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.