ice in the pond and by tearing down the snow houses that the boys had built.

At last the boys determined to bear it no longer, and sent some of the largest of their number to complain to the British general.

No doubt the boys hated the British troops, and perhaps their manner of presenting their complaint was abrupt. At least the general seemed offended, and asked them if their fathers had been teaching them rebellion and had sent them to him with their complaints.

"Nobody sent us," said the leader; and his eyes sparkled with anger while he stood proudly and fearlessly before the general.

"We have never injured your troops, but they have thrown down our snow hills and spoiled our skating pond. We have complained, and they called us young rebels and told us to help ourselves if we could. We told the captain, and he laughed at us. Yesterday our works were destroyed again; and, sir, we will bear it no longer.”

General Gage could not restrain his admiration for the boys who knew their rights and dared to maintain them.

"The very children," said he, "draw in a love of liberty with the air they breathe. Go, my

brave boys, and if my soldiers molest you again, they shall be punished."

TO THE PUPIL:

1. Adjacent means near.

Two things are adjacent

when they lie close to each other, not in actual contact. What is adjacent to your schoolhouse?

2. The suffix ish means like or somewhat, or belonging to; as Brit+ish, belonging to Britain.

Analyze in a similar way: boyish, girlish, clownish, English, Scottish, sweetish.

3. Why are the adjectives British, English, and Scottish capitalized?

TO THE TEACHER:

Exercise 2 should be written.

Review, pp. 419–424.

NINETEENTH DAY

Early next morning our party was on the train for Plymouth. It was but a short run - less than an hour and a half, but in that time Uncle Jack found time to tell them of Captain Miles Standish, of Governors Carver and Bradford, ending by reciting the poem of Felicia Hemans:

THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIMS

The breaking waves dashed high

On a stern and rock-bound coast, And the woods against the stormy sky

Their giant branches tossed; And the heavy night hung dark

The hills and waters o'er,

When a band of exiles moored their bark

On the wild New England shore.

Not as the conqueror comes,

They, the true-hearted, came;

Not with the roll of the stirring drums,

And the trumpet that sings of fame;