Crossing the Delaware in Mars Library

by Brett Davisson

As I walk down Grand Avenue in Mars, Pennsylvania, the sun is shining majestically. It’s s a warm summer afternoon in this small, western Pennsylvania town.  As I open the door to the library, the burning handle scorches my fingertips.  Acting as a portal to a world of mystery, magic, and history, the Mars Library is busy on this blazing Thursday.  Local book lovers beat the heat for free while sinking into easy chairs and burying themselves in the pages of their favorite novels and magazines.   I walk over the worn, green carpet of the library, and decide to sit down in the corner of the air-conditioned reading room. I choose the nearest book, one about the American Revolution, a subject unfamiliar to me at the time.

With a painting of George Washington on the cover, I delve into the story about the brave soldiers from the colonial era, fighting for freedom and independence. Librarians are checking books in and out, emitting a near constant beep, beep, beep with their scanning wands.  As I continue reading my novel I begin to doze off, dreaming of a world rich in American History.

I awake in a small, battered tent, unable to feel my frostbitten toes just as the sun rises over the towering pine trees. It’s Christmas Day in the American Wilderness, and the year is 1776. A man atop a shining white horse addresses the haggard, beaten, and war torn men of the Continental Army. The man on the white horse is General George Washington. The British Army of King George III had been after the Continental Army for months and most of the militia under Washington were due to expire at the end of the year. Washington had a plan for his tired and defeated troops. He spoke to us and explained his plan to cross the ice-swollen Delaware River.

Risky, bold, and daring, Washington was a man of action and proved so in his every move.  We stormed the Hessians that night, drunken from their Christmas celebration. We fought fiercely, braving snow and ice, cold and frostbite, and the elements of the vast New Jersey wilderness.

I heard a triumphant hurrah from my fellow colonial soldiers, and we reigned victorious! The Hessian Commander had been killed, and over 900 of his men were captured or annihilated. The mighty achievement was just what the colonial soldiers and I needed to recommit our service to the independence of America.

Just as we are victoriously marching back to camp, frostbitten and barefoot upon the freshly fallen New Jersey snow, I hear a loud noise. I’m startled out of my sound sleep by the impact of my 782-page book has fallen to the floor with a crash. The librarian gives me a look of disdain and I meet her gaze with a shrug of my shoulders.  What an experience it was to dream of one of the most important historical moments in the founding of our country.

That summer day in the library was one I still remember clearly, even now, years later.  Spending the day at the Mars Public Library was a quiet escape for teenagers like me from all over the small town of Mars, Pennsylvania. Libraries in the world are a great place for kids, teens, and adults to let their imaginations run wild. When you’re reading at a library, you can be anything you want to be, and travel anywhere you could ever imagine.