Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1921-07-08
THE GLORIOUS FOURTH

T Jul ~ Va ~ . -
teen twenty-one. has arrived and past
I on into the mists Of history. and 1t
was indeed Wildwood's Glorious
Fourth. There are tour big days in
wildwood. The first is on Decoration
Day. when the lid comes OF for the
summer; the second is the Fourth Of
July, when the resort is under full
sail and going strong; the third is the
Baby Parade and Carnival on August
18th. right in the heart of the sum
mer, when everything is running as
smoothly as ball bearings; the fourth
is on Labor Day, the last final burst
of pleasure before the lid goes on for
another eight months Information.
We can point to this Independence
Day with particular pride because
what with all the throngs that were in
town there were none OF those a
accidents that so often mar the ami
versary of our freedom. While the
Philadelphia papers point with pride
to the fact that there were none OF
the usual casualties from fireworks,
they mention many other g%rievous &C
cidents due directly or indirectly to
the holiday. True, there were 81
cases in the beach hospital last Sun
day, but when you consider that there
were probably $4,000 special visitors
in town, besides the regular residents,
that is a very small percentage. True,
there were II rescues from the surf
over the weekend, but they were res
cued. There were no drownings in
wildwood, and no accidents were re-
ported that could be blamed on the
well known jinx of the Fourth.
Besides the usual boardwalk attrac-
tons, there were six theatres open,
five motion picture theatres and one
vaudeville. In the evening the board
walk was thronged with eager merry
makers, all out to have the time OF
their lives before returning to the
hum-drum worries of work-a-day life.
After arriving in town on Saturday
the visitors made a concerted rush for
their hotels or cottages and donned
bathing suits. And while we're on the
subject we might add that they were
some bathing suits-what there was
of them. There were striped ones, and
plain ones, California suits, and some
of the Atlantic City style. Some OF
the girls (bless their hearts) rolled
their own" others didn't wear any to
roll, while a few lodged the issue by
wearing pink silk stockings with socks
painted on them. The beach guards
around the beach in their new
red shirts with the big W. B. p. on the
front, entirely (C unconscious of the
rapt gazes of the girls.
At approximately half past five the
little knots of people on the beach be-
gan to break up and saunter towards
home TO wash the sand out of their
hair and swallow a large, if hasty,
in which eve the dyspepuc
grouches Joined heartily. After sup
per the roper thing to do, of course,
was to promenade the boardwalk. 1t
was a little bit difficult to be proper,
however, owing to the extreme crowd
that was trying to do the proper thing.
The promenade continued until nine
o'clock when the crowd began to drift
into the various theatres.
Z Sunday morning mommer and the
baby, who couldn't help himself, went
to church, while pepper, the heather,
went fishing or grabbing. In the af-
ternoon the crowd was back on the
beach. The main difference this af-
ternoon from Saturday afternoon was
that nearly all the bathers wore coats
sweaters to cover up the sunburn
contracted the day before. Sunday
evening they all went to listen to one
of the orchestras play. This was the
happy medium between going to
church and enjoying themselves. Two
new orchestras have started their a
son.. In the Crest Pier Julia Bakers
Ladies' Orchestra hold full sway since
last Saturday. Professor Roselli has
also opened his season at the Atlantic
Pier. In the Casino Auditorium the
Yerkes Novelty Five and the Royal
Marimba Orchestra take turns driving
III IoIC away. AAOAC0oOl 4bOcCllC
please don't confuse him with Pro-
fessor Roselli) lightens the load of
the tired business man at the Ocean
Pier Dance Hall.
Most of the visitors slept late on the
morning of independence Day. and
divided the time between the beach,
motoring, fishing, grabbing, sightsee-
ing and the baseball game in the park
at Montgomery avenue and the beach.
There was a game each afternoon
over the weekend. In the evening
there was a beautiful display of fire.
works by the Board of Trade.
Nearly all the excursionists returned
on the late train Monday night, or
caught n in the wee sma' hours of
the morning, and the all-summer peo-
pie woke up Tuesday to find every
thing quiet and serene.
Chas. B. Shade, of the ]. G. Brill Co.,
a ~