Today is the 250th birthday of the United States Of America! And as is fitting for a nation's birthday observance, Americans have been putting together celebrations for all these many years.
Memories from his childhood in Allegany County, N.Y. were particularly vivid for my grandfather as he often shared his charming recollections through the years of his newspaper career.
From 1943 –
We'll soon celebrate the National Birthday – 147 years of freedom. Maybe we'll recite the Preamble to the Constitution:
"We, the people of the United States – "
On second thought, maybe we'd better not – takes too much space – or maybe memory might let us down.
Memory is good, however, on how we used to save pennies and nickels for weeks and weeks, when a youngster, so we could buy firecrackers, punk, torpedoes, a bag of candy and maybe a banana, on the Fourth of July.
And when there was a celebration in the country village it opened with "100 Guns at Sunrise."
This was proclaimed by huge posters in bright red and blue ink, with a screaming eagle clasping in its talons, banner inscribed "E Pluribus Unum."
There was a stirring patriotic address by the noted Mr. Somebody, a fantastic parade, dancing all day, a greased pig to catch and a greased pole to climb, ball game, sack race and three-legged race and a pie-eating contest!
Picture a bunch of boys voraciously devouring blackberry pie with copious quantities of sticky juice running down over their chins.
Fireworks in the evening was the culminating event of the day. That was something else again.
But the day came to an end – as all good things must end. Dogged tired and with singed eyebrows, hands blistered here and there, we went wearily to bed, the day done but the memory to live on and on!
Do boys of today get as much pleasure from anticipation and the same joy of realization of the Fourth of July, and will the event remain green in memory's storehouse – we wonder – we hope so.
He wrote this one in 1967, those long-ago childhood memories still vivid in his early 90s.
An old time Fourth of July celebration poster –
Ever see one printed in red and blue ink on white stock? Probably not unless you are an antique biped or there may be one in the vast collection of ancient relics in the archives of the County Historical Society, and that is unlikely.
This scribe remembers such sheets. As a matter of fact, he had a part in printing some of them.
To this day he can picture them with a huge screaming spread eagle and in large type "One Hundred Guns At Sunrise!"
Some of the attractions and contests were: Fantastic parade, music by cornet band, martial band, bicycle races, foot races, sack races, three-leg races; catching a greased pig with the pig the prize; climbing greased pole, with five dollar bill at the top for the prize; square dancing.
There was pink lemonade and peanuts, and usually a tight rope walker. For a big celebration there was usually a balloon ascension. And remember "excursion rates on all railroads." After all of these attractions and probably others this old timer may have forgotten, there was a "spectacular pyrotechnical display."
Even then there was dancing until dawn with fiddles supplying the rhythm and caller crying "salute your partner, balance all and grand right and left."
Of course these were descriptions of celebrations when Golly was a boy, and that was a long time ago –
It was before the advent of the gas buggy, when railroads transported people or horses hauled them about or –
They walked.
Maybe the younger set of today may think life was dull 75 years ago but they are just as wrong as though they had burned their shirt tails.
