St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-07-10

in Boston harbor He then gave tn
history of the formation of the American
army with graphic account Of the bat
tie Of Bunker Hill The legislature o
Virginia was the first, he said, to pro
pose total independence and gradual,
this idea spread until the Declaration o
Independence was signed July 4, 1776
The exercises closed with the singing o
"America" by the audience.
THE EVENING CELEBRATION.
The evening programme was the only
part of the days proceedings not inter.
rupted or made unpleasant on account
Of rain. Band concerts commenced at
8 O'Clock, st. Johnsbury band in Court
house yard and Harmony band in Rail-
road street park, and the crowd enjoyed
excellent music till nearly 10 O'Clock.
There was also good display of fire.
works in Court house yard which was
greatly enjoyed by the large crowd in
the streets. Thus ended in st. .Johnsbury
the celebration of the Tooth anniversary
of the birth of our beloved country.
NOTES OF THE DAY.
The Village and Oxford, N. H., ball
teams were ready for the contest on the
campus at the appointed time, but it was
then raining hard and the grounds were
left in condition that made ball playing
impossible.
Those who took part in the parade
fully realized that Eastern Avenue is
bad road to travel Immediately after a
hard rain.
During the celebration Friday night
fire cracker, exploding in the air, fell on
an awning over window in the A. D.
Rowell Co. store, setting it afre and
burning it up. 1t also cracked the col
ored glass and it will have to bereplaced.
1t was close call for bad fire.
No serious calamities from cannon cx.
ploson, ETC., have been reported. One boy
received slight injury to his hand and a
man carried off little powder in his face,
but that is the extent of the damage.
The two bands did excellent service
during the day and the village has rea-
son to be proud of Them 1t was the
first appearance of Harmony band in
their new uniforms and they received
many compliments.
There was little sleep in this village
the night before the Fourth, less in fact
than has even heretofore been customary
on this great occasion. The small boy
commenced the racket early Friday, the
mlddle-sized boy took it up later in the
day and kept it up till dark, when the
big boy commenced to get in his work
which lasted till near the dawn of day.
There was continuous blowing of tin
horns, explosion Of cannon crackers, ring
ing of bells, ETC., until a thunder storm
about three O'Clock interrupted proceed
ings and gave people trying to sleep the
much needed opportunity.
The celebrations of last Friday night
were carried considerably too far when
the fire alarm was rung at the corner of
Webster and Summer streets. This act
OF vandalism cost the village 500 as the
hremen responded promptly to the alarm
Another mean act was to destroy the
stand erected on the common for the
speaker of the day. This stand was con-
tributed by Bragg & Morris and torn
down by the boys sometime during the
night.
Saturday was bad day for soda water,
soft drinks, ice cream, etc, and the vend-
ers of such were somewhat disappointed
over the proceeds Of the day. But the
weather could not be helped and it
worked bad all around. clear sky
with the sun shining at the rate of 90
degrees in the shade would have brought
a big crowd into town, made them
thirsty and liberal patrons OF soda foun-
tains, soft drinks, etc. 1t might also
have increased the sales in the different
stores, but this is doubtful, as Fourth
OF Julycrowd is not usually out for shop
ping purposes, peanuts, popcorn and fire
crackers being more in order.
A good number of people celebrated
out OF town, Burke, Newport and Green's
boro being the main points of attraction.