Page:Hamilton play 1917.pdf/54

42 That's just it. They use too many pens and so the poison fails to take effect. I've got them sticking all over me, and I can't even feel them.

But Washington feels them. They're always attacking him. The latest is an accusation that he is drawing more salary than he is entitled to!

Whose work is that, Tom Paine's?

No, the clerk of the house. But Tom Paine has written him a letter, too, accusing him of incompetence, calling him "Treacherous in private friendship, a hypocrite in public life."

Sounds like Tom Paine.

And heaven knows what besides.

Ungrateful scoundrels!

The thing that hits him hardest is their everlasting hooting about the army. George Washington loves his army as he would have loved an only child.

He has beggared himself in an attempt to meet the country's promise to pay. It's the old story.