The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-06-11
WHEN THE 18th OF JULY WAS
w THE ANNIVERSARY FESTIVAL
BY REV. II. III. WHITAKER.

Yesterday the greatest question was
decided which was ever debated in
America, and a greater, perhaps, never
was or will be decided among men. A
resolution was passed, without one dis
senting colony That these colonies
are and of right ought to be, free and
Independent states
The day is past The Fourth oil
July. 1875, will be a memorable epoch
in the history of America. / am LED
to believe it will be celebrated by sue
ceeding generations as the great ami
versary festival. 1t ought to be com
memorated as the day of deliverance
by solemn acts of devotion to AL
mighty God. 1t ought to be solemn
lied with pomp, shows, games, sports
ringing of bells, bonfires and illumina-
tons from one end of the continent to
the other, from this time forward and
forever. You will think me translated
with enthusiasm, but | am not. / am
well aware of the toll and blood. and
treasure that it will cost us to main
tain this declaration and support and
defend the States. Yet, through ali
the gloom / can see the ray of light
and glory. / can see that the end is
worth more than all the means and
that posterity will triumph"
That letter was written the day after
the formal Declaration of Independ-
ence, 129 years ago, and its prophecy,
that poSterity will triumph" has been
gloriously fulfilled. When we COM
pare the conditions under which thai
letter was written with what we see
around us-with what our country is
today-we say with emphasis, Mr..
Adams was right in saying that the
end is worth more than all the means.
AS our young people have very little
idea of the way the Fourth of July
used to be celebrated, l will speak of
it somewhat. And, in the first place,
| will say. when | was a boy sixty
seven years ago. this great government
of ours was only SiXty-tWo years OLD;
SO, the reader will see, l am over half
as old as the United States When
the government and the writer We're
young, of course, we felt more like
frolicking than we do now; hence,
Fourth of July celebrations just suit
ed us. / loved to hear the fife and
drum, see the soldiers march, see the
people in their Sunday clothes parad-
ing the streets. and listen to the read
ing of the Declaration of Independ-
ence, and. in the meantime. and be-
tween times drink lemonade, of which
an abundance was provided for all, old
and young, large and small. And at
night the illumination and the fire.
works made all the people happy and
stimulated our patriotism sufficiently
to run us a whole year.
l used to think that Neill Brown
and Henry Levy--the one with the
fife and the other with the drum
could beat all creation making martial
music. Henry Levy's picture is pho
tographed on my mind. as | recall his
name. He was a small man, but he
and his drum, the boys used to say,
could stir up more Fourth of July,
and i'm a shorter time, than brass
band could. l suppose there were, and
have been since, as good drummerS as
Mr. Levy was. but our young people
didn't think he had an equal, in those
days.
Yes. the Fourth of July was. when
the government was in its youthful
days, a very popular occasion, but,
somehow or somehow else, our patri-
zotism has either evaporated or taken
on a new form. AT any rate. wesdont
think as. much about the Fourth as
John Adams, in his highly eIated let
ter. written the day, after the adoption
of the independence resolution,
thought we would.
On the 18th of June, 1777, about a
year after the Declaration of indie
pendence, Congress, then in session at
Philadelphia, adopted the following
resolution on the subject of a national
flag:
Resolved, That the flag of the thir-
teen United States be thirteen stripes,
alternate red and white; that the Union
be thirteen stars white, in blue field,
representing a new constellation
Prior to that time there had been
colonial and partisan flags, but no
national flag. The thirteen stripes
had been introduced, in alternate white
10
ner of a standard presented to the
Philadelphia Light Horse Company by
it's captain in the early part of 1I75;
and the flag of the thirteen colonies,
raised at Washington's headquarters
at Cambridge, January ,. 1776. had
the thirteen stripes just as they are
this day; but it also had the cross of
st. George and st. Andrew on blue
ground i'm the corner. There is, how
ever. no satisfactory evidence that any
flag bearing the union of the stars
had been in public use until Congress
had adopted the above resolution. SO,
when YOU talk about "Old Glory" the
flag of the Union, you can say it was
flung to the breeze June 14th, 1717,
about one year after the colonies had
declared their independence.
/ wonder if we cannot have an old
time Fourth of July? Why not? 1t
view the times, conditions. prlvatlons,
hardships and glorious achievements,
of revolutionary days.
Nations are too apt to make the
same mistake that families make, and
the result is the same in each case.
When prosperity comes to nation or
a family, instead of praising the ladder
on which the climbing was done
which was a mighty good ladder in it's
day and time, enabling the nation or
family to crawl out of lowly into a
higher conditions that old thing, which
our fathers called a ladder, and which
enabled them to reach the heights of
prosperity and Importance in the
world is hid away and our children
are not allowed to know how poor we
cnCe were. Instead of telling the ris-
ing generation the story of our pow
erty and impressing them with the i'm
portance of frugality and honest labor.
and reminding them that it requires
as much sacrifice. bravery and heroic
endeavor to maintain as it does to ac-
quire-the spirit of this age is to boast
of what we are; never thinking 1or
caring how we got here. The truth is,
we don't like in our pride and pros
perity, to be reminded of our old-time
lowly estate.
We are q great big nation and a