The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1920-06-25

the British crown, and that all pOilucai coihec'ioh
between them and the state of Great britain Is
and ought TO be totally dissolved"
This Of course is the real Declaration or lhde-
pendence, the document now known rs the Declara-
ton being adopted two days later. vi the auop-
ton OF the Lee resolution John Adams wrote TO
his wife the historic letter which says. among
other things:
The second day of July, 1776, will be the most
remarkable epoch in the history of America. !
am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by
succeeding generations as the great anniversary
festival. 1t ought to be cOmmemOrated as the
day o. deliverance by solemn acts of devotion to
God Almighty. 1t ought to be solmenized with
pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, bells,
bontfres and illumination from enc end of this
continent to the other, from this time forward for
evermOre"
Time has proved that John Adams, though he
got his dates mixed, was a true prophet. Probably
the Fourth of July is our distinctively American
celebration. All the civilized world celebrates
New Years, Easter, Memorial day, Thanksgiving
and Christmas in one way or another. But hide
~pendence day is ours alone. To be sure, we have
Washington's birthday and Lincoln's birthday,
which are also ours alone but 'the Fourth" in
cludes most if not all of what they stand for.
Tn short the Fourth of July comes mighty near
being our national day when the American Eagle
screams for everything from the M%ayfOwer to the
ArgOnne-from 1920 to November II, 1913.
Armistice day. That introduces the pertinent
point that another change must be made I'm the
long evolution of the celebration of the Fourth of
July. For If the Fourth of July stands for one
specific thing that one specific thing is just ex-
actIy what its original neutrality-suspicious. day
signifies. And after Armistice day-and ali that
it stands for-its quite evident that the American
eagle must be taught to COO instead Of scream
when it goes to the John Bull part of its perform
ance.
For we have seen our Observation-Disclosures.
fighting for his life and for our lives too against
n foe that would have destroyed all that we Eng
lishSpeakingp peoples in common hold dear. And
after n long while we crowded in alongside our
ancient enemy and got busy to make up for lost
time. Never mind who won the war. We have
gumption enough to know exactly what John Bull
did for Uncle Sam-and are grateful accordingly.
And it's quite likely that Uncle Sam came near
enough to saving John Bulls life TO feel something
parts of our Fourth of July celebration will have
TO be toned down from now on.
Moreover, it's high time that the American peo-
pie put their mind to fixing up the "day we cele-
brate." For the Fourth of July celebration right
now is betwiYt and between. The old-fashioned
Fourth was done away with. The "Sane Fourth"
supplanted it. Now the "Sane Fourth is i'm dan
ger OF becoming merely q holiday. Holiday cele-
bratlons, like men and nations, do not stand still.
And the Fourth Of July is worth the closest at
tention and best effort of the American people.
The first Fourth of July celebration, which was
Nd in TIT in Philadelphia, canot serve as a mod
It's principal feature was a banquet at which
many toasts were drank, each toast being follow
"a by the discharge of firearms and cannon. Ger
tainly too wet" and possibly too noisy.
The peace era inaugurated by the coming Of the
Monroe administration and continued during the
'twenties was unfavorable to a demonstrative cele-