L LANTERNS OF

PAUL REVERE

DISPLAYED IN THE STEEPLE

OF THIS CHURCH,

APRIL 18, 1775,

WARNED THE COUNTRY OF

THE MARCH OF THE

BRITISH TROOPS TO LEXINGTON

AND CONCORD.

If the pilgrim wishes to get into the very spirit of old Christ Church
and its historical associations, he can even climb the tower----

"By the wooden stairs, with stealthy tread,
To the belfry chamber overhead,
And startle the pigeons from their perch
On the sombre rafters, that round him make
Masses and moving shapes of shade"----

to look down as sexton Robert Newman did that eventful night on----

"The graves on the hill,
Lonely and spectral and sombre and still."

The first time I ever climbed the tower I confess that I was seized with
an overpowering sense of the weirdness and mystery of those same
spectral graves, seen thus from above. It was dark and gloomy going up
the stairs, and if Robert Newman had thought of the prospect, rather
than of his errand, I venture to say he must have been frightened for
all his bravery, in that gloomy tower at midnight.

But, of course, his mind was intent on the work he had to do, and on the
signals which would tell how the British were to proceed on their march
to seize the rebel stores at Concord. The signals agreed upon were two
lanterns if the troops went by way of water, one if they were to go by
land. In Longfellow's story we learn that Newman----

"Through alley and street,
Wanders and watches with eager ears,
Till in the silence around him he hears
The muster of men at the barrack door,
The sound of arms and the tramp of feet,
And the measured tread of the grenadiers,
Marching down to their boats on the shore."

It had been decided that the journey should be made by sea!

The Province of Massachusetts, it must be understood, was at this time
on the eve of open revolt. It had formed an army, commissioned its
officers, and promulgated orders as if there were no such person as
George III. It was collecting stores in anticipation of the moment when
its army should take the field. It had, moreover, given General
Gage--whom the king had sent to Boston to put down the rebellion
there--to understand that the first movement made by the royal troops
into the country would be considered as an act of hostility, and treated
as such. Gage had up to this time hesitated to act. At length his
resolution to strike a cri