River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1877-08-16
Burdette's Fourth of July Grafton.

Burdette the funny man of the Bur
lington Hark Eye, desolated a suburban
town on t,o Fourth with an Grafton,
from which w quote:
Why have we assembled here to-day
What means this vast concoarse of peo-
pie, these waving banners, the strains Of
soul-stir ing music, this glittering array
of beauty, patriotism and intelligence
As face this immense multitude / am
impressed with one thought, that rushes
upon my very soul and struggles in vain
for utterance. 1t is the thought that l
am not going to be able to make one-half'
these people near word | say. 1t is not
grand thought 1t is not even bril-
liant thought But il 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.
Why, then, repeat, are we assembled
here to day. To rejoice that we are
free people, endowed with inalienable
rights of life, liberty and the pursuit Of
happiness in long range. To rejoice
that the precious boon and heritage Of
freedom is ours, bequeathed us by the
fathers who fought, bled and died that l
and mine and you and yours might
breathe the air of freedom. And we re-
.joice to-day, we are proud and happy and
glad-glad that our fathers died for us
instead of compelling us TO die for them.
They were great, grand men. In fact
they were, many of them, greats grand
fathers.
it's sweet to die for ones country. 1t
seems to me that /, too, would gladly,
oh how gladly, add my name to the list
of the great and the good, and die for my
country-of old age would sooner
die if it was thought necessary, but |
haven't got time. | am too busy. But if
any sacrifices are needed next centennial
they may call on me, and will either
come or send hand.
Our fathers died for US. They died
willingly and gladly. But if they could
come back to-day and see what kind of
a crowd they died forquarreling over the
Presidents policy, wrangling over the
currency, talking politics twenty-three
hours day, and praying so seldom that
our knees get rusty, drowned out by rain
devoured by grasshoppers, they would, if
they had il to do over again, live 5000
years and only die when they had to.
And yet ours is a glorious country. \
wonderful, magnificent country. 1t is
marvellous. As high-schoel girl would
say il is mice" Look abroad over our
land. turn the pages of history, and see
what the mighty genius of progress has
wrought But one short century ago the
cornerstone of this mighty fabric was
laid, amid the thunder of cannon and the
rattle of musketry, canopied by the smoke
of battle and eemented with blood. A
little band of struggling, needy patriots,
half clad, poorly fed, with only few
dollars in the National Treasury. To-day
the sun Of l01 years breaks upon the
land-wherever it isn't storming- and
where do we stand? A billion dollars in
debt.
Our fathers died, but they had no rail
roads. If they had they might have died
with less expense and trouble before they
got to the war Our fathers never knew
the ecstatic pleasure of leaning out of a
car window and getting a red hot cinder
as big rs a pea in the eye before they
could look at a tree. They had no tele-
graph, and never knew what a conven-
fence il was to pay forty cents 10 send n
message fifty miles, and then have the
dispatch come tagging day or two after
the man had died OF old age. They had
no kerosene lamps, and they never knew
what it was to light kitchen fire and
make a balloon ascension out ofthe same
can. They had no United States signal
service, and never had forty-fve rainy
days in month, with a tornado every
wash-day. They didn't need a great
r.. -la4 hoI
regulated by the grounding, and that
reliable weather bureau never made a
mistake
These men have passed away. In their
simple habits, their sterling honesty, their
grand patriotism, their unselfisb devotion
TO principle, they passed from life into
eternal fame. The men of 70 are gone.
do not know where, but they have gone
somewhere; l do not see any of them
here. If there are any present they will
please rise, fer | am willing to be correct
ed when | am wrong.
The Fourth of July was invented by a
man whose name is dear to all American
hearts-George w. Washington. BY an
ingenious arrangement the Fourth OF
July was so contrived by the inventor
that il would ALWAYS fall on rainy day.
1t has missed it only once in the past
twelve hundred years, and on that once
il hailed all day. The Fourth of July |
was not the only invention of this great
and good man. He invented name
that will fit two-thirds of the boys of
every generation in America A grateful
people never forget the fact, and Wash
ington, when at the zenith of his power,
was nominated by reclamation for the
capitol of the United States.
Adventure With n Buffalo.