The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-07-04
a Fourth of July Warning.
lHsrper's Young PeOple.l

1 remember the accident we'll enough,
though It happened nearly forty years ago.
There Is no doubt about it, every genuine
school-boy takes keen delight in the Fourth
of July. There is an inhersnt love OF Equibs
and crackers, wheels and blue lights, among
lads, while good hsre-up Of bonfire ia
looked upon SIS indispensable.
When l was boy l had strong liking
for cannon. might hsve become an Arm
strong, RCdman, or Dshlgren, if nothing
had interfer-ed to prevent the development
of my tss.es in that direction. But All,
that "huL"l 1t is as troublesome as the eff"
which spells so msny good things.
Would the boys like to hear the story2 1
began win formidable piece of ordnance
An eIghty-one grain gun. 1t was 81 old
key thai ! had picked up somewhere, and
tell YOU L made q very good miniature csD-
non. was even more proud of 1t than of
my first pair of boots, for 1 hsd manufac-
tured il myself. L felt that 1 had con
verted useless old piece of iron into
weapon of modern warfare. At the end of
the tube l fled printing hole, fastened it to
a wooden gun-csrriage, and jolly good
bang / got out of it. Larger keys follow.
ed, and then brass cannon mounted on
wheels, until somehow or other got pos
sessed-I can't remember how-of a mon
ster cannon.
No common cast-brsss toy this, bu. q
homespUn, wrought-iron gun: an iron bar,
drilled. ss near IS l remember, with three
qusrter-inch drill; an unsc;entifc LOOKING
instrument, quite Ignorant of lathe and
emery-psper, but one that would and did go
of.
a Various small trial charges had bean set
of, until, on the Foun th of July it was deter
mined by 8 select committee on heavy ordi-
nance, assembled in my fathers garden,
that in the evening an experiment should be
made thst would determine once for ali its
full powers.
We had had a good deal of fun of one
kind and another all day, but for me moth
ing was one-half as interesting as that can
non. Il seemed as if al the other boys in
the neighborhood thought so too, for
when the critical hour arrived there
was something over two dozen of US in
the garden. We formed q circle around nv
cannon, ard the business of loading began.
"A fire poker was secured for ramrod, aud
real coed charge was rsmmed home. In
the excitement of the moment the poker YVES
left in the cannonl
A heap Of soil at the end of the garden
wss chosen as the "earthwork," on which our
big gun was fixed, pointing upward, though
unnoticed by Us, point blank at the psrlor
windows A small heap of shavings was pu.
around the weapon, and one was appointed
to light it. "To covert" at once was the or.
der, and each one rushed to safe place. ]
tremble a. this moment when 1 remember
that, a second before the explosion, the ineYi
table small boy rushed from one cover Ia
another right in front of the cannon'i
mouth
What a bangl and what crashl Oh
0f-
the window-frame broken, and We did
not act the coward and fly. Ne, boys, never
turn coward If you get into scrspe-and
few boys of spirit but do sometimes get int
one. Stand your ground, boys, and bear OIL
pay whatever is fairly earned. Some of u
. stood our ground until father appeared
He had been q boy himself once and
though re looked very serious he did no,
scolu US. Al the first brush it was set down
to atmospheric conclusion, but on further
investigation it was found that the brick
wolK was Clipped and the woodwork
broken; aid. worse still. inside the parlor
was found the fatal poker doubled up, hsv-
ing just escaped splendid crysta
of the room. How crest-fallen
felt and leokedi Father said that Il
remind me of the necessity of care in hand
ling SUCH dangerous toy, should pay fol
two Of the panes. You can imagine wa
glad not TO be more severely punished.
That cannon was never again fired by me
The hsirbreadth escape Of that snail BOY
haunts me even now. / have never fred
gun IN my life; but for experimental pur
poses ] have handled the strongest explo
sives, including the notorious dynamite; We
never in my life has such thrill passed
through me as did when 1 realized the al
most miraculous escape of my playmate
whenthe doubled-up prcjectile was pIcks'
= up on our psrlor floor.
Boys, let sn old one beg of you to be care
full in handling explosives. Don't toucl
guns or pistols until you have little NOR
age upon you. lest some playmate or schoo
fellow meet with an untimely end. Don