A Buss from Lafayette Read Free

they made him a major general!” Joss set down his knife. “That’s a very high rank. Only General Washington himself had a higher rank.”
    Father said, “Yes, they did give him a high rank. But they did not give him any troops to command, not at first, anyway.”
    “Wait a minute. A Frenchman in our army? That does not make any sense,” I protested.
    “He came to fight alongside Washington, of course. When he heard about the American conflict with England, our cause inspired him so much he came to help us. He hated the English because when he was a small child, his father had been killed in one of the wars between France and Britain,” Joss explained in a know-it-all tone.
    I narrowed my eyes. I hated it when Joss knew more than I did about anything. He had been able to keep going to school, while I had stayed home to assist with the housework and to care for our mother when she had fallen ill with consumption. I bathed her, fed her, and read to her when she could no longer get out of bed. I was happy that I had been able to help, but losing her broke my heart. It has never mended.
    After Mother died, however, I had to stay home from school to assist a citified stepmother who did not know the first thing about being a farmer’s wife. Things had only gotten worse when she had sickened with pregnancy and stayed so for most of the winter, when school was in session for older pupils. When Father had asked me to forego schooling to help her, he had said that bearing a babe at the age of forty-two was what made it so difficult for her. He had not seemed to understand how difficult it was for me to miss so much school.
    “So what battles did Lafayette win, Mr. Know-All?” I asked, with an edge to my voice.
    Joss hesitated. “Battles? Er . . . I am not sure.”
    Father looked over at his wife. “Can you remember? You are the schoolteacher, after all.”
    Prissy patted her mouth daintily with her napkin, then explained that, like Washington himself, Lafayette had won very few actual battles but was still a great leader. He had been one of the richest men in France and knew the French queen well. His father-in-law, an extremely powerful aristocrat, had not wanted him to go to America, so sent Lafayette off to England, hoping to change his mind. During his brief visit there, Lafayette had met the English king, George the Third, as well as General Clinton, who later was the commander of all the British forces fighting against us in the War of Independence. Even this did not budge Lafayette from his determination to help America, however.
    “So Lafayette’s connections were of the highest, even with the British , ironically enough,” she finished.
    Father chuckled. “Yes, I suspect that those high connections were certainly part of the reason Congress and Washington gave him such a high rank. They thought such connections might help our cause. Not to mention that the young nobleman’s pockets were well-nigh lined with gold!”
    “But I have also heard that the young man was most charming,” my stepmother said. “Tall and gangly as a beanpole, but still most charming.”
    “So it was charm that won our revolution, my dear?” Father said with a grin.
    The corners of Prissy’s mouth were curved upwards ever so slightly as she said, “It never hurts to have a little charm, Samuel.”
    “And he ended up doing just fine as a soldier, though he was so young,” Joss put in.
    “Well, I did not have the chance to learn about him, Joss, so stop showing off!” I exclaimed.
    “I am not, you ninnyhammer!”
    “You are too, you sapskull!”
    “Not!”
    “Are!”
    My stepmother put her hand to her head and sighed. “Please stop arguing, you two. You’re making my head ache. I declare! It is like living under the same roof with two feuding porcupines!”
    I turned to Joss and stuck out my tongue.
    “ Clara Summer Hargraves! You are far too old to stick out your tongue like that! You are old enough to start behaving