, which will be the eighty-fifth anniversary of the marching of the
"minute men" from Worcester, under the command of Capt. Bigelow. It
seems to me that Worcester cannot "afford" to let this opportunity pass
without making some signal recognition of the event. Cannot the citizens
of Worcester, for the first time in eighty-five years, gather with their
families around the grave containing the last remains of her noble son?

FOOTNOTES:

[C] June, 1860. We are happy to say, that Col. Lawrence has the work now
in successful progress.

II.

EARLY EFFORTS FOR LIBERTY.

The name of Timothy Bigelow stands conspicuous in the history of
Worcester. As early as 1773, we find him on a committee with Wm. Young,
David Bancroft, Samuel Curtis, and Stephen Salisbury, to report upon the
grievances under which the province labored, and also upon what was then
called the "Boston Pamphlet," which had been introduced at the town
meeting in March. The writer of this article thinks that this "Boston
Pamphlet" was John Hancock's oration in commemoration of the "Bloody
Massacre" of the 5th of March, 1770. At the adjourned meeting, in May
following, this committee made an elaborate report, recommending a
committee of correspondence. The town adopted the report, and elected as
the committee, Wm. Young, Timothy Bigelow, and John Smith. In December
following, the leading whigs of the town assembled and formed a society,
which afterwards took the name of the American Political Society, and
Nathan Baldwin, Samuel Curtis, and Timothy Bigelow, were chosen a
committee to report a constitution. This society, with Timothy Bigelow
for a leader, did good service to the town and to the country. Their
last and most powerful blow was struck in town meeting, 7th of March,
1774, when the society presented a long preamble and resolutions, which
were considered by the royalists to be treasonable and revolutionary.
"When these resolutions were read," said an eye-witness of the scene to
the writer, "fear, anxiety and awful suspense, sat upon the countenance
of every man of the whig party except Timothy Bigelow, the blacksmith;
while the tories were pale with rage." After a few moments, James
Putnam, the leader of the tories, arose. Putnam was said to be "the best
lawyer in North America. His arguments were marked by strong and clear
reasoning, logical precision and arrangement, and that sound judgment
whose conclusions were presented so forcibly as to