Mower County transcript., 1871-08-03
The Boys Fourth Of July.

The Boys Fourth Of July.
The Boys Fourth of July was jolly
one In this respect it was not ditferen
from any other Fourth Of July since hi
can remember
1t seemed as though it never would come
He commenced figuring on it Immediately
after he had gotten we'll from ovcrcatinI
at Christmas.
At school, during the latter part Of win
ter and through the spring, he solatcd him
self when his head acheu with the rcticc,
ton that it WAS coming.
Once, he was Going around through an
alley to look for another boy, when he got
nippcd by dog. He howled some, but
the pain was Instantly amcliOrated as he
happened to think of the Fourth Of July.
Another time, big boy lurcd him around
on a vacant lot under q pretence of show
ing him leather jackknife and then pro-
cecdcd to knock Oft his hat, punch him In
the eye, and to give him several kicks in
miscellaneous localities, and all for the
pretended reason that he had told Jim
Snattles that the big boy wasn't nice
fcllcr.
The Boy had prolonged howl over this
new visitation. He first thought he would
go and get pas revolver, aud shoot the big
boy full of bullets. Then. he wished he
had big dog, which, when he said Sick
en-" would fly at the big boy and tear all
the hinder part OF his clothes of. And
then other furious schemes Of revenge pre-
senteu themselves, which were all sudden
ly cut short by his happening to think that
Fourth Of July was coming.
The last four weeks which preceded
the national anniversary were over two
years long. Whenever it was morning he
wished it was night. and when 1t was night
he wished it was the next morning. The
most Of this month he spent in tlattenipg
his nose against the show windows of toy.
shops where there were freworks lie
shyly cultivated the acquaintance of q
young man in one them, and with him
held frequent and earnest interviews in re-
gard to the merits of torpe,locs, crackers,
sky-rockets, and small cannon.
Often during this month, as he passed
along the street., he would straighten
out his foretuger like barrel, elevate
his thumb as though it were hammer,
and then take long and deadly aim at some
cat as she picked her way up an alley,
frightening her ut last into tail.swOllen
scamper with vicious anlexplosive "click-
BANG!"
How slowly the hours dragged away!
The Boy didn't care to play short stop in
the Sucking Mines any longer. lie had
rather 90 over and talk with the shOpboy
about fireworks, and to gaze into muzzles
of infant cannon that were arranged in
battery in tho toy shop window.
And by degrees there came into his mind
the tremendous conception thptrmsybe his
pa would buy him q cannon fol the Fourth!
The enormous weight of the idea stag
gered him. That very night, with all the
sagacity of a veteran, he began to open
parallels against the patcrnal citadel. No
direct assault for him. He felt that the
undertaking was Adespexste ons, and that
and and no no end e Of bies' 80 ""'1 ~" !
And so that very night he commenced
operations by talking long and earnestly
to the maternal relative about such beauti
full cannon as there was in Mrs. Popbang s
window.
And the ground was brofen for the first
parallel. &IsEa ~.'f -
The work went on The nextday, and
the next, the same relative was treated to
much interesting information about ord
nance. This year, cannon was so much
cheaper than ever they was before. And
then she never would believe how safe
they was. They were just as strong, and
than she could thc-the-the-and hcrt
the boy, being Mt a loss for some article Of
tremendous cohesive qualities, finished by
saying-the-anything Such ( cannoA
Oh, my, and sheshevcr saw anything like
it in all her life!
And thus the parallels went on.
The approaches grew nearer. One day
the maternal relative was treated to the
startling information that Jimmy Ducks
who amt only two years oldern me was
agoing to have cannon for the Fourth
and hull ppund Of powder! So many
of the boys was agOing to have cannon
and all the powder they was mind to.
And now it was time to erect battery
One day there came q shot hurtling ovel
into the camp of the besieged, greatly tC
full besieger had 96tten bis first gun into
position, and had opened after this wise
One afternoon, the Boy astonished every
body by being good for thirty-s seven con
secutive minutes, and then, with fluttering
heart, propounded as to whether Nj
thought in case he was real good all thu
time for year, Pa wouldn't buy him
little cannon for the Fourth? All! mos
momentous of queries, and what world
of interest hung upon its decision.
Of course the maternal relative said no
with instant determination that no suCt
awful thing could be possible under anl
circumstances. Narrowing recitals wer'
given of little boys whose eyes had al
been blown out of their heads; and o
other little boys who had had their limo
cent legs shot off; and how bad their ma
felt, and cried over them, and all that.
No garrison surrenders at the first sum
mons. The siege went on, and in time tn
ont rEu Oov Stl,1n tod
Boy occupied them with drums beatin,
and flags flying gloriously in the air O
breezy triumph In all such sieges whe1
the feminine advance is routed, it is
question Ofs.but short time when tn
masculine citadel shall surrender. An,
thus 1t was but a day or two more, whe1
the Boys flag hung from the loftlcst turre
of the keep, indicating that he held DOS
session Of all the works.
What an exhlaration poured along tn
throbbing pulses of the Boy, as he con
templated this glorious, this unpre
cedcnted, this overwhelming victory! Il
an hour, tidings Of the great event wer
borne by the heral id Boy everywhere. jim
my Ducks k4ew it. The grocery boy wa
told of it, aud that he received the stun
ming information with assublime indife1
ence, and endedthe interview by throw
luS tAC OOJ uhu luIO OAC 1Ots duu I'll
Boy himself into the next one is one O
those phenomena which nobody can eve
understand.
And there came day that brought tn
cannon. Oh, jubilation! AS long as
child's little finger, as large about as
pencil Yet it seemed a very, columbia
to the Boy as he gazed into its pantc'
mouth
Oh, most long night that precedcs tn
wonderful Fourth! That night was com
at last, and TOMORROW was the gloriou
day of days! A Boy rolls and muttrrs il
his bed, and long before the gas is turne
off for the night, often wakes up with
start, with the fearful conviction that h
has OVERSIGHT himself, and that day ha
long since laWued And upon II tab]
close by there frOwns that cannon, an
beside it Il wealth of black aud shinin
grains to which the alchemy Of Boy
hopes and fond in,nginings have given
value far above what they would hav
were they PARTICLES Of yellow dug f1o1
the placers of California
What IN intcrminable night! How th
darkness ciings to earthi How often
the serene rcposc Of the moonlight MI
taken for the flash Of aurOral eyes! Nigl
of wakings; Mi ght of drcalnings that al
realities in vividness, and in which tn
Boy, time and time again, thought he ha
slept till noon, and that the Fourth wf
half gone without his participation nigl
that is shod with lead, and that moves
a