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iii
The Independence Day Horror
at Killsbury
 

YLE.

st

ARBOR

BOSTON H
The Independence Day
Horror

At Killsbury

By Asenath Carver Coolidge

Author of «‘The Modern Blessing, Fire’’
and many other short stories
and poems

Illustrated by
Cassius M. Coolidge

Watertown, N. Y.:
Hungerford-Holbrook Company.

1905
A.\4ezad
Copyrighted 1905
By AsenatH CaARvER CooLipGE

 

Published April, 1905

HUNGERFORD-HOLBROOK CO.,
WATERTOWN, NM, Ys
Dedicated

To my Grandmother, Asenath Carver Townsend
a descendent of Fohn and Mary Carver
who came to America to escape per-
secution for their religious belief
which would not permit
them to countenance war
or its vain-glorious
celebrations
Preface

HE world is a dangerous place to live in, espe-
cially for helpless and innocent children.
Wise parents are sadly aware of this fact and have
always been striving to make it less dangerous.
That this was no small task even in the beginning
is easy enough to be seen; for there were poison
fruits and reptiles and savage beasts to contend
with; but it was light indeed compared with the
parental task of today, when the monsters of mil-
itarism and greed are abroad, planting their dan-
ger-traps in the pathway of unwary feet.

In our own country Independence Day has
proved to be their golden harvest. The freedom
given to small boys on this day makes them easy
victimsto the tempters’ wiles, who under the treach-
erous guise of patriotism have seized upon them
more and more every year, until the list of the dead
and wounded has assumed appalling proportions.
Still there is little talk of doing away with this
hideous slaughter; while there is “big talk” about
“race suicide,” and an appeal to mothers to bring
forth more sons to supply the nation’s need.

Vil
Preface

The nation’s need! What need, we ask in God’s
name, has this nation of three or four thousand
boys to sacrifice annually on our country’s altar?
Let the mothers answer. Let them demand that
this country be made a fit place for children to live
in. That the ten million now spent annually for
their destruction, be used for their benefit. If
only one half of this amount were used rightly
what a change would come over the face of this
continent! Every town, however small, would
have its pretty park for the children to play in
without fear and trembling. There would be
flowers and music—true and gentle music that
takes the savagery out of the human heart in-
stead of filling it with savage impulses. Music
that would not drown the voices of the birds, but
inspire them to sing their rarest songs. Music that
would not wound the ears of the tenderest babes
but seem to them like a mother’s softest lulla-
by; to which it is easy to fancy that God’s birds,
the angels, are delighted to listen.

ASENATH CARVER COOLIDGE.

Antwerp, N. Y., April, 1905.

viil
CHAPTER,

II.

It.

Iv.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

Contents

PAGE,
Preface viiceave enih ive seed SEER vil.
The Cornwallis Cottage........... 13
The Round About Road to Schwar-
mer Mansion ...............04. 22
The Alarm. woos ii cwacew oes eaess 33
‘Risus Sardonicus ................ 40
Insanity or Exile ............. wee 49
The Funny Fourth Racket on English
Soll’ g:43 seu ae dawesuieen sear 57
The Double Engagement .......... 65
Dr. Muelenberg’s Prescription ..... 14
The Bridal Trip ................. 80
A Public Meeting—Statistics and
Resolutions ..........0. eee ees 87
Appeal Instead of Prohibition ...... 101
A Good Celebration— Adelaide Schwar-
mer and Ruth’s Dog ............ 114

1x
XIv.

Xv.

XVI.

XVII.

XVII.

XxX.

XXI.

XXIII.

Contents

‘Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics and

Adelaide Schwarmer’s Blame......
Schwarmer’s Threatened Arrest.....

The Killsbury Women Arrest Them-

Selves ne eas ehiet Gale Sew umiwe eS s
The Effect of Ruth’s Speech........

The Query—Ruth’s Dog Dombey
Brings Her a Note............-

Mr. Bombs’ Disgust with Chicago and
the Pyro-King’s Plans...........

Schwarmer Does a Little Hustling on
Adelaide’s Account—A Fourth of
July Bugle ..............0.00.

The Dedication of the Library......

Adelaide Stays at Home with Her
Mather oniiea cave sceictay aes

A Wonderful Change in Killsbury...

Mr. Bombs Tells All He Knows About
Laurens Cornwallis?’ Mysterious
Death. 2 sccwsgxsesee et eee.

126
140

148
160

173

183

193

203

213
228
Illustrations

PAGE,

Boston Harbor Style ............. Frontispiece.

The Funny Fourth Racket on English Soil.. 62

Going to Visit the President.............. 82
“A Feast is Better than Firecrackers”...... 118
“Fire, Fire!” Cried a Voice............... 134

Xi
The Independence Day Horror
at Killsbury

CHAPTER I.

THE CORNWALLIS COTTAGE.

T was Independence Day. The sun rose
gorgeously. The air was electric and
inspiring. Blossoming plants were ex-
haling rare fragrance. The forests and

rivers were palpitating with glad, soft sounds and
gentle fervor. The birds were singing jubilantly,
and various forms of living things were alert and
antic. Yes, it was “Independence Day in the
morning” as the Killsbury boys called it. It was
full of glorious promise—the list of the dead and
wounded had not as yet come in!

Apparently there were not half a dozen people
in the town who would have admitted that there
would be any casualties on the day that had
dawned so beautifully ; although there had been an
increasing number of them every year since Mil-
lionaire Schwarmer had come and built his man-
sion on “The Hill” and decorated its brow with a
big-mouthed cannon.

13
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

The cannon began to boom as soon as the sun
appeared above the horizon. It continued to boom
industriously as though it were determined to
wake up every citizen in Killsbury and the sur-
rounding country to the important fact that “In-
dependence Day had really and truly and unmis-
takably dawned,” as Captain Dan Solomon face-
tiously remarked. It was a fact that would have
been well known and appreciated, at least by every
inmate of the Cornwallis Cottage, even though
there had been no cannon on Schwarmer Hill to
vomit it forth; for the reason that the sole son of
the house, Laurens Angelo Cornwallis, had been
born on that day.

Little Laurens Angelo Cornwallis was the most
beautiful boy in Killsbury, “or the whole world,”
averred the Reverend Dr. Normander, who had
baptised him and had traveled the world nearly
enough over to make a correct estimate with re-
gard to the part that remained. Yes, and he
was as good and bright as he was beautiful—the
joy of his mother, the pride of his father and to
his sister Ruth the “dear angel,” as she called him,
so it goes without saying that his birthday would
have been celebrated with due love and honor even
if he had not been born on Independence Day; al-
though there might not have been such a showing
of red, white and blue—probably no more than
one American flag, with an English and French
flag lovingly intertwined (for Mr. Cornwallis was

14
The Cornwallis Cottage

of English descent and his wife of French descent)
whereas now there were flags on the four corners
of the cottage, and over all the doors and windows
both inside and outside and a generous display of
bunting everywhere.

