The Grist Mill Secret

By Lillie V. Albrecht

Children’s historical fiction, ages 9-12.

Tabby Copley can’t understand why, in the fall of 1773, her father would suddenly want to move their whole family from their comfortable house in a Massachusetts village to a lonely corn mill in the country, where the nearest neighbors are a mile away. But on the first night in their new home, Father shows Tabby and her brother, Dan, the secret of the mill: Below the millstones, in a hidden cellar, is a gunshop where Father and Dan will be making muskets for the Minute Men.

The secret of the gunshop has to be kept at all costs—especially from Tory spies, loyal to the king, and there are plenty of those around during the years just before the American Revolution. The question is—who are they?

Everyone suspects everyone else and sometimes the wrong people are caught and punished by angry patriots. And when a wealthy English family, suspected to be loyalist spies, builds a handsome country house near the mill, Tabby is torn between patriotism and her friendship with the new neighbors. Can she remain friends with Alice and Jack and still keep the vital secret of the grist mill?

“By making friends with Tories living nearby, Tabitha Copley caused a crisis in her own family and great concern in the town. This mystery of pre-Revolutionary days has a well-developed plot, good characterization, and gives an authentic picture of divided loyalties in a time of crisis.”
Library Journal (1962)

• Language: English
• Publisher: Spyderwort Press
• Release date: Jun 24, 2013
• ISBN: 9781301447671

Lillie V. Albrecht

Lillie V. Albrecht (1894-1985), a descendant of seventeenth-century English Puritans, Nantucket Quakers, and Dutch settlers on Long Island, began working as assistant children's librarian at the Westfield Athenaeum in Westfield, Massachusetts, in 1927, and was the first curator of its Edwin Smith Historical Museum, serving from 1928 to 1952. The museum's Colonial Kitchen is now named after her. The Albrechts lived for many years in Westfield, where Mrs. Albrecht became interested in the town's three centuries of history. It was to teach history that she first started writing short stories for children set among the real people and places of western Massachusetts and created the story of fictional antique doll Deborah. The stories she wrote about Deborah's adventures in Westfield's history eventually became the full-length children's book Deborah Remembers. Publishers at first turned down a book about a doll's memoirs, but encouraged Mrs. Albrecht to write more historical children's stories. She then wrote Hannah's Hessian, which appeared in 1958 and was an immediate success; soon her publisher was eager to publish Deborah Remembers, which has since become the best-known of her books. Deborah was followed by three more stories set in Westfield and western Massachusetts in the colonial and Revolutionary eras, The Grist Mill Secret, The Spinning Wheel Secret, and Susanna's Candlestick. Mrs. Albrecht's granddaughter, author Susanne Alleyn, is delighted to bring her books to a new generation of readers.

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What the Reviewers Said About Lillie V. Albrecht's Books

The Grist Mill Secret:

By making friends with Tories living nearby, Tabitha Copley caused a crisis in her own family and great concern in the town. This mystery of pre-Revolutionary days has a well-developed plot, good characterization, and gives an authentic picture of divided loyalties in a time of crisis.

Library Journal (1962)

Deborah Remembers:

A doll’s eye view of American history might be the subtitle of this delightful book. . . . Any little girl who ever loved a doll will love Deborah’s remembrances.

The Chicago Tribune (1959)

The Spinning Wheel Secret:

A plot that remains reasonable as well as exciting. For younger girls in this age group, a treat instead of the usual treatment.

Kirkus Reviews (1965)

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The Grist Mill Secret

Lillie V. Albrecht

Published by Spyderwort Press at Smashwords

Copyright 1962 by Lillie V. Albrecht

Annotations copyright 2011, 2013 by Susanne Alleyn

Illustrated by

Lloyd Coe

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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All rights reserved. Published in the United States of America. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. For information, please contact Don Congdon Associates, Inc., 110 William St., Suite 2202, New York, NY 10038, USA. email: [e-mail]

First published in hardcover by Hastings House, Inc.

This book is available in paperback from major online retailers.

This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance of characters to actual persons, living or dead, with the exception of historical figures used fictitiously, is purely coincidental.

Spyderwort Press

Albany, NY

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Contents

A Brief Explanation of Time and Place

1. Muskets

2. The Mill

3. Alice

4. The Quilting Bee

5. Party Gowns

6. The Christmas Party

7. April 1775

8. The Arsenal

9. Bunker Hill

10. Injun Sam

11. The Husking Bee

12. The Spy

Some History and Historical Terms in The Grist Mill Secret

About the Author

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A Brief Explanation of Time and Place

In the fall of the year 1773, when this story begins, there were Minute Men drilling in every village in New England. King George the Third, the king of England, had made the people in his American colonies pay heavy taxes. The Americans did not like this because they were not allowed to take part in making the laws in England.

In order to enforce these tax laws, King George sent troops to Boston, and the redcoated British soldiers made life most unhappy for the Boston people. It was then that the leading men in each New England town banded together in a group called the Committee of Safety, and Minute Men began to march back and forth and practice target shooting on every village green.

