Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1898-08-17

DAY after peace papers were 81,
fled to a German ship.
PANTOMINE FLAG RAISING.
In the stiffness of Saturday night,
when the county authority was
scattered and in their respective
homes; when the clerk of the board
of County Commissioners was way
in his home in Tuscarora Valley,
and when the jsnitor of the Court
House, and county grounds, was
with his family sleeping the sleep of
the righteous, and when almost all
the people were in the arms of slum-
Der, some human owls enjoyed
themselves with a pantomime flag
raising on the Court House grounds,
using the county flag pole on which
to display their burlesque flag. 1t
is lmmagined the procession moved
as silently as ghosts. Their band
went through the motion of footing
music but made no music. The
band major doubled himself all over
and turned a summerset and stood
on his head on the knob of bis stsff,
while the dirty rag of flag, about
three feet by six feet, that was so
thinly woven that it would not have
made a good mosquito bar for the
soldiers at Santiago was unrolled,
and in silence was fastened where
the stars and stripes are won't to be
fastened and pulled to the top Of the
splendid pole in the Court House
yard. The sports at the work quiet.
ly laughed and grinned from ear to
ear, and silently swung their hats as
if in cheer, and the band again went
through the silent motion Of music
footing, aud the drum major fell off
the head of his staff onto his feet.
They were ready for the spec ch
making. They were SO wicked that
no pantomime preacher could be
found TO invoke the Divine favor.
The captain of the band silently in
troduced the speaker, who proceeded
TO talk to the pantomimes in sign
language, which reporter in sign
language reports as follows:
Fellow Tougbs-I have no intro
duc.ion for this subject, but Jump
into the middle of it at once, and say
fraternally to you all, that every one
of you feels the meanness Of this bur.
lesque. but it is BETTING your real
state in society, for truly, if you had
justice meted cut to you, the PEN
itentiary would be your abiding
place tonight. It is very plainly to
be seen that you are all on the road
to the hangman's moose, and all that
you have to do is to keep on in !
this crooked road and you'll get !
there. If Rhine or Suits could
catch you, they'd pull you into Court,
and Judge Lyons would sentence
you to a term at checker playing with
your nose in the window bars of
Castle StoIer. You think to excuse
yourself for placing that peanut sack
at the head of the flag pole by saying
the flag should be floating. That's
two thin an excuse Fellow Toughs
This is a glorious occasion, tie
Var is over. and the saddest part is
We did not &c. out to win q pension I
ut the expense of the business Of the
If the flag that We unfurl
to, night is not the stars and stripes
i! will answer as the emblem Of the
Proctocol OF peace. That glorious
Proc.ocol that we have flung to the
brcez,, long may it wave, long
enough 10 get some humane and
stable notions OF honesty and decency
knocked into your thick pates.
They will no longer need the stars
and stripes on that magnificent pole,
for the war is over, and we'll pocket
all we took from Spain and wish fer
more. That's what I call true
What's the use of bav
ing pole if you don't put flag on
it. See how grandly our dirty rag
floats. I rejoice with you over the
glorious success Of this movement,
though we bad to do it at the time
o day when grave yards yawp, and
you stsal chickens, and any other
thing you can lay your hands on, it
shows your inborn aptitude for mean
ness and deviltry. Satan is cur
friend and he will stand by us to the
end and eventually roast us on a
spit. Take my advice aud reform,
and never do mean thing like this
again. I feel, myself, so mean and
small for being hero that I c;uld
crawl through gimlet hole. In con.
clusior fellow toughs, permit me to
thank you for the attention you have
given me. We rejoice that the wer
is over. killing people under The
mask Of raisin. them to higher
plain Of civilization is more cont. M
ptable than raising that rag on the
pole in front of us. Shooting people
in the name of humanity and stable
government is bigger fraud than
you fellows, and stealing Cuba, Porto |
Rico, and the Philippine Islands in
the name of advancing a higher and
better civilization is meaner than our
performance around this pole. This
is demonstration of which we will
have to be quiet. To pull up dirty
thing like that on an American flag
pole is as mean as pulling down the
American flag for which General
Dix said man ought to be shct.
Now dearly beloved toughs, you will
all have to slip to your abiding places
ashamed of this work, and stand
around like thieves to catch every
word the people say on Sunday
morning about this performance.
The crowd silently went through the