Evening star., 1896-07-04
TODAY WAS THE DAY
Small Boy and the Firec-acker
Rsigned Supreme.
PATRIOTIC SOCIETIES CELEBRATE
Exercises Held This Morning at the
Washington Monument.
THE GLORIOUS RTH

When in the course Of human events 1t
becomes necessary for small boy to fire
off crackers in order to properly celebrate
the birthday of his country. said small
boy is pretty likely to set of the aforesaid
frecrackers. and the rules and regula-
tons of the District Commissioners are
not likely to cut enough ice to chill q
small-sized glass of lemonade.
After many trials and tribulations and
doubts as to whether the Fourth of July
would really be the sort Of occasion that
1t has been in years gone by the day
celebrate dawned bright and early this
morning. at just about the time promised
by the Nautical Almanac. But the ire
pressible small boy did not wait for the
sun to rise before he began to make his
noise. Alarm clocks were not necessary.
He was up at daylight. though to some of
these who wanted good nights sleep 1t
seemed 81 though he must have stayed
up all night and conspired to explode
something or other about every thirty sec
onds.
Well" said one crusty individual this
morning. heaven be praised that the
Fourth of July, like Christmas. comes
ot1Snyone only once year TO my -, mind the
ceding on the silver question would be
the fact that those poor benighted people
would have two days in the year to cele-
brate-thc anniversary Of their separation
from Great Britain and Of their separa-
ton from the money barons Of the east
1 didn't get to bed last night until after
midnight. 1 hardly slept wink all night,
and l was awakened before daylight this
morning"
But he was crusty old chap, and had
not the slightest conception of the bless
ings Of liberty. To his mind liberty and
q mo
Those Permits.
To use the word license, however, Is to
but bring up sad yet fond memories of the
efforts Of the Commissioners to put a stop
to the celebration. except under certain re-
strictions. To say that the effort failed
disastrously is to put it rather mildly, for
the attempt to issue permits to all who ap-
piled could not be carried out There were
not enough permits to go around, and not
enough officials to fill them out as fast as
they were called for. Apart from that
there Is very strong impression that the
police would have failed to put the regula-
are sons of Old Erin, and they would be
only too glad to assist in the celebration
OF any occasion wheI1in England got the
worst Of 1t.
Are you going to insist that every bow
who celebrates must have a permit?'' ask
ed a Star reporter of q bsaWny guardian
of the peace.
Indeed and l am that. Every time 1
see small boy shoot of a firecracker l
am going to hail him and see II he has
permit. If he hasn't l am going to give
him one. I've got a pocket full of them"
A large gray-bearded policeman was
walking up the street this morning not a
mile from The Star office when a whole
pack was exploded directly under his feet.
He looked neither to the right nor to the
left. nor did he finch. 1t was evident he
was afraid the boys had not the necessary
permits and he had no desire to see them.
In point of fact the regulation providing
Tor permits was practically a dead letter
before the GLORIOUS Fourth dawned IT
was evident that 1T would be impossible to
give permit to every one who wanted one
and 1t was an obvious Injustice to dis
criminate against the thousands who were
not provided with the necessary cards. The
result vas that the police were not active
IN hauling In small boys and very few ar
rests were made. 1t is true that an effort
was made to put a stop to the firing of
giant cannon crackers, which shake the
very ground and echo and re-echo for many
miles around.
Went on Pfcnics.
Day broke rather cloudy and threaten
Ing, and the promises of the weather bu
reau were anything but reassuring. For
those who had planned to spend the day in
green fields and beside running brooks the
prospect was not a pleasant one Few
were daunted, however. and the outgoing
trains and the river boats were crowded to
the sunocatinR point on their morning
trips today: The cable cars were loaded to
the rail with passengers. who were in turn
ioaded down with lunch baskets and boxes
OF fireworks. so that 1t was a foolish per-
sen who could not guess that they were
plehicKers PIC intent on spending the day in
me country or at some of the down-river
resorts. For these and all others there
was JOY when. shortly after 10 o'clock. the
clouds began to break away and looked as
though the balance Of tne day might be the
best of picnic weather.
II has been great day for bicyclers, and
from early In the morning there has hr on
a constant stream of wheels along every
6urban resorts. Cabin John bridge and
Chevy Chase were the destinations for
many who did not care for an ali day's
ride, but there were many others who were
who pushed on to Great Falls. or in Other
directions, to Rockville, where the lynchinx
occurred early this morning, and even re
Baitlmore Quite a number took trains to
dtHerent points In the Cumberland valley
whence they started on more or less eY
tensive runs, which will probably last IN
I'll tomorrow night.
IA Altogether. 1t has been great day. and
Will not be over until the last rocket ia
fired tonight and the last fire balloon has
gone up in smoke. Notwithstanding tho
Iact that 1t started out with ANYTHING h,,r
fair promise. it has been a truly great and
glorious day. -'"
Did Not Celebrate.
In police circles today it was said tba.
there has been less firing than usual. but
this was not the result Of a general effort
on part OF the officers to interfere with
those who want to celebrate Thousands
OF Children are out Of town, and the fact
that there are to be fireworks at most Of
the excursion resorts had the effect of de-
c1easing the sales in many places where in
former years rushing business was done
only In few instances last night did the
ponce interfere with those who were cele-
brating, and there are always some police
men who want to do something a little dif.
ferent from others. Four arrests were
made. and the boys forfeited their coliate-
rails In the Police Court this morning
Burned fingers and faces were by no means
nearly SO numerous as usual on such DAYS.
and during the early hours Of the day there
were no fires.
Two boys. Edmund and Henry Petit. who
wanted to celebrate, came to grief because
they got a supply of fireworks without
having money to pay for them. They were
out early in the morning celebrating with
expensive fireworks, and Policeman Cliff
ford arrested them. In the cellar of their