The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1898-07-05
OLD TIME FOURTHS.
ACCOUNT OF A CELEBRATION OF THE
FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY.

Spread Eagle OralOr-FarAos OF AAla-
thumpians Fireworks Were Scarce, but
Enthusiasm Filled All Gaps.
Independence day is not celebrated as
it used to be. No longer do we see the
unique street professions with their
"horribles, the city fremen, and, in
the evening, the mpians-those
grotesquely attired individuals who at
tracted more attention and caused more
undiluted joy to well up in the youth
full heart than all the fireworks demon
strations of today, says the Detroit Free
Press. The time has gone by when from
the city hall steps or other public meet
ing place the orators of the day cleo
trify the people of the city and sur
rounding country with their spread
eagle speeches that in the good old fash
toned days were feature of all Fourth
Of July celebrations whether given in
the largest city in the land or the small
est town.
And with the passing of the quaint
street parades and the old time oratory
has gone perhaps forever the holiday
occupation Of the small boys who used
to sell ginger beer and lemonade with
more color in it than lemon and crack
ers and cheese that were a bit aged.
But these old time celebrations of indie
pendence day had their charms and
their simple, inexpensive peeuliarities
that the present day observances with
their noticeable lack of enthusiasm can
not replace. To the old resident who
lived and participated in the events and
customs Of 80 years ago or more there
is disagreeable hollowness, notice
able lack of concerted action in the pub
lie demonstrations that are now made
each anniversary of the nation natal
day.
One of the most interesting accounts
of the way early Detroiters celebrated
the day is given in the personal papers
of the late John R. Williams, who was
the first mayor of Detroit, and who fig
ured conspicuously in the city's early
history. G. M. Burton has large col
lection of these papers, and the follow
ing extracts are presented through his
courtesy 1t was the celebration Of the
fiftieth anniversary of the Declaration
of Independence given July 4, 1896,
and Detroit had invited as guests Henry
Clay, the great Kentucky orator and
American patriot Governor De Witt
Clinton and General Solomon Van Rens-
selaer of New York The programme
included a big dinner, boat ride on
the river, land parade and patriotic
oratory.
The dinner was of the subscription
variety, and there were about 300
names signed to the following agree
ment, Governor Lewis Cass and H. B.
Brevoort heading the list:
1--WE, the undersigned, agree and
promise to pay Major John Whipple the
sum of 81. so each for respective share
of a public dinner to be given on the
day Of independence in Governor Cass'
meadow, including one pint of good
madeira wine to each subscriber, agree
able to the terms of the accompanying
bill of fare, but all breakage at the ia
BILE to be chargeable to the individual
who breaks the article. -
Following was the bill of fare as
now preserved in Mr.. Williams own
handwriting:
Chicken, roasted and boiled.
Turkeys.
Roasted pigs.
Lamb, boiled and roasted
Veal, boiled and roasted.
Boiled hams. Roasted ducks.
Roasted pigeons and pigeon pie.
Round of beef, la mode.
| Fish, boiled and roasted.
Boiled and baked puddings custards, tarts
CRANBERRY and guaranty, II pounds of
almonds, raisins, figs, 200 good ci-
CARS, pint of best madeira
| wine to each subscriber,
| good old cheese,
/ Four gallons of good old port wine exclusive
of the madeira
Frederick Carlisle, who recalls some
of the characteristics of Fourth of July
celebrations in the early days, made
this interesting statement:
''In our parades we used to have fife
and drum corps, but no brass instru-
ments In 1886 or 1887 there was a
sort of carnival at Worthwhile The old
fashioned 'horribles' were feature of
the procession. Men and boys rugged
up in ridiculous costumes, some Of them
in OK hides horns and ALL participated.
We used to make masks of ordinary
brown paper, painted. Our fireworks
were very crude, consisting of cotton
wicking soaked in spirits of turpentine.
We had a bonfire on either side of the
principal street We would throw the
flaming balls of cotton saturated in tur-
pentine from one side Of the street to
the other. OF course we often found the
next day that we had been too self for
getful in our display of patriotic senti-
ment, for our hands were sometimes Sc
verely burned by holding the burning
balls too long before tossing them into
the air. Some of us guarded against
burns by first dipping our hands in
-four paste. In that Worthwhile celebra-
tion the Novi Greens, Colonel Hunger
ford commander, and the Livonia
Greens, independent military compa-
MES, participated in the parade. In
those early day celebrations Of Inde-
pendence day we often had OK roastings
that drew big crowds of people "