“A double quantity” as Mr. Cornwallis was wont
to ask for when he bought a new supply of colors.

“One half to celebrate our boy’s birthday and
the other half to celebrate our Nation’s birthday.
You see we don’t intend to be partial.”

And when the shopman, who inclined to think
that love of one’s own country meant hate of all
other countries, remarked “there are some who say
that we should love our country more than our
wives and children,” Mr. Cornwallis replied:

“I haven’t got to that point yet and I doubt if
I ever shall. I don’t intend to make burnt sacri-
fices on any altar.” ;

While he was arranging the flags the Reverend
Dr. Normander called.

“You see, Doctor, I love Mother England and
Sister France very well indeed, but I love America
supremely.”

“Yes I see,” replied Dr. Normander, “and I
know it is very easy to love our own country; but
tolove other countries equally well—in other words
to love our neighbors as ourselves—there’s the rub,
Mr. Cornwallis.”

“I recognize the beauty of equality, Doctor,”
laughed Mr. Cornwallis, “and I think I might be

15
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

able to love other countries as well as my own coun-
try after a great deal of practice and very possi-
bly, my neighbor as well as myself, but I fear I
could never love my neighbor’s boy as well as I
love my own boy. I hope I am taking a step in the
right direction when I pay equal honor to my coun-
try’s birthday and to his.”

Little Ruth caught her father’s spirit as by in-
fection. Every Fourth of July she arose as soon
as the cannon began to boom and running out into
the dewy or rainy garden, whichever it happened
to be, she picked two great bunches of red and
white flowers and arranged them in two blue vases
and put one at the end of the table where mamma
sat and the other at the end where papa sat in hon-
or of the two birthdays.

Mrs. Cornwallis made a new patriotic suit for
her darling boy each year. This year it was a
quaint George Washington suit in red, white and
blue with a cute Can’t-tell-a-lie cap, all spangled
with stars.

After breakfast was over, she spread the suit
out on the bed in her room. She was going to give
her boy a bath preparatory to putting it on.

The cannon on Schwarmer Hill began to boom
again just as Laurens was stepping into his little
bath tub. The boy shivered.

“What makes you shiver so, Laurens? Is the
water too cold?” asked his mother.

“QO no, mamma! It’s the cannon I’m shivering

16
The Cornwallis Cottage

at. It made the house shiver. What makes them
have it so awful loud?”

“So as to be sure and make everybody hear, Lau-
rens.”

“T think a bugle would be better, mamma.”

“So do I, my boy, but I suppose Mr. Schwarm-
er doesn’t.

“Tm afraid of Mr. Schwarmer, mamma. He
gave Benny Horton something that blew his eye
out last Fourth.”

“So am I, my boy. Fireworks are not fit for
little boys to handle. They smell bad, they are
bad, dangerous and noisy.”

She was rubbing his white satiny skin with her
soft hands. She stopped short and added:

“If he ever offers you any, you will refuse to
take them, and you will tell him what mamma says
about them, won’t you darling?”

He threw his arms around her neck and kissed
her.

“Yes, mamma, I will. You don’t want your lit-
tle boy to have his eyes put out, do you?” he said
pathetically.

“No indeed, Laurens,” cried the mother turning
around to get his new pants and brush away a
tear.

“Mamma, the gardener said my old pants were
holy. What did he mean?”

He meant you had worn holes in them, Lau-
rens?”

17
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“What did the Sunday-school teacher mean
when she said the war we are going to celebrate to-
day was a holy war? Did she mean we had worn
holes in it? Worn it out?”

“No,” laughed Mamma, “she meant it was a
war to make the English give us our own things
just as you would fight if a dog should try to eat
up your dinner.”

“O mamma, I would give poor doggy my dinner
if he were hungry,” said Laurens, with tears in
his eyes.

“Yes, I know you would, my darling, but if
you were hungry and he would not let you have
any, what then?”

“I would pet and coax him, mamma, until he let
me have some.”

Mrs. Cornwallis gave up the argument and
hugged and kissed her boy to her heart’s content.
But Laurens did not give it up so easily. When
she was fastening his ruffled shirt front with her
beautiful sapphire buttons which were a part of
his father’s wedding gift, he touched her on the
forehead and said:

“Please tell me, mamma, what kind of animals
the English are? Bridget calls them ‘Johnny
Bulls.” Do they look like our bulls?”

“No, no, my child. They look like ourselves.
Like your papa. Your grandpapa came from
England when he was a little boy about your age.”

“O mamma! You don’t know how s’prised I am.

18
The Cornwallis Cottage

I thought the English were a sort of bulls—dan-
gerous bulls, that pitched into our grandpas with
their horns and they had to kill them or be hooked
to death.”

“No, Laurens, they were men, but they wronged
3°

“I think it would be awful to kill anybody just
for that, mamma.”

“So it seems to you now, my boy, but when you
have grown to be a man—” she hesitated. A sud-
den fear shot through her heart. Was it that she
was not teaching him quite right, or was it that
of an impending sorrow? Then she added with a
sigh: “The Lord only knows, Laurens. I hope
you may think the same; but I fear you will think
quite differently.”

Later on his toilet was finished and a miniature
George Washington stood before her looking up
into her face with the Can’t-tell-a-lie expression
so dear to her heart.

“There, you may go now and get your kite.
Ruth must have gotten the streamers all tied on
by this time.”

He ran to his sister’s room, and she put the
beautiful new kite that Ralph Norwood had made
on purpose for him, into his chubby little hand
and watched him in an ecstacy of admiration as he
ran down through the garden and out into the big
sunny field where he was going to make it fly.

Then she went into mamma’s room; for they

19

us
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

were going to take each of them a sweet, sweet
bath and make everything ready for the beauti-
ful home celebration. The table was to be loaded
with refreshments that were truly refreshing for
a hot day, and little Laurens was to have a birth-
day cake with eight roses (to tell how old he was)
circling around a tiny flag on a tiny staff made of
a goose-quill in imitation of the famous one with
which the American Declaration of Independence
was signed.

The Reverend Dr. Normander and family were
to be there and Ralph Norwood and his brothers.
They would have music and singing and the chil-
dren might play at fort-building out in the fra-
grant garden; but they would have no “nasty fire-
works,” as Mrs. Cornwallis called them.

She was a true Frenchwoman in her tastes, al-
though truly American in education, and would
not have the sweet smelling plot of ground on
which she had spent so much of her spare time,
turned into a pit of vile-smelling powder and brim-
stone. She resolutely maintained that she could
show her intense patriotism in better, safer, and
more odorous ways. And she did it to the entire
satisfaction of everybody in Killsbury unless it
might be Millionaire Schwarmer who came to his
mansion on The Hill every Fourth of July, boomed
his cannon and distributed free fireworks among
the boys of the town, “in grateful remembrance,”
he said, “of the fact that he was born there.”

