The herald-advance. (Milbank, S.D.) 1890-1922, 1902-07-04
A Fourth Of July Confession

BY CHARLES EUGENE BANKS.
Copyright. 1902, by Daily Story Pub. Coz
Mr.. Arnold, | don't think you be-
lieve what you say"
Indeed l do, Miss Darlington"
Fourth Of July is a farce? Then
you really think that?"
Il mean to say that all the money
spent in firing off crackers and burn
ing rockets has no useful purpose"
1T expresses our feelings, l think,
and that is all anything can do for us
in this world"
i 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. 1t is childish. Grown people
ought to be able to show their patriot
ism in a NOR sensible way"
Fudge. You are getting as dry and
uninteresting as those old books you
bury yourself in most OF the time. l
believe in life. Books are all we'll
enough in their way. but that is gener-
ally a very tiresome way"
The young man stopped to the side
of the path and picked up a dry twig,
held it before his eyes for a moment
and then swapping it sharply threw the
ends into the air.
Why isn't that as good an express
sion as though it had been tightly roll
ed paper with a little saltpeter con-
fined at it's heart? If l break the stick
with a devotional thought concerning
the Declaration Of Independence /
shall experience as sublime a thrill
as though l had fired off a cannon"
you might, Mr.. Wiseman. but we
are not all SO gifted with imagination.
Most of us require something outside
of ourselves to us sublimely."
The hot blood surged into the face
of the young man at the retort. He
turned his gaze full on the girl at his
side, but she was already turning
away, calling softly to a robin hopping
in the shade of an old apple r that
grew beside the gate leading into the
farmhouse grounds.
"Milly!" he called, r~eproachfully.
"Wait till George Lounsbery comes
home from New York tomorrow and
you'll see what the Fourth Of July
means to a man with real red blood in
his veins. He was up last rear and
brought more han a hundred ollar
worth of fireworks. | don't believe
any one went to bed that night at all.
The sky was filed with red fire and
realized for the first time what it
meant to be In American"
"You mean the son of Farmer
L%ounsbery, l ~suppose?"
Eyes. He's a great mar now, al.
though he was born and grew up in
this illiterate neighborhood."
"Milly-"
Miss Darlington, If you please, Mr..
Shakespeare. Does your dingy old
leathercovered books tell you that a
Young man has the right to address a
young lady. hat he met only o u
weeks ago with as much familiarity as
though she vas his sister,"
The girl tossed her pretty head with
an air that might have been learned
in the court OF a 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
student who had come into the neigh
borhood with no other idea than that
of earning a modest living by teaching
in the public school she had knowledge
enough and to spare. He loved her,
of course. There was nc escape from
that. She knew it, too, as we'll as
though he had told her so with all the
imnassioned fervor of a Romeo. But
he had not told her SO. How could he
when she met every attempt of his to
utter what filled his heart with good
nat,,red railery. But he had not been
discouraged. "She will listen to me
some day" he told himself over and
over again as he walked over the nils
or sat in his little room with an un
rad hook in his hand. A woman does
not like to be easily won. His read
INC told him that. He had nevei
dreamed of a rival. The few youna
men of Randall seemed to feel tina
she was not for them and treated he'
with marked reverence or surly dis
dain. What was this she had beer
saving but now? George Lounsbery'
A real man, with red blood In MI
veins. He felt the blood freezing II
his heart.
"Is he's Mr.. L%ounsbery a frient
of yours?"
"a friend of mine? Indeed he IL.
have known him ever since was
child. He is a great man now. Cash
Tar In 4 bank in the city n trustee
With tons of money. Wait till you Sc
how things will move when he Al
rives."
He did wait, although with no pleas
ant anticipations. And that night n
..v the rockets streaking across tn
arr and heard the honest country fol