Show saving f for or the fourth WIN old time timer recalls limited firecrackers of his youth J HIS was about the time when I 1 was growing up when us tellers fellers d begin to figure on how we were going to grab out a tew few packs ot of firecrackers lor for fourth of 0 july ob served mr Fatti pose to a new york sun man the young youn asters growing up nowa days don t know any thing about the plans and schemes the tykes of 0 another generation had to work to have any an fun the parents ot of most ot of the young uns of to today day stake them to about all of the fourth ot of july firecrackers they need and can use but only the extremely opulent parents of my grow growing ingup up period did anything so reckless as disbursing real money to provide for the amuse ment of their progeny and most of us had to cook up some kind ot of a dodge to get our own f fre re crackers at that day too firecrackers were ten ton cents a pack whereas in recent years I 1 ve seen cm ern sold for as low as two packs for a nickel a heap of 0 dif ference in those figures to a boy bo am b bious to get all the noise that he can out of his money they were three packs for a quarter then and three packs were usually as many as we ever dreamed of we had to sort 0 nurse our firecrackers along you see and stretch em ein out through the long long day the first time I 1 ever saw a boy fire off a whole pack of f fre re crackers at once he was a fauntie of the rich in our town I 1 was so profoundly impressed with the barbaric lavishness of the per firmance for mance that I 1 could hardly get over it but we had the nursing of our small supply of firecrackers ackers down to a fine art wed we d crawl out of bed just about the rosy hour of dawn on fourth of july morning and herair to an old disused cistern covered over and with a heavy rock on the planks to hold em down and we d begin our celebrating there there any kick from the 01 ler folk about the A ge mun antly but how fine that first pack of firecrackers when stripped of its smooth red paper cov ering did look in the light of the dawn of those old fourth of july mornings morning st early morning racket specially the green and yellow firecrackers that were fastened one of each to each package we d always save the green and yellow ones till the very last for every boy knows per 7 1 I 1 ka k A 7 LX Z 2 1 I 1 mgt wed we d fire a few firecrackers under the tin wash basin factly well that the green and yellow ones made a terrible lot more noise than the red ones nobody ever told us that but we just naturally knew it well after setting off three or tour four out there on the old cistern very stingily and with mith the idea of making em last just as long as possible we d get the tin wash basin that rested on the bench back of the kitchen and that the whole family washed in of morn ings and wed file fire a few firecrackers under the tin wash basin so as to get full action on the noise the day after the fourth of july was always a day of enormous gloom for us tellers fellers just like the day after the circus we took a melancholy pleasure in trotting around the ruins of the vanished circus ring on the day after the circus and on the day after the fourth of july we wed d extract the same kind of deearl pleasure in scout ing aroun I 1 among the ruins of the firecrackers that had been let fet off on the great day trying to pick up one here and there tint thit had failed to go off once in a great while wed we d ac dually pick up a whole firecracker that had been accidentally dropped on the day before and say right now to day I 1 wouldn t have half so much tun fun in picking up a bright new 20 gold piece on my way to the office as I 1 did on a few ons on the day after the fourth of july when I 1 came upon a sure enough alive and charged fire cracker that had bad got lost out of the pack on the previous day |