20
The Cornwallis Cottage

Mrs. Cornwallis said to her husband that it was
a pity he could not show his gratitude in more
agreeable and useful ways, but she did not say so
in public or brood over it in private. She was a
very busy housewife and devoted mother and had
no time to cultivate even the necessary grievances.

Mr. Cornwallis was in sympathy with his wife’s
opinions; but as yet it had not occurred to him
that free fireworks, (like free whiskey) were any
worse for the town than those that were regularly
bought and paid for. As to the legal restrictions
necessary with regard to the sale and manufacture
of explosives for the celebration of our national
day, he was beginning to be very outspoken.
CHAPTER II.

THE ROUND ABOUT ROAD TO SCHWARMER MANSION.

HERE were two roads leading up to the
Schwarmer Mansion from the town of
Killsbury. One of them was called “The
Straight Way” and the other “The

Round About Road.” The latter followed the
steep declivity that led down to the river’s edge
and passed the big lot that belonged to the Corn-
wallis grounds.

“Guess I'd better take the‘Round About’ with all
that heavy baggage of yours, Mr. Schwarmer,”
said Captain Dan Solomon, the expressman at the
station. ‘“There’s a loosé board in the bridge on
the ‘Straight Way’ that my filly don’t exactly ap-
prove of.”

“Just as you choose, Dan,” replied Mr.
Schwarmer. “It doesn’t make a cent’s worth of
difference to me, most assuredly it doesn’t. How
long before you’ll be around?”

“As soon as I can. Things are a little irregular
today, you know.”

22
The Round About Road

“Certainly! certainly Dan! Independence Day
is every dog’s day, most assuredly it is; and busi-
ness concerns are apt to move rather circuitously.
Fons,” he added, turning to a youthful looking
lad at his side, “suppose we take ‘The Round
About,’ since there’s no carriage and we have to
walk. We might as well make it worth while,
you know. I haven’t walked around that way for
years, most assuredly I haven’t.”

Fons assentedand they walked on at a brisk pace.

“How many of those patriotic packages have
you, Fons?

“If you mean my improvements on ‘The Sacred
Mandarin,’ laughed Fons, “I have enough yet to
hold up the town, although I left a good sprink-
ling of them at every station and sowed them
about six deep among the employees while you
were hunting up Dan. I’m going to advertise in
earnest this time.”

“Well, I’ve got half a dozen. That will be
enough. We won’t be apt to meet more than one
or two boys after we branch off if we do any.
They didn’t expect me on this train. Most assur-
edly they didn’t; but they’ll flock up to the gates
in due time—by the time Dan gets there I reckon.”

They went on, distributing fire-crackers and
blank cartridges to every boy they met and every
poor looking fellow also.

When they got to the Cornwallis lot Fons espied
little Laurens in the distance flying his kite.

23
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“Heigho! what gay little patriotic bird is
that?” exclaimed Fons. “He’s worth the ammu-
nition.”

Schwarmer stopped and put on his gold-rimmed
magnifiers.

“That’s little Laurens Cornwallis—the hand-
somest boy in Killsbury or the world, they say.
You’ve heard me speak of the Cornwallis’s, most
assuredly you have. They are not eminently pa-
triotic, I suspect, though they display the colors.
We'll see how the eaglet stands affected toward
his country this morning.”

Schwarmer went to the fence and beckoned the
boy to come to him.

Laurens came on a little distance but stopped
when he recognized Schwarmer.

“Come on, my pretty” said Schwarmer, “ I will
give you a nice new box of powdered crackers to
help you celebrate. You can make them go off with-
out the aid of the fickle wind.”

Laurens shook his curly head vigorously. “I
don’t want any. I told mamma I would not touch
Mr. Schwarmer’s fire-things.”” Then he turned and
ran away from them as fast as his little legs could
carry him.

“How’s that for frankness?” sneered Fons as
they moved on. “It beats you who are a profes-
sional, ‘all the way to Buzzard’s Bay,’ as the boys
say.”

“Yes, and it looks rather dull for your trade,

24
The Round About Road

Fons,” laughed Schwarmer rather derisively.
“Perhaps you had better put your inventive genius
into some other business. It’s pretty poor encour-
agement when you can’t even give away your pro-
ductions. Most assuredly it is.”

“It’s doubtful policy to begin at the church
door,” said Fons. “More stars and stripes and
fewer fireworks is the church idea. I never see
such a boy as that—with a regular Sunday School
look and eyes rolled up—without wanting to call
him down. The most beautiful Laurens needs a
giant firecracker and a dynamite cap and cane to
bring him down to the proper altitude. They don’t
teach fire and brimstone in the churches now, so
it’s necessary for the youngsters to get a smell of
it from the outside.”

“Military slang aside, Fons. His mother és cos-
seting him and making a sort of an inspired idiot
of him, most assuredly she is. He is a beauty—
too much of a beauty for a boy; but he will never
be fit for business. But mothers never think of
things in a business way and Mrs. Cornwallis is the
main spoke in, Cornwallis’ wheel, most assuredly
she is.”

“A wheel of domesticity all around I should
judge,” laughed Fons. “Cornwallis is no business
man.”

“No, Fons—only a counter of other men’s
gains—no independent money-maker, so to speak.
He would refuse to make money in your kind of

25
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

business or mine either. He makes a terrible hulla-
baloo every time a little ragamuffin gets hurt with
blank cartridges or toy pistols. He wants the
manufactories shut down at once. He’d rather
take the risk of having six youngsters starved to
death, than to have one die of lockjaw.”

“T should say he ought to have the lockjaw him-
self and any other man who uses his jaw for the
repression of legitimate trade. Faugh! we’ve no
use for such effeminates on this end of the planet.
where more big manufactories are needed to keep
it well balanced. I should like to see his jaw
locked up.”

“O no! not quite so bad as that, Fons.”

“Yes, worse than that,” continued Fons angrily.
“Shut up our own manufactories and send abroad
for Fourth of July fireworks! That’s the kind of
business fiend or fool he is—send to the English
for things to celebrate our victory over them.
Bah!”

“But we never have, Fons—that is to any ridic-
ulous extent—any alarming extent, so to speak?”

“But we will if the idiots that would shut down
our Pyrotechnic manufactories are not shut up.
The London Pyro-king is trying to king it here
now by catering to the Independence Day senti-
ment. He hates it, but he is going to coin money
out of it all the same—the viper!”

“Head him off, then! Rule him out! We ought
to manufacture our own implements—especially

26
The Round About Road

the patriotic ones and handle them too and teach
our boys how to handle them. If we would teach
them how to be brave and do brave things—really
dare to do them, it would be better all around—
the planet included, most assuredly it would.”

Fons made no reply to Schwarmer’s rather rag-
ged reasoning, but when he got to the top of the
hill he broke out:

“Excuse me. I’m going back to see if I can’t
put a little of the dare devil stuff into that all too
goodish boy. I must have a little fun out of him
anyway.”

Don’t be gone long, Fons. You must be here
when your patriotic stuffs are unloaded. I don’t
care to be near enough to smell powder if they
should be handled too roughly or by the wrong
end.”

