An Old Time Fourth

, ■ - IME was when tho Fourth of Jui ly was the one I bright particular day in the calendar. It came after corn was planted and saf ely seen ' through the doubtful stages, after hay harvest and often after ! wheat was in the ; shock. It carne af ter the sneep had been ! washed and after the busy shearinf; j time, and there really was no reason why the family ghouldn't enjoy ilself. Add to this the coming of that event on a Saturday, and you have every reason 1 for a big celebration in every county town in the country. In the days of militia and muster and training and all that it was sure of a grand recognition. Bnt latterly patriotism has been permitted to escape through a vent called Memorial day, and there isn't enough left over with which to "lick the British." Juvenile America, that used to learn heroics and exercise them, now has a day of its own, and children's day is their especial preserver, even the bad boy joining in the feslivities, not a whit sanctified by its conr.ection with a Sunday school. Then there are the countless excursions and picnics and the journeys, none of which was attempted by the fathers. And of course there isn't ginger enough to effervesce ' the entire year. All that made the success of the celebration at Woodville the more remarkable. A new lawyer had come to town along in March, and the first thing he did was to move for a good Fourth of July celebration. It was strange, having the management of the affair in his own hands, if he didn't deliver the tnain or.v tion, and it was stranger still if after giving them that taste of his metal he did not win a fair share of their cases in court. He conceived the happy idea of offering a money premium for the largest delegation from any one township. And this has becoine so inuch an age of money getting that it did what patriotism could not and fairly filled Woodville with countrymen by 10 o'clock in the morning. Each of the townehips brought a band of its own. By band the rural reader always understands a company of musicians. And the collection displayed at Woodville was a marvel. I In order to avoid all professional jealousies - imisicians are proverbial quarrelers- LawyerWaite gave each town6hip a place in the order of its nrriving in town, and each delegation, headed by its own band, paraded the principal síreets and marched out gaj'ly to the fair ground. But, after all, tho band from Whitesvillo was entitled to a foremost i place not only because it caine first to town, but because Eb Plaisance.who had it in charge, was plaintiffin a larger number of lawsuits than any other man, and Counselor Waite wanted him. But these were only a few of the many things that went to make Woodville great. The oldest settler in the county was here - a totally disreputable but deliciously coniical old fellow, who had drank to repletion f rom every jug on the grounds, and who insisted on interrupting every conversation with tales of the Indians ho had slain and the deer he had outrun on the dry grounds where tho best buildings of Woodvillo now lifted their galvanized iron cornices. The first woman settler was also present. She came down in a chair set in the cominon wagon box and was a person of interest for the first time in years. She had been snubbed and browbeaten so many times by her son-in-law that 6he took unstinted revenge now in receiving the attentions of the populace and in telling how she used to "swing an ax as good as any man" in those old days before the wilderness had learned to blossom. The man with the biggest f amily was there - a weary, wiry, aguish looking chap with a progeny simply appalling and a wif e who elipped off her shoes and 8at in stockinged comfort most of the day. Nino of the children wore ments made from the same piece of "domestic." In the case of the girls it took the ehape of gowns - called dresses in Woodville. On the boys the same figure and f abric appeared as shirts, though f or the youngest not enough time had been allowed, and his collar was pinned on, to his great annoyance and occasional agony. The rest of the children were either small enough to wear the castoff clothes of their elders or large enough to wear purchases of their own. Of course the man with the biggest family had a money premium, and of course he monopolized it, as if the bearing and rearing were all results of his own fair handiwork. Squire Stxadley had consented to read the declaration, and he did bo with a Btrength and judgment which showed that he at leaat was as good a patriot as the first man who ever "held these truths to be self evident." Then carne a j prayer by tho most daring minister in the place - i man who lived in hope of some time being hauled up before the conference on a charge of heresy. When he concluded, the 'Ivr club sang "Amcr ica," with tho tenor perpetually wandering about in the vocal clonda that circled above tlio bass and air anti wondering what had become of the chord. "Now we will all sing that last verse together," said Lawyer Waite, rising impressively, "and the bands will accompany us. I will recite it: Our fathers' God, to thee, Authorof liberty, To thee we siag - er - er And there he stopped, for he couldn't remember tlie succeeding words to save his life. "Long may our land be bright," prompted the tenor, with his book before him and his finger on the line. And after that the master of ceremonies went ewimmingly through to the end. He Buffered tortures for his lapse of ory, but no one minded the break. Everything was forgotten in the song that followed. Then carne tho oration. The mastei of coreinonis:) was the orator and intrcduced liirnself. He attacked the original foe of America's eagie and ranquishedin turn each enemy, moral or material, that ever had threatencd. Then he announced that dinner was ready, and the shifting throng surronndcd the two long tables or lost itself in little groups about the grove and ato from baskets that had been days in fillin, but which stood depleted after an honr's feast. Other sports followed, and when the interest flagged tho sun v.-as down, and every one took a good position for viewing the fireworks. This had been the grand effort of the committee, and nearly $100 had been raised - through the hardest coaxing - for the pnrchase of rockets and candlea and pinwheels that would show all tho colors of tho rainbow. It was unfortunate that the committee didn't know a3 much about firiüir as it did about buying, for ono of the ürst things dono was the dropping of a lighted torch in a heap of explosivos, and a volcano rcsulted. It was the wildeft scène ever known in Woodville. Sam Gill was burned in the face, and Charley Fullen had tho skirt of his coat 6corched a cinnamon brown before they could escape the misdirected fnsiilade. Then the air was red and bluo and smoky from tho cracking, snapplng, roaring box of fireworks - and that was the end of the day's fostivities. Whilo it was admitted the law frowned npon the sale of liquor on tho Fourth, it had been noticed ever since noon that some one had a limitless supply of mild intoxicant, and by tho time the day was done the men were as wild and inebriated as were their sires on training day. But it was Fourth of July, and no one charged it np against theia. The wagons were filled with farmera and their families; the bnggies which a later gcneration had chosen, instead of the springless, comfortless chariots for lumber, crowded the narrow streets and hurried out into the country roads. There were songs and jokes and a world of fun, arid then the all pervading night swallowed and silenced all heritage of day.