Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1876-07-13
To the Republicans:
Two Notable "FOurths.S

To the Republican,:
Two Notable "FOurths."
In point of real Importance and in
terest, i suppose that no two Fourths of
July surpass those of 1776 and 1876.
The former | do not remember and the
latter is even now passing, so that
cannot tell what the day may bring
forth. But there have been two other
"Fourths" in my calendar, which must
be long memorable, and those were i'll
1872 and 1873. a few weeks previously
to the former of these, l had some
what successful and somewhat unsuc-
cessful race with "A train on the Mich
igan Southern. The race was success
full in that caught the train; it was
unsuccessful in that | nearly killed my
self i'm doing so. Seeking rest and rec
reation and recovery from the effects of
this violent exertion, / had gone down
the st. Lawrence. The ever memoir
able trip through the Thousand
Islands, and the exciting passage of
the "Rapids. +" had consumed one day,
a day in Montreal and night ride upon
the river, brought me to Quebec on the
morning of the Fourth" 1t had hard
| ~ occurred to me that in Canada, they
have no Fourth. We took carriage
to our hotel, up iii the Old Town.
/ There were no excited groups of boys,
not sound of tire cracker OF torpedo,
not an American flag to be seen. Bus
mess was moving on as quietly and or
derby as if they had never heard there
was a Fourth of July. We spent
the day in riding around the city
and In visiting the Falls of Mont
morenci, with the same experience.
We saw but one flag that day and that
was over the quarters of some Amer
lean official, and we pitied the boys and
men who hadn't any Fourth of July.
The next year found me many hun
dren miles from Quebec. | was then in
the far northwest. Traversing Lakes
Michigan, Huron and Superior, we had
been landed at Duluth, upon the very
westernmost extremity of Superior.
Two hundred and fifty miles west
brought us to the Red River of the
North, the boundary between Minneso
Ia and Dakota. Two hundred miles
farther took us to the banks of that
grandest of inland rivers, the Missouri.
This was on the Sd of July, 1873. We
stood that evening upon the bank of
this wonderful river, which was here
three quarters of a mile wide. Upon
the opposite shore we saw the Amer
lean flag, waving over Fort Abraham
Lincoln, the point of departure of the
expeditions against the Indians. There
wei was about to say-slept; | will
rather say passed the night. We were |
in the rising town of Bismarck. We |
had been advised that our best place to |
stay would be in the car, and that, not |
a sleeper, which was placed at our dis
posal. In the middle of the night we /
had the pleasure of serenade from |
company of the Bsmarckians. The |
only thing memorable about the seren- 1
ade vas this: The song had some
what TO say about "the banks of the |
Tennessee" This seemed so inap- 1
propriate to the serenaders that they |
changed that last word into Nilsson
ree." Then it was song fit to sing at
Bismarck
A patriotic speech 10y your cores
pendent followed from the hinder plat
form of the car. 1t is great pity that !
speech was never reported! The Fourth
dawned, and it was such contrast to
that of the preceding year. Each time
we were on the banks Of one of our no.
blest rivers-St. Lawrence and Mis-
souri,. But here the resem blance ends.
Quebec was built OF stone; Bismarck of
cloth. Quebec is one of the oldest
towns on the continent; Bismarck one
of the newest. Quebec is surrounded
in part by the old wall, (which consti-
tutes it the only walled town in Amer
lea; Bismarck could not gather stones
enough in a diameter of 100 miles to
lay the foundation of barn. Quebec
was sober, steady, rich; Bismarck fast,
riotous, enterprising. Quebec had
business, and men were hard
at work; Bismarck was full of saloons,
gambling-hells and fast men and wo-
men. The SIN rose over Quebec, to send
men forth to the peaceful pursuits of
honest industry; oyer Bismarck to wit
ness games of ball or quoits, the AVA
ktning from drunken sleep and scenes
of debauch.
We had seen the Old and the New.
The old had no Fourth, the new had.
The old was under the grandest crown
in the world, the new the grandest re-
public. There was good in both and
certainly there was evil. The rule of
that crown stretches back many hun
dreds of years; this is the Tooth birth
day of the Republic. The old was in
the midst of the ripened civilization of
the East; the new was upon that limit,
where civilization touches the savage
state, forts and armed soldiery mark the
point of contact. The old lay down at
night TO rest from eager toll; the new
awoke TO spend the hours i'm scenes of
debauch and wild excitement. The
old was peaceful and safe; the new re-
sounded with the sound of a pistol-shot
at middle night. Happy shall it be for
us. if we cleanse away the evils from
our new, so that some future writer /
may tell that Bismarck has attained /
the age which now makes boar the l
head of old Quebec.
JOHN L. KENDALL.
July 4th, rs.