Show aft A IN 7 R 3 1 q A V f P AR a uk 14 R ra N A A N qa r 01 TO I 1 C 7 P F the experience of past years la Is repented relented the annual celebration of the signing of the declaration of df independence this year will cost lives no more serious results as aa far as aa casual ties ore conceived could be expected from a considerable batile for though the number of dead will be relatively small the list of wounded will be very largo large probably or more will be seriously hurt hur t in one way or another by explosives of these more than will lose one b ne or both legs nearly boys will receive injuries in the right hand from toy pistols from yelch they will dle dla in a lingering and painful manner from lockjaw in the palm of the human hand there Is a plexus or network of nerves when waon a toy pistol explodes or shoots backward as it Is always ilailo to do the wo wound il i ad inflicted is usually in the 1 batni A 40 AMR AFTER THE EXPLOSION s course most torpedoes are entirely daml harmless ss but some of the small ones round and very hard about the size bt a marble which go OF off with a report like a pistol shot aro ara in the deadly class containing as they do culminate 1 of mercury years ago as aa most people e will be ba able to recall there was a dreadful fourth of july accident in philadelphia A large quantity ol of trpe torpedoes does of a kind whose sale had bad been ex pressly prohibited by local ordinance was exposed on a street stand kept by an italian on one of the busiest downtown thoroughfares exactly what caused it nobody ever know knew but apparently a stone thrown by a bo boy y struck the torpedoes and all of them went off together they were loaded with dynamite and the explosion was tro tremendous mend au 13 seven children were killed while a number of others were more or less seriously hurt 1 A great many of the F fourth of july accidents are caused by bi childrens childr plis fisl chief A boy will throw a firecracker at a girl for example burning her seriously then there to Is the deadly cracker that has failed to explode and which must be examined and relish re lighted ted the consequence being an unexpected report and possibly the loss of an eye the fhe large crackers some of which are a foot ar or more in length are really dangerous bombs and should not be put in childish hands no prudent father would allow his boy to use a toy cannon with loose gunpowder which Is la likely to become ignited with d ds A nia 1113 LARGEST CRACKER estrous results indeed the list ot of killed arid wounded would bo be enormously diminished it if parents would take the ne necessary ceEsar pains to keep toy pistols raw gunpowder and giant firecrackers out of the hands of their children reserving to themselves vda also aleo tho the business of setting betting oft off tho the fireworks in the evening if we must have a fourth of july celebration lot let us ua try to bo be more son ben sible elble about it and so cut down the number of slain and injured as well as the serious property loss of bygone fourths Fourt lis f guns and pistols alstola are not suitable sult ablo playthings for children the little boy who picks up his toy gun and playfully says ill ili shoot you should be taught that thai even in play ho he must not point a weapon at another for it la is in just such ways that respect for life to la lessened and involuntary manslaughter to a the result thoughtful parents will not give chil dren such toys it has been the cua torn tom for many years to celebrate the fourth of july with noise and fireworks children did not originate the practice it Is the method shown by their parents and so BO each year we have a slaughter of the innocents equal in number to the loss in a great battle and as in the days ot of old when human sacrifices were laid on the altar we sacrifice t to the nations glory hundreds of its e embryo citizens the man who takes tabes his life in hla his hands and goes to battle tor for his big coun arys protection gives his life to a worthy cause but the children whose lives are sacrificed d to celebrate the nations birth have given their lives to allt tle purpose la Is it not time that parents should think thInk of this subject and see it if they cannot devise other methods of celo cele brating our nit national ional holiday that will not entail such sacrifices of life and property Is it not time that in an age and arbitration are in the air and when the great nations of the earth are steadily advancing toward the be day w when hen disputes and differences will be settled by arbitration that wo we should begin to to teach ach the children higher ideals of patriotism than noise and shooting |