True Stories From History and Biography by Nathaniel Hawthorne Read Free Book Online Page B

men; and that, at
its close, the English set King Philip's head upon a pole."
    "Who was the captain of the English?" asked Charley.
    "Their most noted captain was Benjamin Church,—a very famous warrior,"
said Grandfather. "But I assure you, Charley, that neither Captain Church,
nor any of the officers and soldiers who fought in King Philip's war, did
any thing a thousandth part so glorious, as Mr. Eliot did, when he
translated the Bible for the Indians."
    "Let Laurence be the apostle," said Charley to himself, "and I will be the
captain."

Chapter IX
*
    The children were now accustomed to assemble round Grandfather's chair, at
all their unoccupied moments; and often it was a striking picture to
behold the white-headed old sire, with this flowery wreath of young people
around him. When he talked to them, it was the past speaking to the
present,—or rather to the future, for the children were of a generation
which had not become actual. Their part in life, thus far, was only to be
happy, and to draw knowledge from a thousand sources. As yet, it was not
their time to do.
    Sometimes, as Grandfather gazed at their fair, unworldly countenances, a
mist of tears bedimmed his spectacles. He almost regretted that it was
necessary for them to know any thing of the past, or to provide aught for
the future. He could have wished that they might be always the happy,
youthful creatures, who had hitherto sported around his chair, without
inquiring whether it had a history. It grieved him to think that his
little Alice, who was a flower-bud fresh from paradise, must open her
leaves to the rough breezes of the world, or ever open them in any clime.
So sweet a child she was, that it seemed fit her infancy should be
immortal!
    But such repinings were merely flitting shadows across the old man's
heart. He had faith enough to believe, and wisdom enough to know, that the
bloom of the flower would be even holier and happier than its bud. Even
within himself,—though Grandfather was now at that period of life, when
the veil of mortality is apt to hang heavily over the soul,—still, in his
inmost being, he was conscious of something that he would not have
exchanged for the best happiness of childhood. It was a bliss to which
every sort of earthly experience,—all that he had enjoyed or suffered, or
seen, or heard, or acted, with the broodings of his soul upon the
whole,—had contributed somewhat. In the same manner must a bliss, of which
now they could have no conception, grow up within these children, and form
a part of their sustenance for immortality.
    So Grandfather, with renewed cheerfulness, continued his history of the
chair, trusting that a profounder wisdom than his own would extract, from
these flowers and weeds of Time, a fragrance that might last beyond all
time.
    At this period of the story, Grandfather threw a glance backward, as far
as the year 1660. He spoke of the ill-concealed reluctance with which the
Puritans in America had acknowledged the sway of Charles the Second, on
his restoration to his father's throne. When death had stricken Oliver
Cromwell, that mighty protector had no sincerer mourners than in New
England. The new king had been more than a year upon the throne before his
accession was proclaimed in Boston; although the neglect to perform the
ceremony might have subjected the rulers to the charge of treason.
    During the reign of Charles the Second, however, the American colonies had
but little reason to complain of harsh or tyrannical treatment. But when
Charles died, in 1685, and was succeeded by his brother James, the
patriarchs of New England began to tremble. King James was a bigoted Roman
Catholic, and was known to be of an arbitrary temper. It was feared by all
Protestants, and chiefly by the Puritians, that he would assume despotic
power, and attempt to establish Popery throughout his dominions. Our
forefathers felt that they had no security either for their religion or
their liberties.
    The result proved that