“It’s the little idiot that sits down on my trade
that will be likely to smell of the powdered beau-
ties,” laughed Fons sardonically.

“Have a care, youngster. You can’t cut up here
as you can in the city without having it known.”

“OQ! it’s only a little scare I’ll treat him to. Boys
like to be scared, you know. That’s the secret of
success in the money end of the Pyrotechnic busi-
ness.”

Before he got back to the Cornwallis lot, he
saw the baggage-man coming up the hill.

“Heigho,” he exclaimed, slapping his leg—
“just in the nick of time! Providence permits! Now

Q7
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

I will have some fun. Stop a bit, Dan. I want
an assortment of that patriotic fervor. I am go-
ing to have a little picnic with some boys right
here if nothing happens.”

After he had selected the things he wanted, he
slipped a dollar into Dan’s hand, saying, “you
may go on now, but you'd better stay up with us
today, you and your nag, and help us celebrate.
The women folks didn’t come and you haven’t
any of those ‘pull backs,’ Schwarmer tells me, so
we can have a very free time.”

Dan laughed and moved on. Fons carried his
boxes to a shady nook on the steep bank just op-
posite the lot where Laurens Cornwallis was still
flying his kite. After he had arranged them he
stopped and looked at them with a satisfied air.
Then he selected a thing with spiral stripes of
red, white and blue.

“This will take the boy’s eye at once,” he said
to himself as he climbed the hill to go to the
Cornwallis lot. “I must have invented it for his
kind of eye—a sort of Aaron’s rod—yes, that’s
what I'll name it—a bible name. That will be
ahead of King Pang’s ‘Sacred Mandarin.’ It’s
just the ticker for a little Sunday school chub like
Laurens.”

When he got to the fence he saw that Laurens
was having trouble with his kite.

“Providence permits again,” he muttered as he
jumped over into the lot.

28
The Read About Read

“Hello there! my dear fellow,” he called out.
“I see Mistress Kite has gone back on you. They
are always doing that sort of trick. I had about
a hundred when I was your age. I know all about
the pesky things. I can doctor it for you.” He
left Aaron’s rod by the first tree he came to and
went on.

Laurens shied off a little when he saw he was
the lad that was with Schwarmer, but Fons paid
no attention to the “instinctive dodge,” as he had
heard his military professor call it. He marched
boldly up, took hold of the kite and began to fix
it as though it belonged to him by right of super-
ior knowledge concerning kites. Laurens watched
him with that kind of fascination which a young
boy invariably feels for an older one, and espec-
ially one who has had an experience with so many
kites and had so many implements in his pockets
to fix and do things with it; for therefrom, during
the process he took all sorts of beautifully made
instruments, ranging from a gold toothpick to a
silver match-box and gave them to him to hold
while he was diving into the depths for his sharpest
jack-knife. Besides, he had a diamond ring on
his finger of dazzling brightness and a little jew-
elled watch in his vest pocket, which he pulled out
to see what time of day it was. After he had fixed
the kite and sailed it across the field several times,
he stopped short and exclaimed:

“There, it sails beautifully ; but I’ve had enough

29
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

of it! Say, little ‘Can’t tell a lie.” I should think
you’d be awful tired of the kite business. I quit
it long before I was as old as you are. Why don’t
you play with something more patriotic—some-
thing like what George Washington used to lick
the English with? I don’t blame you though for
not wanting Schwarmer’s cheep truck; I’ve got
some things that I brought from the city—things
that I helped make for our school celebration. They
are daisies! stars and stripes of just the right
color! Come on and I’ll show you one. I’m going
to have a picnic down by the river this after-
noon.”

“I’m afraid mamma wouldn’t like to have me go
out of the field.”

“O you needn’t be afraid. It’s liberty day. She
won’t care, take my word for it. I’m older than
you. Come on, you’ll never have another chance
to see my prettiest piece. I haven’t but one left
and when it’s once let off there’s an end of it; there
it is leaning against the tree. Aaron’s rod, I call
it. Your Sunday school teacher has told you about
Aaron’s wonderful rod. Come and see how you like
its namesake.”

Fons started off with the kite in hand and Lau-
rens still had the beautiful implements.

“Come on,” shouted Fons, seizing Aaron’s rod
and swinging it gayly. “Catch me if you can.”

It was a lively chase. Over the fence, across the
road and down the steep bank! When they stopped

30
The Round About Road

they were side by side and both were laughing.
They had enjoyed the race.

“Now,” said Fons, “we are here and if you don’t
want to see my patriotic piece you will have to shut
your eyes.”

Laurens opened his eyes still wider instead of
shutting them, for Fons began to show off at once.
It was a very pretty show. The place was in
deep shadow and the effect was almost as vivid as
it would have been at night.

“That’s the style of them,” laughed Fons after
he had finished the piece. “I see you like it. Now
you stay here while I run up to the house and get
some lemons and candy ; and don’t let any bad boys
run off with my things.”

What Fons really did was to go up to the
Schwarmer stables, where he found an army of
small boys to whom Schwarmer was distributing
packages of Fourth of July fireworks. He watched
them and saw a squad of four rough little rascals
who were trying to get a double or perhaps a
quadruple supply. They were changing caps with
each other and holding each other’s boxes.

“Here boys,” he said, calling them aside, “I
know what you want. You haven’t got your share
and some others have more than their share. I
can fix that for you. I was a boy myself only a
little while ago. There’s a boy down by the river
just opposite the big Cornwallis lot who has a
great lot of the very best kind of fireworks—stars

81
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

and garters, Johnny-jump-ups and Yankee-doo-
dle-doos. You go down there and make him divide
up. You can swipe him easy enough. He’s a lit-
tle Sunday-school angel, who wants to celebrate
all by himself. You'll know him. He is rigged
out in the Can’t-tell-a-lie George Washington
style.”

Fons’ intention was to go down to the river’s
bank, secrete himself where the boys couldn’t see
him and watch them while they fought it out; but
his plan was baffled by an unexpeced event.

82
CHAPTER ITI.

THE ALARM.

T’S ten o’clock already!’ exclaimed Mrs.
Cornwallis as she finished her bath.
But everything is in perfect order now
except ourselves. There’s that dread-
ful cannon again! It made me shiver this time.”
Then she added anxiously, “Where’s Laurens?
Have you heard him come in? I never knew him
to stay out so long.”

“No, I haven’t,” replied Ruth, taking the alarm.
“Please help me on with my dress and I’ll go after
him.”

“He must be having a high time with his new
kite this morning,” said Mrs. Cornwallis as she put
on Ruth’s pretty white frock. “Here, wait a mo-
ment, then you can stay out with him as long as
you like.”

She tied the blue sash into a graceful knot and
fastened a cluster of red roses on her corsage with
a resolute hand, for she would not believe that any
harm had befallen her boy.

33
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

Ruth hastened out and Mrs. Cornwallis proceed-
ed to finish her own toilet. A few moments after-
wards she was smiling at her foolish fears and
saying to herself, they are having a lovely time
now, playing together—the blessed children!

