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Show V PSJ2!. "Jrly morning salute on the Fourth of July Is to tlio celcbru-PjlJ celcbru-PjlJ tlon of our greatest national holi-pj holi-pj d.iy much what the gorgeous morning parade, or better jet. jHA the "grand entree" nnd iiiRaiit i jr" of all nations, Ih to a long awaited flrciia thut In In the eyes of the ' U average small hoy. It Is at once the herald and foretaste, of the glories to come. And what man, whatever his years or presrnt-dnjr responsibilities, can wholly forget the keen anticipation with which ho awaited that early morning summons, sum-mons, If, Indeed, he was not down on "the fommnnn" or the vacant field nt the edge of town to see with his own eyes the barking of the tamed dog of w ar. From time out of mind the firing cf salutes with cannon has been one of. the approved methods of celebrating the Fourth of July and It Is likely that It wllj continue to be the fash-ton fash-ton to the end of the chapter, no matter what other changes may be made In the approved form of commemorating our festival of Independence. Inde-pendence. The discharge of big guns on th July holiday Is simply an elaboration from the noise-making standpoint of young America's practice of exploding firecrackers, and sine the average red blooded citizen Is merely a mall boy grown tall, there Is widespread sympathy with, If not cooperation In, this olsy acknowledgment of the glorious Fourth. Whereas cannonading seems to be a fixed feature of the program of the day we cele- rv' H :- .'"V:r 1- jr-v"' .. iur ,- -- Jl 1 x . " ' ' 1 -p jVv TA,rritrtnmi " .i: .-r -' ' ' i""- '"' " ! i u ,n "" I"(1,l"',"l,'"', , l j 'J nr l? day. i-.xiensive w also made on the Fourtr of the standard natlona salute of twrlity-otK guns. Ordinarily tbli number of guns Is alsi accepted as the Interns tlonal salute and It 1 also the special salut of the president of th United Klates, fire whenever the chief mat Islrate vlslis a fort o steps aboard a nava vessel. The sslute I popular on the Fourtl because It seems to b Just about the prope length and Its use 01 this holiday Is Justlflei djiiinr v gunners grew tired or the powder pow-der was exhausted exhaust-ed and when the volume of each penl of artificial thunder varied according to the guesswork of the amateurs In measuring out the powder. In one way, though. It Is a pity that there had tij be any change In the method of firing the Fourth of July salutes for noise making was genuine fun for the men who did It years ago, whereas It Is no more nor less than a detail of the day's work for I'ncle Sam's gunners. gun-ners. Indeed It may surprise aome of our readers to learn that there are artillerymen In our regular army and men-o'-war's-tnen on our naval vessels who thoroughly detest the roar of the big guns. It Is not that they are afraid or are lacking In experience, for some of these men have been In the service for years and have repeatedly faced death In a variety of forms and yet many a veteran never gets over his dlsHke of the din at close range. Iiut then the enthusiastic crowds that on the Fourth of July hear the echoing salutes In the distance have no Idea of the shocks administered to the men behind the gun when a "shooting Iron" of any size lets go. The strain of waiting for each report and bracing himself to withstand It Is also a severe tax on the nervous system of the gunner, to say nothing of the iinpleasant experience that follows fol-lows the discharge when the gunner Is struck In the face as though by a sharp gust of wind and sustains a jarring, particularly of the spine, which may force him to have a memento me-mento all the remainder of the day In the form of a severe headache. Of course guns of the largest size are never employed In the fii'ng of salutes. On I'niieU States wanrtiips. where guns of every caliber are at hand, from which to pick and choose the saluting is usually done with three-pounders and on shore light artillery or field pieces of about the same dimensions are utilized. A salute should consist of a specific number of discharges having a certain significance, and one or another of these regulation salutes are fired when the noise making Is In the hands of regular or volunteer soldiery, but Independent In-dependent gun crews recruited for the Fourth continue to claim extensive license In this respect. There are several different salutes as prescribed In I'ncle Sam's books of regu latlons that may be adopted for the Fourth of July greeting. I'erhapa the most extensively exten-sively used of all Is the American salute of one gun for every state In the l'nlon. Hy