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JUNE- 30, 1911
The Commoner.
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Looking Backward
The crackers don't sound as loud as
of yore,
And rockets don't fly so high;
Somehow the candles donH sizz-z-z
and roar
As they did in a past July.
And candy and cake, and the jams
and jell
Don't taste as they tasted then
Ah, me; 'tis the tale that the long
years tell
To the grayhaired boys grown
men.
There's never a day that we cele
brate That makes the blood run fast
Like it did 'way back on a distant
date,
On a Fourth that has long since
passed.
The singers can't sing and the bands
can't play
As loud and as sweet as then;
Nor the sky so blue, nor the crowds
so gay,
Since we are the grayhaired men.
Ah, wouldn't you give of silver and
gold
If you could up and away
On the backward road till your eyes
behold
The Fourth of a yesterday.
And wouldn't the crackers send forth
a roar;
And wouldn't the rockets fly?
What wouldn't you give if a boy once
more
Af On an old-time Fourth of July?
' An Old-Fnshioned Fourth
Really, I do not caTe to tell just
how many years ago, come next
Fourth of July, that this particular
celebration happened, but I'll admit
it was quite a spell before Graham
or was it Bell? invented the tele
phone, or Edison the phonograph, or
Marconi the wireless telegraph. It
was also quite a spell in advance of
the incandescent light, and a long
time before my eyes saw a self-binder
in operation. That's near enough
for all practical purposes, and it
doesn't disclose the fact that I am
past forty-seven, -with a lot of, gray
in my hair.
Anyhow, as long ago as it may
have been, it wasn't so long ago that
I have forgotten it, that's sure.
Of course I had been dreaming
about this particular celebration for
weeks, but the first tangible evidence
of its near approach was mother's
feverish activity in getting edibles
ready. It seemed as Is she were
preparing to feed the entire country
side and that's about what she did,
too; for the fame of Aunt Sally's
cooking and hospitality was con
siderably wider than the boundaries
of Macon county. As a general
proposition father was pretty active
in those days, but I recall that on
the morning of this particular Fourth
he was exasperatingly slow in get
ting "Mark" and "Topsy" hitched
up, and I was quite sure everybody
in the neighborhood drove by while
lie was getting the harness on the
ponies. But we finally got started,
father and mother in the seat, me on
a little stool at their feet, and my
baby sister in mother's arms.
It -was sixr miles to Walnut Grove
on this particular occasion the
longest six miles ever. But we
finally covered the distance. Walnut
Grove wasn't a town or a city it
"was just a big grove on a farm. But
we had a procession, and fireworks,!
and speaking and everything olso
that goes to make a real for-suro
celebration. There was a big float
at the head of the parade. Colum
bia was perched on a raised platform
In tho center, with the states grouped
about her. I've forgotten just how
many states there were then, but it
didn't take such an awfully big
wagon to haul 'em. Ceora Peck was
Columbia I remember that mighty
well, for Ceora was my sweetheart.
True, she was something like three
times my age, and I was still in
roundabouts, but Ceora was my
sweetheart just tho same. After the
parade came tho singing and speak
ing. Father pronounced the invoca
tion, and the glee club sang "Star
Spangled Banner," and "Hail Colum
bia." We didn't have any band, but
Florence Maguire played tho melo
deon, and I'll bet there never waB a
brass band that could get as much
music out of their brass and reeds
and drums as Florence could lug out
of that little old melodeon. Believe
me! Then Nannie Bedford read the
Declaration of Independence, and
after another song I've forgotten
what it was some renowned orator
delivered the oration. I remained
until Nannie Bedford had finished
reading the Declaration, after which,
like the gentleman in Bret Harte's
little verses about Table Mountain,
"the subsequent procedin's interested
mo no more." By sitting very quiet
during the ceremonies up to that mo
ment I had earned a magnificent sum
of money from father. If my memory
serves me right the money consisted
of a silver 3-cent piece, a 5-cent shin
plaster and a 10-cent shinplaster.
