Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1902-07-03
A Fourth Of July Confession

lieve what you say"
Indeed | do, Miss Darlington"
Fourth of July is a farce? Then
you really think that?"
i mean to say that all the none
spent In firing off crackers and burn.
ing rockets has no useful purpose"
1T expresses our feelings. | think
and that is all anything can do for us
in this world"
/ 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 more sensible way"
Fudge. You are getting as dry and
uninteresting 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 gener.
ally a very tiresome way"
The young nan stopped to the side
of the path and picked up a dry twig,
held it before his yes for a moment
andsthen swapping it sharply threw the
ends into the air.
Why isn't that as good an expires.
sion as though it had been tightly roll
ed paper with a little saltpeter con-
fined at it's heart? II | break the stick
with a devotional thought concerning
tho DocIa ration pP Ip~dapapdapca I
shall experience as sublime a thrill
as though | 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 move 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 vas already turning
away, calling softly TO a robin hopping
in the shade of an old apple tree that
grew beside the gate leading into the
farmhouse grounds.
"MiIly!" he called, reproachfully.
Wait till George Lounsbery comes
home from New York tomorrow and
you'll sae what the Fourth Of July
means to a man with real red blood in
his veins. He was up last year and
brought more than a hundred dollars
worth Of fireworks. don't believe
any one went 10 bed that night at all.
The sky was filed with red fire and !
realized for the first time what 1t
meant to be an American"
You mean the SON of Farmer
Lounsbery, l SUPPOSE"
Eyes. He's a great man 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
leather-coVered books tell you that a
young man has the right to address a
young lady that he met only four
weeks ago with as much familiarity as
though she was 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 coouetry? 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 no escape from
that. She knew it, too, as ven as
though he had told her so with all the
impassioned fervor of a Romeo. But
he had not told her so. How couid ne
when she met every attempt OF his 10
utter what filed his heart with good
natured railery. But he hao not Deeh
discouraged. "She will listen TO me
some day" he told himself over and
owe again as he walked over the Nils
mr. sat in his little DON with an un.
,eod hook in his hand. A woman e
NNII
not like to be easily o His READ,
ing told him that. He had never
dreamed OF a rival. The lew youns
men OF Randall seemed to feel that
she was not for them and treated her
with marked reverence or surly oiS'
dain. What was this she had been
saving but now? George L~ounsoery!
A real man, with red blood IN ms
veins, He felt the blood freezing IN
his heart. I,
sis he--is Mr.. L%ounsbery a friend
of yours?" /,
"a friend of mine? Indeed ne Is. ;
have known him ever since ! was .
child. He is a great man now. Casn,
Ear in a bank In the city ana trusteu
With tons of money. Wait TIL you see
how things will move when ne ar
rives."
Ha aid wait, although with no pleas
ant anticipations. And that nisnt ne
saw the rockets streaking across tIe