Guilford High School - Rostrum Yearbook (Guilford, ME)

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THE ROSTRUM ll could hope to escape their pursuers. Under any other general they cculd not have escaped, but they had Wash- ington for their leader, and Washing- ton was the heart, strength and soul of the Revolution. Finding that he could not hold New Jersey, he was at last forced to cross the Delaware at Trenton. The British would have pushed on after him, but the American general had seized every boat for nearly a hundred miles up and down the river. All that the British could do was to sit down on the bank and wait for the stream to freeze over. In the meantime the redcoats were holding New York City. On Christmas Eve, 1776, the city was brilliantly lighted and much cele- brating was going on. At the home of Major-General Ar- nold, a grand party was in session. The scarlet uniforms of the British officers gleamed brilliantly in the glare of the lighted candles and their swords flashed and their powdered wigs looked as white as snow. Beau- tiful, laughing ladies were dressed gayly in huge, swirling skirts and ruffles and laces. Millie Arnold came down the up- stairs hall toward the curved stair- way, looking very lovely in her blue and silver gown. Tall and slender, lher blue-black hair hanging about her face in glossy curls, she made a pretty picture. Her dusky little maid, Katie, sud- denly darted forward from the shad- ows under the railing and whispered in Millie's ear. Millie started and her eyes lighted up with a brilliance to match the light of the candles. Her heart beat faster and she clutched at the railing. Where is he. Katie '? she asked. Downstairs in de Massafs den, replied Katie. Millie hurried down the stairs, her tiny silver slippers scarcely touching the steps. Over and over in her heart she was saying, He is here, I am going to see him. When she reached the foot of the stairs, the redcoats surged forward asking her for dances, but she shook her head smilingly. Colonel Sir Gerald Carlisle was not so easily disposed of. He took her arm possessively, saying, You are looking very lovely tonight, Millie. Will you have the first dance with me ? To which she replied, I'm sorry, Gerald, but I have a last minute duty to attend to in the library. I'll be back soon. Major-General Arnold, a tall, stern, white-haired man, dressed in his cflicer's regalia, stepped forward at this moment and seized his daugh- ter Millie's arm. He whirled her around to face him. t'What do you mean by not dancing with Colonel Sir Carlisle? I distinct- ly heard him ask you to dance with him and I also heard your answer. A duty to attend to! What is a duty compared to dancing with a gentle- man of his breeding? You must know he has asked my permission to marry you and of course I consented. What more could you ask than to be Lady Carlisle? Gerald Carlisle is advancing rapidly in the British Army. Soon he will be at the top. A Major or a General or a Co-mman- der! Whom do you expect to marry? So mind what I tell you and gs back and dance with him or he may change his mind about wanting to marry you. Major-General Arnold spoke all of these words in one breath with- cut giving Millie a chance to open her mouth. Father, I will dance with Colonel Sir Carlisle later, but at present I am occupied. With these words Millie walked away toward the library.

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JO e THE ROSTRUM saw the intention of the British and prepared for it. When General Howe with his brother, Lord Howe, who was commander o-f the British fleet, reached New York in the sum- mer cf 1776, they found Washington in possession of the city. They also found that they could not send their ships up the Hudson as easily as they had hoped, for the Americans had built Fort Washington and Fort Lee to prevent it. Still the British were confident of being victorious. Howe and his brother were inexperienced military commanders. They had the aid of of General Clinton and 'General Corn- wallis, and over thirty thousand well-armed soldiers, men who fought for a living. Washington had less than eighteen thousand, most of whom knew noth- ing of war. while many had no mus- kets fit to fight with. But Wasliing- ton held the city and the forts on the Hudson and he had possession of Brooklyn Heights on Long Island, di- rectly across from the city on the south. General Howe was on Staten Island with his army. He saw that if he could take Brooklyn Heights and plant his cannon there, he would be able to drive Washington out o-f New York, just as Washington, bv seizing Dorchester Heights, had driven him out of Boston. General Putnam was in command of the Heights with a force of nine thousand gallant Americans. In the battle of Long Island, August, 1776. the gallant little Rebel army met with defeat. f Putnam with his whole army would surely have been captured had it not been for Washington's energy and skill. During' that night a dense fog came up and under cover of it Wash- ington got all of Putnam's men safely across the river in boats to New York. In the morning, when the British commander stretched cut his hand to take the nest of rebels as the called it, the rebels had fied. Washington was now forced to abandon New York and retreat up the east side of the river. He was naturally very anxious to find out what the British meant to do next. Captain Nathan Hale of Connecticut volunteered to try to get the informa- tion for him, but the brave young man was arrested and hanged as a spy. Washington ordered West Point, the strongest place on the west bank of the Hudson, to be fortified, to pre- vent the redcoats from going up to Albany. He then crossed to the west bank of the river, but could not hold his ground against Ilord Corn- wallis, and he lost both Fort Wash- ington and Fort liee. I-Ie had left some of his best soldiers, under the command of General Charles Lee, on the east side of the Hudson. He now ordered I..ee to join him, but that traitorous officer disobeyed him. Washington with his small force now began to retreat across New Jer- sey toward Philadelphia. He broke down bridges after he had crossed them, destroyed the provisions Cornwallis ho-ped to get for his army, and so delayed the enemy that it took them nearly three weeks to march about seventy miles across a level country. Cornwallis and his redcoats fol- lowed the retreating Americans sometimes at a distance. then again close on their heels. There were times when the redcoats would be entering a town just as the rebels were hurrying out of it. Many patriots began to despair of success. They did not see how the rebel army, consisting of only three thousand men. who were wretchedly armed, scantily clothed, and half fed,

