Women and girls were there in
considerable numbers, the latter wearing their ribbons, and walking
about in groups together, or listening to their sweethearts, as each
explained to a credulous auditor, how yesterday's great events had
hinged entirely on the narrator's individual presence and prowess.
Some of the youths, the preceding night, had cut a tall sapling and
set it in the middle of the green, in front of the tavern. On the top
of this had been fixed the cocked hat of Justice Goodrich, brought as
a trophy from Great Barrington. This was the center of interest, the
focus of the crowd, a visible, palpable proof of the people's victory
over the courts, which was the source of inextinguishable hilarity. It
was evident, indeed, from the conversation of the children, that there
existed in the minds of those of tender years, some confusion as to
the previous ownership of the hat, and the circumstances connected
with its acquisition by the people. Some said that it was Burgoyne's
hat, and others that it was the hat of King George, himself, while the
affair of the day before at Great Barrington, was variously
represented as a victory over the redcoats, the Indians and the
Tories.
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