Editor’s note: Amos is a church mouse, who types by hopping on the computer keyboard, but he can’t operate the capital shift, and he shuns punctuation marks – except hyphens and dashes. amos the churchmouse: a trip to valley forge willifred the white rat came by yesterday boss to see if i wanted to travel back in time in his experimental tiny time machine you remember willifred boss he escaped from a mad scientist s research laboratory and now he has started his own scientific research career at any rate he installed his tiny time traveler machine on my little 57 cheeserolet motorized matchbox just as soon we climbed in we found ourselves in the coldest fiercest bitterest place i think i ve ever been boss - some snow pit called valley forge pennsylvania trying to find a warm spot i bumped into a little ragged field mouse named georgie boy who was busy scavenging for food and nearly bit off my little frozen foot hey watch it says me whaddaya think you re doing chomping around here so indiscriminately i m hungry says he why what s it to thee i m looking for george washington the father of our country says me he s not the father of any country says he more like the father of misery is he look around you what do you see an army living in luxury not hardly no sirree how do you know so much about washington and his men says i my friend and i just wanted to celebrate the first president s birthday and here we are in a snow slide this is the continental army boys that s general washington over there and i m his personal mousy courier so how is life for the victorious army says me you talkin to me says he if this is victory i d hate to see the other army in its misery we have no food no shoes no guns and no sun i tell you this war s over before it was begun in fact boss georgie boy told me about a message washington received the other day from general nathanael greene it said - poor fellows - they exhibit a picture truly distressing - more than half naked and two-thirds starved - a country overflowing with plenty is now suffering an army employed for the defense of everything that is dear and valuable - to perish for the want of food - and boss that about sums up the scene at valley forge but the dream of freedom overpowered the pits of despair god answered washington s every prayer he gave a ragtag army victory and set a nation at liberty amos