“No; this was in 1774, and the Declaration was not signed until July, 1776,” replied his mother.

“It seems to me,” remarked Lulu, “that the Americans were very slow in getting ready to say they would be free from England—­free from British tyranny.”

“But you know you’re always in a great hurry to do things, Lu,” put in Grace softly, with an affectionate, admiring smile up into her sister’s face.

“Yes, I believe you’re right, Gracie,” returned Lulu, with a pleased laugh and giving Grace’s hand a loving squeeze.

“Yes,” assented Grandma Elsie, “our people were slow to break with the mother country—­as they used to call old England, the land of their ancestors; they bore long and patiently with her, but at last were convinced that in that case patience had ceased to be a virtue, and liberty for themselves and their children must be secured at all costs.”

“How soon were they convinced of it, mamma?” asked Walter.

“The conviction came slowly to all, and to some more slowly than to others,” she replied.  “Dr. Franklin, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry were among the first to see the necessity of becoming, politically, entirely free and independent.

“It is stated on good authority that Patrick Henry in speaking of Great Britain, as early as 1773, said, ’She will drive us to extremities; no accommodation will take place; hostilities will soon commence, and a desperate and bloody touch it will be.’

“Some one, present when the remark was made, asked Mr. Henry if he thought the colonies strong enough to resist successfully the fleets and armies of Great Britain, and he answered that he doubted whether they would be able to do so alone, ’but that France, Spain, and Holland were the natural enemies of Great Britain.’

“‘Where will they be all this while?’ he asked.  ’Do you suppose they will stand by, idle and indifferent spectators to the contest?  Will Louis XVI. be asleep all this time?  Believe me, no!  When Louis XVI. shall be satisfied, by our serious opposition and our Declaration of Independence, that all prospect of a reconciliation is gone, then, and not till then, will he furnish us with arms, ammunition, and clothing:  and not with them only, but he will send his fleets and armies to fight our battles for us; he will form a treaty with us, offensive and defensive, against our unnatural mother.  Spain and Holland will join the confederation!  Our independence will be established! and we shall take our stand among the nations of the earth!’”

“And it all happened so; didn’t it, mamma?” exclaimed Rosie exultantly; “just as Patrick Henry predicted.”

“Yes,” replied her mother, with a proud and happy smile, “and we have certainly taken our place—­by God’s blessing upon the efforts of those brave and gallant heroes of the revolution—­as one of the greatest nations of the earth.

“Yet not all the credit should be awarded them, but some of it given to their successors in the nation’s counsels and on the fields of battle.  The foundations were well and strongly laid by our revolutionary fathers, and the work well carried on by their successors.”