The Lafayette gazette. [volume] (Lafayette, La.) 1893-1921, 1893-08-26
THe oL0 Li1ERTY BELL.

This old liberty bell is the one single
object of greatest interest among all
the splendors and wonders of the White
City. To the sturdy. patriotic Ameri-
can it is nm object of veneration. To
the uncultured, to the foreigner, it il
an object of interest and curiosity. If
that bell had runR for 4 free Italy
when the lilies of Florence and tho
white cross Of Savoy wero dipped in
blood in tho old Garibaldi days itwould
have been worshiped in the land Of
Virgil to-day. But Americans are moro
cold-blooded and practical; yet Ameri-
can patriotism sometimes finds its vent
here even in tears.
Here is story one Of tho stalvvart
Philadelphia reserve policemen told re-
Gently, but one of the hundreds of
episodes that are constantly falling UNI
yellow frame of beams, stands just in
side the entrance in the wide vestibulo
of the Pennsylvania building.
Zone day, a couple of weeks ago."
began the reserve, ''my attention was
attracted to an old gentleman who
stood just outside the door there. He
was tall. fine-looking, white-haired
man, about sixty-five years of age. He
stood for about five minutes with the
people coming and going past him, and
every once in awhile he would wipe his
eyes. didn't understand it. At last
got up to get a drink of water, and as
passed him the old gentleman stopped
Young man, 1 want to tell you that
you have had a greater honor conferred
upon you than has been placed on Gro
yer Cleveland's shoulders
"'How's that?' asked.
"'The honor of guarding that old
to me than anything in these grounds.
I've travelled seventeen hundred miles
to see it, and now I'm going home con-
tented and then he broke right down
and began to cry. He walked out on
the porch, but in about ten minutes he
camc back and asked me If he Daightn't
just touch the bell. Between you and
me.'' said tho great big policeman, Il
would have liked 70 let him do it, but
told him it was against positive orders
to let anyone touch or handle it. Then
he left.''
Thousands Of stories of love for that
liberty for which the old bell rang have
been missed right here for want of a
historian. The other afternoon. shortly
before two o'clock a man with lunch
box under his right arm, and leading a
little lad of eight by the hand, entered
the building. Behind them came a
tired looking woman, the mother, with
a little girl of six by the hand They
were what the world would call COM
mon people, in SO far as wealth and So
cial standing went. The father, who
was about thirty-five, wore a fifteen
dollar suit of clothes, and the mothers
dress was a cheap chintz
The father and son halted at the
bright nickel railing around the bell.
awe at the bell for an instant, then he
took off his hat and held it in his hand.
He darted a quick, sensitive. inquiring
look around to see that he was not
overheard, and STOPPING, said, loud
enough though to be heard by d gen.
tleman near by: ''Take off your hat,
Eddie
what for, papa?' inquired the lad in
surprise.
''why, this is the old liberty bell I
was telling you and Helen about last
night, do you mind?"
The young patriots hat came off and
it remained off till he cast a last look
backward at the tuneless old relic.
But there is another side to these
patriotic expressions. 1t is the soulful
and abundant ignorance of some Amer
leans. The gratuitous distribution OF
one hundred and ten thousand copies
of the history of the bell has been but
as the rays of tallow dip in the a;,.
sorbing darkness of some American ig.
norance.
''Oh, my Lord, it's awful to hear some
of the questions people ask, and the re-
marks they drop whom they see tho
beN,' continued the reserve officer,
with a world-weary sigh. Decent ap-
pearing, intelligent-looking people
most of them, too. But the worst arc
the people who know it all, or think
they know it all. They are mostly
THE other day an old lady came UP
to the railing. There were a couple OF
young girls with her about seventeen
or eighteen years of age. This old
lady was deeply impressed, and, turn
ing to the girls, said: There, my
dears, is the bell that rang for tho
declaration of in dependence when my
and your great-great
fighting in the revolu.
war
'''Why, no it isn't, grandmother
said one of the youngsters; that's the
bell that used to hang in the steeple OF
the church that George Washington at
tended
cit isn't anything of the kind spoke
up the other girl; that's the bell that
hung on the state house il. Philadcl-'
Dhia. When the British entered tho
city the bell was taken down and was
hidden in the Delaware river for forty
years. 1t was cracked when they
were tolling it for George Washing
toms DEATH
''That's only q sample of some
American ignorance" continued tho
officer. ''Most of the people associate
The bell in some way with the declara-
lion Of inaenendancc hut I'm blessed