The Neihart herald. [volume] (Neihart, Mont.) 1890-1901, 1897-12-11

lava ~ IL D11Cll VI
fire upon him.
Then he spoke of the celebration. of
the preparations that had been made
for 1t, and the disappointment of the
class and the people if the music was
not given as printed on the programme
They had a duet in the ode, and it was
not possible to have it without them.
He prevailed in the end, and the prin-
cipal announced that the music would
all be sung, to the great joy Of the
scholars.
W~ashington's birthday proved to be
another delightful aboriginal summer
day in February, at least in the morn
ing, though it did not last quite all
day. The scholars of the nigh school
dined at home and were on the lawn
in readiness to take the barges that
were to convey them to "Fairyland,"
as Mr.. Banker had presumptuously
named his place, at two O'Clock in the
afternoon. The lake was very pretty,
with a small forest on the farther side
OF 1t, but there was little else to re-
mind one of the stories read in child
hood.
rs everything ready out at your
house for the great time, Phil?" asked
Lucy Archer, as a considerable group
gathered around the %teller's son.
Everything is ready, but when my
father got home rather late yesterday
afternoon he found that the flagstaff
man had promised to set up had not
been DONE" replied Phil. "He had to
work till near midnight to set it up
himself. Mother, Phoebe and | had to
help him to stand it up in the hole dug
for it about ten in the evening. Then
he sent us all to bed in order to be
ready for it to-day and filed up the
hole himself"
You had a hard time of it," added
Lucy. Il should think Mr.. Banker
could have found men enough to do the
work"
"A man was engaged to do it yester-
day afternoon, but he did not come as
he had promised" added Phil. But
here are the barges. The fare is half a
dollar out and back"
The scholars formed a merry party,
and the girls began to sing as soon as
they were seated and kept it up till
they arrived at "Fairyland." They
were more inclined to row in the two
boats on the lake than to do anything
else. By three o'clock-the hour ap-
pointed for the eXercises-there was
quite a large collection of people gath
cred on the premises. General Gain
bridge came in his carriage precisely
at the time and was received with the
most distinguished consideration by
the teller n cheered by the crowd in
general.
The scholars had taken their places
at the foot of the flagstaff on a plat
form provided for them. Another was
erected for the magnates of the town,
and all were seated. The band played
the national airs as an overture and
slid off from them into America"
whereupon the singers rose n sang
the hymn.
One of the clergymen of the place
then invoked the divine blessing, and
the general was properly announced as
the orator of the occasion in a fulsome
speech by the teller of the bank. The
Grafton was very long and very dry,
n the patience of the young men and
maidens of the high school was sorely
tried by the infection. 1t was quarter
past four when it was finished, and a
volley of signs went up from the sing
ers' seats when the end came. Nothing
could hurry the general in his dis
| course, not even the fearfully black
and threatening clouds that were pill
ing themselves up in the west, and he
could omit no portion of his account
of his ancestry from whom the name
OF the town was derived.
AS he finished, sharp flashes of light
ming blinded the eyes of the audience
and deafening peals of thunder nearly
stunned them. Mr.. Banker FASTENED
the proceedings. and the flag was run
up by his own hands with a salyo of
artillery. At the same time Phil hoisted
half way up the staff something like
the topsail of a ship on which appeared
the name Of the lake in large letters:
Lake Washington, Named in Honor
of the Father of His Country" The
band played the Star Spangled Ban
ner," and the choir sang it.
Mr.. Banker then rose on the plat
form, mi emitting the speech he
had intended to make, announced the
ode, written for the occasion by Mr..
Percival Lane, the honored principal
of the high school. In spite of the tenn
pest that was gathering it was sung
with brilliant effect by the scholars,
and the voices of both Conrad and
Olga could be easily distinguished in
the general harmony, and the solo was
applauded as though no storm black
ened the sky.
Suddenly the wind began to howl,
n a violent squat came down upon
the scene. Most of the people fled to
the house and barn, for great drops of
rain began to pelt them. The flagstaff
ton was carried into the lake, and
then the pole itself went by the board.
1t had been mortised into a timber
cross, which was rooted out of the
ground, as a tree displays its roots in a
hurricane.
Those near 1t saw a box thrown up
in the upheaval. Conrad ran to the
hole in spite of the %drenching rain. 1t
was the box of gold from the bank
vault
MI. Banker, who had retired from
the rostrum to the piazza of the house,
saw the flagstaff go down and the box
thrown up from the bowels of the