She was going to wear white, pure white just
as she did when she was married, but she had a red,
white and blue knot for her throat and she was fas-
tening it on with a sapphire brooch that belonged
to the same set of the sapphire buttons with which
she had fastened little Lauren’s George Washing-
ton ruff, when Ruth burst into the room, crying:

“QO mamma! mamma! I can’t see him any-
where.”

“T’ve looked all over the field! I’ve called and
called but he did not answer! O! he’s lost! he’s
lost!

“No! No! Ruth. He must be somewhere about
the premises.” Hand in hand they went all over
the house and grounds, but they did not find him.

“QO I’m so afraid,” sobbed Ruth! “Where shall
we look now?”

“Perhaps he had trouble with his kite and went
over to Ralph Norwood’s to have him fix it. He
did that way with papa last year. We will go and
see what he thinks about it.”

Mr. Cornwallis was of his wife’s opinion.

“Don’t be frightened,” he said. “Go home and
look the premises over again and wait for him
there while I go to Norwoods.”

34
The Alarm

The Norwoods lived at the opposite end of the
town fully a mile away. The oo eee course
ran through the public square. . Cornwallis
went on in that direction, making = way as rap-
idly as possible through streets that were already
strewn with firecrackers and torpedoes. It seemed
to him that he had never before seen so many of all
sorts and sizes in the town of Killsbury. Wher-
ever there was a boy there was a fusilade of the
evil-smelling things. Wherever there were several
boys, small cannons and cartridges added to the
noise and danger. Was it his anxiety about his
own boy that made it seem so much worse than ever
before, or was it a day of unusual horror in Kills-
bury? When he reached the Public Square the
question was answered. The scene beggared de- -
scription. The air was full of stench, smoke,
hisses, cries of fright, hurt and brutal laughter.
Horses, dogs and babies were fired at indiscrimin-
ately. It seemed as though all the boys in Kills-
bury and the surrounding country must have as-
sembled there and were trying to do their worst—
as though they had made a concerted attempt to
seize the Public Square in army fashion and fire
upon every one who attempted to enter it from
any of the streets; for squads of them stood at
every corner.

Mr. Cornwallis saw that it would be impossible
to cross the square safely and he was in haste to
reach Norwoods’ and find out if his boy were there.

35
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

His boy! Had not a monster seized the town and
swallowed up his boy already? He pushed his way
desperately to a side street hoping to avoid fur-
ther delay. As he turned the corner he saw a large
load of people headed for the square. He looked
again and recognized the Rundels—a family of
hard working farmers—eleven in all, counting the
aged grandfather and grandmother and an uncle
and aunt. They were accustomed to driving into
town on Independence Day to help celebrate and
have a little pleasant diversion. They were in hol-
iday mood and array and were coming on at a live-
ly pace.

“Good God!” exclaimed Cornwallis, “It will not
do for them to drive into that infernal place.”

He ran after them and called on them to stop;
but he called in vain. They were on a down hill
grade and before the driver could check the horses,
a fusilade of fireworks struck them and they
rushed madly into the square. Women with young
children sought refuge in the nearest shops. Men
and boys fell over each other, trying to get out
of the way of the infuriated beasts. The helpless
family by some sort of loving instinct huddled to-
gether in the bottom of the staunch old hayrack—
thechildren and grandparents in the center and the
others on the outside encircling them with their
strong arms. When the crash came, which was
caused by running against the town pump, they
were all thrown out in a heap, the horses wheeled

36
The Alarm

about and stood gazing at them apparently aghast
at the deed they had helped to commit.

Fortunately, none of them were killed. One of
the girls had a sprained wrist, one of the boys a
sprained ankle, the aunt a dislocated shoulder, and
the father and mother were badly bruised; but af-
ter the cheering report of the Doctor, they inclined
to take their misfortunes resignedly and thank the
Lord they were no worse—quite as though they
had been necessary martyrs to the noble cause of
American freedom, instead of the sport of mis-
chievousboys, and victims of an outrageous custom.

“O! what a terrible world this is getting to be!
Too terrible for any innocent child to live in,” Mr.
Cornwallis repeated to himself again and again
as he continued his way to the Norwoods’. With-
out being distinctly conscious of it he was prepar-
ing himself for the disappointment and grief
which awaited him.

Laurens had not been there and they had seen
nothing of him.

“Come with me, Ralph, and help me find him.
It’s a terrible day down town.”

“So Police Haggard told father. I'll go and
see if he can help us. He has just driven in the
stable with his horse.”

He returned, saying that his father would drive
over to the cottage and see if Laurens had re-
turned and if not he would see Haggard and have
a regular search instituted.”

37
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“But the Police are in full force at the Square
and a horse is not safe in the street.”

“Never fear, he will manage with gentle Bess.
He thinks we had better go back by the river. He
may have been chasing his kite and—”

Ralph broke off crying, “O I shall never for-.
give myself if the kite has been the cause of his
death.”

They hastened on making inquiries of every-
body they met. They met Dr. Muelenberg as they
were turning from the road to go down the bank.

“O Doctor! do you know?” gasped Mr. Corn-
wallis.

“Yes, yes, I just came from your house to hunt
for him. I went there to celebrate his birthday
and the dear little fellow was not there. We must
look well to the river.”

‘They started down the bank.

“O the kite, the kite!’ exclaimed Ralph! “See!
see! over there by the pine trees! Perhaps he was
tired of chasing it and has fallen asleep!”

He rushed on crying “Laurens! Laurens wake
up! wake up!”

The next moment he stumbled over a strange
distorted, discolored figure. When the Doctor and
Mr. Cornwallis came up he stood looking at it in a
dazed way.

“It can’t be Laurens! It can’t be possible he
could be so changed! ‘Tell me it can’t, Doctor,”
he pleaded.

38
The Alarm

The Doctor shook his head. “Not a trace! Not
a feature! It may be some other boy, but how
shall we decide?”

“God only knows,” said Mr. Cornwallis turning
away from the unbearable sight.

The Doctor drew nearer as he felt it his duty
to do, and looked at the frightful figure more close-
ly.

“If it’s your son, Mr. Cornwallis, perhaps you
will know him by some mark. I think the back of
the head has not been much burned. I see the
remnant of a cap.”

He paused a moment to gather new courage.
Then he raised the head and removed the bit of
cap. Underneath it were Laurens’ beautiful curls!

Ralph fainted and the two men fell upon the
ground, clutching each other in agony.

“Mien Gott! Mien Gott,” exclaimed Dr. Muel-
enberg at last. “You have one thing to be thank-
ful for. Death was instantaneous. He was not
saved to die in the awful toils of Tetanus.”

33

39
CHAPTER IV.

RISUS SARDONICUS.

