The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1877-08-16
A Hawk.eye Fourth. h.of.July Grafton.

pie, these waving banners, these strains
Of soul stirring music, this glittering ar
ray of. b, auty, patriotism and intelli-
gence? AS I face this immense multi
tude, am impressed with one thought, I
that rushes upon my very soul and F,
struggles in vain for utteranee It is
the thought that I am not going to be
able to make one-half these people hear
word say. Its not grand thought.
1t is not even a brilliant thought. But
it is true, and the truth is worth far more
than brilliancy. And will tell the truth
every time get an opportunity. 1t
isn't often that / get the chance: What
with trying to reconcile Tiee's weather
predictions and the Presidents S policy, a
man has to be vigilant, and lie awake
nights and watch his chances, in order |
to get an opportunity to tell little |
truth, once,a week, and yet, this has
nothing to do with the Turkish war
Why, then, repeat, are we assem-
bled here to-day? To rejoice that we
are free people, endowed with the in-'
alienable rights of life, liberty and the /
| pursuit of happiness atlong range. To /
| rejoice that the precious boon and her, /
itage of freedom is ours, bequeathed us
by the fathers who fought, bled and
died, that | and mine and you and yours
might breathe the air of freedom. And
we rejoice to-day we are proud and
happy and glad, glad, glad, that our
fathers died for us instead of compelling
us to die for them. They We're great, !,
great men. In fact, they were, many of
them, great grandfathers. =. -. ..
T. II 10 c1voat +r dio for or,o3c oou,,t,v Tr
seems to me that /, too, would gladly,
oh, how gladly, add my name to the list
/ of the great and good, and die for my
country-ef old age. I would die SOON
er if it was thought necessary, but. !
| haven't got time. | am too busy. But
if any sacrifices are needed next centen-
nial, they may call on me, and | will
either come or send a hand.
Z Our fathers died foruss They diedwill-
ingly and gladly; But if they could come
4 back to-day and see what kind Of d
crowd they died for, quarreling over the
Presidents policy, wrangling over the,
currency, and some of them trying to
pay dollars worth of debt with ninety
cents worth of money, talking politics
twenty-three hours day and praying
so seldom that our knees get rusty,
drowned out by the rain, devoured by
grasshoppers, they would, if they had it
z to do over again, live nine thousand
years and only die then when they had
to.
And yet ours is a glorious country.
A wonderful, magnificent country. 1t
is marvellous AS high school girl
would say, it IS ''snicbs' Look abroad
| k,,r l,a Of hicfCy.xr
and see what the mighty genius of prog
ress has wrought. But one short CEN
tury ago the cornerstone of this mighty
p fabric was laid, amid the thunder of can
non and the rattle of musketry, cano-
pied by the smoke Of battle and cement
, ed with blood. A little band of strug-
Cling, needy patriots, half clad, poorly
| fed, with only few dollars in the Ma
tional Treasury. To-day the sun of one
hundred and one years breaks upon the
: land-wherever it isn't stormingLand
| where do we stand2 p A billion dollars
: \ in debt
. Our fathers died, but they had no rail-
i roads. If they had,, they might have
died with less expense and trouble be-
! fore they got to the war. Our fathers
T: never knew the eestatic pleasure of lean
ING out of car window and getting a
: red hot cinder as big as a pea In theil
/. eve before they could looke at a tree.
: They had no telegraph, and never knew
E what convenience it was to pay forty
< cents to send a message fifty miles, and
/ then have the dispatch come tagging q
/ day or two after the man had died OF
old age. They had no kerosene lamps
and they never knew what it was t6
!. light kitchen fire and take balloon
ascension out of the same can. They
had no United States signal service, .ane
never had forty-five rainy days in {
3 ! month, with a tornado every wash-day
Their wants were few and simple, They
;. didn't need a great deal of weather, ant
Z what they had was regulated by thu
! ground hog, and that reliable weather
bureau never made a mistake. a} ?
These men have passed away. II
!, their simple habits, s,-their. sterling hon
. esty, their grand patriotism, their un
Z selfish devotion to principle, they pass
=. ed from life into eternal fame Th'
? men of ,76 are,gone. / do not knos
where, but they have, gone somewhere
: | do not see any of them here. If there
J are any present, they will please rise
/ for I am willing to be corrected when !
4 am wrong. Hf'ftre 'r.@is'- .S = 9li
! The Fourth of July was invented by
: man whose name is-clearSto~ all Ameri
! can.hearts--Geerge w. Washington. B.
e AN ingenious arrangement the Fourtlhttop II 9 9
a July was so contrived by the invento
:. that it would always fall on q, rainy day
It has missed it once in the past twelv
s hundred years, and on that once it hail