Gunpowder and Tea Cakes: My Journey with Felicity

Felicity asks if I’m feeling better. She says she’d like to see what’s going on. We see a group of shouting men, and a few women, gathered around a pole. Felicity says it’s their Liberty Pole. We hurry off, and as we approach the crowd, I see a small keg and a white sack hanging at the top of the pole. Felicity explains Patriots erected the pole to send a message to Loyalists. The keg represents tar, and the sack is filled with feathers.

As we get even closer, we hear jeering from a man and woman, and we see a boy, no older than eleven or twelve, has been backed up against the Liberty Pole and his hands tied behind it. Felicity gasps. She knows the boy. His name is Joseph Miller, and his father is a tutor.

Joseph wears a fine coat, but it’s stained with the garbage people have thrown at him. A man snatches the brown wig from Joseph’s head and tosses it into the street. Joseph’s head is covered with an uneven stubble of hair.

I can’t stand to watch this. It’s worse than the apothecary shop. Felicity murmurs that Joseph is brave. She’s right. Joseph’s eyes are filled with tears, but he stands still even as these mean grown-ups shove him and throw spoiled food at him.

Felicity says we must help him.