enemy with too hot a hand;
and I am to blame, perhaps, that I never checked him in that temper. But
he died like a man and a soldier, Major Butler," he added, firmly.

"He died in my arms," replied Butler, "as bravely as ever soldier closed
his life, his last thoughts were fixed upon his parents, and--"

"Dead!" interrupted Ramsay, as if communing with himself, and regardless
of Butler's words--"Dead! He fell doing his duty to his country, that's
a consolation. A man cannot die better. If it please God, I hope my end
may be like his. Andrew, my boy, come here. You are now my oldest living
son," he said, taking the lad's hand and looking him full in the face,
as he spoke with a bitter compression of his lips; "I am willing, much
as I love you, that the country should have you."

"No, David, David," interrupted the mother, rousing herself from her
silent grief, "we have given enough; no other child of mine shall
venture in the war. John! John! John! my dear boy, my brave son! How
good and kind he was to us all! And how glad he was to get home to see
us; and how much we made of him!"

"Silence, wife," said David Ramsay, "this is no time to hold back from
our duty. Andrew, listen to me: remember your brother has met his death
fighting against these monsters, who hate the very earth that nurses
liberty. You are young, boy, but you can handle a musket; we will not
forget your brother's death."

"Nor the burning of a good house over your head, and a full barn,
father; nor the frights they have given my poor mother."

"Nor the thousands of brave men," added the father, "who have poured out
their blood to give us a land and laws of our own. My boy, we will
remember these, for vengeance."

"Not for vengeance," said Allen Musgrove, "for justice, David. Your
enemy should be remembered only to prevent him from doing mischief. The
Lord will give him sword and buckler, spear and shield, who stands up
for the true cause: and when it pleases Him to require the sacrifice of
life from the faithful servant who fights the battle, he grants patience
and courage to meet the trial. Your son was not the man, David, to turn
his face away from the work that was before him; may God receive him and
comfort his distressed family! He was an honest and brave son, David
Ramsay."

"A braver soldier never buckled on broadsword, Allen Musgrove," replied
the father. "Yes, I looked for this; ever since my dwelling was levelled
to the ground by the