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Show THE DAY THEY LAUNCHED THE PAPER SKIFF 5 which adorned him now) described John Adams, but a patriot to the core, one of the first to say: "The continuing to swear Allegiance to the power that is Cutting our throats, and try Offenders against the peace of our Sovereign Lord the King &c is Certainly absurd. " It did not seem absurd to him now to leap from bed, pain or not, to saddle his horse and point its nose immediately toward Philadelphia. Without mishap he should have been there by dark again, but the heavy rains came, washed out bridges, turned the roads to slippery mud; branches whipped his tortured face and blinded his eyes. There was doubtless delay in changing mounts, and almost every obstacle, it seemed, was placed between him and his goal. His poultices slipped off and he was soaked to the skin, including his boots. Still he pushed on, though night came and went, not slacking his effort. Just before nine A. M., as the other delegates were filing through the doors of the old State House, he arrived, almost fell off his horse, and was the last to enter, still in spurs. John McKeen greeted him joyously. "After a friendly salute (without a word of business) we went into the Hall of Congress together, and found we were among the latest; proceedings immediately commenced, and after a few minutes the great question was put." They were all there, Sam Adams, arch Rebel, who seldom spoke in Congress, his white hair and creased face, the congenital trembling of his hands and head; Thomas Jefferson, a smooth young man of thirty-three, |