Letter from a Young Man Just Before the American Revolutionary War....

"It's been another long and arduous day," he wearily thought, as he sat at his desk, with head in hands, staring out the kitchen window. The young man, with tattered cream colored shirt and stockings to match, and grey blue breeches, rubbed his legs together, trying to keep warm. The heavy glass panes were covered in frost and the cold winter air emanated off the panes, swirling around him. He blew on his mittened hands and watched his breath crystalize into a white vapor. Just a short distance away a wooden split rail fence criss crossed back and forth, marking the long winding road into town. The road was lined with majestic tall oaks. But now it was getting late in the day. The sun was barely to be seen, just a brilliant white starry light here and there, moving slowly among the branches of the furry pines and peeking out, every so often. Snowflakes were making their way through the air, settling softly on the many oak leaves that covered the grass. Soon it would be time to light the lamps. His soft brown hair askew, he had hastily pulled it back with a dirty piece of linen. As he lowered his head to continue writing, a small lock of it dangled in front of his eyes. Patiently he pushed it back and, shivering, took to writing once more. "My Dear and Most Consummate Friends, as you well know my beloved wife and companion of many years, hath passed away. It was not without warning, as she hath lain ill for many days. Our youngest, Todd, hath not taken kindly to this circumstance. I hath found him on more than one occasion, not wanting me to comfort him. Instead, he hath pushed me aside. My other two, Emily and Dottie, are coping as best they know how and, I am certain, in their own way. I hope this will not linger much longer, as I am growing very weary. But I believe that the good Lord hath His own timetable and, therefore, I must be stout not only for my children but for other reasons, as all of us painfully know all too well. May God help me with my own grief and that of my children. As to our meeting the other eve, it meant much to me to be with friends, all of whom it seems are in very calamitous situations, and anguish, and broken-hearted as to what they see befalling their country. It appears that God Almighty hath turned on us and wrested what little we did have, from us. Sometimes I am faint of heart. Sometimes I hath even doubted as to how this situation we find ourselves in, can be remedied. I am ashamed to say that I hath even argued with and lashed out at Him and then in a drunken stupor, fallen to my bed in such a frightful stage, unable even to comfort or be comforted, all the while trying to keep my sobbing quiet so that my children do not hear my mournful dirges. Yet when morn awakes me, I am somehow different....I somehow feel stronger, more resolute, more direct in my being and in my heart. But, Lord I ask You, how much more? How much more shall Thee place upon us? Were it not for you--my companions, there would be much more despairing. So much so I could not last but one more day. Did we bring this upheaval upon ourselves? Did we do something to God to awaken the Almighty's anger against His Creation? My head is throbbing with many a question, yet no answer comes. I believe they will, in time. At our last meeting we at least laid out some topics for discourse and the recourses before us and agreed to certain things. We shook hands and there was a bit of uplifting of spirit there among us. I felt we did indeed make progress. We hath certainly met on many an occasion, and some close to a ruinous situation what with the British spies and their troops nearby! But last eve I felt a true spirit of kinship with thee Brethren, that we had truly become a "Band of Brothers." Brothers All united in spirit and with one belief....to see that This Tyrant King and his feudal lords no longer are able to do as they wish, when they wish. To assail us at every occasion! To steal our livestock, raze our fields, despoil our women, kidnap our young men, enslave them and sail them off to England to be put on trial, kill and tax us into oblivion. Enough. The chains of bondage hath never felt so binding. They are strangling us. We must not let this go on any longer. We CANNOT let this go on. I know that there are others who are meeting, just as we, in hidden locations, reflecting on what they are seeing happening all around them. I know because I hath met with them and they all feel the same. Yet one question they raise which I believe must be pondered very deeply......What price liberty? What price freedom? What price are we willing to pay to dislodge this despot and his minions and remove this tyrant's yoke from around our necks? When I look at my children and see fear in their eyes and their hollow looks, as our food supply is wearing very thin, I think of my deceased wife, and her very last words to me.....'you must not give up, you will find a way, all you need do is bow down on your knees and to Him you must pray. After deep reflection, I believe we hath our solution. The answers we seek do not always come when we want them too. But if we continue to be forthright, stout of heart and earnestly seek Him, then they WILL come, and none too soon".