Show W uly T MRY BARRETT NEW when the clock struck four I 1 was on the floor rhe the bells began to ring and the cannon to roar the guns to fire and the crackers to snap this Is the fourth of july NCE upon a time it if you are ex acting as to dates the time fell between 1836 and 1860 there was a country parson who kept a record of his fourths in the year 1855 he broke into poetry and the quoted quatrain was the result this record of his fourths taken from his jour nal was published in the atlan tic monthly now it if various and sundry reasons all excellent in their way ray did not keep this es teemed magazine closed to the eyes of boyhood it Is to be feared that this parson despite ite his poetry would be voted a cross old man for when the fourth fell on sunday he saw no reason why it should be celebrated on any other day or in any fashion not in keeping with a seemly ob servance of the sabbath instead of gladly ac hepting the bounty of the calendar and having a trilogy a series of three dramatic and exciting days fraught with danger and delight this gloomy personage would have limited the day a events to a sermon and a prayer in his records can be aund testimony against him tor for they read july 4 1847 sunday july 5 monday morning this Is celebrated as the fourth of july very improperly yesterday was the day and ministers might have preached upon the subject of religious freedom this would have been sufficient and ought to have been sat Is factory but no there must be noise the drum must beat and the cannon roar the children be dressed in their best and paraded and don t these children look nice oh yes very nice but it if their parents would teach them to respect their superiors and behave with propriety it would be tar far better well there has been a general generel turnout rich and poor young and old all mixed up together this Is a free country but not so it Is a country of slave hold ers era we hold 3 of our fellow mortals as slaves and how inconsistent july 4 1852 sunday july 5 monday the community were not mot satisfied to ha have yesterday as being the fourth of july because they could not serve satan so openly and boldly as today my opinion is that when the fourth of july cortes comes on the sabbath it ought to be re in a suitable and proper manner by assembling in the sanctuary and hearing the proc la mation of peace announced from the pulpit good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people suitable prayers and suitable readings would be a suitable acknowledgment that our blessings are of god but because this wont won t do we must have a great noise and bustle and much that Is derogatory to the christian character must be put in operation he didn dian t like the methods of celebration any better when the glorious day fell in the middle of the week for july 4 1849 he wrote wednesday at the rising of the sun the bells of the city are ginging and the cannon roaring calling upon those within hearing to awake arise and call upon their god and give him thanks for this great blessing our national independence which we this day commemorate by malting making all the noise we can and by acting as well as we can and as bad as we can all of which would justify any boy in the belief that though the parson may have been a god fearing personage who walked the narrow path all his godly days and was never even tempt ed by a lingering desire tor for pleasant primrose by ways he must certainly have been rather an unpleasant person to live with and that the milk of human kindness kindne qs which was his portion though it may not have soured was as certainly lacking in cream how different was the letter which john ad ams in the first flush of joy over the adoption by congress of the declaration of independence wrote to his wife its date july 3 ma give some ardent young americans excuse for firing their crackers before the dann damn of the day which even lawmakers say may have its claim shattered into fiery noise this first historic adams first vice president second president of the republic which he helped to bring into being was a good husband busy as he must have been for he was a foremost fig ure in the stirring events the atlas of dence the colossus of that debate which pro pre eded ceded the vote on the nation making resolution he wrote on july 3 two letters to his wife abigail in one he said yesterday the greatest question was decided which ever was as debated in america and a greater 0 o perhaps never was nor will be decided among men A resolution was pasted without one dissenting colony that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states in the other the second daj of july 1776 will be the most memorable epoch in the history of america I 1 am apt to be lieve that it will mill be celebrated by succeeding gen orations erat lons ions as the great anniversary festival it ought to be commemorated as the day of deliver ance by solemn acts of devotion to god almighty it ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade with shows games sports bells bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other from this time forward forevermore tor evermore you will mill tiling me transported with enthusiasm but I 1 am not I 1 am well aware of the toil and blood and treasure that it will cost us to main tain this declaration and support and defend these states let through all the gloom I 1 can see the lays of ravishing light and glory I 1 can see mat the end is mo e than worth all the means and that posterity will triumph in that day a trans action even though w e should rue it v aich I 1 trust in god we shall not though po posterity elected instead of july 2 july 4 the day on which tha forrill declaration 7 V f 14 P 1 1 ahw 14 t P alf re T xa ri F r INI kag NN I 1 J V L t ar of independence prepared by a committee of five headed by thomas jefferson was discussed and accepted the resolution tor for independence was aa as these letters show really adopted july 2 it took a long time for the petitioners of the colonies to conceive of 0 independence leaders like samuel adams waxed impatient