face the redcoats. But you're not going to insult my
people--understand?"

Tim laughed contemptuously. "How are you going to stop me?" He looked
down at Isaac who was a full head shorter than himself and of
slighter build. "Going to fight me?"

At that moment the long lines of buff and blue straightened as one man
and a murmur of "the General" passed down the ranks. Franks, the angry
flush slowly dying from his cheeks, straightened his shoulders and
gazed straight ahead; but he was not too intent on the arrival of
General Washington to fling a fierce aside to his tormentor: "That's
just what I intend to do if you don't take it back--fight you until
you do!"

But a moment later all private hates and insults were forgotten as the
boy looked toward the general, his soul in his eyes. Seated upon his
great horse, the sun streaming upon his noble, powdered head and broad
shoulders, the commander of the American Army looked what he later
proved himself to be--an uncrowned king of men. A long, vibrating
cheer rose from the soldiers' throats; then died away as Washington
raised his hand for silence.

The young officer who rode beside him unrolled a piece of paper he
carried, and read in a loud, clear voice the words which today every
school boy knows or should know by heart. But the boys and men,
pledged to fight and die for their country, heard them for the first
time that day and thrilled at the rolling sentences of the Declaration
of Independence, which declared them free forever from the rule of the
British tyrant, King George III.

"We hold these truths to be self-evident," the noble words rang forth
to the listening soldiers, "That all men are created equal; that they
are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that
among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness." An
answering thrill awoke in every heart. Isaac Franks felt his lashes
wet with sudden tears. The son of a nation of exiles, Jews driven from
land to land from the days the Romans ploughed the place where once
their Temple stood, he could appreciate the blessings of a home land
where even the despised Jew might know the meaning of equality and
liberty and justice. Then he thought of the taunts of his comrade and
his face hardened; but only for a moment was he depressed. In
America--the land which had pledged itself to grant equal
opportunities to all men--his was the opportunity to show what the Jew
was worth. He would teach