Evening star., 1899-07-01
Children Preparing for Vigorous
Celebration.
some new STYLES OF EXPLOSIVES
Wholesale Dealers Report Larger
Sales Than Last Year.
NOVELTIES IN Ply PYROTECHNICS

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| with the grown-up children of the family
| are preparing to celebrate the Fourth of
| July in noisy manner and with blaze of
pyrotechnics. Everything lima aginable which
| will make a noise in the daytime and show
a light at night and which carries smell
| of gunpowder and saltpeter is being laid in
| by the juvenile population of Washington
against the coming patriotic celebration.
1t behooves the nervous citizen to va
moose very early in the morning to sylvan
| glades and glens If he desires to escape the
| cannonading which the urchins have in con-
temptation Firecrackers, torpedoes and
giant crackers by day, with Roman candles,
sky rockets and bombs after nightfall will
| make eighteen lively hours in this vicinity
The wholesale dealers in fireworks report
| that the sales this year are In excess of last
year. Thus in quantity the ensuing cele-
pfaton may be expected to be excessive
over last fourth of July. Furthermore,
| some new and more devilish devices for
| breaking tue peace of the neighborhood
| nave been manufactured and placed on sale.
anu as the small boy is eager to grasp at
| every opportunity offered in this direction
| an Improvement, If 1t can be called such in
the quaiity OF the din may be looked for.
| All over the city little shops have sprung
| UP for the sale of fireworks at retail and
regular dealers have laid in stocks. The
ohlLese laundrymen display the little red
| packages of iirecra Ckers in their shop win
! dows and prospective purchasers will have
| no dlincuity in getting dinmakers if they
have the price,
| Styles of Firecrackers.
| A star reporter who visited some of the
wholesale and retail fireworks establish
| ments gained idea of what is in store
! 1of the stay-at-home- on the Fourth of
July, by looking over the stocks of goods
and 1nquiring about the ready-seuers. The
| oid-fashioned frecracker, dear to the heart
OF every boy, is still the prime favorite.
While some crackers are made in this coun-
| Try, the Chinese article in small sizes st1u
| noldS Its place in the market. The Amer
icah makers excel in larger fireworks but
| tney cannot compete with the patient
Chlnamah In getting up the small crackers
"A package OF hrecrackerS can be bought
| 1or cents now, and the contents will keep
an dnambltiouc youngster occupied for
some time, and afford him the delight of
! making much noise, if he does not shoot
them all Off at one time. But the up-to-
date American lad is growing away from
the little crackers, and now demands a
bigger noise, for which he is willing to pay
| more. so the American fireworks makers
nave introduced the cannon crackers.
The largest IS thirteen inches long and
| makes a report like a cannon. If it We're
| exploded in house it would shake the
building and break up the furniture in the
| room One of these can be bought for 10
cents. Then there is smaller size but
| that Is an ear-splitter, nevertheless, which
| seiis Tor 10 cehts dozen. Another favor
| lte in this line is called the thunderbolt: it
| is five inches long, and would take boys
| fingers off like buzz saw if he held on to
| 1t. This sells for 10 cents dozen.
/ Nocturnal Fireworks.
The oid-fashioned Roman candles are still
| on sale and are very cheap. They can be
| bought for 90 cents a dozen now, where
| they used to sell for 70 cents. They are
| sold in great quantities. as they furnish a
| reasonable amount of display for small
/ sum of money. Skyrockets are always good
| sellers, and many new and beautiful yarie-
| ties are to be obtained of the dealers
| Ihere Is the plain old screecher which goes
l up with whizz like a fiery serpent and
! drops stick upon the head of the unsus-
! pecting citizen after a time. Then there
! is the parachute which after ascending as
| a rocket, bursts In the air and spreads
flame and sparks in the form of a para
chute. The willow tree rocket bursts and
| sends down long, dropping streamers of fire,
ana the chain rocket feStoonS the dark sky
| with chains of fire. These are EXPENSIVE
ranging in price from % cents to 81 each
! There Is large variety of the familiar
4 old pin wheel. triangles which are pinned to
tree or fence and spin around, sending
! out showers Of sparks in every direction
These range in price from 8 cents to a dol
| lar. and some of them are very beautiful
The lively little devil-chasers have ALWAYS
! been favorite with the nischievous boy
| and they are on sale by the thousands at
| 10 cents dozen. These are set off on the
| ground and skip around in every direction
making a great sputtering the while.
Torpedoes and bombs.
Torpedoes are said to sell rapidly this
| year The little girls like them and they
| come cheap, 10 cents a dozen packages for
the small ones. The ''cat-scat' torpado g a
| terror, and dropped by the side of an ,m-
| suspecting person would produce great
| sport fer the small boy. Allied TO the tor
| pedo family is the paper cap, for exploding
| of which various devices are provided Giant
| caps are on sale and it is a. favorite
| pastime to place them on the street car
| rails to be set off by the car wheels An
other device is walking cane, in which a
| bank cartridge is placed and when struck
| upon the pavement expledes.
Ihe American manufacturers now get up
| very elaborate pieces in bombs one of
these, called the dragons nest. expiodes
| nigh in air and scatters brood Of serpents
| and dragons in every direction. Floral
| bombshells are also sold, which make a
noise and please the eye Al the same time
| Greek fire is sold in great quantities This
| is burned on the sidewalk and throws
| glare OF colored light upon the surround
iEgs, besides filling the air with pungent
odor OF Fourth Of July, which Is iniiis-
pensable to the happiness OF The average
child. Flying pigeons are set off on the
ground and soar into the air, leaving
wake of sparks.
ular. A boy can get a nickel-plated pistol
for 10 cents which looks like the real thing
but shoots only caps. The cannons are of
all sizes but all deadly. The necessary ad-
| junct is a glass bottle of powder. usually
and when careless match is added 10 the
equation, the ambulance is next in order
Some of the Seasons Novelties.
This year finds the dealers with an end
less variety of small truck in fireworks,
| novelties which bear attractive names, and
are sold at low prices. Their mission is to
make an explosion and fash, and the
one which creates the biggest noise gets
the most pennies from the boys. There are
heavenly twins" 'fiying Dutchmen,"
Dewey cbasers.'' devil among the tall
ors,'' and hundred other varieties
One of the novelties of the season is a
whistling firecracker 1t makes a shrill
whistle before exploding, and the boy
thinks he is getting double dose of noise
for his money. The whistiing blows a long
blast as warning before setting sail for
its lofty fight in air.
The Cinnamon who deal in fireworks have
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