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Show UNCLE DICKS tt GREAT DAY IN HISTORY o WONDERFUL BKODUHICKS Uncle Dick not only a great Inventor, JIMMY one of the kindest men that ever lived. Although he earned his living by In venting useful things like automatic plows that would plow a whole field In U e night time while the farmer lay In bed asleep, and automatic fish poles that would bait their own hooks and throw out their own lines and pull In their own fish and take them off and bait the hooks over again, still Uncle Dick was ready at a minute's notice to drop all that sort of thing and invent something to give a boy pleasure. Jimmy Broderick knew this and he took great care of Uncle Dick, carrying an umbrella for him when It rained and watching to see that he ate his meals regularly, for like all great inventors, Uncle Dick could not take care of him self very well. "What would you like for the Fourth of July, Jimmy?" asked Uncle Dick about a week before that important and the men lashed the loaded pasteboard cylinder to the tree until it was completely hidden by ropes. Now for the fuse," said Uncle Dick, lie set the men to work untwisting ropes until they had more than 300 feet all unraveled. Uncle Dick went up the derrick and put the end of the unraveled rope Into the bottom part of the rocket. Then he poured kerosene oil all over it and rubbed gunpowder into it. That afternoon Uncle Dick sent out Invitations both by mail and by mes- senger to places as far away as 200 miles, saying: C 7 IHDZPUn 3EMCC wxs TO TC Jimmy Broderick respectfully infiTEAO CONTINENTAL CONCtCSS vites you to his Uncle Dicks farm to see him set off the biggest skyrocket in the world on the evening of the is possible to hold Fourth of to the sacred words. Fourth of July. Nixon has been described as mastei Uncle Dick also sent word to the July celebrations in the shadow of saw with a voice so clear am the the elocutionist structure which papers about it, and on the evening of It was heard clear t4 birth and Declara distinct of that the the Fourth more than 10,000 people signing tlon of one were at the farm, wondering at the imsquare distant. Hi Independence, the most potent Fifth street, mense skyrocket and trembling all doctrine for freedom in the history of took his place on the balcony, whlcl over at the thought of the explosion the world, and the nation has not Ig was then the favorite rostrum of the day. "I would like most of all to have a when she went off. And day. Crowds had assembled to heai the nored the opportunity. are There Amerihim, gathered by the ringing of thi many patriotic land people who could not go to the great big sky rocket, said Jimmy You shall have one, sail his uncle, farm were watching the heavens and cans who make it a duty on liberty bell. It was a memorable cel and Immediately went into his inven paying very little attention to the oth- July 4 to Journey to Philadelphia, a bration, and the first in the history oi j tory shop, which is the funny name er fireworks of the United States, be- pilgrimage to the shrine of liberty, the nation. Later, long years after, Edwin Fon that he gave to the little room where cause the papers had told all about the there to raise their voices in thanks lie invented things. rocket and had explained that it could and rejoicing for the great deed that est, the most noted of American a tors, whose love for patriotism and the The telephone bell rang a good deal be seen hundreds of miles when it was there accomplished. Since that day, now distant 131 institutions of his country was deepet that day. On the very next morning a went up. big truck arrived from the city with Jimmy touched the end of the fuse years, when Charles Thomson, rising even than his regard for the stage, two big casks on It. They were painted and then everybody ran away to a safe In his chair, read for the first Ume the stood on the same spot, and on a red and marked Danger! Powder! in distance. The fire climbed swiftly, and final draft of that momentous docu Fourth of July morning read the words big letters. There were also huge rolls suddenly with a bang that shook th$ ment which Thomas Jefferson wrote, of Jefferson, as no man has read them of thick pasteboard, each sheet big hills and broke the windows even in but which underwent many changes before or since. A great crowd was enough to make the whole side of a towns 100 miles away, the giant rocket before meeting with the final approval present, perhaps the largest ever asof the delegates to the continental sembled, and the actor during and aft house, and there were so many of went off. them that the horses could hardly pull Out came the tree, roots and all, and congress, not an Independence day er the reading wa3 cheered again and them. sailed grandly into the sky with a hiss- has been permitted to pass without a again. Forest esteemed the Declaration oi Uncle Dick rubbed his hands and ing trail of fire behind it. The amazed proper celebration in the public square back of chuckled like anything when he saw spectators watched it for more than Independence hall. Independence as the best single piece The pomp of military circumstance of composition In existence, valuing U the material. half an hour, getting smaller and Before noon a great gang of men ar- smaller, till it disappeared in the has sometimes been called upon to even above his beloved Shakespeare lend prestige to the occasion, and the Two years after the first Fourth o rived, and under Uncle Dicks orders northern sky. best musicians of to the land have been July, there occurred a celebration in For days after that the paper printed they began carry all the material to the pasture, where they deposited it reports from distant places from peo- proud to