Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1904-07-02

9 =" T ;I,ae u, seem :, e, to
rather bore In these days. and every
body who can tries to fly from the
city and hide in some remote country
place where there Is not so much as
the sound Of flrecracker to be heard.
People coddle themselves In these
days, even in their patriotism
"Yes," answered Jean McDermot. to
whom Eleanor had spoken, times
change and people change with them.
When l was a child, the Fourth or
July was the grea lest day In the whole
year. We looked forward to 1t as II 1t
were Thanksgiving or Christmas, and
for weeks beforehand all our plans and
arrangements were made keeping the
Fourth in view. Often we had family
parties on that day, and its coming
gave sort Of Impulse to the whole
town. Early in the morning Of the
Fourth we children would wake up
to see the, t9%p NaPfs OF bunting
twined around the pillars of public
buildings. and evergreens forming
archways across the streets. At dawn
there would be the thunder Of cannon
from the forts outside Of tOwn-for
you know my old home was not inland,
but ON the coast, and we had fort
quite near us, and another out on an
island nenr the harbor. We were ia
miliar in those days with soldiers and
martial music the year round but
the Fourth of July brought special
air Of jubilee with its coming. There
were first the soft mufiled thunder of
the distant guns, and then nearer the
steeples seemed fairly to rock in the
eXultant sound of the booming guns;
and as for explosives of all kinds
which children could manage, there
was simply no end to the things and
the fun"
"People didn't seem to mind noise so
much then" said Eleanor. "NOiSe uses
up our vitality now. There is so much
more Of it all the time, suppose"
mo, they didn't mind it then. They
hadn't the way Of giving up to their
nerves so much. often think that we
make more fuss about nerves than is
necessary. Grandmother was very
old lady, but she used to be up on the
Fourth as soon as the youngest child
In the house, and she took as much in
terest as any Of us did in the celebra-
ton. You see 1t wasn't all noise. BY
10 O'Clock in the morning professions
would be forming all over town. The
militia assembled in their armories
and came out on parade. The veterans
walked with them, and q good many
citizens formed into line and marched
along behind the drums. The children
followed on behind-all the different |
Sunday schools with their banners
the li.tle girls beautifully dressed in
white with wide sashes of red and
blue, and the boys in blue jackets with |
brass buttons and white trousers-all
with little flags pinned on for badges. |
1t was simply splendid sight to see, !
and 1t was snmatf..-- = /. -=.z--.--s..s,e- oil
ones life to have marched in that
grand procession. The music would |
go ahead. never hear such music in
any other place or day. 1t was the !
most inspiring thing, and some of the
tunes come back to me now. Some.
times when sit with my sewing or
my knitting can hear those strains
again."
"Did you have the Declaration Of
read?'
"Always. That was one of the most
important parts of the ceremonial.
The children of my day We're as
with that document as the
of the present are with the
daily papers. Somehow 1t was more
important to us then than now, be-
cause it was not so many years since
The country was born into freedom,
and used to look at the bold signature
Of John Hancock and fancy what cour-
nge it took for him to write 1t down
there at the top, and as we looked at
he other names and remembered-fOr
we were constantly told-that those
men took their lives in their hands
when they signed the Declaration, they
seemed to me the most impressive
worthless in the world. We realized
what fame meant then, and what glory
was. We were educated into good
and taught to love our
"Well," said her friend, zone good
hing has happened now, and that is
hat our young people are learning
hat wealth and money making are not
he only things In life. They are find
np ont that II Is something to have
country and that great men are willing
20 die for it. That Is one of the good
.hings that comes out of that evil
1t must have been very
iresome, though. to hear the Decara-
lion read SO often. Dreadfully ted
GUS"
mo, It never seemed so to us.
link we had more patience than peo-
Die have now, because we used to sit
n church and listen to long sermons
which we did not in the least under
stand, yet we did not complain. 1t
vas part Of our life, and the result
vas that even when we did not quite
we learned self-control.
md were happy in being part Of an
lssembly. all of whom were Interested
gradually the grand words and
'hrases sank into our memories and
,ecame part of our experience. After