Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1910-07-08
RIGHT KIND OF FOURTH.
QUIET Day Without Aceident-celebra-
tlon Managed by Magnet cIub-fooo
People Saw the Ball Game.

Brattleboro's first safe and sane"
celebration Of the Fourth seemed To find
taNor with the people Of the town. and
N" day passed of far more pleasantly
| than any anniversary in recent years.
Not only were there no accidents OF any
consequence, but the day was frrer
from disaGreeahlc noise than usual The
boys We're abroad during the early hours
OF the morning as usual and they were.
rather noisy for "a short time but there
was no attempt at vandalism and by .
O'Clock IN the morning the village be
came quiet and remained - until day
light With the exception Of group Of
boys near the corner Of oak and High
streets and another group on lower Main
street there was no general gathering
through the night.
About o'clock in the morning many
boys began their final preparations for
the parade. Some backed out at the last
minute principally because they wanted
TO see what II was going to be like be-
fore they ventured in. but about l25
boys finally started under the leadership
of Rev Roy NJ. Houghton as mounted
marshal with Freddie Howard and Philip
Putnam as assistants The boys created
many laughs along the street by their
antics and the evident enjoyment which
they Were taking In the occasion. and
they were reviewed hy the Judges. Judge
Selectman John Calvin, from the Brooks
House veranda. The judges decided that
the town representative group was the
cleverest OF the group features and they
were given the prize John Dunton. jr
with his mammoth frecracker labelled
Mayor Watermans frecrack was
given first individual prize, Bryan Gale
who appeared as a dimutive policeman
was given second and Sanford Smith as
drummer boy was given third.
The boys were hot and tired when they
reached the fair grounds. but in a very
few minutes they We're ready for bust
ness again and the fun began. Besides
the boys who were in the parade about
100 went up for the sports and several
hundred spectators went 10 see the fun.
few sports were run off on the track
in the morning but the chief attraction
was the hall game between tn Baptist
Sunday school and a team from the club
captained by "Zeke" Miner. The Sun
day school team won easily. the game
being one-sded from the start and the
final score being % to .
The boys began to clamOr for their
free luncheon as soon as the game was
over a little before u o'clock. and they
greeted the announcement that every
thing was ready with a big shout.
Luncheons for $50 boys had been put IN
in paper bags and as the boys marched
past each was handed a bag. More than
225 boys were given luncheons and in u
minutes from the time the first bag wa
passed out there was not a crumh of
luncheon left. The luncheon included an
abundant supply of hot frankfurts. rolls,
doughnuts cheese and buns Each boy
had the same ration whether he was big
or little and the little boys said they
had room for more. As soon as the
boys had recovered a little from their
dinner track athletics were in order an
hour more. A large number of events
were run off quickly. The chief event
was a relay race for a watermelon by
teams captained by O. B, Hughes and
II. L. Piper, the latter team winning
by a good margin The melon was
tapped" that night after the celebration
was over
The big event of the day was the after
noon ball game between the business men
under the leadership of Richard c.
Averill and the professional men cap
tanned by Frank f. Barber The pro-
fessional men were scarce at the start.
but only few recruits had to be drafted
in order to fill out. Rev. d. f. Trout