The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1900-07-12
The Fourth at Oakland and the Park.

person III oakland TO Dellove pnat the
great National Holiday, July 4th,
had arrived last Wednesday WAS the
continuous explosion of fire crackers
and torpedos and the closing of the
bank, pOstoffice and a number OF the
stores
Smiths Military Band, dressed in
the new uniforms, came out and af-
ter playing number of selections on
the streets, went to Mountain Lake
Park where a program for the day
had been arranged by uperintendent
Rudisill. Here large number of
eXcursionistS had arrived and spent
the day walking around the well kept
Park. In the afternoon "Buck" Ian
dis, the youngest brother of Congress
man Lands, of Indiana, delivered a
masterful Fourth of July grafton to a
small audience. The speaking took
place in the new auditorium and for
an hour or more the talented young
orator was listened to with marked
| attention. Probably one of the best
things that Mr. Lands said during
his speech was his description of the
birth of the American Government.
AS near as it can be remembered this
is his word picture;
Zone day, but few generations ago,
an old man stood in the belfry of Iu-
dependence Hall in Philadelphia. His
hands trembled with eXcitement-his
eyes cleaned with patriotic fire. Be
meath, in secret session, sat band of
| statesmen. They were the courage
and the conscience of the colonies.
Before them lay paper. 1t was the
most terrible indictment of despotism
which humanity ever filed in the
court of He,ven. 1t was penned by
a Virginia farmer, and it is known to-
day as the Declaration of Indepen-
dence.
"Passionately did those statesmen
plead. Breathless was the waiting
multitude. At last, about 9 o'clock
in the afternoon, the door of the
chamber opened, voice whispered
1t is passed. that old man in the bel
fry sprang to his post, the heroic tones
of Liberty Bell filled and thrilled the
| sky; flags unfurled, cannon shook the
earth, thousands cheered and sang,
and the American Republic came in
to the world.
THAT bell was made in England,
| but its music was made in Heaven.
1t rang the dirge of regal wrong, and
the birth song of liberty and joy. 1t
| plunged the fathers into war; it plung-
ed the thrones into woe. The mes
sage of the defiance was bourne across
the hills, and upon returning waves
of air, from cold and bleak New Eng
land, and from magnolia breathing
| Carolina, came the battle-cries of
glory. A shaft of light fell on the old
arm chair, and age arose in freedoms
armor, while to the alter OF devotion
the Continental mother led her child"
Mr.. Lands is an uncompromising
Republican and his powers as an ora
tor have already been recognized by
the political managers of the coming
campaign. He has already been de-
luged with requests to arrange dates
to speak not only in his native state
but in many parts of the Union.
Mr.. Landis' favorite expression in
referring to William Jennings Bryan
is 1.-The political soubrette from Ne
braska," and that expression has
travelled all over the country. The
Indianapolis papers published it, and
it has been copied into the papers
everywhere, and has been the cause
of more roasts from the Democratic
press than his Congressional brother
ever dreamed of getting.
A story he tells in illustrating the
story of the flag is like this:
1T was day in summer during
the war with Spain. A band of peo-
pie stood in the East Room, awaiting
for the Presidents reception. The
wire that entered the room linked
the nation with the ships and the
tents, emergencies came with the
minutes, yet Notwithstanding this,
William Mckinley came at the time
appointed to shake hands with his
countrymen. In the line of visitors
| saw a little girl. She was barefoot
ed, she was bareheaded, and her
clothes were plain. She did not have
a court dress, prescribed by royal fol-
ly. She wore the Bingham apron of
childhood. She joined the throng
through curiosity, and before she was
aware she was in the moving line.
She grew frightened and wished to
run past the President, but she did
not. He stopped and stopped her,
spoke few fatherly words and pluck
| ed a rose from his coat and placed it
in her hand and she walked through
the grand corridor as proud as a
princess. That was a simple thing,
perhaps, to some, too frivolous to
mention tonight. but in that roses
brief errand from the hand of the
great to the hand of the poor mans
child it shed its fragrance through
out the temple of the Republic, and
with the sage of Marshfield eXclaim-
ed, Thank God am an American.
A Community Matter.
In 1h;o cnooop of hnupfiful cpnps in