Читать книгу Wild Nat, the Trooper; or, The Cedar Swamp Brigade онлайн

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“Nathaniel,” said the widow, “you know that John is the main support of my old age; that he and Catherine are all that keeps me here. Were they gone, I would not wish for life. Is not the cause of freedom hopeless? Have not our countrymen been beaten at all points? Is there a chance of success left to hang a single hope on? What good, then, will it do for John to risk his life for the sake of continuing a little longer a struggle which must soon end disastrously?”

“‘While there is life there is hope,’ as the doctors say, Mrs. Vale. You speak truly, when you say the case is desperate; but that it is hopeless, I deny. While there remains a thousand swords and a thousand stout arms to wield them—while there are a thousand brave hearts that pant for liberty, and liberty only, the cause of American Independence will not be given up without a last grand struggle. We must be successful; and, though our lives are given to establish the nationality of the colonies, the sacrifice must not be grudged.”