St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-07-08
~. Johnsbury's Fourth.

passed of rs well as could he expected
in the light of the news from Washing
ton. The celebration would have been
postponed altogether on account of the
shooting of the President, but the com
mittec. in view of extensive arrange
ments already perfected when the bad
news came. felt themselves helpless i'll
the premises; and then up to Monday
morning reports were favorable, and
seemed likely to continue 50, giving
additional cause for rejoicing. The
weather was splendid and could not
have been much better. The exercises
of the day were participated in by a
great crowd of people-almost four
| thousand coming from ncighboring
towns the different features OF
the day were in the main interesting.
Beneath all the apparent enjoyment,
however, there was constantly mani
tested IA deep anxiety for the safety of
the President, and the bulletins were
watched carefully. 1t was very evil
dent that the news from Washington
detracted from the interest of the day,
and that if there had been time for a
postpomcment the people generally
would have acquiesced.
At about nine o'clock the band gave
an ut-dOor concert on Railroad street,
which drew and entertained large
crowd, and helped the time to pass
rade of Horriblcs. This came off ut
1870, and contained several good
features, among which the best were Il
''take-o OFF, on Bagley's bank, the est.
Johnsbury Glee Club" the "Old wom-
an in the shoe On the arrival of the
train from the south the procession
was formed ut the depot and marched
through the village to the engine
house in the following order: Marsh
ais police band; Bradford Guards
Grand Army posts from MorriSville,
Johnson, and other towns, with sever
al drum corps ; and llorrihlCs.
In the tug of war; the ''ten" from
the scale shops took first prize, and the
Ely hoe makers picked up the second
and third prizes. In the whcClbarroW
race the VictOrs were Us follows w.
c. Quimby took first prize, f. o. Ran
dali second, Heman Steady third. In
the canoe race MOrehouse took first
prize and Kendall second. Only three
started, and two of them met with a
slight mishap which married the sue
cess of the race. The sham fight on
an interesting affair, but would have
been more so if the veterans had
charged on the crowd which gathered
on the hill top and prevented those i'll
other localities from seeing as they
wanted to. The attacking party was
commanded by Major Stafford of Nor
risvillc, and the battery on the hill by
Capt. Griswold, supported by the Brad
ford Guards. Capt. Mcdonald had
charge of the artillery of the attack
ing party The fight lasted about an
hour, and the varied manTuvrcs were
performed as only old soldiers can do
them. The asSailants numbered about
hundred veterans from the visiting
and home Grand Army posts.
The evening exercises began with II
concert ut the town hall. This was II
choice little affair, and was attended
by Il large number. There was also
an immense attendance OutSide the
building and in close proximity to the
open windows The programme was
made up of music by the band and or
chestra, and solos by Mrs. Julia Ious-
ton West of Boston. Miss Mabel
Bemis of Lyndonville acted as accom-
PIANIST. The orchestra was most ably
assisted 10y Mr. II. &. Blaisdell of Bos-
ton, and played admirably, eliciting
hearty cncorcS. The band WAS in
good trim, too, and did itself credit in
the rendering of Il selection from
| I.il'ihi1 anu p'il'i hi'iSl'. WI -. w 'Si =
singing was well received, and on her
first ei1Ort-a German sOng-she was
given an encore. Her rendering of
"Star Spangled Banner" was rather
married by ii too powerful accompani-
ment, yet it was given i'll style which
the audience appreciated.
The fireworks, after the concert, were
I,,
three which were especially pretty
a shield, fam, and the closing motto,
bye Bye" Main street was hand
somcly illuminated with calcium light
and lanterns, and the crowd was Il
dense one.
EFT CETERA.
The Marshals of the day were w
II. Harris, chief aides, w. L. Tyler
Carl Spencer, Geo. X. Crosby.
The Bradford Guards contributed
much to the days celebration. They
, acted like gentlemen, are well drilled
and Bradford needn't he at all ASHAMED
of them. The other visiting organiza
tons We're material help in the day
transactions.
Several Smart individuals though
it would he Il big thing to knock dow
Chinese lanterns after the fireworks
but their frolicsome career was short
p ened by the manGuvrcs of IA police
man.
The committee worked hard, an,
made Il success of the day. Had i
L