abie that th at mad M d ali 6 c m 0 ylan aff RESS in 1776 bad haj put U into tho the binds of john adams and thomas jefferson Jeff creon the drafting of the declara tion of independence write writes fullerton L waldo in the phila delphia ledger the t two w 0 collaborators bad had a clear idea of the articles of which the dec caration lar la atlon ration was wa a to t 0 consist for thoro there bad had been prolonged discussions discue slona la in corn miette of which careful notes were taken the little aub sub committee ot of two men met and conferred together and jefferson asked adams to take the written memoranda to hie his hodg tags and there prepare the draft dut but adame adams self insisted elated In that the laborious honor should fall to his colleague you are a virginian said adama adams and I 1 am a massachusetts man you are a southerner and I 1 a am fro from the porth I 1 have been so obnoxious for my early and constant zeal in promo ting the measure that any draft of mine would undergo a more severe scrutiny and 2nd criticism in congress than ora ona of your our composition and finally and rui tant would bo be reason enough if it there were no na other I 1 have a great OPI ion of the clesme el esme of your pen and none at all of or my own whereupon bowing deeply and with protestations of mutual regard the patriots went their several ways jef ferson with the manuscript under his ami arm and in a day or two they met again agal a and conand the paper over 1 was delighted with its high tone adams wrote in 1822 to timothy pick prins ering but to the part containing the denunciation of king george he took exception 1 I thought the expression too passionate and too much like scold ing for so grave and solemn a docu ment nevertheless be he bad had no amendment to suggest and the draft 1 go dova down n in history alongside of paul revere a and philip in default of missing detail the imagination must provide the picture of the tall gaunt spectre of a man half hall masked maske d and riding ridin like a demon urging hia his steed onward through the night with whip and aud spur along a road abounding in pitfalls with black miles separating j one wann warm yellow cabin light from the next what was he thinking of aa as he role onward not of the pain of the cancer slowly eating away his countenance and sapping his vitality not of the risk be ran a solitary horseman of being waylaid and robbed or mur dered upon the lonely journey lie Is heeded not mot the hunger and the sleep 1 he be waa was thinking only of the fact that his vote would turn the day da Y for delaware delaware though a lit tie tle state might influence fluence lu pennsylva nta and so the vote of the colonies would be unanimous for a declaration that would immortalize the men who male made and signed it and enfranchise the people of the 13 colonies and their descendants next day thursday july 4 as the merab pra were assembling at the state house door a rider booted and spurred and covered with the dust of night andray travel di m ut 4 in fix their midst and when a little later caesar rodney rose in his place still breath ing hard bard and eald said I 1 vote for independence pen dence the result was that theole tho vote of delaware was cast in favor of the declaration pennsylvania by three of her five delegates present supported action and thus by the ride of rodney the unanimous vote of the col colonies with the solitar solitary 7 and tern tem horary exception of new york was that day secured for the magna charta of our american liberties it was two 0 clock in the afeei afternoon lossing tells us when the final decision was announced annon ced by hec bec rotary thomson when the secretary eat mat down a deep silence pervaded that 44 11 za ri ma ra rj tj n n 16 famous old independence had hall of the declaration was put before the tle committee of ire five just as jefferson bill bra prepared it the uc ucal L upon which the declara tion was drafted la Is in the librara of tho the state department at Washl washington agton it wae vas exhibited at boffato in the pan american exposition in 1901 the onal final debate in congress in the committee of the whole upon the adoption of tho the Depla declaration ration of independence pen ren dence began at nine 0 clock on monday july I 1 on that day pennsyl vanla vanta seven of whose delegates were present voted against adoption the vote of delaware having two delegates present was divided thereupon mckean of delaware who had voted wrote a frantic letter to the absent delaware delegate caesar rodney imploring him to come and cast his vote and thus turn the cale scale for delaware for or it was highly probable that if it dela are supported the dol penn vania would follow BUIL sult radney at the time waa was 80 milea miles away war at dover at one or the other of hia his farms arnie and poplar grove he ile suffered ered tortures from tho the cancer which starting on his roea rose had spread all oer one side of bla his face so that be he had to wear a green silk shield to hide bide the disfigurement it was of this chronic affliction that be he died A con chronicle describes him as an animated skeleton indeed all spirit without corporeal integument mckeand messenger left philadel phia late in the afternoon of july I 1 it was necessary Dece esary to get rodney back to independence hall by july 4 the day appointed for taking the vote upon the adoption of the declaration all night 11 fl ll day be he rode at top speed and lod rod ney Is in supposed eup posed to have started on the return journey in n the evening of the th second that ride of rodney a deserves descries to FOURTH OF JULY ONE august assembly thousands of acx ious lous citizens hat gathered in the th streeta from the hour hen ahen con gross gress convened in the morning the th old bellman had been in the steeple lie placed a boy at the door below tc giro him notice when the announce annon nc anent should be made tunde As hour succeeded hour the graybeard shook his head an I 1 said they will never dolt do it they will never do iti it I 1 buddo suddenly enly a loud shout came up from below and there stood the blue eyed boy clapping his handa bands and shouting ring ring grasping the iron tongue of the old bell backward and forward be he hurled it a hunta funded times its loud voice proclaiming liberty throughout all the lant lan I 1 unto all the inhabitant inhabitants ther thereof e f the excited multitude in the th str e e ts responded with loud acclamations and mith ath cannon peale peals bonfires and billu lons ions the patriots held glorious carnival that night in the quiet city 1 hi I penn