Page:Dorothy's spy; a story of the first "fovrth of Jvly" celebration, New York, 1776.djvu/15

6 city dashed up amid loud huzzas of the bystanders, with a copy of the document which it was believed marked the birth of a new nation.

She had heard all who visited her parents discussing this message to his majesty, King George, and not a few openly condemned such an act on the part of the members of Congress as rank treason, which would surely be atoned for by death on the gallows. At such times as these Master Dean defended the right of the colonies to form a nation of their own, since the English government did not allow them any voice in the making of laws which applied particularly to them, and then it was that those who passed near by the residence of the silversmith in Hanover square, heard very loud, and, what some of the citizens of New York might have termed, seditious words, from those within.

Dorothy was as rank a little rebel as could be found in the colony, and even though she did not fully appreciate the importance of this Declaration which was to be made by the people to the king, her joy was great when the news came by post riders that the Congress had, on the Fourth day of July, decided to adopt it. She also knew by hearing her father's friends, all members of the organization known as the Sons of Liberty, planning a celebration, that at six o'clock on the evening of this day which had just dawned, the