Although the people in this story have old New England names, the characters are all imaginary. Tabby's home might have been in any one of the many villages in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains in Massachusetts.

For the sake of the story, the date of the opening of the Springfield Arsenal has been slightly changed.

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1

Muskets

Tabitha Copley was supposed to be in bed. Mother had sent her upstairs to undress, but just as Tabby was putting on her nightgown she had heard her brother, Dan, open his bedroom door. Eager to know what was going on, Tabby followed Dan down the hall and sat beside him on the top step of the stairs.

If that isn't just like a girl! whispered the boy. Can't you leave me alone? Always following me!

There was a steady sound of voices in the parlor, but the children could not tell who was talking.

The wide front staircase turned twice as it led down into the front hall and by slipping down to the first landing Dan and Tabby could see into the parlor. The candlelight danced on the Turkey rug and on Mother's new blue curtains, which were drawn across the shuttered windows.

There was a crackling fire in the fireplace, and around that fire had gathered the important men of the village—Squire Ashley, Deacon Hunter, Dr. Mason, Mr. Sheldon, the lawyer, and Mr. Valentine, the parson. Father added a log to the fire and then seated himself in his big wing chair.

In the wide front hall the grandfather clock slowly ticked the time away, but its solemn tick was not loud enough to drown the rise and fall of the men's voices.

I tell you, you're the man to do it, Moses Copley, said Dr. Mason.

No, Father said. No, gentlemen, I don't know any more about running a mill than—than—

Than King George knows about running his colonies, Squire Ashley finished for him, and all the men laughed.

Lawyer Sheldon leaned forward, picked up the tongs, and lighted his pipe with a glowing coal.

We must decide tonight, he said. We must have gunpowder and we must have muskets.

Gunpowder and muskets speak a strong language, Parson Valentine sighed.

'Tis the only language the king understands, said Father.

Aye, and you're the only man among us who can supply the need, added the doctor. I tell you, Copley, you must remove to the mill.

Just then the dining-room door opened and Mother came into the hall.

Children, are you sitting on the landing in your nightgowns again? she said as she came up the stairs, a candle held high above her head. Scoot, now! Back to your beds, and shame on you for eavesdropping.

Old Sukey came lumbering up the stairs behind Mother, carrying the warming pan in her strong brown hands.

Shame on you, Tabitha child, sitting here in your night rail, she grumbled. Into your room right smart and I'll heat up your sheets real good. Catch your death of neverget-overs, that's what you'll do, settin' out here in the cold.

Tabby climbed into bed and snuggled down between the warm sheets that smelled faintly of lavender.

Mother tucked her under the blankets and bent to kiss her tumbled curls. Mother, too, smelled faintly of lavender. Good night, my sweet.

Tabby pushed back the blankets and threw her arms around her mother's neck.

What were the men talking about, Mother? she whispered. What did they mean about muskets?

Hush, child, said Mother. 'Tis nothing for little maids to bother their heads about. Good night, dear.

But what did it mean? Tabitha persisted. And why were they talking about a mill?

Never mind, Tabby. Go to sleep now like a good girl.

Mother carried the candle away and Tabby was alone in the big bedroom. She lay awake for a long time. From the dark corner beyond the highboy seemed to echo the excited words of the men in the parlor—muskets, gunpowder, the king, a mill!

What did it all mean, Tabby wondered. Why were they talking about a mill? Why were they talking about muskets and gunpowder? What did Father have to do with muskets? What did muskets have to do with a mill? Tabby fell asleep with the words drifting through her dreams—muskets, gunpowder, a mill!

* * *

The next morning, as they walked across the village green to school, Tabitha asked Dan about the conversation they had overheard.

What did Parson Valentine mean, Dan? Why does he want muskets?

Silly! If that isn't just like a girl! said Dan. They need muskets for the Minute Men, to be sure—muskets and powder, too.

Tabitha was silent as she trudged beside Dan through the fallen leaves. Of course, she had known about the Committee of Safety. All of the children had known that the wise men of the village had banded together to keep in touch with the Sons of Liberty in Boston. Tabby realized that it was these men who had been meeting in the parlor on the previous evening. Of course, she had known, too, about the company of Minute Men that had been raised in the village when King George's Redcoats had caused so much trouble in Boston. Tabby had often seen the Minute Men drilling on the green, but for some reason she had never thought of them as actually loading and firing the muskets they shouldered as they marched and countermarched. Tabby had never dreamed that the Minute Men might actually be in a war. She had never thought that Father and Cousin Ebenezer and Uncle Hezekiah might go marching off to fight in some battle.

Dan left Tabitha at Mr. Valentine's gate, for he was studying with the parson and preparing to take his college entrance examinations. Tabby walked slowly along the path toward Dame Noble's school and then stood waiting for Priscilla Lathrop at the corner near Dr. Mason's house. Ever since they were little girls, Prissy and Tabby had met at this corner and walked down together to Dame Noble's school near the town brook.

Prissy came running down the street, her dark braids flying and