When oppress’d and approach’d, our king we implore,
    Still firmly persuaded our rights he’ll restore;
    When our hearts beat to arms to defend a just right,
    Our monarch rules there, and forbids us to fight. 
          In freedom we’re born, &c.

    Not the glitter of arms, nor the dread of a fray
    Could make us submit to their claims for a day;
    Withheld by affection, on Britons we call,
    Prevent the fierce conflict which threatens your fall. 
          In freedom we’re born, &c.

    All ages shall speak with amaze and applause
    Of the prudence we show in support of our cause;
    Assured of our safety, a Brunswick still reigns,
    Whose free loyal subjects are strangers to chains. 
          In freedom we’re born, &c.

    Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all,
    To be free is to live, to be slaves is to fall;
    Has the land such a dastard as scorns not a lord,
    Who dreads not a fetter much more than a sword? 
          In freedom we’re born, &c.

The song was much applauded for its spirit, and some of the young men wanted to give three more cheers, but Hand said they were already making too much noise, and their enthusiasm cooled.

THE SKIRMISH AT LEXINGTON.

“Now,” observed Hand, “I should like to hear some account of how things went on during the war.  We are all in the right mood for it.”

“I could talk enough to fill whole books about the war,” replied Kinnison; “but I want to hear Mr. Pitts and Mr. Colson, and the rest of the old men, spend a little breath for our amusement.”

“Mr. Kinnison was in the fight at Lexington, and all the principal battles in the Northern States during the war.  I think he could interest you more than I,” said Colson.

“I’ll make an agreement with you,” remarked Kinnison.  “If I tell you all I know of that skrimmage at Lexington, one of you must follow me.”  The agreement was settled, and Kinnison commenced his narrative of how the first blow of the Revolution was given.

“You see, after that tea scape, and the quarrels with the red-coat troops in Boston, the people of Massachusetts, and, in fact, of nearly all New England, began to see that there was no way of upholding their rights but by war, and they accordingly began to arm and practise military tactics.  The fife and drum were to be heard every day all around the country.  In our village we collected a company of about thirty men.  My father, and two brothers, Samuel and James, and myself, joined the company, and we used to parade and drill every day.  A bold and knowing fellow, named Jonathan Williams, was our captain.  Well, early in the fall of 1774, we heard the news that Gage had fortified Charlestown Neck, and sent some troops to seize the gunpowder at Cambridge.  This roused our mettle, and we set into drilling and learning