The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-07-05
QUIET FOURTH, But
PEOPLE HAVE FUN
All Amusement Places in the
City Are Crowded
FEW FIRECRACKERS
Ball Games at RicSwood Greatly En-
joyed-Nobody Worked Yesterday
Except Those Who Provided
Amusement
by RALPH r. SILVER

By RALPH IL. sIIN sN
Those fellows who penned the Deelara-
ton of independence had an eye for the
future when they wrote about the "pur-
suit of happiness; That's what the pop
ulace of Birmingham pursued yesterday,
and they caught up with lot of it.
gayer, fairer day never dawned. And
from the minute it dawned until many
hours after the sun had set the people
of Birmingham recited patriotic poetry
and abused their digestion. The sons of
the nation waved flags in the air and
talked about the slump In the batting
| average of Big Bill McGilvray; their sis
ters discussed the tariff and dressed their
doll babies in the styles of 70: nurse
crawled into the hammock and slept all
day; mother wrote a synopsis of the
Fourth of July speech she expects to de-
liver when she gets the ballot, and father
well, it don't matter about father
Harry and Florence were in from the
country, TOO. Gee. the fun they had at
picture shows. Hey there, Harry whis-
pered one of his neighbor boys when he
saw them in picture show, don't set
| too close to her. And Harry chuckled
and looked at Florence and Florence
grinned and looked at Harry.
Nobody worked OF course, the street
car conductor, the ticket sellers at the
amusement places and baseball PLAYERS
were at their regular places but then
| they never work anyhow. Everywhere,
every office, every shop, every business
| except those which furnish amusement
and cold drinks-were closed up tight
Out at Rickwood there was a couple of
ball games A few people went OUT they
like the kind of drinks they sell out there
The players played and perspired the
fans yelled and drank pop. The vibra-
ton of the rooters sounded like an ap-
Droac hing thunderstorm. It's fun to root
when the whole crowd roots; and the
crowd yesterday would have made an
army big enough to drive the rebels out
of Mexico.
Those Declaration of Independence sign
ers missed Just one good thing when in
the course of human events they never
saw a big league game. But far be it
fl ON Rickwood to monopolize the ravages
of baseball fanitis. The disease was ram
pant on every little sand lot in the city.
Jerry Mike, Pete, Sam, Levi and all
their little brother patriots adjourned
to these arenas in the afternoon and
staged an exhibition OF their own, to the
delight of everybody in the nelghborhood
who hadn't happened TO have the car fare
and the price of admission to the big
show
| There wasn't flrecracker. Ice cream
cones and jelly beans had an enormous
sale, but not kid bought firecracker.
we believes in sane Fourth" little
Martha told her playmate, little Sam
"and sane Fourth means fill up your
stomach and don't blow off your head" :"
Herewith she offered him the extra ice
cream cone she held in her hand, and he
didn't look sorry because it wasn't fire.
cracker.
A few skyrockets lit up the sky last
night, but very few. AS a whole there
wasn't enough money spent on fireworks
yesterday to make a good bet on who
would win the second game. The day
was one of baseball. picnics, picture
shows. excursions to the parks. good
things to eat and cold things to drink
1t was the quietest Fourth ever spent
in Birmingham as regards fireworks, and
| the noisiest ever spent by Birmingham
as regards fun and amusement.
Not even the official life of the city
was stirring. Both Mr.. Exum and Judge
Lane came down to the city hall for a
moment to mail some letters; they did
not work and slammed their office doors
with chuckle as they hurriedly left af-
ter few minutes stay. The courthouse
was closed, so was the city library. The
| Chamber of Commerce was closed, all
public offices were displaying the "be
| back tomorrow sign.
| The police department, the city jail,
the sheriff's office and the county jail
were the only places where there was
anybody to be found except at the parks
and amusement places And the officers
of the peace were idle. too, for every
| body was celebrating the Fourth and no
patriotic man ever gets into trouble.
i