Show the peoples swelling murmur hust latt the boys strong joyous cryl he shouts ring grandpa 0 RINO nina and straightway at the signal the old bellman lifts hla his hand and sends the good new making iron music through the tha land OW they what reJoicing i H 11 how w th tho old be bell shook the air till the ati clans clang of 0 freedom quilted the tha calm gliding Delt delaware warel I 1 how the bonfires and the torches illumed the nights apoe rp oe and from rom the fl flame arnts like Pl pin wenly fair liberty arobel T changing ideas about 11 the fourth of july 0 legislatures of seven states and the city coun MB 18 ails of scores ot of cities have passed laws pro lato lj TO hi bIting the use of 0 fire works on the fourth ot of july y this thlu adverse leg le y isolation which began as TV W early as 1901 has so 80 swept over the country that the fourth of july celebration this year will be ba a radical departure from the old time methods of honoring this auspicious day the terrible lose losa of 0 life that has accompanied every fourth of july celebration tn in recent years Is the cabbe cause of this legislation the present generation does doea bot remember that during the latter part of the tha eighteenth century even during the greater part of the nineteenth there were no such fireworks and explosives as are used today in celebrating the anniversary of independence pen dence our forefathers in knee breeches and powdered hair celebrated the day chiefly by patriotic speeches and dinners every club every society and organization root met around the festive board and honored the tha day in sons song and story the nature of the speeches peeches i and dinners varied with the locality but tn in one respect all were the same they agreed absolute absolutely y in the number of toasts it was the custom to have thirteen toasts representing of course the thirteen original states with the admission of new states this custom died out probably because the barquet banque ers were unable tn drink so much parades in the larger towns were features of the celebration during the tha early years of the republic but the principal part of the celebration was tho the banquet and its oratory in recent years however there has been a great falling oft off in the exuberant qualities of patriotic oratory prid find tho the day has been celebrated celebrate il with mere noise the prophecy of john adams has come truo true the day Is celebrated with pomp and parade with shows games sports guns guna bells bonfires and illuminations from one end of the country to the other oratory prayer and praise are forgotten and the tha old time decorous celebration of 0 the day has seemingly passed away forever it should not be taken from this that there was waa no noise connected with the early celebrations quite tho the contrary salutes of guns guna were fired bells were rung and in the evening tar barrels were burned but there was wa not the continuous succession of noises which mark the celebration today nor was there any list hat of dead and injured on tho the day following nearly every resident of a city who can do so goes out cut of town t to avoid the tha noise of tho fourth just the reverse was true of the early a celebrations lebr the first big celebration e was wai held in boston in 1779 all the ver sels seln in tho the harbor fired bred salutes in the morning and the day was given up to oratory prayer and praise societies and organizations held banquets at noon and in the evening and the celebration was concluded with the burning of tar barrels and more salutes arom the ships in the harbor early in the nineteenth century am 1 works began to have haire a place in the th celebration these were harmless and simple compared with the nerve shat cering explosives which are put on the market today not only were they less dangerous and nolay noisy but their use was restricted to a comparatively small number of people those who were unable to get fireworks got out their muskets and shot them oft off others fired improvised cannons even blacksmiths got out their akvila and by placing powder in little holes boles were able to touch it oft off so that it made a satisfactory amount of noise with the increase of the noise came the decrease la in the patriotic orations ora tlona and prayers before the fiftieth celebration of the day had been observed noise had almost entirely supplanted oratory the question today Is how should the fourth of july be celebrated celebrate dT T the manner in which it la in celebrated many declare la Is not to in entire keeping with the spirit of the day nor the comfort and pleasure of the majority of citizens those who would reform the manner of celebration say the day should be kept not so much in remembrance remembran ca of the feats beata 0 of american arms as for the spirit of liberty and progress it should be a true festival without forgetting the claims of the young tb there a re 8 should bell id be civic banquets gatherings at which the progress made in all lines during the past year could be ba reviewed there should be oratory and speeches in every community with an effort to make the celebration more like the early observances there should be processions professions process ions but they should be less military in character than formerly and quite as important there should be no monster concerts and entertainments where nobody has a good time but divers assemblages where every one ona can enjoy himself the day should be ba ushered in with martial music and sufficient sum clent military display to be la a keeping with the spirit of the occasion but orations feasts and banquets exercises for children and public gatherings should be the real lea features of tile the celebration in the e ve there should be fireworks the less noisy and the more spectacular the better when the day to I 1 celebrated in tills way there will be ba no occasion for people of refined taste and sensitive nerves to leave the city to escape the noise and crowds say aay the reformers in tact fact the celebration lust proposed will attract rather than disperse them and it if maxims new noiseless gun Is adopted there Is no reason why the problem of a sale and sane fourth cannot be solved for all time |