The Republican., 1922-06-29

might be-and you bet l preceded the
dawn--the others of the gang were
as early, and the spiteful crack of
'firecrackers or the bang of toy can
non heard from the vicinity of our rem
devious pinned wings to my sandals.
Beginning the Day.
Arrived at the open lot near where
we lived, we all proceeded without pre-
amble to get into the business of the
day. We fired at first cautiously and
penuriOusly, for every boy among us
wanted to keep going all day long, and
previous experience had taught us the
misery of getting too soon out of fire
works and having to hang around
nOiseless while other lads kept on fir
ing.
IF we kept our heads and didn't let
excitement and bravadO betray us into
extravaganza each of us had generally
supplies enough to last till twilight,
when the big fireworks were due. We
didn't go home to dinner, and if the
family came to drag us off to see a
procession we went unwillingly and
with leaden legs.
"The meaneSt trick that was ever
played on a youngster l suffered from
one Fourth as proudly 1 sailed up to
the meeting place, carrying under my
arm my shoe box, loaded with 40
punches of crackers. There was no
doubt in my mind that l had supplies
sufficient for the day, and having taken
the precautiOn to fOrtify myself with
a paper Of sandwiches, I looked for
ward to a day of triumph.
Could Not See the "Joke."
"As | approached the crowd and
mingled with them, some kid tossed a
piece of lighted punk into my shoe
box, and the next thing I was aware
of was the explosion of a cracker. 1t
came from under my arm, and was
instantly succeeded by another eXplO-
sion, then by others in rapid fire un-
til my stock, counted on for q whole
days amusement, was exhausted in a
few minutes. ] was, for the first and
last time in my life, 1 think, mad
enough to kill the joker. But
couldn't find out who had thrown the
punk, and to this day-50 years after
the affair is a mystery. l guess If
the boy who did it is alive and would
come and tell me that it was he l
would forgive him.
"The father of one of our gang had
a large feed store nearby and it was
his delight to live over his own youth
full days, by celebrating the Fourth in
gorgeous fashion. Every year he put
in a store of everything that in those
days seemed wonderful in the line of
incandescence-Roman candles, rock
cts, fire baskets, pin wheels, cath
crime wheels, serpents, all the strange
things we boys used to covet in the
shops where they were openly on sale,
but which we never hoped to have
money enough to buy, and at dusk he
used to join us in the open lot and
set them off.
Days Growing Glory.
1--WE were in our glory, and not re-
fected glory, either, for he was a
kind man and used to let us do lot
of the firing. 1t was a JOY to us to
put off roman candles and the more
elaborate pieces. Rockets set us half
frantic, too, and in our excitement we
often turned them straight into an
open window, where the lace curtains
were blowing, and there was every
likelihood Of fire.
''In those days, as you know, there
was a general order in all the fire
houses to keep the horses attached to
the engines. In passing a firehouse
on the Fourth you always saw the
humans and animals in state of
qui vive. Everybody and everything
required to put out a celebration blaze
stood ready. And no Fourth Of July
resembled its predecessors unless there
had been turned in from 125 to $50