MD3PAD 307-309

[Toby G Levy]

        Mason and Dixon are at a loss to understand the savage acts by
the "civilized" whites of South Africa and America.  They have talked to
Benjamin Franklin about it, and he said that the electrical charge in the
atmosphere of South Africa is all negative in the dry season and
positive in the rainy season. "Then what's America's excuse?" responded
Dixon.

        The scene shifts back to the LeSpark family room and Wicks is
telling them that the word Liberty back then unfortunately meant the
liberty to injure whomever one wanted.  Tenebrae is shocked by this and
temporarily leaves the room.

        Ives mentions that he was one of the soldiers who passed used
hospital blankets to the indians in order to give them small pox. This
was at the battle of Bushy Run, which was held in August of 1763. Mr.
LeSpark is not at all bothered by this and he challenges Wicks to
express sympathy for the indians.  Wicks responds that everybody was as
guilty as the Paxton boys back then, with even Quakers selling rifles
to the indians, including ones that would blow up on first use.

        Wicks talks about little Peggy Shippen, who was the daughter of
one of the Commissioners that Mason and Dixon reported to. Peggy later
married Benedict Arnold.  Tenebrae walks into the room and they settle
back into the story of Mason and Dixon.

        In the coffee houses now there is a torrent of action and violent
speech, making Mason and Dixon uneasy. Someone gives a passionate speech
that invokes the death of Edward Braddock, whom the hyperarts alpha
describes as "a Scottish soldier who came to America; he was
Commander-in-Chief of the British-American forces when he led the attack
Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh), on July 9, 1755, where he was ambushed
and slain; George Washington was on that expedition, and it was
supposedly there where he learned to not wear a redcoat."

Toby