The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1882-07-06
THE FOURTH OF JULY.
How the Annual Anniversary of the Ma
tiOn's Birth Was Celebrated.

tion's Birth Was Celebrated.
1t has been the time-hOnOred custom
and happy privilege of the newspaper
| writer, from time immemOrial, 80 have
in his report of the Fourth of July OBJ
| servance of his city a generous amount
of American Bird of Freedom =" How
our fathers fought" etc, interspersed
with cOpiOus quotations from the DecIa-
ration of Independence, and winding uu
with general literary display of fire.
works, and, as the recent celebration in
this city has been the first of any cOnse- =
quence for number of years, the gen.
eral animated and joyous appearance of
the city on that day may excuse little
pard0nable pride in celebrating the des-
| crlptiOn of current events.
A RETROSPECT.
Canton has, in more ways than one,
improved within the last decade. Al
though always industrious and thrifty.
yet it was devoid of the go ahead and
progressive spirit which has deyeIOped
itself within the past few years, Occa- /.
stoned by the building of railroads and
the consequent influx of new blood and
new thoughts carried in by the coming
of new men, whose experience in the
outside world has acted as a very
but quiet dough of Stark's capital
Even the celebration of the National
holiday, the most prominent in the heart
of every true American, both native and
adopted, was allowed to go by default
for want of proper organized effort to
make Canton an objective point on that
day, so that not only would its people
stay at home, but others from the out
side be attracted within its bOrdres. So
it was for years, until the arrival of
this and similar holidays was the signal
for general exodus and the consequent
deserted appearance of the streets.
A CHANGE FOR THE BETTER.
Happily, however, all these things are
changed for the better, and hereafter,
such is the force of example, we may
have no fears that all days of civic
prominence will be properly taken care
of by US.
The first grand break that Canton
made for disinthrallment from its leth-
argy, was when it made such royal ar
| Tangements and carried them on so sue
| cessfully, on the occasion of the Soldiers
| and Sailors Reunion, two years ago, at
which time the city was filled with
| strangers to the number of some eighty
thousand, and what is more, she took
care to see that they were well taken
care of and properly provided for. Since
then numerous other events of lesser
magnitude have made her prominent.
| All this brings us by an easy and nat
ural transition to
THE AMERICAN EAGLES BIRTHDAY,
last Tuesday, which was one long to
| be remembered, for the large
number of strangers "within our gates"
who, taking advantage of our unrival-
led railroad facilities, and desiring to
see so much of Canton with FOrepaugh
drawn in) as possible, instead of re-
naming at home on that day, aYailed
themselves of the superior attractions
of this city and tried hitheT. The fact
that several rival cities had passed be-
fore the critical and financially pitilesS
eye of FOrepaugh's manager, and been
discarded in favor of exhibiting at Can
ton on the 4th is no small testimonial in
our favor, for these men, whose busi-
ness experience is national in its char
acter, are not influenced by local aTgu-.
ment on this, their great day, but in
vaTiably make their railroad arrange
ments and pitch their tents where they
, meet with the most financial success,
and, so they tittingly, chose Canton as
, the best point.
THE VISITORS.
The morning regular trains on the
COnnOttOn roads were loaded down with
passengers, and a special "bush" train
J from the south at $50 a. III. discharged
another heavy load of humanity on the
streets. The Valley and Fort Wayne
roads were not whit behind in swell
ing the multitude, and by ten O'Clock
the city had gained in temporary pOpu-
latiOn between twenty and thirty thou
sand people. The weather was cool,
with occasional showers of rain, which
{ did not dampen the aTdOr of the visitors
as much as it did their clothes.
A large majority of them took in the
! circus performances, while many Others
paid visits to their friends, or otherwise
? passed the time pleasantly. The stores
= were generally open until evening, as
2 the merchants had previously made ar.
). rangements to take the next day for q
|, holiday. A great many of the business
blocks and private houses
I WERE DECORATED
9 | with the national emblems and notices
/ while numerous streamers fOated from
g | flag-staffs and across the princi
= pie business streets. In the even
: ing fire works were feature and tht
9 brilliancy of the skyrOeket and the
: scintillatiOn of the Roman candle ball
v endeavOred and succeeded partially IL
}. paling the light of the rising moon.
Of course, considering the immense
=, crowd, there was more or less eXuber'
' ' ance of feeling, induced both by patriot
l l ism and beer, but the police shut theil
= eyes to many mild cases, and only re
moved the most prominent ones to the
= "city sleeper" releasing them wheI
their tired spell was over.
= They report only one pickpOcket cap
tured, and his case was so confused with
ordinary drunkness that he was released
upon pleading guilty to intOxication
At the close of the day, the special
r trains carried home the people from
+ abroad, and no casualties are as yet re
4 ported.