l CzZZiZ W5k - i8SSSK5gl55srWffjtiam fl uyiA rzSifii - iglE I V - I y I I - - ---- - J fi O A RUSTIC FOURTH f r r A O Fourth Julys the flnest day of any in the year At least thats how It allUB seems to me You bwcll your chest an take a breath and ihil youre breathln freer Ez though the air wuz full of liberty The craoklln o the crackers coin off by packs and packs The cannon booinin at the break o day sort ol bends a joyous little shiver up our backs An the only thing to boiler is hooray The big men of the country give us Patrick Ht nrys speech An then recite the Declaration too An the crowd throw up their hats an cheer with ardor after each Patriotic orator is through An tlien the silver cornet band the town ships joy and pride Insplrin airs appropriately play An the bangiu an the poppin start again on every side An the only thing to holler is hooray An after bit when darkness comes the fireworks fizz an spout An Chinese lanterns twinkle midst the tree An in the shadders pretty girls are saun teriu about With rounded waists an dimpled hands to squeeze An then wunst more theres music from the silver cornet band An down the floor the dancers all sashay Everybodys wantin parduers every tel lers In demand -An the only thing to holler is hooray -Detroit Free Press BETSY ROSS Her Fame Will Endure for She Made the First Stars and Strips On Arch street Philadelphia stands a quaint little old brick house which is used for a tobacco store It was the second house over built iu the Quaker City and the bricks came over with William Penu in the good ship Welcome In the time f the revolutionary -war thqre lived in it a young woman named Betsy Ross re nowned for her skill as a needlewoman It was she who made the ruffled bosoms lor the shirts of George Washington and in 1777 when Congress appointed a com ioittee with the general at its head to de sign a flag suitable for the new born na tion it was to her the committee turned to carry out their ideas A rough draft of the proposed flag was prepared and the design consisting of alternating red and white stripes and thirteen six pointed stars on a background of blue was shown to her by the commander-in-chief who disked if she could make such a flag Betsy replied by suggesting that rive pointed -stars such as were used in heraldry should BETSY BOSS he substituted for the six pointed ones and showed how readily these could be fash ioned by folding a square of paper and making a single cut with her scissors Her suggestion was approved and the flag adopted by Congress on June 14 1777 Betsy soon after married John Maypole and for many years she and her family held the contract for making flags -for the fleet in the Delaware The hands -that created Old Glory now rest in Mount Morris cemetery Betsy Maypole lived -to the ripe age of S4 She was laid in the grave by the side of her husband on Jau30 1S3G THREE NOTABLE CELEBRATIONS Evidences that July 4 1S9S Will Live Lous in History There have been two celebrations of the Fourth of Julj within the ken of those of -the past generation that have been quite rotable All along the line since the Mexican war political anniversary or national -events that were timely have made Inde pendence Day more or less conspicuous but in no sense commemoratively so The two occasions referred to were the Fourth of July signalizing the close of the war -of the rebellion and that of the Centen nial year 1S7G The issues of the civil Avar had been -very great and solemn and the sad and the practical cut some figure in making it xather a day of heartfelt gratitude and happy reunions to those who had taken part in the conflict However the sons of veterans gave the occasion due eclat o far as noisy jollification was concerned That day will he remembered by many now jut crossing the slope of life A great deal of powder was burned up some magnificent orations and notable gath erings formed part of the general event and Independence Day that year marked quite an epoch and milestone in the his tory of the same The Centennial year 1S7G came in nois ily with guns bells and whistles em ployed to their full demonstrative capac ity and New Years day was reproduced on the Fourth In the interim between lbG5 and 187G prices of fireworks had gone down and the estimate of money spent in the same reached up to a phe nomenally high figure A Centennial ex position added to the excitement of the period and the Fourth of July 1S7G is perhaps the host remembered by many people over a reach of a quarter of a century The younger group of patriots may therefore be indulged in their efforts reaching out to mak Independence Day 1S98 a notable Fourth The Cuban fer vor has invaded every home every work shop every schoolroom Scarcely a pre paration but the Cuba Libre idea has infused and influenced it With patriot ism at high tide pride and glory in a martial way displayed at close range for the boys and girls of America for the first time the present Fourth of July will probably be in years to come as cherish ed as was the Centennial to the children of veterans and the close of the war cele bration to their veteran