Paul Revere

[Tin Falcon]

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five: Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year. He said to his friend, "If the British march By land or sea from the town to-night, Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry-arch Of the North-Church-tower, as a signal-light,-- One if by land, and two if by sea; And I on the opposite shore will be, Ready to ride and spread the alarm Through every Middlesex village and farm, For the country-folk to be up and to arm." ............

Tomorrow is the anniversary of the battle of Lexington and concord the beginning of the American Revolution. The proverbial shot heard round the world.

You know the rest. In the books you have read,
How the British Regulars fired and fled,--
How the farmers gave them ball for ball,
From behind each fence and farmyard-wall,
Chasing the red-coats down the lane,
Then crossing the fields to emerge again
Under the trees at the turn of the road,
And only pausing to fire and load.

So through the night rode Paul Revere;
And so through the night went his cry of alarm
To every Middlesex village and farm,--
A cry of defiance, and not of fear,
A voice in the darkness, a knock at the door,
And a word that shall echo forevermore!
For, borne on the night-wind of the Past,
Through all our history, to the last,
In the hour of darkness and peril and need,
The people will waken and listen to hear
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed,
And the midnight message of Paul Revere.

So What does this have to do with metal working and industrial history. Well Paul Revere was a lot of things.He was a hero and patriot to Americans, and a traitor to the English crown. He was also a trained silver smith and a pioneer in the production of copper plate. A new nation needed new manufacturing technology and Paul Revere was one of the people that developed it. IIRC the famous USS constitution is on its third set of copper plate on the Hull . Revere Copper has provided the copper the original and the two restorations. Many of us cook in revere ware cooking pots . My favorite for soups and sauces and cooking pasta. The revere copper company is still in business and employee owned. May the spirit of Paul Revere Ride on......

Quotes from "Paul Revere's Ride" By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
Full version of the poem here http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/15640
Tin .

 

[RonGinger]

I think every church in New England claims the bell in their steeple was cast by Paul Revere. I am sure some of them really were.