys contrived to know everything that was happening. I
had a sense of fear about it, but to Hugh I think it was delightful. A
fire, a mob, confusion, and disorder appeal to most boys' minds as
desirable. My father was terrified at the disturbance of commerce, and the
angry words which began to be heard. Mr. John Wynne very coolly adjusted
his affairs, as I have heard, and settled down with the Friends, such as
Wain and Shoemaker and Pemberton and the rest, to accept whatever the king
might decree."

Jack and I talked it all over in wild boy fashion, and went every day at
six in the morning to Lowry's on South street. At first we both hated the
work, but this did not last; and, once we were used to it, the business had