id the hairy boy to the right of Whomsoever J.
Opper, who afterwards became the father of a lad who grew up to be
editor of the Persiflage column of the _Atlantic Monthly_.

Thus the boys of America impressed General Gage with their courage and
patriotism and grew up to be good men.

An expedition to Canada was fitted out the same winter, and an attack
made on Quebec, in which General Montgomery was killed and Benedict
Arnold showed that he was a brave soldier, no matter how the historian
may have hopped on him afterwards.

The Americans should not have tried to take Canada. Canada was, as Henry
Clay once said, a persimmon a trifle too high for the American pole, and
it is the belief of the historian, whose tears have often wet the pages
of this record, that in the future Canada will be what America is now, a
free country with a national debt of her own, a flag of her own, an
executive of her own, and a regular annual crisis of her own, like other
nations.

In 1776 Boston was evacuated. Washington, in order to ascertain whether
Lord Howe had a call to fish, cut bait, or go ashore, began to fortify
Dorchester Heights, March 17, and on the following morning he was not a
little surprised to note the change. As the weather was raw, and he had
been in-doors a good deal during the winter, Lord Howe felt the cold
very keenly. He went to the window and looked at the Americans, but he
would come back chilly and ill-tempered to the fire each time. Finally
he hitched up and went away to Halifax, where he had acquaintances.

[Illustration: LORD HOWE FELT THE COLD VERY KEENLY.]

On June 28 an attack was made by the English on Fort Moultrie. It was
built of palmetto logs, which are said to be the best thing in the world
to shoot into if one wishes to recover the balls and use them again.
Palmetto logs accept and retain balls for many years, and are therefore
good for forts.

When the fleet got close enough to the fort so that the brave
Charlestonians could see the expression on the admiral's face, they
turned loose with everything they had, grape, canister, solid shot,
chain-shot, bar-shot, stove-lids, muffin-irons, newspaper cuts, etc.,
etc., so that the decks were swept of every living thing except the
admiral.

[Illustration: JEFFERSON DICTATING THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE.]

General Clinton by land tried to draw the attention of the rear gunners
of the fort, but he was a poor draughtsman, and so retired, and both th