sires FAIRY OF THE FOURTH Blare of trumpets roll of drums r Fireworks golden shower Glory circled lo she comes Patriotisms Uower Fair of face and calm of mien Fit to be a nations queen Hail to her all hail Queen Indeed though all uncrowned Save with our devotion Let our loyal praise resound Unto cither ocean She shall be our Inspiration Praising her we praise our nation So to her all hail After the Brttle Sunday School Teacher first Sunday after July 4 Well boys Im glad to see you I believe you are all here this morning Tommy Tucker speaking for himself Yesm all ceptin three fingers an piece of an ear Chicago Tribune The National Colors The red has been dyed with the blood of tho brave I Who perished while fighting a nation to save The white is the snow as new fallen it lies j The union a square of the star lighted skies Comes Durinjr Holler Days Fourth of July as also a noisy festi val would lose something of its signifi cance if it didnt come in the schoolboys holler days Philadelphia Times COSTS FIVE MILLIONS Requires This Amount to Appropri ately r alutc the Nations Birthday V- k V - HLl 1 Pli 1 I T costs more to appropri ately salute the tuitions birthday than it did to conduct a campaign un der Washington five times as much as the ilv ry1r which Semmes destroyed Ii tjJ J fckii in lir Tnpifir wlimi lip was cruising around there in the Alabama and one third of the money the United States goL from England on account of the Ge neva award which award covered all the damage done to the merchant fleet of America by Confederate cruisers built in England The powder burned in fireworks alone would make a monument higher than the Washington monument at the nations capital and it would be four times as broad at the base The Fourth of July is as well known in China as it is in the United States for the celebration of the festival of freedom is in this country one of the forces from which the empire of the Descendants of the Sun and the first cousin to the fixed stars draws a great and steadily increasing yearly revenue By the banks of the they keep watch of the calendar and prepare their cargoes of firecrackers against the Melican mans mueh bang bang The last two weeks in June see a fleet of sailing vessels come gliding hi through the Narrows big clippers such as used to make Columbia the Gem of the Ocean and such as it does a Yankee heart good to see even now And these great ships are from Far Cathay laden down so that the water runs back in long curling waves from the chain plates with the spoils of the East in the shape of the firecrackers of our youth Dont you remember how you used to put them under a tin pan or in a barrel so that they would sound louder when they went off That was years ago but from tho time that the Chinese first found out that the Melican man had a day set apart in tho calendar upon which he W VA gSS5gmtg y A ML j 1 nwtt spiifiiii i IBllifl The powder burned in firecrackers alone on the Fourth of July would make a monu ment higher than the Washington Monu ment and four times as broad as the base desired to make a noise every American boy has been paying tribute to the Tartar who sits on the throne of China He is glad to do it too It pleases him quite THE DEADLY CANNON CRACKER as much as paying tribute to the German family which sits on the throne of Eng land The rCCO000 which we burn up in powder to celebrate the Fourth of July is so much greater than the tax imposed upon the colonies by the Stamp Act that there is little comparison Of course England never got the revenue she design ed from the passage of that iniquitous bill but if she had it would not have amounted to a tithe of what we now ex pend in burning powder yearly Besides all the powder which is burned up in fire works on the Fourth of July there must be taken into account the amount of pow der which is used in salutes Every little village fires a salute to the nations birthday and some of them expend as much powder as do the big cties for in those places where the im mediate need of things has not carried away the efforts and the souls of the in habitants patriotism is stronger and more powder is burned A Declaration of 98 This is a day to be merry and gay And to celebrate with powder Yet here I sit in a gloomy fit While canion and guns grow louder In frenzy I wrote a burning note Wherein I made confession That Kittys hand I did demand To keep in my possession Now her I scan oh hapless man For me no celebration Her exceedingly cold and shortly told Independence declaration Foreign Flags in America The first flag to float over American soil was tho royal standard of Isabella em blazoned with the arms of Castile and Deoiu A white flag with a green cross was its cnnajvion JSome years after Columbus landed at San Salvador the Cabots planted the banner of England and of St Mark of Venice onth eastern shore of North America In the 400 yeari that have intervened since a variety of national flags have waved where now only the Stars and Stripes is the accept ed emblem Over Texas have floated the French Spanish English American and Confederate in Louisiana