Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 38, Number 79, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 June 1906 — OLD-TIME CELEBRATIONS. [ARTICLE]

OLD-TIME CELEBRATIONS.

Parade*. Dinners and Speeches Characteristic Feature*. Parades, dinners and the drinking of •« many toasts as there were States in (flk* Union formed the characteristic features of the early Fourth of July cafe* bretions. There was less noise a century •go than is usually the case to-day and absolutely no over indulgence in tire works, because fireworks were so scarce that their use was practically restricted, to th* public gardens. These,. popular resorts, •f which there were several in New York, Boston, Philadelphia and other larg* •ities, were careful to announce, often beforehand, the attractions propared for the anniversary day Nearly •very town and village equid point with ptide to Revolutionary veterans, and the presence of these warriors who had contributed their share toward making ths Declaration of Independence mean 'someth: ng to the country added to the deep personal interest in the day. Th* love for their young country rang out tr «J tnd clear in every oration and alter dinner toast. The following toast, given by (h< merchants of New York in 1795 at th* Tontine Coffee.-House, is but a sampie of many which the day always called forth: ” ‘The auspicious day that rescued out •ountry from th* hated yoke of fore.gu tyranny and gar* us honorable rank among th* nations of the earth—may its glorious events never oe effaced from our ramorles; may the blessings it has conferred be as lasting as rhe globo wo inhabit and may each revolving year find us more united, more happy and mor* fie*” During the early years of the last century the celebration in New York invariably opened with a discharge ot cannon from the Battery. A parade of the militia and volunteer rifle organizations, accompanied bv the leading societies bf the city, in which Tammany was always well represented, marched through Broadway bel*w the present city hall. Wall street and of the other thoroughfares. After a march of about an hour th* paraders filed into St. Paul's or some •tier prominent church, where the Declaration of Independence was always read, followed by an oration. - , In the evening every tavern and coffM house had a special Fourth of July dinner. This latter custom was iiniver- •*]. No hamlet was so small that it eould not gather its company of patriotic diners in. the village tavern, where their enthusiasm was displayed in repeated protestations of loyalty to their country. The residents of Brock.’ju lt‘2 •go were not to lx- outdone by their friends in* th* greater city across the river, •s, according to a newspaper account at the time, the Fourth of July, 1804, was celebrated in Brooklyn as follows: The military of Kings county assembled •t the town of Brooklyn to celebrate the day. At sunrise a salute of seventeen guns was fired. The uniform corps of the Troop of Horse, Republican riflemen, Washington fusileers and the Rising Sun companies formed on Brooklyn Heights at 10 o'clock and marched through Sands •treet. Main street. Front street, up old Ferry street, to the parade ground. Later in the day there were dinners in the various taverns and the customary toasts. An account of a celebration at Potts Grove. Montgomery county. Pa., is interesting not only for the picture of rural enjoyment, but as a sample of the journalistic writing commonly seen in the early newspapers: '■ "Two fieldpieces, cheerfully served, •ent abroad in the forenoon the lofty report of both fun and frolic by sixteen well timed and successive discharges. Joy beamed on every brow: the green valleys •nd distant hills participated in the gladness of the day by reverberating the magnificent and far sent sounds of liberty •nd independence.*’ Mention is then made of -th*.dinner, with its attendant speeches, and in concluding the writer adds: “The retired sun had just by this time let in the gloomy shade of night, upon which the company lietook themselves to Che tavern of James Kinkrad. where they enjoyed themselves with the sprightly dance and feasted to a late hour ujion ■ong, sentiment and rosy wine.”—New York Times.