"This is Jessica Tandy. Two hundred years ago today, British work gangs were stripping Boston bare of wood, piling up firewood for the winter ahead. The giant elm that for a hundred and twenty years shaded the corner of Washington and Essex streets was gone. The elm had been Boston's Liberty Tree. For ten years, patriots met there to denounce British tyranny. Then the British came with axes to chop the living symbol down. An onlooker described their glee. He said, After a long spell of laughing and foaming with malice, they cut down a tree because it bore the name of Liberty. The Liberty Tree yielded fourteen cords of wood, but one red coat, hacking away at a high branch, slipped and fell to his death. The Liberty Tree died, but not without a struggle. I am Jessica Tandy, and that's the way it was. Thanks for watching!"