Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life And Adventures Or Peter Porcupine;
p leaded the cause of the Americans had an advantage too with young minds : he had only to represent the King ' s troops as sent to cut the throats of a people , our friends and relations , merely because they would not submit to oppression , and his cause was gained . Speaking to the passions is ever sure to succeed on the uninformed . Men of integrity are generally pretty obstinate in adhering to an inion once adopted . Whether it was owing to thisor to the
weakop , ness of Mr . Martin ' s arguments , I will not pretend to say , but he never could make a convert of my father : he continued an American , and so staunch a one , that he would not have suffered his best friend to drink success to the King ' s arms at his table . I cannot give the reader a better idea of his obstinacy in this . respect , and of the length to which this difference of sentiment was carried in Englandthan by relating
, the following instance : My father used to take one of us with him every year to the great hop-fair at Wey-Hill . The fair was held at Old Michaelmas ride , and the journey was to us a sort of reward for the labours of the summer . It happened to be my turn to go thither the very year that Long-Island was taken by the British . A great company of
hopmerchants and farmers were just sitting down to supper as the post arrived , bringing in the Extraordinary Gazette which announced the victory . A hop-factor from London took the paper , placed his chair upon the table , and began to read with an audible voice . He was opposed , a dispute ensued , and my father retired , taking me by the hand , to another apartment , where we supped with a dozen others of the same sentiments . Here Washington ' s healthand success to
, the Americans , were repeatedly toasted , and this was the first time , as far as I can recollect , that I had ever heard the General ' s name mentioned . Little did I then dream that I should ever see the man , and still less that 1 should hear some of his own countrymen reviling and execrating him . Let hot the reader imaginethat I wisli to assume any merit from
, ( his , perhaps mistaken , prejudice of an honoured and beloved parent . Whether he was right or wrong is not now worth talking about : that I had no opinion of my own is certain ; for , had my father been on the other side , I should have been on the other side too , and should have looked upon the company I then made a part of as malcontents and rebels I mention these cirr . umstnnr . es merelv fn shew that I
was not nursed in the lap of Aristocracy , and that I did not imbibe my principles , or prejudices , from those who were the advocates of blind submission . If my father had any fault , it was not being submissive enough , and I am much afiaid my acquaintances have but too often discovered the same fault in his son . It would be as useless as unentertaining . to dwell on the occupations and sports of a country boy ; to lead the reader to
fairscricktt-, matches , and hare-hunts . 1 shall , therefore , come at once to the epoch , when an . accident happened that gave that turn to my future life , which at last brought me to the United States . [ TO BE CONTINUED . !
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
The Life And Adventures Or Peter Porcupine;
p leaded the cause of the Americans had an advantage too with young minds : he had only to represent the King ' s troops as sent to cut the throats of a people , our friends and relations , merely because they would not submit to oppression , and his cause was gained . Speaking to the passions is ever sure to succeed on the uninformed . Men of integrity are generally pretty obstinate in adhering to an inion once adopted . Whether it was owing to thisor to the
weakop , ness of Mr . Martin ' s arguments , I will not pretend to say , but he never could make a convert of my father : he continued an American , and so staunch a one , that he would not have suffered his best friend to drink success to the King ' s arms at his table . I cannot give the reader a better idea of his obstinacy in this . respect , and of the length to which this difference of sentiment was carried in Englandthan by relating
, the following instance : My father used to take one of us with him every year to the great hop-fair at Wey-Hill . The fair was held at Old Michaelmas ride , and the journey was to us a sort of reward for the labours of the summer . It happened to be my turn to go thither the very year that Long-Island was taken by the British . A great company of
hopmerchants and farmers were just sitting down to supper as the post arrived , bringing in the Extraordinary Gazette which announced the victory . A hop-factor from London took the paper , placed his chair upon the table , and began to read with an audible voice . He was opposed , a dispute ensued , and my father retired , taking me by the hand , to another apartment , where we supped with a dozen others of the same sentiments . Here Washington ' s healthand success to
, the Americans , were repeatedly toasted , and this was the first time , as far as I can recollect , that I had ever heard the General ' s name mentioned . Little did I then dream that I should ever see the man , and still less that 1 should hear some of his own countrymen reviling and execrating him . Let hot the reader imaginethat I wisli to assume any merit from
, ( his , perhaps mistaken , prejudice of an honoured and beloved parent . Whether he was right or wrong is not now worth talking about : that I had no opinion of my own is certain ; for , had my father been on the other side , I should have been on the other side too , and should have looked upon the company I then made a part of as malcontents and rebels I mention these cirr . umstnnr . es merelv fn shew that I
was not nursed in the lap of Aristocracy , and that I did not imbibe my principles , or prejudices , from those who were the advocates of blind submission . If my father had any fault , it was not being submissive enough , and I am much afiaid my acquaintances have but too often discovered the same fault in his son . It would be as useless as unentertaining . to dwell on the occupations and sports of a country boy ; to lead the reader to
fairscricktt-, matches , and hare-hunts . 1 shall , therefore , come at once to the epoch , when an . accident happened that gave that turn to my future life , which at last brought me to the United States . [ TO BE CONTINUED . !