EFORE night—yes, even before the can-
B non on Schwarmer Hill had ceased to
boom, everybody in Killsbury knew of the
terriblesorrow that had befallen the Corn-
wallis family. Little Laurens had been brought
home dead and disfigured beyond recognition. His
father and mother were wild with grief and his
sister Ruth was stricken down with brain fever.
Neighbors and townspeople came and saw and
went away shocked and silent. It was plain to be
seen that it was one of those mysterious Fourth of
July accidents that will happen now and then,
and few indeed were brave enough to ask just how
it happened or why such accidents should be made
possible. The majority of the people of Killsbury
would as soon have thought of questioning the
ways of Providence or the rights of the whirlwind
as they would of questioning the doings of “the
small boy,” or denying his right to go whitherso-
ever he listeth on our free and glorious Indepen-
dence Day.

40
Risus Sardonicus

The Reverend Dr. Normander, however, was not
exactly of this stamp. He was beginning at least,
tothink seriously about the matter. Passing strange
it seemed to him that the day which should be the
most beautifully and joyously free, had become the
most fearful to the best and most truly patriotic
citizens of the town; and that said citizens should
consent to it and encourage it as so many did. Mr.
Schwarmer, at least, encouraged it most decidedly
by distributing fireworks to the boys. He had
been thinking of speaking to him about it for
some time. Whether he had given Laurens Corn-
wallis the fireworks that had caused his death or
not, he felt that the time had come to utter his
warning against such a practice and ask him as a
citizen of influence to make his gifts of a harmless
nature. He called on him the next morning for
that purpose.

“You have heard of little Laurens Cornwallis’s
terrible death I suppose, Mr. Schwarmer?”

“Yes, I heard of it last night. It was very, very
sad, most assuredly it was, Dr. Normander.”

“The mystery is where he got the fireworks, Mr.
Schwarmer. He went out into the field to fly his
kite. He had no fireworks and no money to buy
any. His parents do not approve of putting such
dangerous things into the hands of children. His
mother thinks he must have been seized upon
by older boys and compelled to take part in, or
witness their sports. However the case may he,

41
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

I have been asked so many times by friends and
acquaintances if it were true that he came up here
and you gave him the fireworks, that I felt it my
duty to ask you personally.”

“This is my answer for one and all, Dr. Nor-
mander. He did not come here and I did not give
him any firecrackers. You may set that down as
gospel truth, most assuredly you may.”

“I am glad to hear it and be able to refute the
rumor; still I feel that I shall not have done my
whole duty without telling you that I fear your
custom of distributing fireworks to the boys is
having a very bad effect. I have noticed an alarm-
ing increase of Independence Day accidents since
you inaugurated the custom. Yesterday was the
worst of all. I was told that the Public Square
was a more dangerous place than if it had been in-
vaded by a foreign enemy—that the boys really
took possession of it and fired at everybody who
attempted to enter.

Mr. Schwarmer laughed. ‘Well that’s no fault
of mine, Dr. Normander. Any sensible man knows
that there isn’t enough powder in one of my little
packages to hurt any child. He couldn’t more
than scorch his fingers were he to let them all off
at once—rest assured he couldn’t. He couldn’t
more than learn “The burnt child dreads the fire’
adage, which every child has got to learn sooner or
later.”

“But if a large number of boys should club to-

42
Risus Sardonicus

gether and every one had a box, Mr. Schwarmer?
What then?”

*O that would be another affair, Dr. Norman-
der. The parents and the police should regulate
a thing of that kind—most assuredly they should
—the parents primarily.”

“But parents can’t always stand on guard, Mr.
Schwarmer.”

“T thought that was what parents were for—to
guard their own children, Dr. Normander. If I
should attempt to guard other people’s children I
should expect to be told that my services were not
wanted, most assuredly I should; and if I give a
boy a box of firecrackers to honor his country
with, I consider it’s his parents’ business to see
that he makes the right use of it, just as it would
be their business to see that he made the right use
of a Sunday School book that you might give him
to honor his God with! No knowing but he would
take a notion to set a match to the one thing or
the other, or the whole thing, if left to himself long
enough—in which case he would be apt to burn
his fingers and perhaps burn himself up and the
whole house too; but neither you nor I would be to
blame, I take it,” laughed Schwarmer.

Dr. Normander was amazed at such levity and
reasoning or lack of reason; but he replied with
becoming patience: “Not for what we could not
foresee or avoid, Mr. Schwarmer. Every mature in-
dividual knows that all kinds of explosives are more

43
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

or less dangerous. There is a lurking devil in
them that it will not do to play with. They should
not be used unless it is absolutely necessary and
then only by experienecd hands. Surely, it would
be very easy for you to withhold your gifts to the
boys, or make them of a non-explosive character.
You might try it next year and note the results in
the death and accident list. I think it would not
only be right for you to do so, but the part of
wisdom, as quite a number, especially those moth-
ers who have had their boys seriously hurt by the
explosives which you have given them, are being
very much exercised about the matter.”

“Bless their hearts!” exclaimed Schwarmer red-
dening perceptibly, “I suppose they think I own
the Fourth of July and must run it and be respon-
sible for everything that goes amiss. Now I sup-
pose they’ll try to blame me for old Dan’s death.
You know old Captain Dan Solomon—the express-
man. He came up here yesterday and insisted on
letting off the cannon. I couldn’t refuse him. It
was Liberty day, you know. The day didn’t be-
long to me any more than it did to anybody else,
nor the cannon either. I dedicated it to the town
to begin with, so old Dan did as he chose. He was
careless with it at the sundown charge and it burst
and killed him. Come and see him. They have him
all nicely laid out in the coachman’s apartment.”

“Indeed! I had not heard of this,” said Doctor
Normander. He arose in astonishment and fol-

44
Risus Sardonicus

lowed Mr. Schwarmer to the stable. One look was
as much as he could endure. He turned away in
silence and went wearily down the hill. He was
convinced that Schwarmer did not give little Lau-
rens Cornwallis the explosives that caused his
death ; but he was still more thoroughly convinced
that he was responsible through his influence and
example for the alarming increase of accidents in
the town; but beyond all lay the dread conviction
that the evil was coexistent with our body politic
and that the parents and people in general had
become so inured to it—so dead to its enormity
that it would be well nigh impossible to bring
about any essential reform.

The Saturday after the burial of Laurens Corn-
wallis, Dr. Normander rose feeling quite ill, but
he would not give up. He seized his hat and went
out to walk.

When he reached the first avenue he looked up
and saw Father Ferrill crossing the street at a
rapid pace.

“Father! Father!” he called out involuntarily,
“has anything happened—anything more?” He
held out both hands. He had never before felt so
keenly the need of a brother worker, or rather a
father worker. The aged priest came up, took his
hands tenderly in his own and said:

“J have just been summoned to the bedside of
the Widow Pressneau’s little boy. I fear it is a
case of Tetanus beyond hope, it has developed so

45
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

rapidly. On the Fourth he shot his hand with a
toy pistol which was given him to celebrate with.”

“O Father! and yet another! Let me take your
arm; I feel faint.”” The torn face of poor old Dan
Solomon and the terrible death of Laurens Corn-
wallis have been too great a strain.”