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12 THE ROSTRUM Major-General Arnold started to follow her, and then stopped and turned back, grumbling to himself, What a foolish girl! Why she doesn't take Carlisle is more than I can see thro-ugh. What a son-in-law he would make! I am glad she has fo-rgotten that 'rebel' Morrow whom I refused to let her see. I certainly would not want one cf George Wash- ington's 'rebels' in my family. Major--General Arnold did not know that at the very moment he was speaking, the rebel Morrow was in the Arnold library waiting for Millie Arnold. The heavily paneled library door closed behind Millie with a dull thud. From behind a tall screen by the win- dow a tall, blond. broad-shculdered man stepped swiftly. She flew to his arms. Her shaking fingers traced the thin, starved hollow of his cheek. It had been a long. cruel winter for the soldiers. Not enough to eat. Not enough to wear. But his men were tall, true-hearted men who be- lieved they were fighting for a just cause. Millie was the first one to speak. Pat! Pat, darling! What torture you're enduring this winter. Oh! If only I co-uld help you in some way. .But what's. the use! Father would never let me help you. He is so prej- udiced against the 'rebels' as he in- sists upon calling them. I cannot understand his attitude at all. He wishes to marry me off to that Colo- nel Sir Gerald Carlisle. As if I could ever care for that plump, pasty- skinned hypocrite. The only reason he wishes to marry me is because he thinks he might get some of my fath- er's money. But I shall never marry him. Patrick kissed ther tenderly, his blue eyes looking into her dark ones full oif despair, and then said, Mil- lie, dear, after the war is over will you marry me and co-me to live with me on the farm in Vermont, or is it asking too much? Could you be happy' living on a farm ? Millie answered him with her eyes shining, Pat, I could be happy living anywhere with you. Yes, after the war is over I will marry you. Oh, my darling, I'm so gjlad I came, he said. I am glad you came, also, said Millie, but it would be so much bet- ter irf you could come without all this secrecy and plotting. I will be so glad when it is all over. I have often wondered what my life would have been like if my mother had lived. That picture over there on the table is mv mother. She looks a great deal like me and I'm sure that if she had lived, my life would have been much happier. She died when I was born. and I have been brought up by my father mostly. and he has always tried to run my life. Millie and Patrick were sitting in the center of the room by a large table when suddenly Millie heard her father's heavy voice calling, Mil1ie! Millie! She said to Pat, Hide in this clos- et behind the portieres until it is quiet again. Quick! Patrick ran quickly into the closet, closing the door tightly behind him. Millie sat down at the table and opened a book just as her father en- tered. He glared at her. demanding, Who has been in here with you ? Why-why-no one. father. Millie said, but her voice was trembling and betraying her. Maj or-General Arnold had evident- lv' been' celebrating bv drinking heav- ily, as he walked with an unsteady tread. and he was at the stage Where he had an ugly temper. He looked around the room and th en opened the door and hollered to a few of the ofii- cers standing nearby, among whom