Davis, of Acton, who reproved his men for jesting on the march.
He was Deacon Josiah Haynes, of Sudbury, 80 years old, who
marched with his company to the South Bridge at Concord, then
joined in the hot pursuit to Lexington, and fell as gloriously as
Warren at Bunker Hill. He was James Hayward, of Acton, 22 years
old, foremost in that deadly race from Concord to Charlestown,
who raised his piece at the same moment with a British soldier,
each exclaiming, "You are a dead man!" The Briton dropped, shot
through the heart.

James Hayward fell mortally wounded. "Father," he said, "I
started with forty balls; I have three left. I never did such a
day's work before. Tell mother not to mourn too much, and tell
her whom I love more than my mother, that I am not sorry I turned
out."--George W. Curtis.


THE BOSTON COMMON SCHOOLS.

The Boston Common Schools were the pride of the town. They were
most jealously guarded, and were opened each day with public
prayer.

They were the nurseries of a true democracy. In them the men who
played the most important part in the Revolutionary period
received their early education.

The Adamses, Chancey, Cooper, Cushing, Hancock, Mayhew, Warren,
and the rest breathed their bracing atmosphere.