Peggy Owen, Patriot: A Story for Girls

A bright September day in 1778 finds a slender Quaker girl named Peggy racing along the wooded road to Philadelphia, her beloved pony Star suddenly stranded by a broken saddle girth. The countryside unfurls in golden light, with towering chestnut hills, fragrant asters, and distant hazy valleys that frame her urgent quest to rejoin her father, a soldier far away at White Plains. When a rag‑clad young man appears, offering his rawhide and knife to mend the strap, Peggy’s curiosity mixes with a fierce independence that hints at a deeper resolve.

Together they confront the practical challenges of travel, but the conversation quickly turns to loyalty, faith, and the uneasy balance between Quaker pacifism and the call of a fledgling nation. Peggy’s heartfelt declaration that service to her country outweighs labels sets the tone for a story of youthful bravery, emerging patriotism, and the unexpected allies she meets on the road to her destiny.