Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1889-07-04


| orange-tinted head to stimulate his mem
DRY. and resumed:
{" Hurrah! for the morniu' Of mornin's come;
Unfurl ev'ry banner
What internal nonsense!" exclaimed
Swingleton. "As II there was any such
thing - banner In the United 6tates ont
Eide Of Sunday-schoo1 room
beg your pardon, sir. - said the boy.
after springing to his feet in surprise, but
there's lots Of 'em. You'll see 'em If you
come to the green on tho Fourth. am
going to carry one myself In the percession;
1t seq ON 1t Gods Own Country Dad made
that up all by hisseH and painted 1t on the
banner that mother made out OF part OF q
sheet An me sister Norah's got one
marked We've all got chance Dad
made that up, too. An little Nils Prison,
him that got the one-leg ged shoemaker
Dane for father, has got one marked
Eternal vigilance is the price Of liberty.
I don't know what that means but you just
ort to see the one-legged sheemaker's eyes
shine when he looks st it-you'd think he
was achin' to knock somebody down an
pound him with a hammer"
What Internal Anarchist got that up,
wonder?" growled Swingleton.
The shoemaker made the banner hisseh,
sir" the boy replied. but what's on it was
writ by George Washin'ton, the father OF
his country"
''Boshl" exclaimed Swingleton. s.Wash-
ington was large owner of real estate"
II beg your pardon. sir, but can show 1T
to you; it's in the Farewell Address,, in
the back of our his'try book
Hang your history book and the banners
too" growled Swingleton, addressing him.
self seriously to business You go over to
Truegate's right away, and tell him that If
he don't pay his interest and that overdue
installment on the principal this very
morning I'll foreclose on him And when
you come back you sit outside the door If
you've got to rattle over that gibberish
about the morning of morninRs' and
'unfurl every banner"
Yes, sir, I" said the boy, timid1y, and hur-
ried away on his GRAND Swingleton APP
Piled himself vigorously to his oiphering,
but somehow the figures did not come right
and he abruptly tore his paper to bits and
began to pace the Office floor. muttering to
himself.
''Confound these foreigners! One would
suppose the country was made expressly
for them by the way they take hold of it
The idea OF . little rascal like Dennis telling
me what George Washington wrote-and
worse yet, he was right about it, really do
believe. Gods own country'-'we've all
got chance'-that's more of their non
sense. Come to think Of 1t. though, it's all
true. wonder IL somebody won't have q
banner with one mans as good as another
ON it? It's true as gospel; IL it wasn't I'd
head of big real estate improvement
company"
For several minutes Swingleton held his
peace. but continued to pace the floor
Then he burst into speech again
"All those common folks are going to
have a regular Jubilee ON the Fourth, sup
pose. 1t isn't bad enough that busines
mans peace of mind is to be disturbed all
day long by fire-crackers and pistols, and
all sorts Of Internal popping noises, but
they're to have singing, and cheering, and
Ike enough a brass band, at sunrise-on the
green-rtght in front Of my house. I was
going to spend the Fourth in finding out
how much money I'm ahead by this
Cliff Edge speculation; it's tho only free
day I'll have until Thanksgiving comes
But ii I'm to be woke up at sunrise won't
have any sort of head for figures Confound
patriotism, any way; we had enough of it
in the time of the war to last any man q life
time 1t cost me enough, goodness knows:
was drafted, had to hire q substitute, and
pay bigger taxes besides To be sure. got
in on a harness-making contract that set mo
up in business, but
Swingleton went abruptly back to his
desk and tried to resume his figuring, but
his pencil seemed wholly depraved; and he
finally threw it on the floor and continued
as follows:
what was that the Bible said about the
heather coming to the light while the chill
dren of the kingdom were cast into outer
darkness? 1t begins to look as If something
of the sort would come to pass in this coun-
try. Here's all the foreigners and other
nobodies in this village going to celebrate
the Fourth, just as II the country was theirs
as in one sense it is while I the richest and
ar inf, oil ms IN. tnx am, off
out in the. cold. Come to think of it,
remember something about being asked
by letter to participate or contrib
ute, or something, and pitching it
into the waste basket I suppose they
thought was a hog-confound them!-but
as to any body else. but how am going to
make fuss about it without letting bust
ness suffer? A man can't afford to neglect
his business for every COMPOUNDED senti-
ment that comes along-he'd never make
any money If he did When do any of our
great money kings say any thing about
patriotism. should like to know, or make
Fourth of July speech? It's only editors.
politicians and poor men who do that sort
of thing"
More protest and determination fol-
lowed; when Dennis returned, in the course
of half an hour, the autocrat of Cliff Edge
had both elbows on his desk and his broad
chin. usually quite equal to the task of
caring for itself. was supported by two
hands His face was SO unlike its usual self
that the boy was astonished, though not SO
greatly as when q moment afterward
Swingleton said:
What were you going to show me in
your school history"
why, twas the Declaration, sir, an the
Farewell Address, an
..Au right-go and fetch the book"
Away went little Dennis, returning soon
with the book open In two places, a couple
of dirty fingers serving as book-marks.
Here they are, sir" said the boy. land
can just show you what parts told you
about 80
IN take your word Tor them. my boy"
said Swingleton II think, though, Pll read
the documents through, % a. to get the
sense of the quotations better"
II can save ye trouble. sir. II ye like, "
said Dennis. for I know both of 'em by
heart, an say 'em off as easy as me prayers
You dog" exclaimed Swingleton, with
such emphasis and with face so solemn
that the boy seemed half inclined to admit
that he had done something wrong. .'You
do?" the man repeated, putting his hand
into his pocket Then here's q dollar
for you to spend for fire-crackers on the
Fourth There's nothing else In the book
to which you'd call my attention, is there?"
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