By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
RECENT press dispatch from Phila-
delphia brings the news that
science has solved a mystery
of more than a cent ry and that
the “lost grave” of Francis Hop.
kinson, a signer of the Declara-
tion of Independence, and one
of the most brilliant men of the
Revolution, has been found at
last. When Hopkinson died In
1791, he was buried in historic
Christ Church graveyard. Evi-
dently his last resting place was
unmarked at the time or so insufficiently marked
that through the passage of years all trace of it
was lost.
Last year Dr. Charles Penrose Keith of the
church vestry learned that Elizabeth Conde. a
daughter of Hopkinson, was buried in the old
graveyard. He obtained permission from the Hop-
kinson descendants to dig in this plot in the hope
of solving the mystery of the signers burial
place. When this was done, part of a skeleton
was found and the bones were sent to Dr. Oscar
V. Batson, professor of anatomy at the Univer-
sity of Pennsylvania, who made a careful study
of all the available evidence about Hopkinson,
including the known authentic portraits of him.
Taking into consideration the probable height,
weight and age of the mag whose bones were
dug up in the Hopkinson plot In the Christ
Church graveyard, as well as the profile of the
skull, and checking these with what was known
of Hopkinson’s stature and appearance at the
time of his death, the anatomist was able to
establish satisfactorily the fact that the grave of
the signer had at last been found.
The announcement of this discovery is espe-
cially appropriate at this time, for January b
marks the anniversary of an event in the history
of the Revolution which brought Hopkinson al-
most as much fame as the fact that he was a
signer. of the Declaration of Independence. It
was a comic opera battle which gave him the
inspiration for a poem that was set to music
and became one of the most popular soldier
songs of the struggle for liberty. That was the
famous “Battle of the Kegs”
During the Revolution, as before and for long
afterwards, England was the “Mistress of the
Seas.” Except for the victories of John Paul
Jones, the fledgling American navy was pitifully
inadequate to cope with the sea power of Great
Britain. But to offset this was American Ingeny-
ity which first manifested itself In 17768 when a
Connecticut Yankee, named David Bushnell, in-
vented a turtleshaped, one-man submarine which
he proposed to use for attaching bombs and time
fuses to the bottoms of the British warships
which had sailed into New York harbor to ald
In driving Washington and his Continentals out
of that city. The task of operating this queer
craft was entrusted to another Connecticut Yan.
kee, Ezra Lee, and although he falled In his
major objective, he did succeed In setting off a
bomb from beneath the water which threw up a
great geyser of water and scared the enemy out
of the harbor,
Later in the year the British fleet sailed south
to ald in the capture of Philadelphia and an-
chored in the Delaware river below that city. Al
though Bushnell's submarine had not been sne-
cessful, his ingenuity was aot exhausted, Tradl
tion credits him with conceiving the ea of load
ing a number of kegs with powder und puting
them in the river to font daw nstresn nnd exile
against the enemy ships when they tonehed them,
Most of them blew up «hen they struck the joe
cakes in the Delnwanre, Hut one did destroy a
British boat. This was enough, however, to throw
the British Into something of a panic. They
opened a terrific fire on every floating object In
the river, with ship after ship pouring broad
sides into the water and the soldiers gathered
along the shores keeping up an incessant fire.
When Hopkinson heard of this incident, he
was so amused that he wrote a satiric poem
called “The Battle of the Kegs” Sung to a varia.
tion of the tune of “Yankee Doodle” it became
one of the most popular songs of Washington's
Continentals during the remainder of the war,
More than that, It has come down through the
years as an outstanding example of the mock:
herole poems characteristic of that period and it
has been preserved In virtually every anthology
of patriotic verse and native songs,
So even though Francis Hopkinson had never
done anything else but write “The Battle of the
Kegs,” his fame would be secure. But there
were other things in his record to make him
s orthy. He was born In Philadelphia in 1937,
we of an Englishman who served as a judge
the admiralty and a member of the provinciai
the New York Times
Magazine)
Joseph Hopkinson
(A Sithouette by
Charles Wilson Peale)
nated States
Francis
Hopkinscon
THE
Gallants, attend, and hear a friend
Thrill forth harmonious ditty—
Strange things I'll tell that late befell
In Philadelphia City.
‘Twas early day, as poets say,
Just when the sun was rising.
A soldier stood on log of wood
And saw a sight surprising.
As in amaze he stood to gaze
The truth can’t be denied, sirs—
He spied a score of kegs or more
Come floating down the tide, sirs.
