The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1876-05-25

and now / sit here thinking, as it were,
among the r1,ihs, trying to collect my
scattered senses, TO tell what l have seen.
All is confused and mixed. Like Cassie
after his spree, I remember a mass OF
things, but nothing distinctly. Even
now, at midnight, many hours after the
great events of the celebration have past,
It seems as if the thunder of cannon, the
rattle of drums, and the braying of
brazen Instruments were still ringing in
my ears, and dancing before my eyes are
all the brilliant colofs Of the rainbow,
taking all sorts Of wonderful shapes, in
regiments and columns, and divisions,
battalions, societies, Turn .Verines,
Saenger hofs, Russian bears, British lions,
Chinese pagodas, japanese monstrosities,
and soaring above all, with wings ex-
tended in the most patronising manner,
the magnificent. emblem of American
freedom, tho eagle bird, by chance.
I look out into the night, and the sky
is Illuminated with various colored fires,
rockets shoot up towards the heavens in
every direction, Illuminating them with
3 halo of glory.
It seems like very simple thing to
tell what you have seen, but IN the
present instance it would be like attempt
ing to describe the colors and figures of
a kaleidoscope. a4
The opening could not be said to have
commenced this morning; all day yes
terday, and for many days before, thou
sands upon thousands came pouring into
the Quaker City, till it actually seemed
as if the whole United States must have
been depopllated to furnish the tremen-
,dous crowd. Where they all found
shelter, Heaven only knows. Indeed,
they did not all find shelter, for all
through the night previous to the open
ing, the streets were crowded as they
usually are on grand gala day. Many
of the stores never closed at all. And
along the principal .thoroughfares from.
dark till dawn, vast crowds of people
heaved and surged like the waves of a
stormy sea. Happy he Who cotild find a
resting place Oh the soft side of a plank,
while an individual lucky enough to
secure cot in parlor next to the root,
or under the shelter Of a balcony, re-
garded himself as a man whom kings
might envy. ..
It is useless to say that I am tired,
sleepy, used up, gone in, and, as it were,
generally done for What cares my null
titude Of readers for that? they want to
hear about the big show. So, with. eyes
blinded with smoke, and head whizzing
with all sorts of sights and sounds, if you
will only have patience, ladies and gen.
tlemen, I will do the best can, and try
and begin at the beginning. The roar of
hundreds of cannon welcomed the COM
ing day; for although it is not yet our
Fourth of July, it seemed to be felt, that
by general consent, we had, made sort
of Gregorian advance of a few weeks, and
were celebrating the Centennial birthday
of the freedom of the American Union.
Of course, one feeling rose paramount in
every heart, q feeling of thankfulness
that we were still united people that
Notwithstanding the disasters and suffer
ings of the! last few years, we were per-
mitted, in the providence of God, to cele-
brate with our great Exhibition the hun
dredth year Of our National Indepen-
dence. 10 -..l.,.,ss . =, 81.
Chestnut street has altered materially
since 1776, but Independence Hall still
remains intact; and within a few feet of
the roar and turmoil of the busy street, is
the quaint old room where a; hundred
years ago sat the stately John Hancock,
fianked by Franklin and Jefferson and
Adams and the rest of that splendid
galaxy, whose names have become i'm
mortal. .a
The. furniture is still substantially the
same, very plain, very shabby, very old,
yet every article of it a sacred relic worth
more than gold, and bringing us back to
the better days of the republic, when
calico was respectable, and two-story
bustles were unknown.
The air was balmy and mild, and it
really seemed as if the Almighty had
smiled on the occasion, and covered it
with benson and blessing. 1t needed no
special announcement to tell that some
thing great and important was impend-
ing; crowds, had been surging through
the streets all the night before; and, as
the day dawned, soldiers in gay uniforms
might be seen hurrying in every direc-
ton, getting ready for the opening Of the
Great Exhibition. -
Reveille beats, bugle calls, the shrill
shrieks of thousands of steam whistles,
were mingled with the thunder of cannon
and the rattle of small arms. Little boys
unrestrained by vicious policemen, set.of
whole bundles of fire crackers at a time,
while young gentlemen from the country
stood on the street corners discharging
ancient horse pistols, with flint locks,
which looked as though they might have
done service against Tarleton at Cowpens,
or have riddled the jacket of some cow
ardly Hessian, at Germantown or Tren-
ton. Everybody looked smiling. 1t was
evident that America, young and old,
were out for all day, and were bound to
have good time.
Such q display of bunting was never
seen in the United States before. Flags,
flags, nothing but flags, foated in every
direction; out of the windows and doors,
and from the sides and the roofs of the
houses. Flags, flags, flags, American
flags, English flags, Dutch flags, French
flags, Irish flags, Russian, Prussian, Aus.
trian, Swedish and Danish flags; they
filled the sky and the air; wherever you
turned, flags, flags, flags; they tapped in
your eyes, they hit you on the nose, they
smote you on the cheek, they belted you
in the wind, they knocked your new hal
into the gutter, and raised the devil gen
orally. Men constantly fitted by you j in
grotesque and startling costumes while
on every hand the ear was stunned with
the unintelligible jargon of strange ano
innumerablc tongues. Early in, the
morning the whole city seemed to have
turned its face toward the site of tht
Centennial Buildings. Thousands upor
thousand, filled the way; every vehicle