Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-07-05
THE FOURTH IN A MINING TOWN.
They Make More Noise Than in the
Efiefe Eaat,

The eastern man, woman, or child, as
the case may be- believes forvently that
when 1t comes to the proper celebration of
the Fourth Of July their own particular
community beats all the rest of creation in
the matter of eloquence. enthusiasm and,
particularly. noise. If any of these con-
celted individuals had been in IL western
mining town-say the burg of Butte Mon,
for inStance-this morning, they would
have found by this time of day that the
towns where they hailed from on this side
OF the AlleShGnies would have been grave
yard like in comparison with the county
seat of Silver Bow county. When mid
night arrived last night no enc would
nave needed church bell to announce it,
ferhaps 1t would be more correct to say
when that hour arrived Saturday night for
the actual date of the anniversary is ceIe-
brated out there whether it falls on a
vulgar or holy day.
In the east we have firecrackers and
srnall-caliber pistols of demure detona ting
powers, and occasionally a bomb is ex-
plcded to greet the glorious birth of In
dependence day. We consider that means
noisy enough To make every throne in the
world totter. In Butte the frecracker
with which the middle of the night is
split asunder to announce the arrival Of
the immortal Fourth is the stick of pow
der as the concealed dynamite in the shape
does not siss or splutter like firecracker
1t just simply howis like sixty score of
mountain lions smelling jack rabbit at
once. In Butte and its immediate suburbs
Saturday night probably 1000 of these
gentle reminders announced themselves in
d space of ten minutes, and ushered in a
constant volley that kept up an hour or
more.
AS periods, commas. colons and semi
colons to punctuate this pandemonium the
hoarse bellows of forty-fves; the keener
cracks OF thirty eights and the sharp cries
of Winchesters rang out in every direc-
ton but not with the deliberate pop-pop-
pop-that characteriZes the deliberate east
ern method of managing such affairs West
ern people don't do their shooting on such
an occasion like We do any more than
they do when indulgence in it is a matter
of vital necessity. The salute to the
Fourth with gun out in Butte is proceeded
with on the tanning system. 1t Is held up
ward with the right hand and the left is
famed ever the hammer as rapidly as
possible. The result Is series of reports
so close together as to be scarcely dis
cernible apart.
Multiplying such condition by hundreds
and adding it to the other varieties of
patriotic noise described will give faint
idea of what occurs in Butte on Fourth Of
July morning. and continues with little
men there bear marks of their celebrations
of this sort in the past. The writer was
talking with a one-armed man who was
running for small office in Silver Bow
county the year w. w. Dixon laid out Tom
Garter for Congress in Montata.
Were you in the war; he was asked,
with an inquiring look at his empty sleeve.
This here he remarked. with a smile.
shaking the sleeve in the air. No, indeedy.
Bowed her off las Foth O. July shootin' a
stick of powder"
Which shows that patriotism In peace is
sometimes as dangerous as it is in war.