Laura Secord - Canadian Heroine, Part 1

Laura Secord - Canadian Heroine, Part 1

Laura Secord - Canadian Heroine, Part 1
Reading Level

	edHelper's suggested reading level:	grades 3 to 5
	Flesch-Kincaid grade level:	2.94

Vocabulary

	challenging words:		drunken, militia, loosen, smug, settled, grey, especially, boast, meals, silence, bundle, however, simple, doing, nearly, battle
	content words:		James Secord, Beaver Dams, Colonel Boerstler, Upper Canada, Laura Secord

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Laura Secord - Canadian Heroine, Part 1
By Mary Lynn Bushong

¹     Laura set a pitcher of ale on the wooden table. Then she gathered up the plates to wash them. The American officers sat with smiles. Meals at the Secord [SEE-cord] house were good! The ale was especially fine.

²     They did not wait until Mrs. Secord was gone before they started to drink and talk. James Secord lay nearby, but they paid little attention to him. He had been injured in battle six months before and still could not walk. If he heard secrets, he could not pass them on.

³     It did not matter if Mrs. Secord heard anything. She was only a woman. What could she do?

⁴     Laura was no longer as young as she once was. She was nearing her 40th birthday, but she did not feel old. The army officers had seemed smug. Maybe their tongues would loosen with the ale.

⁵     She pretended not to be listening to the talk, but she kept the pitcher full. The men's voices became louder. Then they began to talk about upcoming plans.

⁶     "In two days we'll march to Beaver Dams," said Colonel Boerstler. "We will meet Lieutenant Fitzgibbon's force there and break it. When we do, then we will have control of all of Niagara."

⁷     His officers cheered. They liked this part of Upper Canada. Perhaps they could stay when the war was over.

⁸     Laura looked over at her husband and caught his eye. She knew that he had heard the Colonel's boast. With his bad leg, he could not go to warn Fitzgibbon. It made her blood boil. It was like they were taunting her husband.

⁹     Laura thought hard. Who could go to warn the lieutenant? Her brother didn't live far away. However, he had been ill recently. Perhaps one of his sons could go. They were almost fully grown.

Paragraphs 10 to 18:
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