The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-07-02
THE GLORIOUS FOURTH. "
Thoughts. Serious and Faoetious
Incident Thereto.
Tho Day - Viewed from Many Stand
Poants-The Spartan 11other-"Yo Young
America Let Loose - The Con-
Vantional Plonlc.


s. hand-the plain, unvar-
| eS1 nished Fourth" To
| every native born or
naturalised citizen Of
this great and glorious
II. land OF the brave and
GsAGAe home Of the free-born ca
gle, there is no day in the calendar fraught
with SO much and so diverse interest.
There is no use talking, the Fourth Of
July double. discounts any thing in the
line OF a holiday yet familiar to the
American mind. It is ON the Fourth OF
July only that the American heart makes
its most formidable demonstrations Of
patriotism and SHOWS up what itcan do"
And the American heart, by the way-not
to speak boastfully-is capable Of consid-
cradle. All it wants is a chance; and that
chance the Fourth Affords
The Fourth presents as many different
phases as the moon. according to preju-
dices, favorable or otherwise, through
which it is observed. and these depend large
" upon the age. nerves and property in
volved Of the person conducting the OBJ
servation. Some, it must be confessed, do
not possess that patriotic spirit which
should temper their Judgment. Many. it
is possible, look upon the national day as
o necessary evil-as grievous as the re-
turn OF a lady's birthday after forty; some
hail it's approach as the harDingcr OF ex-
quisite delight-the glad tidings Of great
Joy; while many, it is probable, diligently
strive to persuade themselves that it 10 a
blessing in disguise, deluding themselves
with the fanciful idea that somewhere in
this holiday there turks an indescribable
pleasure which only the continuous '.fizz'
OF 'squibs" and other distracting agents
rs thus make a chimera OF Fourth of July
joys, it is scarcely necessary to remark
that their expectations are never realized;
the delusive vail OF powder smoke and sui
phurous odOrs scarce ever rises sufficiently
to reveal the hidden joys or dispel the
illusion.
To those who look upon this glorious
anniversary merely as an aggravated
outbreak OF feeling and fire-crackers. it IL
probable that no class is more conspicu-
GUS than mothers. The regulation Ameri-
can mother, it may be said without ex-
aggeration, looks upon the Fourth as a
terror, sort OF epidemic Of punk, pow
der and disfigured small-boys; or an i'm
personated DESTROYER Of youth, sizzling
with hot breath and red rockets, going
about with "nigger-chase and hor-
rible gun-wads, seeking small-boys to de-
YOUR. The average females conception of
the instruments of destruction used by
this boy-exterminator. it can not be de-
MED, are somewhat vague; she does not
know whether it be punk or gun-wads
that constitute the most formidable
demolishers OF boyish thumbs and ears.
or whether it be "squibs" or torpe-
docs that most insidiously puncture
the youthful flesh and despoil the
comeliness Of the childish coun.
tenance, but she has an idea that
any OF the fiery mediums through
which the exuberance OF the Young Ameri-
can finds vent are wretched denominations.
likely to 'tgo Off at any moment, and she
abhors them accordingly. In this. it must
be admitted with chagrin, the American
mother does, not entertain that noble and
unselfish devotion to country that actuated