Taking Boston by Storm

On Independence Day our entire conference group gathered on the Boston Commons at 8:00 in the morning. The morning was crisp and clear without the threatening heat of a Boston summer day and without the previous chill that we had been experiencing for the past couple of days.

Almost everyone showed up in costume, covering eras from Tudor to Regency to Colonial.

I got a chance to meet both Anna Sofia and Elizabeth Botkin. They put together a film several years ago called Return of the Daughters which was a great encouragement to me at that time when I had decided to stay at home and take over the home schooling and meals for our family.

There were so many adorable little children at that parade. It made me miss all of my little siblings. I wished so badly that my whole family could have been there. They would have had so much fun.

Talk about ambitious, some of the costumes were just amazing! I don't know how the mothers and daughters found time to put all that work into the outfits, but the results were beautiful. It made me really want to go home and get out the sewing machine.

I wasn't sure at first whether I would join in the parade, but on that day, everyone, even the adults, became little kids and joined in the fun.

We marched all around the Boston Commons. Certainly a more picturesque and comfortable march than many of the soldiers faced who won our freedom in the Revolutionary War.

Below the picture shows a small section of our parade crossing the bridge.

The young men that led our parade were dressed in (what appeared to me) an almost exact representation of the old American military costume. Their mother had made their entire outfits by hand!

Somewhere near the front marched Mr. Foster, Mr. and Mrs. Phillips. (below)

We crossed the streets of Boston singing A Mighty Fortress is Our God, America, and other songs of faith and patriotism. We wanted to bring back to Boston some of the old spirit of patriotism and love for God that burned in the hearts and blood of our forefathers who fought for America. A spirit we have lost as we live on the borrowed resources that were bought for us at the dear price of the blood of our forefathers, but which we receive with little cost to ourselves and which we are far to ready to relinquish without a struggle.

Traffic in Boston was brought to a standstill as queens from the past and patriots in whose heart the spirit of America was burning still crossed the modern street that ran through the ancient heart of Boston.

That evening we went to the large grounds where over half a million people had gathered to view the Boston fireworks display. We heard the Boston Pops play the 1812 overture, the climaxes punctuated by canon shots.

The day ended with a spectacular show of fireworks on the bank of the Charles River.