The Winter at Valley Forge
by Lucy Flake
Dicey Langston
by Mariah Flake
THE
PROPER ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
by Lucy Flake
I think the winter at Valley Forge definitely
helped strengthen the men that were in General Washington’s Continental Army.
The people in George Washington’s army were
refined through the winter in Valley Forge. It was as if a refiners
fire was there; they came to know the true meaning of FREEDOM and
LIBERTY and HELP, SERVICE and other things that were of that sort.
George Washington was there to help the people he
loved, the men he worked with and a huge part is that it helped the
whole country. He did not know that it would come to a success
with him but he was sure it would be a real success if he not
only helped and served but prayed to God. God was the one who made
the whole thing happen the right way and made sure that the General George
Washington and his family did not get hurt or harmed. There were
times when the soldiers would get wounded but George Washington did
not-- some men even called him the “Bullet Proof George Washington.”
I know that there was a lot of work and sacrifice put into
fighting the battles for us especially that winter, but it helped
all the men it the army to realize what they were really doing and
what it was for.
Dicey Langston
by Mariah Flake
Bam, bam, bam.
“Open up!” A short stubby man ran to answer the pounding on the door.
“Coming,
coming,” he hollered then to himself. "These Tarleton Tories, who do they think
they are?! He opened the door to see the green coated Tories swarm past
him.
“Mr.
Langston, where is your daughter?” growled the tallest of the five men.
“You mean
Dicey, sir?” asked the small man. Though Mr. Langston was a patriot he was
terrified of the British and what they could do.
“Who else
could I me…” He was interrupted by a graceful figure who swept to stand by her
father.
“Miss
Langston, I am here to warn you that if you do not stop this insolent spying on
us and sabotage we will punish you and your family.”
Dicey was
sixteen years old and loved the American cause. She would often spy on the Tories
and then run to find the nearby patriot camp and warn her brother.
The house was quiet and there was no moon as Dicey slipped
out of bed and fled into the night. She reached the river and began to wade. Suddenly
she lost her footing and almost drowned, and she recovered her balance only to find
she had no idea which direction to go, but she luckily went the right way. When
she finally staggered into the camp she was half frozen. She warned the poor
soldiers who were already starving and then she made them some hoecakes and
sent them on their way. When Dicey got home it was almost dawn and she tumbled
into bed.
Another time Dicey was carrying a message when she was
confronted by some Tories.
“Give me the message or I’ll shoot.” commanded
the captain bitterly.
Dicey opened her riding habit and calmly replied, “Shoot me
if you dare. I will not tell you!”
He would have shot her if the captain’s companion had not knocked
his gun upward. Dicey escaped.
by Mariah Flake
7/15/14
There are a couple things that you
must have for the proper role of government: the people need rights. Otherwise the
government will become communist or socialist. Our rights are found
in the Bill of Rights and some in the Amendments. Ezra Taft Benson
once said that these are the most important single functions of
government. And so that makes man more important than government,
unless man violates those rights and has them taken away.
The people give the government power
and they can also take it away. Our government is like our sheriff: we
help protect it and it protects us. We can't give it rights that we
don't have.
A danger of the government is when
the government starts working on it's own without consent of the
people. Grover Cleveland said that “though the people support the
Government, the Government should not support the people.” Right
now we have that problem, Obama Care.
Ezra T. Benson said “Remember that
the people of the states of this republic created the federal
government. The federal government did not create the states.”
Obama Care is really legalized
plundering. They cause taxes and say they are for our benefit then
they redistribute the wealth.
Former FBI agent Dan Smoot
succinctly points this out: "England was killed by an idea; the idea that the weak,
indolent, and profligate must be supported by the strong,
industrious, and frugal—to the degree that tax consumers will have
a living standard comparable to that of taxpayers; the idea that
government exists for the purpose of plundering those who work to
give the product of their labor to those who do not work.
"The economic and social cannibalism produced by this
communist-socialist idea will destroy any society which adopts it and
clings to it as a basic principle—any society."
By Lucy, age 13
Ezra
T. Benson put the proper Roles of Government into very good words so
we will talk about what he has told us and how it could change our
government in these last days.
~1
In order to have Proper Government you have to have correct
principles that you follow.
~2
In those offices of government you have to have a good statesman who
loves his country and will serve it and his people well.
