Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1908-10-16


much of the beauty of the exhibition
is lost at night nc matter how well the
streets and the floats are lighted. "Let
there be light" said the Lord In the be-
ginning of the creation, and there is moth
ing like bright daylight. During the fore
noon hours the children of our public
schools and others visited places of in
terest and at II q. m. assembled at the
old State House independence Hall)
for exercises and the medical conven-
ton was held at the Walnut street
theatre. But the great event was on
Friday afternoon when the historical
pageant took place descriptive of Phil
adelphia from the time of the first
Dutch and Swedish settlers to the
present time. This was the first time
time such a pageant was attempted in
this city and was indescribably beauti-
full. 1t started soon after l p. m., but
as early as 8 a. M, that is 8 hours be-
fore the starting, many were vending
their way, men, women and children,
to Broad street to secure a position
from the curb to the house line or on
the four miles of grand stands on both
sides Of the street, eight miles in all.
There never vas such an assemblage
of spectators and there have peer great
masses of people on Broad street and
the temperature and weather was
ideal. The floats and accessories
showed first the ex ploration and early
settlement when the "Onrustp arrived
in 1916 with early Dutch settlers, then
the Swedes, then came the arrest in
England of Penn in 1868, the signing
of the charter in 1881, the arrival of
Penn in the "Welcome" the following
year, Pastorius and his followers, the
founders of Germantown; the Welsh
who sang all along admirably, then
the Scotch Irish; Penn's Treaty with
the Indians was represented very affec-
lively, Penn's barge, his wife and
daughter Carried in a sedan chair !.
Then came the Colonial days with such
representations as first fire companies,
old London coffee house, Franklin
coming to town with bread under his
arm, his experiments in electricity
with the key and the kite, a street fair,
the students of the University of Penn
sylvania in those days, characters in
costume, the play of THE Prince Of
ParIhia." Then came the Revolution
with such scenes as members of Con-
gress, New Englanders and Virginians,
Declaration of independence, Betsy
Ross making the flag, removal of the
Liberty Bell for safety to Allentown,
entrance of the British troops, the fete
of the Meschianza with the knights of
the Blended Rose and Burning Noun
tain, Franklin at the court of France,
American troops going to Yorktown
with their French allies, the capture
OF the flags at Yorktown, then WASH
ington's Inauguration, Lady Washing
toms reception, Pennsylvania railroad
with its Couestoga wagon go days to
~Pittsburg), its passenger canal boats,
locomotives, then the volunteer fire
companies and a float representing the
consolidation in 1854. The whole great
pageant closed with scenes from the
Civil war, the departure of the volun-
teers, selling the war loans, Lincoln in
Philadelphia, return of the troops,
scene Of the Centennial and an allegor-
ical float representing "The City Beau
tiful." The costumes, the architecture
and all were historically correct and no
expense was spared. AT night the
Patriotic order of Sons of America held
their procession with a great number
of Communicates both of the city and
adjacent counties and towns. An i'm
mense number of spectators lined the
streets. All these professions and
pageants had their fine bands of
music; some of these bands were en-
gagged for day and night day after day
for the whole week. One OF the
parades had no less than fifty-five
bands in their line. The highland bag
pipers made a unique impression with
their peculiar music. There were a
dozen or more staunch and hearty fell
lows accompanied by a bass drummer
who had a peculiar way of beating his
instrument that attracted notice.
j. G. FILE.
Shoes neatly repaired by first-class
workmen. Work guaranteed. D. A.