Rocky Ford enterprise. (Rocky Ford, Colo.) 1887-1950, 1902-06-27
A Fourth of July Confession

licyo what you say.
Indeed do. Miss Darlington"
Fourth OF July is a farce! Then
you really think that7"
II mean to say that all the money
spent In firing on crackers and burn
ing rockets has no useful purpose"
lit expresses our feelings. think.
and that is all anything can do for us
In this world"
Il do not agree with you. There are
many simpler and more sensible ways
OF giving expressions to our emotions
than by filling the air with noise and
smoke. u is childish. Grown people
ought to be able to show their patriot
ism In n more sensible way"
Fudge. You are getting as dry and
unintercsting as those old books you
bury yourself In most Of the time. !
believe In life. Books are all well
enough In their way. but that is sener-
ally n very tircsome way"
The hot blood surIed Into the face
Of the young man Mt tho rctort. He
turned his gaze full on the girl mt his
side. hut she was already turning
away, calling softly to n robin hopping
In the shade OF IN old apple tree that
grew beside the cato leading into tho
farmhouse grounds.
.'Miliy." he called. rcproachfully.
walt till George Lounsbery comes
home from New York tomorrow and
you'll see what the Fourth OF July
means to man with real red blood In
his veins. He was up last year and
brought more than n hundred dollars
worth OF fireworks. don't believe
any one went to bed that night Mt all.
The sky was filled with red IRE and I
realized for tho first time what II
meant to be IN American"
''You mean the son OF Farmer
Lounsbery. supposc7"
"Ycs. He's n great man now. nj.
though he was born and grew up In
this illitcratc ncIghborhood."
"Miily-'
Miss Darlington. II you please. Mr..
Shakespeare. Docs your dingy old
young man has the right to address n
young lady that he met only four
weeks ago with rs much familiarity rs
though she was his sister,"
The girl tossed her pretty head with
m air that might have been learned
In the court OF n queen. although she
had little knowledge Of the ways Of
the world outside OF Mohawk Valley.
But was she not a woman. young.
pretty. proud. whimsical-as most
pretty young women are? And what
need had she for instructions in the
art OF coquetry? To the serious young
h.A nj
borhood with no other idea than that
of earning a modest living by teaching
in the public school she h.d knowledge
enough and to spare. He loved her.
OF course. There was no escape from
that. She knew 1t. too, as well as
though he had told her SO with all the
impassioned fervor of a Romeo. But
he had not told her so. How could he
when she met every attempt of his to
utter what filed his heart with good
natured railery.
rs he's Mr.. Lounsbery a friend
of yours?"
"A friend of mine? Indeed he is. l
have known him ever since l was n
child. He is great man now. Cash
Ter in bank in the city and trusted
with tons of money. Walt till you see
how things will move when he ar
rives."
He did wait, although with no pleas
ant anticipations. And that night he
saw the rockets streaking across the
sky and heard the honest country folk
cheer the neatly dressed. smooth-spok-
en- young man who set off whole pack
ages of fire-crackers with far less
thought that one of the wealthiest
among them would have struck a
match. And when 1t was all over, when
the last red flame had faded out of the
sky, the last pin-wheel had spit out Its
spiteful little life, the last bunch OF
firc.crackers popped and danced over
the singed and trampled lawn. Arnold
walked home alone through the woods
carrying the burnt end of single
cracker tightly clutched in his hand.
After all had he not been right
when he told Milly that all this cele
bration was noise and fury, signify
ing nothing?" She had boosted to him
that Mr.. Lounsbery would bring hun
dred dollars worth of fireworks from
the city to voice the patriotism of The
neighborhood. And her boast hat
been made good. A hundred dollars
Why, that was more than he was t.
get for the three months term o
teaching in the Randall district school
A hundred dollars! What could III
not have done with the money ,ha
had been consumed in an evening, TO
the glory of patriotism? He though
of the long, dreary struggle benin
him, and the dark, dreary, tediou
days ahead and great bitterness
clutched at his heart and an unfamil
lar oath rose in his throat and dc
manded that he give it tongue. VIVA
was all this boosted liberty If
brought nothing to one and so much I
another? Why should this young cour
try boy be favored by .ate so that tn
best positions in great city were hi
for the asking, while he. the SUDDEN
the scholar, the man with a real pu
pose and high aim, was left to wi
his way among such hopeless SURROUND
ings? Hopeless, indeed. For she VIII
had wakened in his heart new aspir
tons, made even the frownfng futui
bright with promise. she had turne
'r-z.. ht.. ,,,t+l, .naron1y ,1ord IN fnS