Could Sarah Palin have been right on when she described her idea of the famous midnight ride of Paul Revere?Say what? Yep, I read it on, of all places, the MSNBC website. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/43285196/ns/politics/ [Scroll to the bottom and click on "Show more text"]
WHAT DID YOU (AND I) LEARN ABOUT PAUL REVERE'S RIDE?
Pretty much the story as told by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, http://poetry.eserver.org/paul-revere.html
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, ...
"..Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,--One if by land, and two if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,
Ready to ride and spread the alarm
Through every Middlesex village and farm,
For the country folk to be up and to arm."
... And lo! as he looks, on the belfry's height
A glimmer, and then a gleam of light!He springs to the saddle, the bridle he turns,
But lingers and gazes, till full on his sight
A second lamp in the belfry burns.
... It was twelve by the village clock
When he crossed the bridge into Medford town.... It was one by the village clock,
When he galloped into Lexington.... It was two by the village clock,
When he came to the bridge in Concord town.... So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarmTo every Middlesex village and farm,---...
Do you remember anything else?
SARAH PALIN'S VERSION
The MSNBC site linked above quotes her as saying:
"He who warned the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms by ringing those bells, and makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."
Say what? Did you ever hear that Paul Revere WARNED the BRITISH ??? And RINGING THOSE BELLS ??? And, we were going to be FREE and ARMED ???
Where did she get that from?
OK, if you go to that linked MSNBC site, scroll to the bottom and then click on "Show more text", you will read:
... Revere did give up some details of the plan to the British that night, but after he had notified other colonists, and under questioning by British soldiers ... Revere revealed "there would be five hundred Americans there in a short time, for I had alarmed the Country all the way up," ...
So, Paul Revere, in essence WARNED the British soldiers who questioned him after his ride, that there would soon be FIVE HUNDRED AMERICANS, ARMED and ready to protect our freedom.
And, during his ride through all those towns and villages, how did Paul Revere alert all those sleeping Americans? Did he go from house to house and wake them all up?
Of course not, he went to each Church, roused the keeper, and, by the sound of the Church bells, awoke and alerted everybody, informing them of the message he had received via the two signal lanterns hung in the Bell Tower of the Old North Church.
And, what was the main purpose of the British advance up through Medford and Lexington towards Concord? Well, it was to attempt to confiscate the stash of arms hidden there.
That explains this stanza in Longfellow's poem:
You know the rest. In the books you have read
How the British Regulars fired and fled---How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard wall,
Chasing the redcoats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.
Ira Glickstein
PS: Sarah Palin is mocked for the slightest error or apparent error. At the same time, our President, arguably the most academically intelligent leader we have ever had, can write "24 May 2008" (a couple weeks ago in Westminster Abbey) as the date and year when it was actually 2011. The President forgets the YEAR, which is certainly more important for anyone to know than the story of Paul Revere, and Sarah Palin gets busted for her short-hand answer about the REAL story of Paul Revere warning the British and sounding the bells. Media bias? You Betcha! Amazing! http://www.wnd.com/?pageId=302953
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