A sailor, too, in jerkin blue,
The strange appearance viewing,
First damned his eyes in great surprise,
Then said, “Some mischief’s brewing.
“The kegs now hold the rebel bold
Packed up like pickled herring;
And they've come down to attack the town
In this new way of ferrying.”
The soldier flew, the sailor, too,
And, scared, almost to death, sirs,
Wore out their shoes to spread the news,
And ran "til out of breath, sirs.
Now up and down, throughout the town,
Most frantic scenes were acted;
And some ran here and some ran there,
Like men almost distracted.
Some “fire” cried, which some denied,
But said the earth had quaked;
And girls and boys, with hideous noise,
Ran through the town half-naked,
Sir William, he, snug as a flea,
Lay all this time a-snoring,
Nor dreamed of harm, as he lay warm
In bed with Mrs. Loring.
Now, in a fright, he starts upright,
Awaked by such a clatter;
He rubs both eyes and boldly cries,
“For God's sake, what's the matter?”
At his bedside he then espied
Sir Erskine at command, sirs;
Upon one foot he had a boot,
And t’ other in his hand, sirs,
“Arise! Arise!” Sir Erskine cries;
“The rebels—more’s the pity—
Without a boat are all afloat,
And ranged before the city.
“The motley crew in vessels new
With Satan for their guide, sir,
Packed up in bags, or wooden kegs,
Come driving down the tide, sir.
Therefore, prepare for bloody war!
Those kegs must all be routed,
Or surely we despised shall be,
And British courage doubted.”
The royal band now ready stand,
All ranged in dead array, sirs,
With stomachs stout to see it out,
And make a bloody day, sirs.
The cannons roar from shore to shore,
The small arms make a rattle:
Since wars began I'm sure no man
E’er saw so strange a battle.
The rebel vales, the rebel dales,
With rebel! trees surromnded,
The distant woods, the hills and floods,
With rebel echoes sounded.
The fish below swam to and fro,
Attacked from every quarter—
“Why, sure,” thought they, “the devil's to pay
"Mongst folks above the water.”
The kegs, ‘tis said, tho’ strongly made
Of rebel staves and hoops, sirs,
Could not oppose the powerful foes,
The conquering British troops, sirs,
From morn to night these men of might
Displayed amazing courage,
And when the sun was fairly down
Returned to sup their porridge.
A hundred men with each a pen,
Or more«upon my word, sirs,
It is most true—would be too few
Their valor to record, sirs,
Such feats did they perform that day
Upon those wicked kegs, sirs,
That years to come, if they get home,
They'll make their boasts and brags, sirs.
ssn
wwsranss
council. Hopkinson was the first scholar entered
at the University of Pennsylvania (then the Col
lege of Philadelphia) and was graduated with its
first class, He studied law and was admitted to
the bar in 1761. After serving ns secretary to a
conference between the provincial authorities and
the chiefs of several Indian nations, and as I
brarian and secretary of the Philadelphia library,
he went to England In 1706 and became an inti.
mate friend of Lord North, Benjamin West, John
Penn and other notables.
Upon his return to this country he resumed
his law practice, kept store for awhile and be-
came a member of two socleties which united in
1760 to become the famous American Philosophi-
cal society. In 1772 he was appointed Inspector
of the customs at New Castle but was removed
because of his radical dens. He next moved to
Bordentown, N, J, and was a member of the
provincial council of that colony from 1774 to
1776. In the Intter year he was elected to the
Continental congress from New Jersey and be
came one of America’s Immortals when he voted
for the Declaration of Independehce and later
signed it
Ar eurly as 1774 Hopkinson won a name for
himself by publishing an allegory in whizh he
recounted the wrengs of the colonies and this is
sald to have done much to fan the spirit of reve.
lution In all who read it. Throughont the Revol.
tion he continued to use his gifts as a writer in
a series of satires directed at the British, which
were published in the newspapers of the day.
Besides being a signer of the Declaration of
Independence and one of the lending propagan.
dists of the Revolution, another honor that has
been claimed for him by some historians is that
as our national flag and that he had a hand In
these symbols Is not as conclusive as one might
wish it to be, certainly it Is more credible than
the evidence upon which Is based the legend of
Betsy Ross as the “designer” of the flag.
One other achievement of Hopkinson’s deserves
mention In the long list associated with his
name. He not only wrote the poem which be-
came one of the most popular songs of the Rev.
olution, but he also gave to the nation a son,
Joseph Hopkinson, who in 1708 wrote the song
which, until Francis Scott Key's “Star Spangled
Banner” swept the country 10 years later, was
popularly regarded as the principal national song
of the new republic. That was “Hall Columbia.”
