l never
decline it when freedom is the prize. Independence of Great Britain is
not our aim. Our wish is that Britain and the Colonies may, like the
oak and the ivy, grow and increase in strength together. If pacific
measures fail, and it appears that the only way to safety is through
fields of blood, I know you will not turn your faces from your foes,
but will press forward till tyranny is trodden under foot and you have
placed your adored goddess Liberty on her American throne."

The building shook with applause when he sat down.

"It is moved that the thanks of the town be presented to Doctor Warren
for his oration," said the moderator.

"No, no! fie, fie!" shouted a captain of the Royal Irish Regiment, and
the other officers around thumped the floor with their canes.

Tom's blood was hot, as was the blood of those around him. Some of the
people under the galleries, who could not see what was going on,
thought the officers were crying fire, to break up the meeting. Very
quietly Samuel Adams raised his hand. The people became calm. The
officers left the building, and the town went on with its business.
The people were learning self-control.

When the meeting was over, Tom and Abraham walked along Cornhill, and
turned down King Street on their way home. They saw a crowd around the
British Coffee House tavern,--the officers who a little while before
had left the Old South Meetinghouse, laughing, talking, and drinking
their toddy. Tom soon discovered they were having a mock town meeting.
One was acting as moderator, pounding with his cane and calling them
to order. They chose seven selectmen and a clerk. Then one went
upstairs and soon appeared upon the balcony wearing a rusty and ragged
old black gown, a gray wig with a fox's tail dangling down his back.
He bowed to those below, and began a mock oration. He called Samuel
Adams, Doctor Warren, and John Hancock scoundrels, blackguards,
knaves, and other vile names. His language was so scurrilous, profane,
and indecent that Tom could not repeat it to his mother and Berinthia.
Those who listened clapped their hands. Tom and Abraham came to the
conclusion that most of the officers of the newly arrived regiments
were too vile to be worthy the society of decent people.

Tom was boiling hot two nights later, at the treatment given Thomas
Ditson of Billerica, who had come to market. A soldier persuaded the
guileless young farmer to buy an old worn-out gun. The next moment h