Vermont daily transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1868-1870, 1868-07-07
Letter from Providence.


of the greatest possible noise, came to be
considered expressive of the joy that the
recurrence of national holiday is sup
posed to give. And can any one pre-
dict the time when the production
of as great a conclusion of the air.
at the geographical centre of the
Union by national noise ma
chine, that it may be distinctly felt
in all the States, will suffice for an ex-
preston of the country's selfgratulations
at her own existence? Or will the sep
arate state, County, and Town demon
STATIONS be always indispensable p
Cannot n people who elect their ruler
by delegates exhibit their love for their
country in the same manner? And
may we not look forward to good time
coming when we may put on our wings
and fly to the Capitol, or stay at home
and listen by electricity to the general
rejoicing which will embody all the
small squibs, and combine the innu-
merable orations and exhibitions now so
scattered. But in the interim it may
be of interest to you to know how we
spent the fourth day of July of the year
of our Lord eighteen hundred and sixty
eight in this pleasant city of Providence.
For several days there had been pre-
monitory symptoms of a general out
break, and at | am. the explosion of
powder commenced. A number of stu
dents went about serenading the differ
ent young ladies' schools; though as the
: school term had closed, it was in some
cases teacher and in others a solitary
servant, who were the especial recip-
tents of the attention. 1t has been the
custom of the students to station them
selves upon the corners of the streets
and make the early morning hideous by
the blowing of tin horns; but as con-
finement for the day has been made Il
, penalty of the offence, it was this year
dispensed with. And many were the
congratulations uttered by the citizens
upon the quiet 4th they were enjoying.
From 2 to am. the firing was almost
: uninterrupted. Then for two hours
' drum bands paraded through the diff
lNlCliu ctiSNto1 CoIiiIS tiiS BSOPiS w ~
joicc upon this the ninety-second ami
f vcrsary of their Independence. AT six
' o'clock national salute was fired, and
: every bell in the city rang out its loud
: est notes for half an hour. At nine, the
. Procession, which, probably. owing to
/ the intense heat of the day, was not a
: large one, began it's march. The Burn
side Zouaves, in their easy, romantic
. uniform, many of them carrying bou-
a qucts upon the point of the bayonet,
+, were an agreeable feature of it. And
: the Burnside National Guard--a COM
. pany of colored soldiers-was an addi-
: ton to Fourth of July procession made
{. by the war.
4 The Antiques and Horribles, that
g curious American development of the
II Twelfth Night Mummers and Maskers
of the olden time were the chief at
traction. This portion of the procession
> more nearly approached the Roman
G Carnival, and the ancient Saturnala
than any other mode in which Ameri-
can honor has the privilege of publicly
d displaying itself Most of the reignihg
monarchs of Europe, and many of the
II leading characters of both the old ant
new world were burlesqued.
The Goddess of Liberty was on'a higl
r car, surrounded by young ladies, person
ating the different States. Jeff Davis
was represented in the garb in which
he was captured. Mother Hubbard was
mounted, and a valiant body of Fenian
We're commanded by their Head Centre
There was a monument in memory o
Impeachment, and many local events
le were caricatured. A reward of $40 hat
been offered to the one who should b,
/ adjudged the funniest, consequently
=. they all tried to be as "funny as they
" could"
= AT noon there was another natiOna
salute, and at pm. Temperance ant
l. a Sunday School Procession. At
l. O'Clock ''The Old Guard" the Continen
q tails of '76 in their old world uniform
~ marched through the streets. AT Their
s. was Regatta at which $3.50 were givel
S, in prizes. At 6, there was a nationa
y salute by the men of "a, and all tn
,a bells again peaed forth joyously. II
E. the evening there was Promenad
G. Concert, and although there was N
J, public display of fireworks, there wer
q. good many sent up by private indi
re viduals.
et During the day the municipal author
n n tiles provided supplies of ice water up
q on all the nrinclpal streets, and IN th