Worksheet # 38 Home Questions Puzzle Links Next
FOUR
HEROES AND A VILLAIN
ÔTwas a stepping time too, to come meet the call,
When valor was needed and true grit above all.
And some by their deeds proved a great inspiration
With their daring supreme and their determination.
Indeed, the first rebel shots could have been
their last
Had not Ethan Allen acted boldly and fast,
When his Green Mountain Boys from the woods of Vermont
Seized English cannons and guns to bring to the front.
Whereas young Nathan Hale, to be hanged as a spy,
Spoke a patriot tune without batting an eye,
He named one ÒregretÓ, with his head in the noose:
ÒThat for my country I have only one life to lose.Ó
Yes, the will for this fight was not rooted in
treasure,
The cause called ÒAmericaÓ was now its real measure.
And though battles were fought by men young and old,
Many women were heroes for their actions so bold.
Molly Pitcher was one, as she stepped through gun fire,
To supply troops with water and the care they
required.
And when her husband went down, she missed not a beat,
She took charge of his cannon and refused to retreat!
While upon the high seas, where the English ranked
top,
One of our captains would neither surrender nor stop,
When his vessel was burning and about to go down,
-- He sailed straight at his foe, and turned the
tables around!
Indeed, John Paul Jones, facing a watery plight,
So brashly did shout: ÒI have not yet begun to
fight!Ó
His crew jumped ship to ship, with swords fiercely
clashing ,
To take victory home, most valiant and smashing.
Ah, but their venture did meet with an unsporting turn,
When Benedict Arnold, a name we now scorn,
Tried to sell to the Brits the fort at West
Point,
-- His treachery was foiled, but did sure disappoint.