My dear Mother and Father,
You know that I have always been proud to be a British subject. I have even thought that some day I might visit England
and see the king. But the events of the last few hours have awakened doubts I feel I must relate to you.
Mr. Edes made it clear to me that, in his opinion, to _one_ British goods, even necessities like paper or tea, is in some
way evil. I overheard a conversation in which Mrs. Edes said she would rather take the time and effort to make and wear
clothing of_two rough as it is, than to enrich an Englishman who would_three__fine cloth to America while
the King collected four from Americans on the trade. She feels there should be a five of all British goods.
I found a newspaper article that identifies the American merchants who are six and who continue to import
British goods despite the taxes levied on them as a result of the hateful
seven
I must keep my distance from these
men when I go out to sell because Mr. Edes would never accept a ha'penny's business from them. I believe that for Mr.
and Mrs. Edes, for a great many people in this city, the very word "Importer" has become a profanity!
Until today, I felt it was not my place to take sides. But now things have changed. Remember Mr. Lillie, about whom !
wrote you yesterday? A crowd of people gathered near his store this morning to _eight against his continued trade
with England. A neighbor of his, Mr. Richardson, also a Loyalist, was roughed up by the crowd. His wife was hit by an egg.
In response, he went to his roof, loaded his musket and snapped off a shot at the protestors. A boy younger than I am,
Christopher Seider, was cut down, and later today, he died of his wounds, may God have mercy on his soul!
I have overheard talk of a further protest in which an nine of Mr. Richardson will be hung from a limb of the Liberty
Tree. And I have heard some plans about Poor Christopher's funeral about which I will write further after it is done.
I pray, Mother and Father, that you and Samuel are well, and that God is watching over our Christopher and keeping him
safe, wherever he is.
Your loving son, Nat