The Fourth of July.- by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jul 2, 1894

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 20, No. 34.

The Fourth of July.—

By Editor

The great national holiday is upon us. Cannon will roar, the drum and fife will be heard, bands will play the well-known patriotic airs, spread-eagle orators will vie with the cannon in thundering noise, rockets will shoot, fireworks flame, and the firecracker and small boy will be prominently ubiquitous. The day will be one grand outburst of patriotism, some will call it. But it is safe to say that those who make the most noise will know the least of what patriotism means. The following answer, given by the newsboys to a writer in the Minneapolis Tribune, illustrates what a great deal of this patriotism means. The following is what was said of the origin and significance of the day:—

"It's because George Washington beat in some war." [The information of this boy stopped at this point, and he was unable to say what war it was, or who George was.]

"Washington discovered America 'bout a hundred years ago on the Fourth of July, and that's the reason why we shoot firecrackers."

"The Fourth of July is to have fireworks and have a good time."

"There was a war once, and the Americans beat. They have firecrackers because they sound like war."

"The Fourth of July is the day that the Americans moved into the United States."

"They have a good time on the Fourth of July because the shops all shut up, and nobody works."

"General Grant fought the battle of Bunker Hill on the Fourth of July."

"We shoot firecrackers on the Fourth 'cause the p'leece let us, and there's almost always a circus in town."

The day once meant "liberty," political and religious liberty, "a church without a pope and a State without a king." But those things are cherished by the mass of the politicians now, not as principles, but as sentiments. The wheels of progress have been turned backward in our fair land; there is a blot upon her escutcheon; Liberty weeps, while some of her best sons are persecuted for conscience' sake. We are glad of what freedom remains; we appreciate the liberty and blessing which has come to the race through this favored land; but woe be to that land when it turns its back upon the lessons of the past, and follows blindly those leaders who seek the self-interest of the moment, or who are led by a hierarchy to ruin both Church and State by effecting their union. The Fourth of July ought to be a day of serious thought for every lover of true liberty, in view of the fact that almost every principle which made this nation great has been repudiated by our rulers.