the lilies of France the Spanish flag the tri color the American and Confederate flags in Cali fornia Spanish Mexican Russian and American Marked an Epoch The Fourth of July marked an epoch in history not aJone in the history of our own country not alone in that of the English speaking nations but in that of all peoples who in the times thereafter were to inhabit the world On the Fourth of July a scroll was written and signed than which no writing more pregnant with power and with glory to the oppress ed was ever penned by human hand A Firecracker Story He did It in sport He alono is to blame Tho fuse was too short Nov- his fingers the same -Washington Star i W CHILDRENS COLUHK A DEPARTMENT FOR LITTLE BOYS AND GIRLS Something that Will Interest the Jn vcnile Members of Every Household -Quaint Actions and Bright Sayings of Many Cute and Cunning Children When my pa comes home fcelin good An after splittin up some wood Sets down beside the fire an smokes An talks about Elvirys folks Elvirys ma an good ole days I jest sneaks up to him an says Say na Ive been a wishm At you would let me go a fishin Weil he Iaffs then an slaps his knee An says That boy is jest like me Id ruther fish en eat I guess Go on a iishin sonny yes Fore breakfast though what luck I had Say boy ycr cant outfish ycr dad An I says then Well I guess not But 1 jeit think Ill try a lot Wed then I go to bed right smart To wake up for an early start An oh v hat dreams 1 have that night I 1 iioh an fish an every bite Brings up a whale until my string Of fish is just the longest thing An then I get a railroad train To haul them fish back home again Sometimes I dream of ketehin tons Of gingerbread and sugar buns Er fishiu from a slippery bank Of lasses candy by a tank Of lemonade an so y jing I dream I ketch jest everything An then pa wakes me up with Say Its 8 oclock no fish to day Chicago liecord Bread and Point I wish 3oud go around by the gro cery Mattle said Mrs Gray and ask Mr Brown to send up three pounds of butter I dont believe Sarah will want to go that way thought Mattie as he ran off to meet her schoolmate who -was waving to her from the opposite cor ner Lets hurry said Sarah at once and -well have time to play hopscotch before the bell rings There exclaimed Mattie I knew you wouldnt want to go to Browns Cant you go there on the way home asked Sarah Yes I guess it will do just as well And Mattie kept on toward school At noon her mother wished if she for got her errand - I liave just been to the store said Mattie The butter wont be sent up till af ternoon if you didnt go before school and there isnt enough for lunch said her mother Im afraid youll have to eat great grandmothers bread and point because you didnt do wbatj ask ed you When they sat dovn to the table the potatoes were baked to a turn and the muffins looked so brown and crips ami tempting that Joe exclaimed Speli cious This is better than geometry Joe you may have -what butter there is said Mrs Gray and Mattie may have the butter knife What do I want of the butter knife said Mattie crossly if I cant have anything on my muffins and only salt on my potatoes Id rather have great grandmothers bread and point I spose thats some kind of jam Isnt It Mrs Gray smiled When great grandmother was a little girl she said and didnt do as she was told Ive heard that her mother used to give her only bread for supper and point the butter knife at it Thats a queer dish said Joe as he buttered his second potato it wouldnt do for boys But Mattie didnt say one word Youths Companion Xiltle People of Other Days Since the beginning of time much in terest has been manifested in little peo ple By little people is not meant the small boys and girls but those men and women upon whose growth nature has placed an embargo and turned them into dwarfs When speaking of dwarfs American children naturally think of Tom Thumb but there were many noted dwarfs long before Toms time how ever Ferhaps the most illustrious of these was Poirpee a great favorite of Peter the Great This remarkable lit tle woman was about three feet tall and was bright lively and vivacious The great emperor was not above the plebeian game of matchmaking and he arranged a marriage between Pou pee and another of his well known dwarf subjects The wedding histor ians tell us was a brilliant affair A fine feast was prepared and all the dwarfs in the empire were gathered to gether and invited to be present Pou pee lived to be 102 years old which is a great age for a dwarf most of whom die young Another much noted dwarf was Amias Clows an Englishman Clows was three and one half feet Irish and lived to be 103 years old Hud son who belonged to Q arietta Maria and King Charles I also achieved much notoriety during the sixty-three years of his eventful life Up to the time he was 30 Jeffrey was ex ceedingly small After that he began to grow and in a little while reached J the height of three feet Mr Hudson was as blustering and daring as any gentleman measuring sir feet or monji might bo his liardiliood even going ao far as to lead him Into fighting a duel This Tout he performed