it they couldn’t smuggle the tea overboard The water in the harbor had been stained for days The Sons of Liberty had gone out in dinghies to push down any boxes of tea that floated up But what about tea Colonists needed their tea in When they improvised And Jonathan had become pretty good at improvising instinctively understanding the art of crafting tea So he and his mother set up shop in Boston hoping for business which they found but Jonathan also hoped his mother would find comfort in the security of living in the city He thought maybe this hope had been realized but he couldn’t be sure Since his father’s death she had closed up like a paper fan And for himself he had hoped that by moving to Boston he would be closer to the heart of the revolution He longed to be a part of the freedom movement his father had helped start even though he did not speak of 8
that longing with his mother He didn’t know how she would react All of her family was back in England Her response to the war had been less clear than her husband’s That she worried about her son though was obvious You have many fine ideas she told him when she found out he had been to a Sons of Liberty meeting with Simeon You’re like your father always looking to the future She smiled sadly But some of your ideas contradict my own Like what he said Like about your safety she said You think nothing bad can happen to you because you’re just a boy But you need to be careful Please be careful He hadn’t liked being told he was just a boy but neither did he want to cause her further heartache and worry So for the most part he stayed close to home working in the garden working in the shop testing new varieties of herbs and 9
trying out different combinations of flavors Adding dried strawberries to tea was one of his fine ideas one his mother approved of Over the course of a year their tea had earned a fine reputation in the neighborhood and had won them a number of devoted customers even a few British sympathizers His mother served them Jonathan couldn’t bear to Still another of his ideas had been to set up a table and chairs near the window so that customers might take tea and sit and talk This worked out well because Jonathan had a need for information When people talked he listened And sometimes they left behind pamphlets circulated by the Sons of Liberty One time Mr and Mrs Prickford sat at the table taking a break from the harsh winter snow Mrs Prickford said This snow is dreadful isn’t it Dreadful yes said Mr Prickford I daresay we have weeks of it left 10
I daresay you’re right I see no sign of No sign at all I’m afraid spring in all this snow Mrs Prickford sighed and went on to discuss the dreadful condition of the drapes in their dining room Their conversation did not hold Jonathan’s interest but when they departed they left behind on the table a pamphlet called Common Sense by Thomas Paine In the pamphlet Jonathan read In America the law is king For as in absolute governments the king is law so in free countries the law ought to be king and there ought to be no other Jonathan didn’t fully understand Thomas Paine’s pamphlet but he did get the feeling that beyond the fighting the war was about ideas ideas about what role a government should play in people’s lives And what of the fighting Where was General Washington What was the Continental Congress saying about 11
