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December
7, 2000
Dear Friends and Family, As the the year 2000 draws to a close, we want to say "Thank You and Merry Christmas" to all of our loyal customers and living history friends who have helped make it a great year. Riley's Farm has more than doubled in acreage this season, and we're looking forward to more music, dancing, farming, weaving, cidering, and musket fire in the years to come. As I write this note, Mary and I are expecting our sixth child, and for the sake of that child--and all of yours--I hope we can all turn, as a nation, to the lessons of America's past. Just last night, I was re-reading Sam Adam's "Journal of Occurrences." Adams tells the story of occupied Boston in 1768, when two regiments of British troops were garrisoned in the town. He writes of soldiers who abused the townspeople, who threatened the local constables and town watchmen, who ill-treated women and children. He wrote of the strong abusing the weak, of the vulgar corrupting the innocent, of might triumphing, temporarily, over right: November 25, [1768] The Town Watch has been lately greatly abused and interrupted in their Duty by some Officers; two of them came to the Town-House Watch with Swords under their Arms, calling them damned Scoundrels, forbidding them to challenge Officers as they passed, or give the Time of Night in their Rounds, as also from keeping in the Watch-House, threatening that such Case they would have them in Irons, and bring four Regiments to blow them all to Hell; also telling the Watchmen, they were King's Soldiers and Gentlemen, who had Orders from his Majesty, and they were above the Selectmen who gave them their Orders: Upon another Night, other Officers came to Dock-Watch, one of them with a drawn Hanger or Bayonet, striking it against the Door and asking, whether they could stand... four Regiments; also Damning them, and threatening to burn all of us to Ashes, and to send us all to Hell in one Month's Time... April 15, [1769]: A young Woman lately passing thro' Long-Lane, was stopt and very ill treated by some Soldiers; the Cry of the Person assaulted, brought out another Woman into the Street, who for daring to expostulate with the Ruffians, received a stroke from one of them, and would probably have been further abused, had not her Husband, and some other Men came up timely to her assistance... Some historians have dismissed Samuel Adams as a propagandist. Even Armand Francis Lucier, the researcher who re-published the book including the above excerpts chose to title his work, Patriot Propaganda on the British Occupation of Boston, 1768-1769. Lucier, in fact, stops just short of calling Adams a liar. With respect to Adam's printed observations, Lucier states, flatly: "..the strict truth was not a requirement for publication." To which I say, exercising considerable restraint: BUNK. Forgetting history, or dismissing it, is a dangerous business. We have only to look back a few decades to see a Hitler, a Pol Pot, or a Stalin. We have only to look back to last summer to see a Castro. The reality of official cruelty, whether it wears a Mao-Jacket or a Redcoat, is perhaps too awful to contemplate. Our need to assume "all is well" is so strong that it seems psychologically more satisfying to question those who complain over those who cause the grievance in the first place. It is this same urge to assume wise stewardship on the part of our leaders, as opposed to the far more likely reality--their abuse of power-- that allows some to call Sam Adams a propagandist. "Surely it couldn't have been that bad. Maybe he was just a trouble maker." And, perhaps, taxation without representation isn't so bad after all. And perhaps a trial by a jury of one's peers isn't such a hardship. And perhaps if you let the custom's officer search your vessel without a warrant, he will behave properly. We have our ancestors to thank, Sam Adams among them, for being good complainers. They wouldn't stand for it. Neither should we. Merry Christmas! Question Authority. Your humble servant,
James Riley
P.S. Please read the following update on Christmas in the Colonies.
P.S.
For the sake of those "web portals" constantly browsing the
internet to update their search engines, we include the following
boiler-plate. (Feel free to read this, if you're new to our site.) P.S. Stay Clear of this "Cider House"
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Contacting us via e-mail at: info@rileysfarm.com. Sign our Guest Book. (909) 797-7534Event Schedules Subject to Change: Please call to confirm!
Riley's Farm, Copyright 1997-2000, All Rights Reserved
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