~3
To have good government you need to secure your freedom and rights of
all the individual citizens. And you need to know what those rights
are.
~4
The government does not have any right to take away someones else's
freedom unless they have taken someone else's. They cannot take away
your divine rights which are from God.
~5
You need to have God and government combined with each other.
~6
Anything that has to do with the government should have been brought
on by the people.
~7
No one has the right to steal from or covet or others.
~8
You need to work for what you have rather than the government or the
people getting it for you.
~9
The proper government cannot give any right or money of someone
else's to others.
So
now that we know the most important roles of government by Ezra Taft
Benson we can have proper government and know what we are talking
about. God wants us to have good leaders and good rules to go by so
that we can be righteous. Our prophet has said that if we do not stop
this improper form of government that is coming on in these last days
it will turn into communist government and it is wrong.
This
is from a talk given
by
Ezra Taft Benson
in
the October LDS
General
Conference
in
the year 1968
By Mariah, age 14
In a large house there was a woman looking out her bedroom window
at the headquarters of the British General Howe across the street.
She was waiting. When General Howe had taken over the city she had
plead with him not to house soldiers in her home and he had agreed on
one condition: that they be allowed to use her furnished library.
There had been officers congregating at the home across the street
and she knew something would soon happen.
Just then the large door of the hose opened and the young Major
Andre stepped out into the cold and ran across the street to her
house. There was a knock on the door and Lydia Darragh let Major
Andre in.
“The General would like to use your library for a meeting.”
“Of course,” she replied.
“He would like you to understand that it is private and we will
need to be left alone.” The young Major smiled, realizing why it
was hard. He then left and returned with a group of officers.
Lydia went to the hall closet and and put her
ear to the wall. What she heard shocked her and scared
her. They were planing to march and capture General Washington early
in the morning in a surprise attack.
Lydia ran to her bedroom and pretended to be asleep when Major
Andre came to tell her that they were leaving now.
“We will be leaving now.” No answer.
After they had gone Lydia got out of bed and got dressed. She got
a license to go out of the city for some flour. Once out of the city
she got her flour and hid it in the bushes along the road. She had
been walking a long way when she heard her name.
“Mother Darragh!”
She looked up; it was her son's best friend. She told him about
the British plans, then she told him that her son was with General
Washington.
He turned his horse around and told her he would bring the
message the rest of the way.
Because of Lydia Darragh, General Washington was able to prepare
for the British. It also saved many lives. Afterward Major Andre
said, “The walls must have had ears.”
I found this story in Unlikely Heroes, by Ron Carter
By Lucy, age 13
Today
I will tell you the story of the “Cross-eyed Woman Patriot”. This
battle took place in the fall of the year 1780.
The woman, Nancy
Hart, stood in the kitchen as her terrified young Samantha came
running to her.
“Mother there are five more British coming to the door.”
“Mother there are five more British coming to the door.”
Nancy was a good
tall strong woman but very badly cross-eyed.
The knock came to
the door and then they welcomed themselves in. and told Nancy they
wanted food, she said, “I have nothing to give or make for you.”
One of the solders
responded quite fast, “ Oh ya?” he marched out side and in
moments came back with their now headless turkey, and said, “Cook
it.”
She went into the
kitchen and started to pluck the feathers that were on the turkey.
The five solders
all set their muskets down, against the wall, in a line and went to
sit down. Nancy called Samantha and told her to get the men who were
working in the field.
Nancy finished
dressing the turkey and then ran into the room that the solders were
resting in, she grabbed one of their muskets and held it up; they
were all amazed but one tried to take it from her. She shot him and
he fell to the ground. The next soldier leapt forward and she picked
up the next musket and shot him.
The men did not
know that she, Nancy Hart, was the best musket shooter within one
hundred miles.
She dropped the
second musket and grabbed the third; the last three men did not move
for she was cross-eyed and they could not tell which way she was
looking and they did not want to make a move or else they might drop
dead as the last two had.
Right then Mr.
Hart came into the room with his daughter and two neighbor men who
had left their corn shucking. The British were got and Nancy Hart
was now, a “Cross-eyed Woman Patriot” who had helped to win the
war for freedom.
I found this story in Unlikely Heroes by Ron Carter.