They walked on in silence. As they neared the
widow’s house, Father Ferrill said:

“If you have never witnessed a case of Tetanus
I advise you not to go in, my son.”

“I never have, but I think I ought to know
what is going on about me, Father, and perhaps I
can help. I feel better now. I will hunt up Doc-
tor Muelenberg if he is not already there. He has
had a large experience in such cases.”

“That is very kind, my son; but I hardly think
his services will be of any use. When the case
develops so rapidly there is little chance of recov-
ery. Besides, I know how to apply the usual rem-
edies. Our people are so poor as a class that it
is necessary we should be physicians to the body
as well as the soul.”

“Still, I would go with you, Father. I must
learn the needed lesson. This terrible thing is clos-
ing in upon us more and more. Why is it, Father?”

“War! War! primarily my son. This vile dis-
ease used to be the aftermath of battlefields in the
old countries. Here it is the Independence Day
disease; but the brute-elements are being let loose
all over the world. They are growing too strong

46
Risus Sardonicus

for us and we cannot hold them in leash,’ whis-
pered Father Ferrill as he opened the Widow Press-
neau’s door noiselessly, pushed Dr. Normander in
before him and shut it quickly. His next move-
ment was to pull down the shades through which
the hot July sun was streaming. The dexterity
with which he performed the three essentials for
the comfort of the patient afflicted with this fell
disease was admirable, although it was of no use
for the moment as the boy was in the throes of that
species of mortal agony, before which the curtain
is drawn all too often for the enlightenment of suf-
fering humanity.

“Father! Father! what have I done that my
child should be so tormented?” cried the mother as
she sank down by the bedside with broken sobs and
words of supplication.

The priest took her place and waited with
crossed hands through convulsion after con-
vulsion, each of which was more terrible than
the former one until nothing worse could be
imagined. The muscles were strained to their ut-
most tensity. The body was bent like a bow but
‘the most unbearable of all was the drawn face and
the awful semblance of laughter that has been fitly
called risus sardonicus. Dy. Normander closed his
eyes and the mother cried out again in direst
agony:

“Father! Father! what have I done that the evil
spirits should take possession of my child?”

av
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“Poor mother, thou hast been more sinned
against than sinning I preceive; but hasten now
and get hot cloths ready for the next attack; for
there will doubtless be another and another, al-
though his face shows signs of relaxing and he
may be able to speak to thee and answer thy
questionings.”

The mother went out and the boy lay as still
as a stone under the Priest’s treatment for a few
moments. Then he gave a great gasp and cried:

“Mother! Mother! Forgive me before I go. I
minded the rich man. I should have minded thee.
The rich man said the little play-pistol would not
shurt me. It did hurt me, mother. It was a foul
fiend. He took the cross in his little wounded
hand and clasped it like a vise against his heart
and even into the tender flesh until it left its mark
there. His lips twitched and quivered as though
they were being drawn again into the awful laugh.

“Risus sardonicus,” cried the priest, “Jesus
have mercy !””

“Jesus have mercy!’ cried the mother.

“Jesus have mercy!” whispered Dr. Norman-
der.

“Jesus have mercy!’ cried the boy in a note of
triumph. The strained lips relaxed and parted
with a heavenly smile and the widow’s child had
gone to meet the widow’s God.

48
CHAPTER V.

INSANITY OR EXILE.

OR weeks and weeks after the terrible
death of Laurens Cornwallis, the life of
his sister Ruth hung on a thread. She
was delirious. She cried out incessantly.

“OQ Laurens! Laurens! beautiful angel! Come
back! come back! Speak to me Laurens! Kiss me,
Laurens !”’

They feared her brain was going.

“If we could only make her think he had come
back,” said the perplexed doctor—‘“create a sort
of counter delusion.”

They tried it each in turn with no effect—the
mother at last.

“Oh, she does not even hear me,” sobbed the
mother. “Her sense of hearing must be already
gone, only her sight remains. Her eyes were
fixed on the door in the far end of the room, as
though she expected to see him come through that
door, when she calls.”

This gave the doctor a new idea.

Then we must have some one that looks like

49
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

him come through that door, in response to her
call—some one that knew him and loved him and
would be in full sympathy with her in regard to
his death.”

“Ralph Norwood!” exclaimed Mr. and Mrs.
Cornwallis in the same breath.

“And he must have the kite in his hand,” said
Mr. Cornwallis.

“Yes, and I must make him a George Washing-
ton cap and whole suit if necessary” said Mrs.
Cornwallis. “Ralph is older but he is small of his
age and Laurens was large. Besides he is re-
sourceful. He might make himself look younger
than he is.”

Ralph was sent for at once. He too, had been
ill from the shock of Lauren’s death but he aroused
himself and came to the rescue. He dressed him-
self in the George Washington suit. He donned
the Can’t-tell-a-lie cap which Mrs. Cornwallis had
made the crowning glory, by adding to it Lauren’s
beautiful curls, which had been clipped from his
head by the thoughtful undertaker.

He took the kite in hand and waited by the door
until Ruth called out:

“Laurens come back! Come back! Speak to me
angel! kiss me!”

Then he opened the door and responded to the
call. The effect was magical. She fancied it was
Laurens. She talked and laughed and slept in
that belief. When she awoke, she took her food

50
Insanity or Exile

and medicine from his hand. She did whatever
he asked her to do. She was finally saved, brain
intact.

But this was not the end of little Ruth’s misery
and the anxiety of her parents. She was in a
state of nervous wreck that required fully as much
watchfulness, if not quite so much solicitude as
that of the mental stress. Sudden noises, espec-
ially those of an explosive nature, such as the fir-
ing of a gun or pistol, would cause a nervous
shock, from which it would take days and often
weeks to recover. But worse than all was her hor-
ror of Independence Day. She looked forward to
its coming with a dread, akin to terror.

“OQ what shall we do now, Doctor? What can
we do?” asked her mother.

“Take her away out of sight and sound of it,”
replied the doctor, “and give her immediate assur-
ance that you will do so.”

“But where to go, Doctor? This terrible thing
is everywhere more or less.”

“Out of the country. To Europe or Canada,
where they don’t pretend to have an Independence
Day,” replied the doctor, smiling grimly.

“OQ Doctor! What cruel mockery is this—this
being compelled to go away from our home! It
seems such a shame—a positive disgrace!”

“They are not to be weighed in the balance,
said the doctor seriously. “It is a matter of life
or death, nerve or no nerve, to your child. If you

51
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

will begin promptly and continue to take her
away every year as long as the present symptoms
remain, she may get well in time. Otherwise I will
not answer for the result. Another Independence
Day as full of racket and accident as the last,
would be likely to bring on a mental lapse, for
which there would be no hope. The only really
safe thing to do is to take a month’s vacation—
that is, go out of the country three weeks before
Independence Day and stay until two weeks after.
That would cover the time which is usually seized
upon by the independent and ignorant boys and
hoodlums of the community, to put the rest of the
people in chains and agony—or exile.”