allowing sn Interval of a minute and a half between be-tween discharges this salute can be strung out for more than an hour and at half minute Intervals, which Is slow enough to suit most persons. It enables on Interval of booming that exceeds twenty minutes. Another salute ttiut is used on this holiday and that Is appropriate to the occasion Is the old Federal salute of thirteen guns one for rsch of the thirteen original states. This salute sa-lute Is no longer used to any great extent on other ceremonial occasions, but It comes by the fact that the number twenty-one I formed by the addition of the figures 1, 7, 7, comprising the numerals In I'ncle Ham's blrtl day ear. Kvery saluting vessel In the Fnlted State navy will thunder out a salute to Independetic day no matter whether she be at anchor In foreign port, tied up in one of our navy yard or cruising out of sight of land In the opei Ma The national salute Is the one used Jus as It Is on Memorial day and on Washington' birthday. The salute of minute guns Is r scribed under certain conditions In the navj but the regulation Interval between guns li all salutes Including the national salute o twenty-one guns Is five seconds. Ourlng th tiring of the salute all the officers and me stand at attention. It Is customary for foi eign warships anchored In American harbor to fire a salute In compliment to the I'nlte States on the Fourth and the same court es Is usually shown by foreign forts and warship when Yankee naval craft are spending th eventful holiday In alien waters. Whenev any foreign authorities or ships fire our ni liuual salute, the firing is no sooner conclude than an officer from the American ship I port makes an official call upon the forelg officials and extends thanks. brate, It must be admitted that the practice lias undergone some changes with the passing of tho years. In the days of our grandfathers the booming of the big guns kept up pretty touch all day Indeed In these days the patriotic citizens of the new republic liked ' such din so well that they fired off cannon not merely on the Fourth, but on Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's as well. And on Independence Day If the booming did not literally keep up all day at least there was a prolonged salute at sunrise, another at noon, a third at sunset and a final thundering along with the skyrockets and Itoman candles In the evening. In this more decorous generation we have to be content, most of us. with one salute of this sort on the Fourth. At U. S. navy yards and military posts and other governmental reservations the salute Is fired at noon, but In the average town or city where the civilians must do the firing especially If these self same civilians are to participate In a picnic or a parade the regulation sslute la sent echoing echo-ing over the countryside soon after the break of day. Of course. If there Is to bo a ceremonial cere-monial flag raising during the day. or a monument monu-ment Is to be unveiled or some high-up public official Is to be given a reception, there may be a salute as a sort of accompaniment for the function, but for the most part nowadays the average American community has to get along on the Fourth with one formal salute. Another change that has come with the passing of the years Is In the matter of the arrangements ar-rangements for the firing of the salutes. The average individual who listens to the reverberation reverber-ation of the distant guns never gives a thought to thjs part of It. but obviously somebody ha to attend to this part of the celebration. In the old days almost anybody who volunteered for the task and who. mayhap, was willing to contribute for the powder was considered competent to act as artilleryman fir the occasion. occa-sion. Similarly almost anything that would answer the purpose of a cannon was accepted as a vehicle of noise making. How often iin ar such circumstances was a worn old field piece dragged forth to do such duty and loaded load-ed nigh to the muzzle by enthusiasts who thought far more of the din than of ihe danger dan-ger that lay In an overcharge of tmmunnlon Sometime a hollow log or even a length of pipe was made to serve a a substitute. The natural sequel of iuch a happy go-lucky cheme of firing Fourth of July aalutes cam In a constantly Increasing record of accident which finally bestirred public sentiment on the subject. Manifestly a large share of the mishaps of thla kind, the chronicle of which filled the newspaper on the day following the Fourth, werft due either to Inexperience In handling the gun or to the kindred causa of lack of knowledge In measuring