The herald., 1895-06-30

the spirit that dominated the land in
i776.
Some mighty fine warships could be
built with these $62. 10000 the depleted
surplus of the treasury could be sent
booming to unexpected heights or
dozen other handsome things could be
done with II, but none of them would
give to the sons and daughters of Uncle
Sam that exulGant satisfaction which per-
meates the emotions of the nation when
that grand old bird is permitted to open
wide is mighty beak and send forth It's
Fourth of July screech.
No Let the eagle screech once year
even if it does cost S62, 900, 600 per
screech.
The time OF year is rapidly approach
ing when the small boy lightly turns to
thoughts of frecrackers.. while tn, small
boys mother sorrowfully turns to the
medicine chest and figures en- the prob
lem of how many burns she will have to
dress and doctor.
Pyrote clinics, like science, the new
woman and other. progressive things,
years Fourth of July will develop many
remarkable inventions ] in the way sof
displays. One of the curious features OF
the celebration in a statistical way IS the
fact the 3, ,9GS, 900, 900 iirecrackers will be
exploded on the great DAY. These figures
bic dealers in fireworks in New York.
OF course it is only rough estimate, as
an accurate number is unobtainable.
He made conservative estimate, allow
ing about one pack OF crackers for each of
the country's population. There are
sixty -four crackers in each pack, and al
lowing for the consumption OF go 900, ,oU0
packs, the large total is reached. This
same dealer estimated the amount OF
money expended on the Fourth for fire.
II nh wQIld Il
fair average sum for the average Amer1-
can, man, woman and child. OF course
great many people spend considerably
less, as a small boy on an allowance OF
five celts for the day can testify to. But
for this sum he gets huge enjoyment out
of exploding three cents Of paper caps in
q two-cent toy pistol. Ranked against
him is the boy whose father spends SlU0
in buying all manner OF fancy fireworks,
and the chances are that the roor little
chap with his nickel gets more genuine
pleasure out of the day than the pam
pered youngster and his $l00 worth OF fun.
The rivalry among the fireworks dealers
at this season OF the year is almost pa
thetic in its fierceness. One would ex-
pect to lind them q jovial lot of happy fell
lows, exuberant with the Joy OF Fourth
of July, but the writer found them most
melancholy, dissatisfied, pessimistic
crowd OF men. He called ON a lot of
them, and when one was asked about
Ln6 dIHOuHb VI InUHty sllclV Ou tue Jul WI
he said:
''Do you expect me to give the secrets
of the trade away and make the com petit
tion 40 hot that there would be nothing
in it? There's nothing in it anyway, and
/ would rather be out of it than in it.
"It' meant the business.
When asked if patriotism had sagged
off, thus running the business. he said:
"No. the patriotism is all right. but
there's nothing in the business. don t
know what's the matter. Folks don t
buy fireworks the way they used to. But
the patriotism is all right"
The average Fireworks catalogue is as
rich in the use of the adjective as Cir
Gus programme, as, for example. take this
gem: 'These shells are the grandest pro-
duction OF the py yrotechnic art They
show every known color, and all the
beautiful combinations of colors, beside 5
streamers, shooting stars. ineteors. COM
sts. duration stars, sefpents, gold rain,
traiied stars, whirliggs parachutes.
mammoth spreaders, etc., etc. The
perfection to which this branch of pyro-
technics has reached, by years of ex-
pertinent by both native and foreign tai
ent. has had the effect of revolutionizing
the style OF large displays: making it pos
eible with them and with the addition of
our other aerial fireworks to produce the
grandest exhibitions.
II takes millionaire to buy fireworks
these days. il an up-to-date display is
50 be given. OF course they can be bough t
cheaply, but the smaller priced ones a.e
70 completely overshauowd by the mag.
nIficence of the costly article that the
poor man had better content HIM self
with tho humble bit eS Sciting firecracker
For instance, the best Roman candles
cost $3.50 per dozen: this is SIS each
which is rather expensive. These con-
taIn thirty balls, while the smallest ones,