The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1902-07-04
The
Fourth
Of July.
Copyright 1901 by Abby Press.

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rHANKSGIvING, with its mince-
i pies, turkey and cranberry sauce,
and a football game in the afternoon,
played under gray skies and with toot-
ing of horns-Thanksgiving, may
say. il good; and Christmas, with n
giittering tree or With stocking hung
outside the door, which, in the morn
ing, bulge with mysterious presents,
and the overflow on the chair or the
foor- Christmas, may remark. Is ex-
cellent. But as for the small boy, give
him the glorious Fourth, with liberty
and death. a toy pistol that gives him
lochjaw, and rocket stick that de-
scends and hits him in the eye. What
q long and weary way we older people
must have came that we now dread
the noise of the torpedoes and the
cracking of firecrackers and prefer the
silence of the woods or the lnurmur
Of the sea to the patriotic pleasure
Of firing Off barrels of gunpowder.
The day before the Fourth Of July
was one of anticipation and excitement
for US boys; but there We're six loads
OF hay in the meadow below the house
which it was necessary to get in before
the morrow, and our boy friends turn
ed out to help us, and all the pitch
forks were in demand, even the sawed
on one with three tines. How boys
delight to work when they don't have
to, They pitched hay all day like
good fellows and got red and tired
and dusty, and when they went home
IN the evemdng, they growled because
their mothers asked them to bring q
little coal and wood, they were SO
tired. There were three of us on a
side to pitch hay from the shocks onto
the wagon; and We would hurry so
~ to be able to rush around and help
the other side. which we did quite
often, to their chagrin and our tri-
umph. in our hurry we occasionally
stuck the fork into the hired man
ON the load and his remarks we're ap-
propriate, but not repeatable.
Hurrah! Here goes the last load,
and the horses tug until the skin on
their launches is wrinkled, and the
wagon moves slowly through the
meadow with the big load swaying at
every jolt Then through the wide
open doors Of the barn it goes, and
the horses feet scramble on the wood
en- floor, and with last effort the
hind wheel rolls up. Then the horses
are taken out and we sit on the wagon
tongue and eat a watermelon that has
been In the spring until it has beer
soaked with coolness.
And now we had time to realize that
tomorrow was the glorious Fourth!
But would 1t rain? That was the point
Of gloom in the bright prospect. II
ha9 been known in former years to dc
Just such diabolical thing. We cast
On anxious eye at the barometer, The
Tcak, for the old fellow was in the
habit Of beckoning every cloud in the
sky to- come his way until he had
gathered enough, together for storm;
but there was just one harmless little
spray of cloud floating in the sunset
over his head. SO we took heart Of
hope. After supper we looked at the
fireworks again, counted over the red
green and yellow Roman candles
probably the same kind which that
noble Roman, julius Caius Caesar,
used when he wrote him immortal Gal.
lie Wars. Then there were the thin
shanked rockets and the lunches ol
Chinese crackers, piled up, with theil
queer celestial notices on the red pa
Fer, indicating the dialect which was
spoken in Chicago where the crackers
were made, but We firmly believed thai
they came from Peking, and that was
where the American manufacturers got
their cue, I've no doubt. After the in.
ventory was finished, we decided to &c
Immediately to bed, in the vain hope
that we would go to sleep and /,
wouldn't seem long till morning.
We woke up about four o'clock ant
II flashed with thrill to our hearts
that this was the Fourth, as we heart
the anvils going off in the town. Hur
rah for George Washington! Ths
great day had arrived! We got dress
ed. or partly SO, and rushed down stairs
and helped ourselves to box of tor,
pedoes apiece and banged them under
the windows of the rooms where the
rest of the family were asleep, OF
threw them against the stone sprinl
house or at each others feet Then W,
went over to wake up our grandfath
er's family, to the full consciousness
that this was the day we celebrate
After we thought they were sufficiently
aroused, we started back, and jus
then a giant firecracker exploded neal
our feet and we didn't do thini
but jump. II was so sudden. as they
~nu In pouaIo nur LIND n a ri cd rain