by E.M.Robinson

Created on: June 28, 2008

"Mercy, you know that you are one of us in mind and spirit, but we can never reveal your role in these events!" James said to his wife in a whisper.

"James, my role need not be revealed, as long as my efforts help lead our independence from Mother England!" Mercy responded without hesitation.

Mercy knew her writings had caused a stir in the conservative corners of the New England colonies, but it was a stir that she knew was vital to the future of every one of them. She was disappointed that her husband, who she thought knew her so well, would actually be concerned that she needed recognition for the time and energy she had put forth for their independence effort. Perhaps the other young women of the colonies toiled for such glory, but not Mercy.

Smiling affectionately as he teased his wife.
"I am surprised you referred to our 'Mother' England, Mercy, as you have said yourself, that Britain, like an unnatural parent, is ready to plunge her dagger into the bosom of her affectionate offspring. Wasn't that what you wrote to our mutual friend, Catherine?"

"Is that how I put it, John? Sounds pretty good to me. If one of you men had said it in so many words, those lines would be resounding through the colony. Since such a meek and mild, unassuming ladies in Barnstable said it, it remains a confidence between girls. A clever confidence, though, don't you think?"

" Indeed," said James. James Warren threw his arm affectionately around his wife and laughed. Packing up his bag for the day, he continued to smile with pride at all his wife had already accomplished by writing about the events in the colonies. He knew that she had attracted attention as far south as Virginia, as even Jefferson had noted her turn of phrase.

"I am off to meet with the others, Mercy, though you are as much a correspondent as any Patriot on our illustrious Committee," James said securing his hat as he headed to the door.

He stopped and turned to Mercy, saying. "When we married, I knew you would turn a few heads and that I would have to deal with it. Never did I imagine that you would be turning the heads of the likes of Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington and especially... John Adams!"

"James, you are exaggerating!" Mercy accused her husband.

"Am I now?" James said as the cool morning's air seemed into their home through the still-open doorway. James tapped his head, as if jokingly trying to remember something important.

"Ahh, yes, my dear. Adams wrote to me just the other day."

James, still teasing his wife, puffed himself up tall, restating the contents of the letter to his wife:
"Tell your wife that God Almighty has entrusted her with the Powers for the good of the World, which, in the cause of his Providence, he bestows on few of the human race. That instead of being a fault to use them, it would be criminal to neglect them."

Though proud of what Adams had said, Mercy responded to her husband's teasing by smiling and chasing her husband playfully out the door.

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