Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 July 1893 — The Glorious Fourth. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

The Glorious Fourth.

-4T—....- “7 HE Chinese may be obliged to go, • but young Ameril A J ca will surely enter fig j a loud and deep T protest if the firecracker of the Chinese is n</> allowed qALa to come, for the wrt firecracker , the juA sputtering, fizzing 1 ZrT snapping firelllllllf cracker, with the 1 i ac ket an d th® g un P°wde r breath) is the basis of the |L"g( youthful Fourth of 83*1? July. Fiery rockets may cleave the starry heavens,

brilliant Roman candles may spout their parti-colored balls into the night, and golden mines may pour forth their glittering displays, but ths Chinese firecracker of commerce is dearer to the heart of the great American youngster than all of these creations of American manufacturers. The boy of the period firmly believes that the signers of the declaration of independence had the firecracker in mind when they affixed their signatures to that great document. The firecracker, to his youthful mind, is right in it. It embodies the sharp, short bark of freedom, and a Fourth without its resonant snap would be a dead blank. Long may the firecracker wave, then! Its flitting sparks kindle in the breasts of young America the fire of a glowing patriotism, and its explosions keep it ablaze. And, moreover, its occasional sting reminds that other little boy—he who came here from across the water —that he is in a land of the free. He will put his burned finger into his mouth and touch off another, just to express his joy at being in a country where freedom and the firecracker march hand in hand beneath the stars and stripes. The firecracker is a tightly rolled bit of patriotism that should be allowed to thrive for the lessons it imparts.