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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 53

An Old Revolutionary Soldier

An Old Revolutionary Soldier

by the name of Thomas Martin to work for him. Martin was then quite an old man and there was an old Presbyterian preacher used to come there, by the name of Crawford, and he sat down by the fire and he got to talking one night, among other things, about Thomas Paine—what a wretched, infamous dog he was; and while he was in the midst of this conversation the old soldier rose from the fireplace, and he walked over to this preacher, and he said to him: "Did you ever see Thomas Paine?" "No." "Well," he says, "I have. I saw him at Valley Forge. I heard read at the head of every regiment and company the letters of Thomas Paine. I heard them read the 'Crisis,' and I saw Thomas Paine writing on the head of a drum, witting at the bivouac fire, those simple word; that inspired every patriot's bosom, and I want to tell you, Mr. Preacher, that Thomas Paine did more for liberty than any priest that ever lived in this world."

And yet they say he was afraid to die! Afraid of what? Is there any God in heaven that