from Blue23Rose (Vickie) --- FIRST PLACE WINNER
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FREE BIRD
Ever since she could REMEMBER, little BECKY LYNN the EAGLE was told she was born on a very SPECIAL DAY. But she didn’t really understand what was so MARVELOUS about the FOURTH OF JULY.
Her UNCLE BRYAN told her a FANCY TALE about FIREWORKS and the big CELEBRATION held every year on the FOURTH OF JULY. But he knew that PAUL the BLUEBIRD would know SOMETHING more about it. So she took FLIGHT to have a little BIRD TALK with PAUL.
PAUL the BLUEBIRD was SO PRETTY and BRIGHT, he was EASY AS PIE to TRACK DOWN. She asked, “Can you tell me why we CELEBRATE the FOURTH OF JULY?” He said “WITH PLEASURE! And I KNOW my ancestors were there to help out!”
“Now here’s the INSIDE STORY”, he said. “Back in the 1700’s there were some people that decided to create their own government here in AMERICA. They were very tired of taxation without representation from the BRITISH EMPIRE, so THIRTEEN COLONIES united together to claim their INDEPENDENCE.
There was a man named Patrick Henry who gave a speech during this time. My GRANDMOTHER (with many ‘greats’) was perched upon the windowsill while MISTER Henry was talking. Oh, he was RAMBLING ON about what all they needed to do to become FREE AT LAST from the British. As CAPTIVATING as his speech was, my GRANDMOTHER just knew he had to have a FANTASTIC ending to get the men to TAKE CHARGE of the situation. So she flew into the room and created a GENTLE BREEZE to get MISTER Henry’s ATTENTION. With the tips of her WINGS she fluttered SIGN LANGUAGE to SIGNAL a few choice words. After she had signed “GIVE ME LIBERTY”, MISTER Henry knew what to say to wrap up his speech. He PUFFED UP his chest, and looking at each AMERICAN PATRIOT in the room, he said “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, GIVE ME LIBERTY or give me death!” Now the men were ALL FIRED UP and ready to start a REVOLUTION. And my GRANDMOTHER was ECSTATIC that she had helped with MISTER Henry’s speech.
Now even though the declaration of INDEPENDENCE was signed on the FOURTH OF JULY 1776, it was a long, hard fight. The war became known as the AMERICAN REVOLUTION, and it wasn’t until 1783 when the Treaty of PARIS was signed that INDEPENDENCE was finally won. Unfortunately, by the time it was over, BOTH SIDES NOW had lost many lives. But because of THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE of all those brave men and women, we CELEBRATE THE DAY known as INDEPENDENCE DAY.
BECKY LYNN was BEGINNING to understand how important the FOURTH OF JULY was. She felt BETTER THAN ever about her birthday. “THANK YOU!”, she said. “You are a good STORY TELLER and if you know any more stories, I would love to hear them”. PAUL said, “ANYTIME, COME AGAIN sometime and I’ll tell you all about the BOSTON TEA PARTY”.
