Arizona republican., 1898-07-04

'The moment had arrived. The lucifer was ready. We did not pro- pose to lose an iota of the excitement. both pairs of eyes not more than four inches from, and directly over dhat packing of powder.
 Well, the flash came. And the boom was heard for long distance. Father and mother found us groping about, screeching and sightless. It seemed ages before the good old doc tor arrived, and it was two months before we were permitted to emerge from the dark room.
 well, we were cured. I have re- mained cured ever since and while l have all the old time enthusiasm for my country, and while the declaration of independence thrills me and fills me with the same feIvor as of yore 1 have a holy horror for the noise and smoke and powder stink still deemad nece ssary as adjunctS of the Fourth of July. I long to get away from it. dread it's coming. I suffer from the first sound of the little sidewalk tor pedo, through the fzzing and snap ping of the crackers, twitch and shiyer at the booming and the burs ing of the cannons and the bombs, until the last scrap of the toy pistol gives notice on the morning of the fifth that an- other twelve months will elapse before l shall be again compelled to undergo the penalty of these new, noisy and costly inventions.
 "On the morning of the 5th I shall take up your paper with trembling fingers and with moist eyes read the list of casualties. Poor poWder burn. little Americans. Little sufferers. My old heart already beats faster at the thought of the thousands who on that morning will feel as I did all swathed in bandages in a dark room so many years ago.
 Millions of dollars will go up in noise and smoke in the next twenty four hours. Gone for what? To amusp for minute little children and grown up loonies. It does seem to me as if we could invent some other kind of Fourth of July amusement for the children. I believe We could What battleships we might build for the wasted money. My, my.
 "Oh, no, I would not stop it if I could. Life goes on. One year fol- lows another. There is little change in a hundred years. Everything has a purpose. I have small doubt that the noise, and, perhaps, the smoke creates an impression, and one per ihaps that could not be created in any other way. We have a great and glorious country. We are a grear. a noble, an intellectual people. In no other nation under the glowing sun of ages can you find such response to the fathers call to arms as that dis played by the United States at the present day. And our brave boys go gleefully to the front carrying the gage of battle to the foreign foe, almost as if they were marching to the tunes of happy music to the wedding Ieast of the Bookcases of Liberty and Love.
 'sThe frecrackers, the torpedoes, the snappers and the chaserS, perhaps, have played an important part in the rearing and nurturing of just this feel ing.
 No, sir, I would not stop it if I could Go on with the noise and the smoke. I guess 1 am.just as l0onie as the rest of you. Wait moment, please I'll walk down town d bit with you. Now, then, we're off. l feel very spry tonight, somehow, and by the way, have forgotten my walk ing stick. Say, where do the young sters buy those large bombs?'