powder eharge. Well, the upshot of the agitation was that there found favor a scheme for having hav-ing all Fourth of July aalute fired by "professionals." "pro-fessionals." as It were that Is by men who make a business of setting off large caliber Itun and who do It every day of their Uvea. or at least quite frequently. Instead of merely mere-ly once a year. Thus It ha come about that In mot eom-mnnitie eom-mnnitie where their service are available the official Fourth of July alutea are now nred by enlisted men of the I'nlted State army, navy or marine corp or member of th National Guard or Naval Militia of th several late. Accident have not been eliminated elim-inated but they have been greatly reduced and the aluea are more accurate that la. -a aalute fired by uch a gun crew, will con!t of Just the proper aumber of dlcbrge of antfom fortune -' ProPr lnfrl between Instead of the hodgepodge that waa formerly delivered In many Instance when a saint UkWy to be prolonged until th " MOLLY PITCHER, HEROINE The best known of all the American heroines hero-ines of battle la Molly l'it her, the story of whose adventures, especially on the battlefield battle-field at Monmouth, la one of the most picturesque pictur-esque Incident of the revolutionary war. The early Wfe of Molly I acme hat vague. She is ipposed to have been born at Carlisle, Pa., Cvtober 13. 1744 Her right name wa Mary Lodw'.g, and while the soldier were only familiar fa-miliar with her first name, calling her Molly, they soon applied the second, because wherever wher-ever they saw Molly they also aaw the pitcher with which he carried water to the lck and wounded In the camp. Several writer say Molly came to thla country coun-try from Germany with her parents, who were among the Palatines. The first Information we have of her Is that she was employed as a maid In the family of General Irvine at Carlisle, Car-lisle, and on July 24, 1769. was married to John Hay, a barber. Her husband waa commissioned com-missioned a gunner In Proctor First Pennsylvania Pennsyl-vania artillery. Continental line, December 1, 1775. and Molly followed hlra to th field. This was a common thing for th wive of private soldier to do. their tlm being passed In laundertn for the officer. At the aault at Fort Clinton she showed much pluck and also th foUowlng year In the Important battle of Monmouth, N. J. In the latter battle her husband, a gunner, had fallen, when she sprang to his place and fired the cannon. Molly had been carrying water to the sol dlers from a spring, the mercury being at H decrees In the shsde. As n6 one wes able to take his place when he became Incapacitated. It Is said she dropped her pall, seized the rammer, and vowed that she would avenge his death. She proved an excellent suhstl tute. her courage exciting the admiration of all. and on the following morning. In her soiled gsrments. General Greene presented her to Washington, who praised her gallantry and tommisfcloned her a sergeant. It Is related she received many preents from the French officers and that she would aometime pass along th French lines, cocked hat In hand, and would get It almost filled with coins. She Is said to have aerved In the army nearly eight year In all. She was placed on the l.st of half fay officera and for many year after the Revolution lived at the Carlisle bar rack, rooking and washing for the soldiers. Tb house In which she spent her later year In Carlisle wa demolished In recent year. She died January 22. 123. at the ag of seventy nine, and waa burled with military honors, but her grsve remained unmarked ui til 187G. when I'eter Spabr of Carlisle cot et-lved (he Idea of erecting a monument. A monument on the battlefield of Monmout further conimmorates Molly Pitcher, a has r lief representing her in the act of rammln s cannon. She also figure In George Want Ington Parke Custls' painting "The Field Monn outh." So familiar had the heroine c Monmouth become that the name "Moll Pitcher" was applied by the continental so dlers. in their hot and weary march throug New Jersey, to any woman who brought thei water to drink. "Molly" Is credited with having remark at a banquet at whi'h there were Itrltlsh so liters, when she was called Upon to toast Kin ti'-OTK"- "When Washington leads lis soldier Into b.ittle, (iod help King George!" COULDN'T STAND EXPOSURE. Ibe member of the legislature, of whor some graft stories hsd been rtrrulater, wa about to build a bouse "You will want a southern exposure. I suj poseT" asked th architect "No, air'" aald tb man "If you ran t bull thla bous without any exposure, I I' gt ai other architect." |