Additionally, I had tho promise of
another shinplaster after the basket
dinner. Firecrackers cost ten cents
a bunch in those days, but they made
a noise. None of your little fizzling,
sneezing make-believe firecrackers,
but real whoppers that burned for
sure blisters if you didn't let go of
'em in time. And popcorn balls
stuck together with real sugar. No
glucose, mind you sugar. And
genuine taffy candy! And lemon
drops! And prize packages! Say,
we used to get some wonderful bar
gains in those prize packages, didn't
we?
Either that orator talked an
awfully long while, or else I spent
my fortune quickly, for after my last
penny was gone he talked for al
most a week. -But finally he finished
and after tho glee club Florence
Maguire at the melodeon, mind you
had sung another national air, the
preparations for the "big basket din
ner at noon" were soon under way.
No, sir; there wasn't any sneaking
off by families to consume the din
ner. No, sir-ee! Everybody put
their dinners together, and every
body had brought enough to feed
everybody else, and then some. The
wonder Is that there was an ege laid
in Macon county for a year, for it
seemed as If every fryable chicken
had been offered as a sacrifice upon
the altar of its country. And boiled
ham, and roast beef, and cold tongue,
and roast pork, and cold mutton!
And apple butter, and plum butter,
and peach butter! And spiced
peaches, and pickled peaches,, and
preserved peaches! And grape jelly,
and currant jelly, and apple jelly,
and plum jelly! And quince pre
serves!! Say, never in my whole
life have I ever had all the quince pre
serves I wanted. I've had all I could
eat. but never all I wanted. And
applo pie, and plum pie, and peach '
plo, and pumpkin pio, and elder
berry pie, and blackberry pie, and
raspberry pio, and custard pie, and
vinegar pio! And cakes 0, what's
tho use of trying to recall tho names
of all tho different kinds of cako?
"HI, there, Brothor Willlard!
Come over and try somo of Aunt
Sally's fried chicken!"
"All right; coming right ovor. I'll
bring some of Aunt Kato's cold
boiled Southdown mutton."
"Say there, Uncle Joo; you don't
have to hurry. There's lota of time
and plenty for all of ub!"
"Tnafs all right," drawls Undo
Joo Maguire, In reply, "but I'm so
tall I got t' eat fastor'n you 'cause
It's got such a long ways t' go."
How tho good women skurried to
and fro, exchanging jellies and jams,
and pickles and preserves! And tho
men folks talked politics, though
politics was mightily onc-Bidjd In
that section of Illinois about that
time. 1 have somo lively recollec
tions of that basket dinner, one of
them being a boyish regret that my
legs were not hollow. But finally
the time came when I couldn't have
gotten another mouthful down with
a hydraulic ram, consequently I had
to quit; although the whole crowd of
us hadn't eaten into the edges of the
feast.
I got the other shinplaster pretty
soon after Cinner, and spent it like a
prince. Then I stood around and
watched the men folks jump and run
foot races, while the women folks
exchanged recipes and indulged in
reminiscences of tho war, which
hadn't been ovor so long that its
scars were all healed.
Along about 4 o'clock somebody
surreptitiously nailed the sun against
the sky so it couldn't move. It was
an awfully mean trick to play on us
littlo follows, for it postponed the
fireworks interminably. But finally
tho nail broke after a year or two, it
seemed, and just about tho tlino I
was ready to dlo of old age Uncle
Henry PIckroll and Undo Jim Hill
and Dr. Ferguson proceeded to touch
'em off. Dr. Ferguson was almost as
big an attraction as tho fireworks,
for he weighed 350 pounds and was
as short of breath as I was of shin
plasters about that time. They made
lots better skyrockets and roman
candles and pin wheels in those days
than they do now but not so many
of them. The "grandest display of
fireworks ever shown in Macon coun
ty" was over at last, and father pro
ceeded to hitch up the ponies again.