play patriotic airs in the Independence square that had a spe around a huge old dead pine tree that ple who had seen a wonderful fiery shadow of the steeple where hung the cial significance. The advance of thi stood smooth and straight reaching thing in the night. By means of these bell that so singularly fulfilled the pro- British, and their occupation of Phil into the air fully 80 feet without a reports, it was possible for Uncle Dick phetic mission assigned it 24 years adelphia during the winter of 1777 branch to break it except on the very to pursue the course of his wonderful before to proclaim liberty through- 1778, had forced congress to leave thi Quaker city and go to York. top, and that was soon gone, too, for rocket until he found that it had gone out the land. The location of the hall lends itself Uncle Dick sent men up there and far over Canada; but he could not After the evacuation congress r to of so off purposes it had celebration. where he learn the fallen did that then it and turned July 2 and a public they lopped celebration There is ample room, both front and of the recurrence of grand tree stood sleek and smooth like a not learn until recently. the promulgation mast. But about a week ago a hunter who back, for the building stands well of the declaration was held, in which Then the sheets of pasteboard were had been in the very far north of Can- back from the pavement, so that a nearly the entire population of Philalaid on the ground and rolled into a ada, near Hudson bay, shooting musk large company can gather in front delphia jcined. Chevalier Conrad Algreat cylinder 30 feet long and at least oxen, visited Uncle Dick. He told a lot In the rear, the beautiful Indepen- exander Gerard of France, the firs ten feet in diameter. of interesting hunting adventures, and dence square, there is still more minister ever accredited to the United As soon as a sheet was rolled into finally said: space, and thousands assemble to lis- States from any power, was an inter to the orations, and hear the ested spectator. ten the men tied it tightly with The queerest thing that I saw was jyards on yards of rope and then an far up in the barren lands .Where there Declaration of Independence read. Under the direction of This latter is really the distinctive of Pennsylvania a work ofthe governor (Other sheet was rolled around the first are no trees. One day I saW something and more rope tied around that and odd some distance away,; and I went feature of Fourth of July celebrations interest has been finishedincalculable at Valley in Independence square. ;SO on until all the pasteboard had been there on my snow shoes., Forge park by the state. It Is a notable record of which used up, and that was such a lot that What do you suppose I found? A Valley Forge has a close relationIt took the men all day with the hardest mighty tree! That was queer enough every American may be proud that ship with Independence day, and the kind of work. up there. But queerer still was the fact not a Fourth of July has passed since old camp site has proved a Mecca on The next day they opened the casks that this tree did not stand in .the we have been a nation, without the in July 4 to thousands of of powder and began to load it in and ground as other trees do, but stood spired words being uttered again to come from all over Americans who the union to pay in, hour after hour, until the last grain roots up with its crown burled deeply the air that heard them first. a tribute to the fathers of the United Thd first reading of the declaration States who suffered was pounded in good and hard, and in the soil. It was the most marvelous and died on this was that by Charles Thomson, the historic spot. Jimmys Uncle Dick said: sight I have even seen, 'and I can hardthe Practically entire So! Theres 800 pounds of powder ly believe it yet. I would give a good secretary of congress, when he an- site has been reserved. in there. That ought to make her fly. deal to know what caused this strange nounced the completed 'paper to the has been erected on the A chapel spot where men who had framed it. Thomson Washington was But how about the stick? thought freak of nature. discovered at prayer. Uncle Dick chuckled and winked at did not, however, read the declaration Jimmy. He did not say it, knowing At the moment Valley Forge park from the balcony of. Independence hall comprises about 175 how easy it is to spoil an inventors Jimmy. acres. It is to the people crowded outside to hear ideas by interrupting him with friv'Did you ever hear of Jimmys wonproperly policed and cared for by for the first time in what terms the workmen, whose olous conversation. derful skyrocket? he asked. duty it is to keep the colonists He was to learn very soon how about should tell King George that roads and the entire No, never, said the hunter. You park in perfeci the stick, for as soon as the mighty know I have been in the wilderness a his control of the 13 colonies was at order. an end. cylinder was all finished. Uncle Dick long time. Anywhere from 8,000 to 10,000 Amer had a derrick rigged, and up went the That privilege was reserved for icans will So Uncle Dick told him. After hd fittingly celebrate July 4, big thing until it dangled alongside of got through the hunter said: I anj John Nixon, a prominent member of 19.0.8 Sing over the ground, on the dead pine tree near the dizzy top glad to know this. I intended to wrlti the committee of safety. In honor of which their heroic forefathers under of it. the occasion, delegates to the congress went the a book about it, but now I shall b sufferings that made ind Then mighty cables were sent up able to save filed out in the July sunshine to listen pendence myself the trouble. possible. IT all-ov- er , -- , , |