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10 .THE PRESBYTERI4
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For the Children
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THE WIND.
By Robert Louis Stevenson.
1 saw you toss the kites on high
And blow the birds about the sky;
/vim an arouna 1 neara you pass,
Like ladies' skirts across the grass?
Oli, wind, a-blowing all day long;
Oh, wind, that sings so loud a song!
1 saw the different things you did,
But always you yourself you hid.
1 felt you push, 1 heard you call,
1 could not see yourself at all?
Oh, wind, a llowing all day long;
Oh, wind, that sings so loud a song!
Oh, you that are so strong and cold;
Oh, blower, are you young or old?
Are you a h?ast of field and tree,
Or just n stronger child than me?
Oh, wind, a-biowiug all day long;
Oh, wind, that sings so loud a song!
A LITTLE CHRISTMAS HEROINE.
By Fred Myron Colby.
It was during the clays when the patriots were los-ing
ground in- the Carolinas in the Revolutionary
War; the British held possession of Charleston and
Tarlcton's troopers were riding over the country ter
rorizing everybody. Only a few brave men like Marion
and Sumpter held out, and they were in hiding,
waiting patiently for a chance to strike a blow at the
hated British.
In the late fall of the year Captain John Eager, an
officer of Marion's legion, obtained a leave of absence
and went to his home on the Santee for a few days'
rest. From the best information it was believed that
Tarleton was in another part of the colony, and as
the Christmas season was approaching it was not expected
the British would be dangerously active for
some time to come. It was then with no little feeling
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family in the comfortable mansion which he had built
before his marriage, and where his wife and two children
made the time pass very pleasantly for the patriot.
The eldest of Captain Eager's children was a girl
?Mary Eager, though everybody called her Polly?
a little maid of twelve, and as fiery and true-hearted
a patriot as there was in the colonies. She and her
father were great cronies, and Polly liked nothing better
than to sit and work on a sampler and listen to
her father as he told of the forays of Marion's men,
and of the life of the "Swamp Fox" among the fens
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And thus were they engaged one day?the Christmas
of 1781, the captain smoking his pipe op the
porch, while he was recounting one of Marion's exploits.
and Polly sitting at his feet, stitching her sampler,
when they were interrupted by the sound of pounding
hoofs coming up the road. Presently the rider
appeared, a lank, sandy-haired and complexioned
iN OF THE SOUTH December 29, igog.
young fellow, riding a wild, Shetlandis'n looking pony,
and going like the wind.
"Tarleton is coming! Tarleton is coming! Flee
for your lives!" he shouted and the rider dashed 011 to
carry the dread tidings of the ruthless raider's coming
to other neighborhoods.
"Oh, father, what will you do!" cried Polly, as the
captain rose to his feet and glanced hastily around.
"I don't know, child. I must hide somewhere, I
suppose, but 1 don't know where."
Mrs. Eager came to the door, her face pale with
suppressed emotion. "John, you must fly," she said,
"or that terrible Tarleton will hang you. And our
Christmas dinner is almost ready, and \vc could have
been so happy, oh. it is too bad."
"The dinner will keep, mother," replied Captain
Eager, bravely, "and I don't believe the rope is braided
yet to hang me. I may conclude to stay,?"
Just then Polly uttered a cry of dismay. "Oh. father,
they are coming!" and sho nr?inf#?d ->
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dust not more than half a mile distant.
"It's no use for me to try to escape by flight," said
the captain. "Tarleton's troopers would soon overtake
me, but there must be some hiding place in the
house. Any way, we must risk it."
"Papa, may I speak a word," cried Polly, as the captain
turned to go inside the house. "Tarleton's men
will search for you in every likely hiding place from
cellar to attic, but they might not look for you right
iicre under their very noses."
"What do you mean, child?" asked her father.
"I mean, why not hide in one of these barrels on
the piazza? They will never think of you taking
refuge in one of these," and Polly pointed to two large
barrels or tierces which had been brought out of the
cellar a few days before and were standing empty on
the piazza on which the}' were talking.
"It's the very thing, child," declared the captain,
"and I will get down into one of them, as you say.
It's my last chance."
It took but a moment for the captain to bestow his
somewhat bulky form inside one of the empty casks
where he crouched nnitp pnmfr>rt?v.i.r til- a t-a ?
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hurriedly piled some clothing over him, and a few
sticks of wood were thrown carelessly upon the top.
Polly was in mortal terror for fear the Britons
might ride up before the concealment was effected,
but she had everything completed, and was seated
carelessly engaged upon her sampler, almost within
hand's reach of where her father was concealed, as the
British troops turned a corner and dashed up to the
house.
"Is that rebel hound, Captain Eager, inside?" inquired
the leader of the dragoons peremptorily, halting
his troop just in front of where the little girl sat so
duietlv stitching.
He was a slender, middle-sized person, but muscular
and active as was evident by the way he sat in the
saddle. His face was thin and pale, and would have
been girlish but for the earnest, fiery eyes and the firm,
determined mouth.
Polly knew very well that this wa? the famous