© by Western Newsvaper Union.
ROBERTA EARLE WINDSOR, Na-
tional Kindergarten association,
New York.
The problem of the daytime nap |
nearly had us beaten. Our little Mol-
ly, Just three and a half, was so am-
bitlous, so interested In everything
and so afraid that she would miss
out on something, that she just
couldn't find time to sleep during the
daytime. We tried all of the usual
means of luring her off to a daylight
dreamland with but little success,
Then one day in a children’s shop |
found the solution to this trouble
some problem,
The solution was In the form of a
little pink rayon crepe nightie. It
had all the luster of crepe de chine
and was trimmed with bands of tur
quolse blue, Molly loves silk and |
had an idea that the purchase of this
little nightie would be a good In
vestment. And truly it was the be-
& sweeter child, Every child, no
matter how ambitious,
rest during the day in order to keep
bappy and well behaved.
needs some
+1 have found the use of dainty and
attractive sleeping garments a real
solution to the daytime nap problem,
This success is due, no doubt, in part
at least, to the fact that coax as
much as she might, Molly has never
been permitted to wear the daytime
nighties at night,
Since the little “slik” gown worked
such wonders, | have added to the
daytime sleeping apparel other pretty
and Interesting garments. There is &
dainty little suit of flowered batiste
which Is about the coolest sort of
pajamas that a child ean slip into af-
ter the bath on a hot summer day,
For the downy outing pajamas for
winter, Molly was allowed to select
the colors she liked best. She has a
bathrobe of French blue, made of
Turkish toweling, which adds inter
for daytime use only, helped to make
Molly's afternoon nap a pleasant oc
casion,
Molly loves these pretty things, as
never
told how pretty she is, nor encour
aged to stand before the mirror.
When she has done so any tendency
she loves the flowers. She is
townrd self-admiration has been
aside by interesting her in the
garisent itgelf—its color-—graceful
lines—the people who made it. To
condition our little girl to » vain
would probably bring
about more In
harmony than lack of sleep, but we
$ ¢
have found that this is more nec
essary in the appreciation of beauti-
othes than it n the love of
ir
r
ful cloth
wonders of nature.
the
_ —
LISTEN IN
SATURDAY
METROPOLITAN
GRAND OPERA
LISTERINE FOR
all NBC Stations.
SORE THROAT
Rythmic chewing, combined with
revealed recently at New York to!
Guild, as the newest beauty formula.
The advice came from a well-known
garding the system.
A dozen exercises are included In
the complete routine. The instruc
tions for the one illustrated: “Start
with chewing gum-—one or two
sticks, After a few seconds, begin
the exercise by tossing the head
from side to side. Then open your
mouth as wide as you can. Close It
gradually, and all the while endeavor
to chew your gum.”
This exercise is designed to tone |
the muscles of the chin and lower |
Jaw. Others promote a fine neck:
line and beautiful cheeks,
Great Profit From Tree
What is probably the most valu
able tree in the world is an alligator.
pear tree at Whittier, Calif, which
netted its owner a profit of £3,000 in
one year. This tree began bearing
FILM'S VALUE, IN
RECORD OF LIFE,
IS BEYOND PRICE
ri
» will
main duties, First, it will try to brn
already exist
the most unlikely places, news reels.
tropical films, etc.”
often, as they say, “in
as a sort of cen.
reference library. The
second duty is to send out expeditions
to places whepe the native inhabi
tants are in danger of disappearing
or of being absorbed in other groups,
or to advise travelers visiting such
places on the way to make a film
record of scientific value. One must
not expect too much from the idea
attractive as it is, of sending out spe.
cial expeditions in search of suitable
material. The committee's resources
will no doubt be small, and it might
tures taken if they had to pay for
them themselves by sale for popular
exhibition. But there ig sound work
to be done on less exacting lines. One
might add the suggestion that it Ik
not only the manners of vanishing
peoples which should be recorded but
the many vanishing customs of Peo.
ples whose survival depends on their
adapting themselves to new wars of
fruit in its fourth year, and In its
seventh bore pears which sold for |
$1,500, while the sale of buds during
i
making the total given above. The |
tree is a seedling, the seed having |
been planted with a quantity of other |
seed which had been imported, pre. |
sumably from Mexico, The pears
weigh from eight to twelve ounces
each, |
BT,
life.~~Manchester (Eng) Guardian.
Explanatory
Rogues hate people: they have to
in order to prey on them.
Evia veo
It is the
churches, pave our streets,
Dollars |
lay our sidewalks, increase