[originaltext] The young man was a French nobleman, the son of one of the ri

The young man was a French nobleman, the son of one of the richest and most important families of France. He had heard about the revolution taking place in America. He wanted to go and help.
    He was only eighteen years old. He was tall, handsome, and a familiar figure in the high society of Paris. His family tried to stop him. They asked the King of France to throw him into jail in order to stop him. But the young nobleman had already bought his ship and gathered some young friends to go with him. He escaped and came to America. The young man was the Marquis de Lafayette.
    Upon his arrival, he discovered that no one knew him here. He had been promised that he would be an officer in the American army, but Congress said that it wanted no more foreign officers. Lafayette sat down and cried. He could not go back to France. Instead, he offered to serve as a volunteer— without pay. Congress accepted. Later Lafayette met Washington. A great affection grew up between the two men, as between father and son. Lafayette became Washington’s personal aide.
    Once toward the end of the war, the men under Lafayette’s command were all in rags. Lafayette asked Congress for new uniforms. Congress had no money with which to buy uniforms. Using his own personal credit, Lafayette went to the merchants of Baltimore and, at his own expense, bought a new uniform for each man —two thousand in all. In this way, his men were able to go on fighting.