sitting on horseback that he might be the same height as his opponent The dwarfs hand was steady and his eye was true and lie fatally wounded life antagonist A former duke of Milan made a fad of collecting dwarfs He kept a number of them in his palace and had little rooms six feet high and eight feet square built for their especial use Per haps the smallest race of people now known to us is the bushmen of Aus tralia whose average height is four and one half feet Childrens Cute Sayings Do you like candy mamma asked 4-year-old Bessie No dear was the reply it always makes me sick Im awful glad of it said the little miss youre just the woman I to hold my candy while I dress dollie Why Freddie exclaimed the moth er of a precocious Syear old arent you ashamed to call auntie stupid Go to her at once and tell her you are very sorry Auntie said the little fellow a few moments later Im awful sorry you are so stupid It was one of the first -warm days and little Mabel aged 4 who had been playing with some neighboring chil dren rushed into the house and throw ing herself across her mothers lap ex claimed Oh mamma take off some of my clothes Im a whole petticoat too hot Now children said the Sunday school teacher of the juvenile class our lesson to day tells us of the pow ers possessed by lungs and queens Can any of you name a still greater power Yesm I can replied one little fellow What Willie asked the teacher Aces was the unexpect ed answer Jennie aged 4 had been poking at the grate fire and burned a hole in her dress You must not do that Jennie said her mother or youll catch fire and burn up and there will be nothing left of you but a little pile of ashes Then what would mamma do Oh replied Jennie I suppose you would call Bridget and tell her to sweep up the ashes Little Harry was in the habit of end ing bis prayers every night with a re quest for a baby brother to play with but at last he gave up in despair A few weeks later his mother called him and showed him twin babies He looked at them in wander for a moment and exclaimed Well its a mighty lucky thing I stopped praying or we might have got three HOW CHILDREN SHOULD STUDY Berlin Pedagogue Thinks Holidays Should Be Thickly Distributed r So much time has been devoted to the discussion of what should be studied by children and how It should be taugnt that comparatively little has been em ployed in solving the problem perhaps almost as important as either of the other two the problem of when the studying and teaching should be done A Berlin pedagogue has taken up this neglected branch of the great subject and his investigations have had inter esting and suggestive results T hg best working days he says are Mondays and Tuesdays or any two that come directly aftrj holiday The obvious deduction is that the insertion of a full holiday in the middle of the week would tend to the keeping up of mental activity among school children and so add to the amount of real work accomplished Those hours of the day as well as those of the week which fol low rest are most valuable and it is advised that the first two hours of the morning be reserved for the tasks which children find most fatiguing Regarding vacations this authority asserts that they are at present need lessly long but far from sufficiently frequent The refreshing effect of each vacation is demonstrated in every school room It is no greater however after two months of play than after one and it lasts no longer In this connection the value of impe tus must also be taken into account and it would hardly do to alternate months of idleness with months of work but the fact remains that the periods of activity are now too prolong ed The Berlin man says that the stu dies most fatiguing to child minds are iu order mathematics foreign lan guages gymnastics and for many singing and drawing while the natural sciences and history cause little strain He is surprisingly emphatic in oppos ing gymnastic exercises for the young and asserts that they are no substi tute for sleep baths and walks New York Times British Admiralty JRed Tape Every one who has to do -with the admiralty is familiar with amusing tales of the glorification of red tape Here is the very latest Some time ago a workman in one of the dock yards lost a government candlestick valued at a few pence This was considered sufficient excuse for a report bj the lo cal officials to Whitehall A long cor respondence of the approved govern ment office type ensued and it is esti mated that not less than five pound3 was spent in the officials time ink and paper After every aspect of the case had been weighed the workman was directed to pay the local officials the sum of five pence being the value set upon this particular candlestick Of course If the man had been in private -employment little or no notice would have been taken of such a triviality or at most he would have paid his fore man the value without any red tape ism Russias Rapid Growth Russia has the most rapidly increas ing population of any country in the world The growth during the last 100 years has been a fraction less than 1000000 annually