Excerpt from An Address Commemorative of the Life and Services of George D. Robinson: Governor of the Commonwealth, 1884-86 Parker's band of fifty undisciplined men, standing almost in mock defiance before a body of eight hundred tried veterans, and returning the fire of the king's troops, presents no pleasing sight, SO foolhardy seems the act. But the fire returned, the patriots dead, and we behold an eloquent performance. Its memory serves a useful purpose, not only to those whose pro fession it is to bear arms in the country's service, but to the humblest individual in civil life. All men are idealists at heart; and the patient toil and suffering which the fathers endured, the heroic deeds which they performed, touch in us a vein of the poetic. We love to recall the examples of their lives; for they send us back to our daily toil with good cheer, and even inspire a hope that in some manner we may become heroes also. While we stand ready to respond, with arms if need be, to the calls which the country's honor may make upon us, let us hope that the national character may never need to be toned and invigorated by the chastening influences which accom pany the awful brutalities of war, but that it may be preserved and strengthened by the inspiring lessons with which Amer ican history is illumined. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.