Connecticut western news., 1897-07-01
INDEPENDENCE DAY.
Its Peculiar signifcsnce-suggest as to
 It's Observance.

i Its Peculiar Sfgniflcance-SugRestfon as to Its Observance.
 No national holiday kept anywhere among the peoples of the world has quite the significance which we attach to the Fourth of July. England has no such fete day. Her development has been slow, continuous, unmarred by any really rad ical ,convulsions which essentially up- turned her political status. France, 1t is true, celebrates the taking of the Bas- tile, which inaIigurated the French revo- lution, but it is in a perfunctory fashion, which in no way reflects great national sentiment. Germany makes an imperial holiday of the date of the self crowning of Emperor William I at Versailles, but | this is rather Il glorifcation of the Hohen- zollern race, specially dear to the Prus- sian heart, and only acquiesced in by the rest of the Germanic empire, which has had-lnany kaisers of other reigning fam | flies before.
 The Declaration of Independence on
 July I, 1776, with us had a peculiar sig
 nificance, far greater than Lexington, or Bunker Hill, or the storming of Ticon- deroga, or the first organization of the continental congress, all of which occurred in 1775. The act of political birth was | fully consummated before that solemn |
 we call Independence day. But all that year of struggle before the adoption of i Jefferson's great masterpiece of national 1 self assertion simply marked us in the | eyes of foreign nations as rebels fighting against their rightful sovereign. When | the declaration pealed out it's resounding | trumpet tones to humanity, tho power and logic of the plea in justification of l the taking up of arms at once gave us n | new status. It was the legal seal which consecrated and made official the actual i fact. Thenceforward the United States began to be known not as U rebellious mob, but as q gallant people, struggling | against tyrannical oppressors. Probably
 no political act ever had more immediate and radical effect tba0 this great docu- ment, far more indeed than its author and signers ever anticipated. They considered
 they owed it to themselves and to the cause they represented to set forth the req sons for revolt to the world. It was at once glori6 cd as the magma charta of a newborn commonwealth. Thenceforward | it was but natural that our history as a | people should date from this time, as 1t | was the cornerstone, even the whole | foundation, of our nation building.
 It has sometimes been said that the cele- | bration of the independence anniversary
 has fallen of in the physical joyousness
 and enthusiasm which used to make it
 the great day of the year, particularly
 children's day. Perhaps this is so in large cities where life has become more artifi-
 cial and blase. It may be that the keen
 sense of the peril of fires from the explo-
 sion of Chinese crackers and other fire works has grown stronger, too, in com
 munities where there is an enormous con-
 centration of wealth in buildings But it is
 pleasant to know that in the rural regions | and small towns there are the same old fash
 toned hullabaloo and innocent, simple
 minded jubilee of old and young. What if
 the orator, too, makes the American eagle
 spread his pinions wide and emit his most ! piercing shrieks! This is as 1t should be.
 Probably modicum of bombast and rhe- f torical fustian really goes quite us far in
 whetting the patriotic appetite as would
 the most rational and painstaking exposi-
 ton.
 The traditional Fourth of July celebra-
 tion, with its picnic junketings and social
 assem mblages and its fireworks, whether composed of gunpowder or of eloquence, is
 wholesome institution, good to encour-
 age. May it wave as long as Old Glory f streams above itl Ono thing may be sug-
 gested in this connection, however, in view
 of the fact that it is so much a children s day. The celebration might be made to
 stimulate young people to a closer and
 keener study of American history. Why
 should it pot be made the occasion of giv-
 ing prizes and other public honors to those
 pupils 9f the public schools who shall have
 passed the best examination in the history
 of their courtryg Such n funct. oTI 9;s th.ss
 might be 50 managed as to invest the day
 with tenfold more interest to the old as
 well as the yeung. c. T. F.