The Atlanta constitution. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1885-19??, 1895-07-08
SARGE PLUNKETT.
THE MANY and GREAT CHANGES OF
THE COUNTRY.
An Old-Tims Fourth of July-The People
Gathered and Liftened to Orators
and Alto the Barbecue.
For The Constitution,

MANNERS. III ihethous' IN pohtlcS ana III ie-
ligion.
/ have seen the day when a Jew had to
enter Georgia in the night time, and a dark
night at that, and then he had to be mighty
careful. Today the Jew is a leader in
politics, model in business, Justly proud
OF his women. and the other creeds might
find an example worthy to follow in his de-
votion to the synagogue and his ortho-
dcx simplicities.
have seen the day that a stranger would
have been lynched if caught among the ne
gro quarters of Georgia with a New York
Tribune in his pocket. Today If Old Horace
Greeley could appear the Georgia white man
would do more to his honor than the negro.
80 waSs the world. Nations mingle and
intermingle without jar; tongues jabber in
whatever language they verscd without
a thought of comment being created
our Fourth of July occasion is looked
upon by hat the population as great day
Tor making money-that is all. The Italian
trims up his fruit stand, the German has
ready his beer, the Irishman his whisky,
the Jew his cheap clothing the Georgia
cracker" is brimful of patriotism, but
think of his head in the morning.
Ihese old crackers" feel mighty bad on
the day after these national jubilations but
II has resolved itself that he dares not TO
curse single soul save the lowly China
mag We can curse the Chinaman vet
Tor short while; even he Will
soon have much prestige
some way or other that we win not dare
TO say a word about him and he will take
one of the "es" off his name If he sees
fit.
The young generation does not notice
such things as L have mentioned but
your fathers and grandfathers can tell
you that there is none of the spirit of an
old-time Fourth of July occasion TO be
found at this time in our celebrations. In
old times it was purely patriotic without
a thought of profit. A big barbecue was
always certain. 1t would be advertised
at every crossroads by lacking a notice to
the big trees. and talked of at the coun-
try store, at church and around the fire.
sides. For days before, the girls would
be hunting up their pretty ribbons, starch
ing their lace-bound petticoats and
bleaching their pretty faces. The boys
were singing all the days and working
like Trojans to get the crops laid by for
the occasion. Even the negroes looked
forward to al old-time Fourth with
feelings of keenest pleasure. Especially
did the old carriage driver brush up his
old 'stoveplpe" hat and have the old car
riage. harness and horses a-shining, that
no other folks should be finer than his
folks. 1 doubt ii ever king felt grander
than did these old slave carriage drivers
as they sat on the box outside, pulling
the lines over prancing steeds awaiting
the orders to go. These drivers were the
envy OF the whole plantation. Droves Of
shrt-tail urchns planted themselves be-
hind the clay roots to see him as he passed
and his position seemed to them to be the
highest a negro could ever wish. Jeru-
salem! how things do change!
The young generation, brought up to
contemplate the spending of millions in
preparation for big fairs and expostions.
will laugh when l tell them what great
preparations were made for these old
Fourth of July celebrations. 1t meant
the hauling OF twenty cords of wood the
digging of a long trench. the slaughter Of
several heeves, sheep ana hogs 7 ttoW.
the youngster smiles at the immeusity Of
this expense, but never mind. thee
was always a plenty of everything
good, good speakers to listen to and shady
slopes TO lounge upon-there was never a
sound from the soda founts but from crys
tai springs we drank and were satisfied.
Long before daylight, on the mornings
of these occasions, meats were smoking
and baking above the Goals in the trench
es- giving out an odor to whet the appe-
title and tease the multitude. As the door
grew grew the numbers. over the
hills and down the wales could be heard
the tramp OF horses, the rumble of wagons
and the echo of songs the people gath
cred from twenty miles away. The roads
in every direction were full of merry peo-
ple-some on horses, some in vehicles and
some a-foot. There you saw the typical
Georgia young man OF the day, his coat
on his arm, his red bandanna about his
neck, his hair glstening from hogs fat
and the story of George Washington and
his Ratchet running through his brain.
His strides showed the consciousness of
his strong manhood, and is he scaled the
fences for near cuts" and "cooned" the
IL no O imnrogCpd "a
confidence in young American hardihood
that can never be reached in all the train
ing Of all the gymnasiums of the world.
sweet part OF these occasions was that
il gave the young man chance to be with
his sweetheart. The boys had their sweet
hearts then, too and hand in hand a pref
ty girl and her beau kept n the middle of
the road, only stoppingS now and then Ut
streams 70 pull off their shoes and wade
through up 10 their knees, or else with
the innocence of the times, the young man
" ould gather tie pretty miss in his arms
ard safely land her upon the other shore.
Some of the girls and boys will gigele at
this and think it was coarse, but it was
only the gallantry of the olden times, made
necessary by the absence of bridges and
fC otlogs. H. these days young people do
not walk along hand in hand, nor the young
men do not carry their swoethearts in
their arms but the young fellows eaten
the girls by their arms in mighty greedy
way and they walk mighty close together;
in fact, they lean toward each other 1t
seems to me, till they are mighty nigh as
close together If she was in his arms.
L have walked twenty miles to one of the
old-time Fourth of July celebrations, and
cooned logs and waded streams, but | never
had a harder time than Brown and | had
on the last Fourth of July. OF course, it
was an excursion" and the train was
crowded to death and not drop OF water
could be had. l have been told that the
lemonade man cleared 100000 on that day
and divided up with the railroadcrs Tor
running forty miles hour past all
strames, keeping the crowd seven hours in
a desolate old field, eight miles from
anywhere, save q watermelon patch, the
owner thereof also making 100000 and di-
viding for the courtesies shown. Just as
the lemonade man had done
Brown noticed and L noticed the young
PEOPLE on that train. One of the prettiest
girls upon the train seemed to despise us
from the very start. She stuck a pin into
me seven times AMI into Brown twelve
times. l know she stuck the pin i'm us just
because we were old. for | noticed and
Brown noticed that she never stuck no pin
in the young fellows, and they scrouged
fCfty times tighter than Ne. did