The theocrat. [volume] (Zion City [i.e. Zion], Ill.) 1914-1949, 1919-07-12
lions Unique Fourth of July Picnic
Vivid Contrast to Picnics Elsewhere



and prayer, after which the hymn, Were
Marching to Zion" was sung
The management of the grounds and the
proceedings of the day were thoroughly or
ganized, with Apostle Ernest E. Harwood
as General Superintendent. Members of
the Zion Guard, highly trained and eff
ficient organization, under the direction Of
Captain Jasper H. DePew, were every
where present, seeing that all was done in
regular order, and for the comfort of the
people. Every part of the program was
directed by some officer especially assigned
to the task, and everything went forward
with method and precision, even to the
minutest detail. Water wagons kept ar
irving on the grounds at short intervals
through the day, and refreshing drinks
were handed out right and left by a corps
of little lads who entered into the work
with great gusto.
Tents had been provided on the grounds
where mothers could go with their babies.
Everything possible was done to make the
day happy one for the children, and it
required only glance over the grounds to
see that they enjoyed it to the full At
every toboggan slide long line of children
awaited their turns. The merry -go-round
kept going constantly, except at the noon
and supper hours, from early in the morn
ing until late at night. The numerous
swings over the ground were in constant
notion while the giant strides, the in
cllned wire along which one could coast,
and the rocking boat, were kept busy in
cessantly. The ladder up which the little
tots could climb and spring down into
| thick bed of straw, also was in constant USE
Never did we see such run on refresh
ments. The sales on ice cream, lemonade,
ETC., ran hundreds of dollars ahead of any
thing of the kind at any previous Zion pic
mic One man alone handed out AS gaf-
Ions of ice cream in nickel dips.
And right here we wish to say that we
never saw more devoted application to
duty than was shown by the men in the re-
freshment stands and the ladies in the ticket
booth. All day long and until 10 o'clock at
night they remained Loyalty at their posts,
quite number Of them refusing to stop for
dinner, although requested by the manage
ment to do so. Some did not even stop for
supper. They did not do this because they
were compelled to, but because they loved
their work and took an interest in it.
Where else today would you find men
doing this but in Zion? Outside, the lines
between capital and labor are being more
and more closely drawn.
But here IN Zion, you find men volun-
tarily standing at their posts, because Zion
is the dearest thing on earth to them, and
they love her principles. In this loyalty to
duty among her membership, Zion has tre-
mendous advantage over the outside world
The afternoon and evening were filled
with entertaining features. The time from
is to $50 p. m. was occupied with
spirited baseball game between the Zion
Band team and the Athletic Department team.
This was followed by games and races
so ridiculously funny that people laughed
! until their sides ached Among the many
amusing features, there was a blindfolded
hoop contest, man and barrel contest and
balancing contest.
There was blindfolded walking contest,
in which three fellows bumped into each
other, rolling over with a great .mix-up of
arms and legs. Big George Smale was
standing shouting through a megaphone
when two of these fellows banged into him
broadside, pretty nearly knocking the breath
out of him. One lad started the wrong
way and came stalking unexpectedly among
lot of boys and girls seated on the grass,
falling over them headlong, while they
scrambled out Of his way amid shrieks
of laughter.
Then came the pie eating contest, several
young men kneeling in front of a plank
and eating berry pies off of it zvith their
hands behind them, each trying for dear
life to eat his pie quicker than the others.
The pies were juicy, and one may readily
imagine the appearance of their faces.
The young men were then blindfolded,
after which they tried to outdo each other
eating marshmalows fed to them with
spoon 1t was very difficult to find the spoon
and the result was laughable beyond de-
scription. Not only their faces, but their
hair and breasts were plastered.
Five little girls and five little boys then
tried to see which could eat box of crack
er-jack from the plank the quickest. One
little fellow soon licked up the last crumb
and then the other little folks were given
the remainder of their cracker-ia Jack to
eat at their leisure.
Then a grand candy scramble began, in
| which only children under fourteen were
allowed to take part Several men from
platform tossed candy among the hundreds
of children present, and chickens never
snatched up corn faster than they grabbed
up the candy, as they ran for it in every
direction. In this way 900 All-day-suckers
and 900 sticks of candy were tossed among
them in few minutes.
The evening opened with concert by
Zion Band, after which the young people
gathered in the open space east of the park