But what can be done, Katy? Gallant and
independent men are unwilling to submit to oppression; and I am fearful
that such scenes are but too common in war."
"If I could but see anything to fight about," said Katy, renewing her
walk as the young lady proceeded, "I shouldn't mind it so much. 'Twas
said the king wanted all the tea for his own family, at one time; and
then again, that he meant the colonies should pay over to him all their
earnings. Now this is matter enough to fight about--for I'm sure that no
one, however he may be lord or king, has a right to the hard earnings of
another. Then it was all contradicted, and some said Washington wanted
to be king himself; so that, between the two, one doesn't know which
to believe."
"Believe neither--for neither is true. I do not pretend to understand,
myself, all the merits of this war, Katy; but to me it seems unnatural,
that a country like this should be ruled by another so distant
as England."
"So I have heard Harvey say to his father, that is dead and in his
grave," returned Katy, approaching nearer to the young lady, and
lowering her voice. "Many is the good time that I've listened to them
talking, when all the neighborhood was asleep; and such conversations,
Miss Fanny, that you can have no idea on! Well, to say the truth, Harvey
was a mystified body, and he was like the winds in the good book; no
one could tell whence he came, or whither he went.
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