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Show IN 0000 OLD DAYS Noisemaking Devices Weren't' Used a Century Ago. How the Fourth of July, 1812, Was Celebrated, According to the News- j papers of the Period. j i W"m 1 ' iTE of the most interesting j I I features in connection with 3 i tne' safe ant5 sane method , I .8 celebrating the Fourth ! of Juiy now becoming so i iffefci popular Is the fact that it 8 jpfly denotes a return to the upMrti Sod days of our an- p ) cestors when the- anniver- I I sary IudePendence was I I honored with apparently rm'samM little noise, but with a great deal of parading, considerable oratory, the reading of the Declaration of Independence, closing with numerous numer-ous dinners and the drinking of as many toasts as there were states in the Union. Fire crackers, cap pistols and other Bar-splitting devices which have caused eo many of the injuries following in the wake of the national holiday, were unknown a century ago. There was sufficient incentive then to make the biggest kind of a racket. The country was engaged in a second war with England, and the younger generation, with the example of the Revolutionary veterans before them, might have been excused had they given vent to noisy demonstrations. According to the newspapers of the time, however, the celebration of July i, 1812, was conducted in a very orderly or-derly way. The phrase "safe and sane" was not used in describing the events of the day. Their substitutes a century cen-tury ago were "genteel" or " respectable." respect-able." One of the early celebrations it Princeton was thus described: The flag belonging to the town was displayed opposite the front of the college. At 11 o'clock a genteel company com-pany of ladies and gentlemen assem- Diea m tne conege nan, wnere they were agreeably entertained by two excellent ex-cellent orations suitable to the occa-lion. occa-lion. How safe the Fourth was in New York 100 years ago may be judged from one of the newspaper accounts, which says : We are happy to state that no evil accident happened, and that the greatest great-est order and tranquillity were maintained main-tained through the day and evening. The Fourth of July, . 1812, was opened with the raising of the Stars ind Stripes over all the public buildings build-ings and on the shipping In the harbor har-bor At ten o'clock the militia with the members of the Tammany society, the Tailors, Hibernian, Provident, Columbian Co-lumbian and Manhattan societies with the cordvvainers, shipwrights and other oth-er trades, met in the park in front of the city hall, which had lately been finished. There they drew up In order of parade, and after a national salute bad been fired by the veterans of the Revolution, they marched down Broadway Broad-way to Beaver street to Broad, up Pearl to Beeknian, where, at the corner cor-ner of Gold street, the assemblage entered en-tered St. George's church. The services serv-ices consisted of a prayer, reading of the Declaration of Independence, never nev-er omitted In the old-time celebrations, celebra-tions, and an oration by Samuel B. Ro-maine, Ro-maine, one of the Tammany Sachems. Earlier In the day the military organizations or-ganizations of the city were reviewed on the Battery park by Generals Ste-rens. Ste-rens. Bloomfield and Morton, and thev marched up Broadway to Chambers itreet, down Chambers to Greenwich street, and bnck to the Battery, where, ! c Is stared, "aftpr going through sev- I rral military maneuvers, they wen: dismissed." : |