Ten-year-old Molly worked hard on her father's small New Jersey dairy farm, but she had good times, too. She was like her parents—John and Gretchen Ludwig—who were jolly people. All her German relatives were jolly people. And there were plenty of them in New Jersey in 1764.

But no one smiled when the King taxed them without asking their consent. For times were hard; and John Ludwig couldn't sell enough cheese and butter to feed and clothe his family. Of course, Molly wanted to help her mother and father. So when Dr. and Mrs. Irvine of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, offered to take Molly home with them, she gladly went. Molly was to help Mrs. Irvine with the household chores, just as she had helped her mother. She would be earning her own living.

After a thrilling journey to the western colony Molly and the Irvines arrived in Carlisle. But hard times had struck there while the Irvines were away. It was like New Jersey now. People didn't know how they could raise the money to pay the last tax. "Why didn't King George ask us how much we could afford to pay?" the citizens argued. And because Molly was a patriot she helped the people of Carlisle fight

From the dust jacket