Johnny Tremain In the story Johnny Tremain, Johnny is sent to apprentice Mr. Lapham after his mother died. In doing so he became one of the best apprentices to a silversmith that there ever was. Dove and Dusty(the other apprentices) were lazy and slow. Johnny liked to boss them around and tell them what to do.
One day Dove got very angry at Johnny and handed him a broken crucible. When Johnny melted the silver, the crucible broke and spilled scalding hot silver all over his right hand. Johnny could not go to a doctor to get it fixed because it was the Sabbath day. It was a sin to work on the Sabbath day. Johnny and the Laphams would have been arrested for sure. Instead Mr. Lapham sent out Cilla to go get an old medicine woman to help him. When his hand got better, scar tissue had formed over his thumb rendering his thumb useless.
This engraving by Paul Revere, portraying the Bost...
Johnny
Johnny TremainMr. Lapham told Johnny that he had to find another trade that he could do with a crippled hand.
Johnny walked down the wharf looking for a new trade. When Johnny couldn't find a new job he knew he had to turn to his rich relatives, the Lytes, to help him. When he went into Merchant Lyte's counting house, he asked Mr. Lyte for some help. Merchant Lyte laughed and told him to go away. Johnny said that he had a cup of his to prove that he was part of their family. Johnny went up to their mansion one evening and showed the cup to Merchant Lyte. Merchant told everybody that Johnny had stole that cup from him and that the cup was his all along. A court hearing went along and Cilla testified that the cup had always been in Johnny's possession. Merchant Lyte was caught in a lie.
Johnny found a job as a newspaper deliverer. He met a new friend there named Rab. Rab was the nicest person to Johnny. Johnny and Rab became best of friends. Johnny had to learn how to ride a horse with a crippled hand if he was to get the job. His new master, Mr. Lorne, was nice and gave Johnny comfortable living quarters and plenty of food. Once Johnny learned how to ride a horse well enough, he started delivering papers to towns like: Dorchester, Cambridge, Lexington, and Charlestown. While delivering papers, Johnny learned a lot about the politics and hearsay throughout the colonies. Johnny was liking his life now and his crippled hand didn't bother him much anymore.
During this time, British trade ships had brought over shipments of tea. The tea had a heavy tax on it per pound. The colonists did not agree with the tax and they said that they would not pay it unless that they had equal representation for the colonies in England. It was against the Magna Carta. A large group of colonists dressed up as Indians and chopped, ripped, and threw out all the tea that was in the cargo holds of three boats. This was known as the Boston Tea Party. Since the colonists did not want the tea to be unloaded and that it was against British law to return these goods, the colonists figured that there was no other way to get rid of the tea. So they threw it off the boats.
About that same time, British troops had begun to encamp in Boston, requiring people to have housing for them. Since the local Whigs knew that the British were up to no good they had Johnny help work as a spy at the Afric Queen(Stable and Restaurant) behind the Observer. When Johnny heard that the British were planning an attack in Lexington, Johnny quickly ran to Paul Revere and told him the news. That was the night of Paul Revere's famous ride. Rab had joined up with the "Minute Men"ÃÂ, and went to Lexington to train. Johnny was afraid that Rab had been killed.
Johnny went to go investigate and he dressed up as a British Redcoat. When He got to Charlestown he found Rab bleeding and dying. Johnny knew hundreds of men would die but that was the price of freedom. Rab had died for his freedom and for all American's freedom.
DVD cover for Johnny Tremain
Johnny
English: Paul Revere Memorial, Granary Burying Gro...