And that's the last I remGmhfirnrt.
Don't even t remember the start
homo, nor the arrival there.. I just
remember that I woke up next day
with eleven hundred blisters on mv
hands, a couple of eyebrows missing
and a roundabout as full of holes as
a collander. Mother told me than
that when she got home the night be
fore I was so sound asleep she
couldn't wake me up to put on my
nightio. Maybe that was tho real
reason, but I've always had a sus
picion that she was a bit sleepy her
self about that time.
That's about tho 'first Fourth of
July I remember, and although Vva
seen hundreds and hundreds of them
since, it really was the biggest one
that ever happened. I'll bet you they
never had such a celebration In Wal
nut Grove after that, or anywhere
else!
And next Tuesday what are wo go
ing to do? Wake up about 4 a. m.
and growl because the kids In the
neighborhood are shattering tho at
mosphere with pesky and dangerous
dynamite crackers. Then mope
around tho house till after noon, then
go out to the park and suffer and
swelter till night. Then homo to bed
after seeing some dinky fireworks.
That's all. Of course the kiddies
won't look at it that way, for they're
going to get all the Fourth of July
that's coming to thorn If Dad has
to pawn his watch.
But, honestly now, pooplo today
don't know a blooming thing about
colobratlng tho Glorious Fourth, do
they? Tho celebrations wo had
umpty-oteen years ago had tho
present day celebrations beat a mile.
Boliovo mo!
Explained
"But didn't you say you wore in
favor of raw wool?" cried tho ox
asperated votor.
"I did," replied Ropresontativo
Soothun.
"And now you aro opposed to tak
ing tho tariff off of wool?"
"Most assuredly I am."
"Well, oxplain It!" shrelked tho
heavily burdened consumer.
"That's eaBy," ropllcd Ropresonta
tivo Soothun. "Do you supposo I
want to make it possible for anybody
to pull tho wool over tho eyes of
tho voter by letting It In duty free?"
Mistnko
"What's this?" growled tho hus
band, sticking his spoon Into tho
mixture.
"That's pudding, my dear," re
plied tho wife. "I found just tbo
lovliest reclpo In tho 'Housewife's
Homo Companion' and I couldn't help
trying it."
"Huh!" grunted tho husband.
"Sure -you didn't make a mlstako
and got hold of tho 'Bricklayer and
Mason' and cut out tho directions for
making a new kind of moisture proof
mortar?"
Two Views
"Oh, isn't tho fragrance of this
now-mown clover delicious!" chir
ruped Miss Flighty. "So rendolent,
so soul-satisfying, so utterly rural in
its flavor!"
"Yes, I reckon so," remarked
Uncle Josh, as ho passed his sun
burned hand across his perspiring d
brow, "but it ain't in it with tho
smell o that fryin' bacon that ma'
gettin' ready f'r us."
"Six Best Sellers" ':'
Legislation. J
Judicial Decisions.
Ice.
Special Privileges.
Hot Air.
Franchises for Public Servlco Corporations.
Dangerous
"What was the cause of Senator
Grabball's sudden Illness?"
"Ho discovered that he had voted
for the people instead of his trust
and tho shock prostrated him."
Brain Leaks
The men who do not need a spur
often need a balance-wheel.
Reputation is tho world's measure.
Character is what wo really have.
Satan smiles every time he sees
a church closed for tho summer.
The man who considers the world
a lemon to be squeezed usually has
a sour disposition.
It would take more than nine
tailors to make mon out of some
creatures in bifurcated garments.
Grandfathers and grandmothers
have been primarily responsible for
many of the present-day divorces.
When a man's shadow turns east
ward he is wise if he keeps his face
westward. That's where the sun is
shining.
We are carrying a concealed club
for the benefit of the fellow who ad
vises us to "keep cool" this kind of
weather.
The "good enough" workman is
usually looking for a job when the
"best way" workman Is considering
an offer of advanced wages elsewhere.
Ill
1