The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-06-28
MAKING THE MOST
OF THE FOURTH
OF JULY
Plea for a Safe and Sane
Observance of the Day
SERMON BY REV. G. S. MILLS
Pointing the Way for More Patriotic
and Less Noisy
Celebration

At the Second Congregational
church last evening, Rev. G. S. Mills
spoke upon Making the Most of the
Fourth of July" He said in part
Il am not satisfied with this con
gregation. | am disappointed in your
quality. TIE people are not here
who need most to be convinced and
persuaded, and | could wish for small
boys and big boys in multitude and all
who approve without reserve our
present fashion of celebration of In
dependence Day. And yet, were there
company here to be argued with and
to have pointed out to them the err
ror of their way, the experience might
be similar to that narrated by the
Spectator in tae Outlook" a while
ago.
1T seems that in a certain place
| (name not given) the Sons and
| Daughters of the Revolution took 1t
| in hand to ensure a safe and sane
Fourth of July, and called a public
meeting of the citizens six months be-
fore to discuss the question. Splendid
suggestions were offered, and the de-
cided trend was in favor of quiet,
noiseless, beautifully behaved Fourth,
when just before adjournment Mr..
Croaker arose and said, Some of us
don't care to see the celebration of
| the Fourth made as safe as a walk
Through a poultry yard. Getting the
spirit of &c clean out of American
boys will be no easy matter-but not
few of you evidently think 1t can be
done, and sort of kindergarten
mother play at patriotism put in its
place. Well, try the experiment of a
Fourth without gunpowder. and see
how the tea will go overheard
"Of course there was nothing for
the idealists to do but to compromise
after that. And l am willing to COM
promise. 1t takes some time to bring
public sentiment up to the highest
level. But | ask you to consider this
question with much seriousness and
to approach the problem very earnest
ly.
Next Monday the people of the
United States will acquiesce in the
killing of 1853 persons and the MAIN
ing of 5460-if we duplicate last years
record, and it is not likely to be any
less. Since 1903 our celebration has
slain 1916 and manned 29,296. The
deaths and the wounding have been in
most awful ways-by burning alive,
blowing to atoms, destroying one or
both eyes, tearing off arms, hands,
legs. Surprising it were known that
week hence this number OF people
would be dead or seriously i'll from
cholera or bubonic plague, what ire
mendous cutlery there would be the
length and breadth of the land. and
what resourceful measures would be
taken to stay the plague and protect
our homes. But we suffer this slaugh-
ter to go on. There Is a remedial
preparation being made for it, but II
is after the fact. In the cities they
are getting out the operating tables
and the hospital cots, supplies of anti.
toxin for tetanus are being laid in,
the corps of surgeons and the number
OF ambulances are being increased
and the firemen are making ready
How foolish, utterly stupid, and Grim.
inal in some things we American PEG.
pie are! Not only is our taste bad
but we seem not to have any common
sense. If this celebration as we con.
duct 1t had any meaning, but it has
Mt There is no spirit of &c in it.
1t is just barbaric custom of noise
that we have adopted from China. and
we have made it worse with riot and
risk in spite of the police. There is
not one American boy wno thinks
more aruently about the Declaration
of Independence and has a stronger
love for his country through using
firearms and handling deadly explo.
sives.
But a change is coming-the bic
cities are waking up. And they are
not only prohibiting the dangerous
thing, but they are also instituting the
beautiful and truly patriotic thing.
wish you would all read an article in
tne June Atlantic Monthly entitled
An American Holiday, which shows
how finely the city of Springfield
Mass, has solved the problem. Here
Mr.. Mills quoted from this account
some of the interesting and original
features of this city's Fourth of July !
NOW, there is pattern for Benning
ton. OF course our imitation would
need to be on a much smaller scale