with those who believed a peaceful settlement of the trouble was possible without separation from the mother chantry yet washington in the first congress denied that the colonies desired or that it was to their interest to set up tor for independence frank lin looked upon it as an event which if it must come was lamentable lexington and concord and bunker hill favored the radicals june 7 1776 richard henry lee of the virginia delegation following the instructions which he had received from the council of vir ginia presented a resolution that these united colonies are and of right ought to be tree free and independent states that they are absolved from all allegiance to the british crown that all cal connection between them and great britain Is and ought to be totally dissolved john adams seconded the motion and a debate followed there are no authentic reports of these debates the war had not yet been won public report of what was said would have been of extreme danger to these men who nho indeed would have been hanged had bad good king mug george been able to get them but hanging men is like making rabbit pie you must first catch the rabbit it Is likely that those who led the debate in support of the measure were john and samuel adams roger sherman oliver wolcott richard henry let lef and george wythe those opposing were probably john dickenson john jay james wilson and robert R wilson it appeared that four new england colonies massachusetts rhode island new hampshire connecticut and three southern colonies virginia georgia and north caro na were prepared to vote at once in the affirmative but as unanimity wai was desired a final vote v is as postponed until july I 1 and a committee compo ed of thomas jefferson Tl benjamin enJamin frank lin john adams roge Sher maff and robert R livingston mas a appointed to prepare a formal statement for the world lee the mover of the resolution would per haps have been named chairman of the committee had not his wife fallen ill As it was jefferson received the honor and save for a few alterations by franklin and adams the declaration of inde pen dence was written by him the original draft in the state department in washington save for these interlineations by franklin and adams Is in his handwriting july 1 debate was resumed on the lee resola tion july 2 all the delegates but those from new york voted in favor of it and it was of this action that john adams wrote to his wife the original resolution having been carried the formal decia decla ration prepared by the committee to show a due respect for the opinions of mankind was reported and discussed until late july 4 when it was finally accepted and signed by the president of the con gress john hancock and the secretary within a week the provincial congress of new york ex pressed its approval august 2 an engrossed copy of the declaration was laid before congress and received the signatures Ig natures of delegates from 13 col onles BS 56 in all though matthew thornton of new jersey did not sign until november grim jests were passed hancock ancock II writing his name large said that john bull could read it without spectacles and impressed upon his corn com rades that since the fatal die was cast they must all hang together in this matter which gave franklin a chance tor for his bon mot yes indeed we must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately A fat delegate some say it was harrlson harrison oth ers era that it was carter bruxton of virginia Vir gInta said sald A to one of light weight either carroll ol 01 carrollton t or gerry of massachusetts when it comes to hanging I 1 shall have greatly the advantage for my neck would be broken at once while I 1 tear fear you will dangle in the air and hang tor for some time the first public celebration of the declaration of independence was probably that ot of july 8 1776 when john nixon read the statement in the yard of the statehouse in philadelphia and the king a arms were taken down in the courtroom in new in 1777 in honor of the first anniversary of the glorious day every soldier was ordered an extra gill of rum in 1778 the general orders read tomorrow the anniversary of the declaration of independence will be celebrated by firing 13 pieces of cannon and a feu de jole of the whole line even as early as that parades were in order A description of one shows that elaborate hair dressing Is not of the twentieth century only and that the tories were not so insignificant as to escape notice IN e bad had a magnificent celebration of the annl aunt of independence when handsome fireworks were displayed the whigs of the city dressed up a woman with the monstrous head dress of the tory ladles ladies and escorted her through the streets with a great concourse of people her head was elegantly and expensively dressed I 1 suppose about three feet high and proportionate width with a profusion of curls the figure was droll and occasioned much mirth it has lessened some heads already and will probably bring the rest within the bounds of reason tor for they are monstrous indeed the tory wife of dr smith has christened the figure Con tenella or the duch ess pas of independence and prayed for a pin from her head by way of relic the tory women are very much mortified notwithstanding his barbecues fireworks parades picnics white dresses these seem early to have become a part of the day days a celebration noise and accidents also early developed julia ward howe in her reminiscences tells that she remembers her own distress as a child because the democratic mayor of new york gideon lee prohibited home fireworks fortunately for her and her sisters and brothers they lived next door to the mayor and he made an exception in their favor in 1807 she listened to the ode written by bm lin erson and read in the town hall at concord july 4 1807 perhaps he caught the spirit of even th da daa a noise better than the other parson at ilaa he wrote more kindly of it the cannons boom from town to town our pulse pulses beat not less the joy bella bells chime their tidings davria T h children x as ble |