“O!0O! Doctor! Is there no better way? Could
we not go among them and talk to them and tell
them just how it is with us and ask them to be
quiet ?”’

The doctor shook his head. “I have tried that
without effect more than once in the case of very
sick patients. It will take years of talk and legis-
lation and education to silence the loud-mouthed
monster—and you can’t wait for that.

“Lord help us to do it then and bring us out
of it with health and strength to fight against this
terrible evil!” sobbed Mrs. Cornwallis. “O, it
seems to me there is no place in this world for the
sick, the helpless, and the afraid.”

“Not even in your beautiful new world,” said
the doctor. He was a German but he was honest

52
Insanity or Exile

and the reply struck home with double force. She
held a long consultation with her husband that
evening and they decided to carry out his in-
structions faithfully. Consequently every year
before the Independence Day racket began
they sought out a quiet spot on the Cana-
dian border—or rather a place where the Ameri-
can citizen freighted with children and firecrackers
was never known to come. It was not always an
easy or an agreeable task, to find just such a
place ; but it had to be found, else the going away
would be of no avail.

Ralph was invited to go with them at first and
did go as a matter of course, until one fateful year
when the parents suddenly awoke to the fact that
Ralph was growing a mustache and Ruth was de-
veloping into a rather shy but pretty young maid-
en. The next year they went without him; and
the next. Then the unexpected happened. Ruth
was disinclined to go, to begin with; but the doc-
tor shook his head and they went. They had
been there only a few days, however, when the long
avoided American family made a descent on the
boarding house.

“Yes, here they are at last,” said Mr. Corn-
wallis, as soon as he had given them a thorough
looking over—‘the pestiferous boys, the rackety
firecrackers, the indulgent mamma and the blind-
ly patriotic papa, if I mistake not. I fear we
shall have to move on.”

53
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“No! no, papa! Let’s stay. I’m sure I can
endure it now. I’m so much better and perhaps
we can talk to them and tell them about our ex-
perience with the dangerous things and make
them more careful. Let’s try it, papa. I hate
the idea of running away from our own people.
I begin to think it isn’t quite right.”

“It’s far safer to stay here than to go home,”
remarked Mrs. Cornwallis, “where there are hun-
dreds of armed boys to the four that are here.

Mr. Cornwallis gave it up and they stayed.

Ruth lost no time in making the acquaintance
of the American family, at least of Mrs. Bearing-
ton and the boys, nor any opportunity of impress-
ing upon them the danger of playing with fire-
works. She gave her own experience as proof.
She told them of the terrible accidents that had
happened in her own town and of her little broth-
er’s mysterious death that had wrecked her health,
broken her father’s and mother’s hearts and made
them fugitives from home.

“Do you hear that, Robbie,” said Mrs. Bear-
ington to her oldest son. “You know that mamma
has always been afraid you would get hurt, hand-
ling those dreadful things.”

“Papabought them for us and I want mine now,”
said the boy bluntly. “I know how to handle
them.”

“Have a care my boy. You may not know as
much as you think you do. If you should have

54
Insanity or Exile

an accident, your papa would never buy any more
for you, and mamma would never forgive herself,”
said Mrs. Bearington in her soft-hearted, unreas-
oning way.

“But the accident!” gasped Ruth. “How can
you risk it? It might be of the kind that could
never be repaired—the loss of a hand or an eye!”

“Oh! dear, dear! it’s too horrible to think of,”
exclaimed Mrs. Bearington, nervously.

“Perhaps if you should think of it, you would
see your way out,” persisted Ruth. “There are so
many beautiful things made for children now-a-
days.” Then, she turned to the boys and asked:

“Can’t you tell me of anything you would like
better than those evil looking, nasty smelling,
dangerous fire crackers and things? Something
that you could keep instead of burning up?”

The three older boys maintained a dubious
silence while Teddy the youngest cried out: “O
mamma! I’d rather havea bugle! A real nice big
bugle!”

“He makes me think of little Laurens,” said
Ruth turning to Mrs. Bearington with a sob. “He
asked mamma ‘why they didn’t have a bugle instead
of a cannon on Schwarmer Hill,’ the very morning
before he was killed.”

They looked at each other for a moment in
sympathetic silence. Then Mrs. Bearington turn-
ed quite bravely to the boys.

“See here, boys, mamma is going to ask papa not

55
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

to buy you any more fireworks. Mamma is going
to hunt the city over next year and find you some
things that you will like better—bugles! tam-
bourines ! trumpets! bicycles !””

56
CHAPTER VI.

THE FUNNY FOURTH RACKET ON ENGLISH SOIL.

UTH hoped that her talk, painful

though it had been to herself, would have

a good influence with the Bearingtons.

She would have been quickly undeceived,

’ had she heard a conversation that occurred later

on when Mr. Bearington came in from his “smoke
walk,” as his wife called it.

“Papa,” said Mrs. Bearington, “I wish you
hadn’t bought the fireworks! Miss Cornwallis has
just been telling me the particulars of her little
brother’s terrible death. I begin to be awfully
worried for fear the boys will hurt themselves.”

“O nonsense, Tishy! You needn’t worry. I will
attend to that racket. The Cornwallis’ are cranks
on the subject, you may set that down. I have
heard Cornwallis talk. He thinks because his little
boy got killed other boys should be denied the
privilege,’ laughed Bearington.

“Privilege, papa!” gasped Mrs. Bearington,

57
The Independence Day ‘Horror at iKillsbury

looking at him in a way as helpless and childish
as her style of addressing him warranted.

“OQ, you never can take a good round joke,
Tishy ; but you can stop worrying and you must.
You must remember that I paid for this vacation
and I am bound you shall not take it out in wor-
riment.”

“Perhaps you could dispose of the fireworks
papa—then I could not worry about them.”

“No, he won’t!? shouted Robbie bristling up.
“He bought them for us and we are going to have
them.”

“Down there! Young America!” said Bearing-
ton. “And you Tishy! You forget that we are
on English soil. There isn’t any demand here for
Independence Day jubilators.

“Nor for Fourth of July celebrations either,
papa. There’s Colonel Jordan. I know he
wouldn’t call for one.”

“He can’t help himself though. That’s where
the fun will come in. I reckon we will teach this
English boarding house that if they have us and
our money, they will have to take us, Fourth of
July racket and all.”

“But the Cornwallis’, papa. I know how I should
feel if we should lose one of our boys in that fear-
ful way.”

“That boy didn’t know how to handle fireworks,
you bet,” put in Robbie. ,

“He may have been a natural born idiot for

58
The Funny Fourth Racket on English Soil

anything we know,” remarked Bearington. “He
was too good and beautiful to live anyway, accor-
ding to their account.”

“Papa, how bu’ful do I have to be to be too
bu’ful to live?” asked little Teddy coming up and
laying his curly head lovingly on his father’s
knee.

“Like a lamb for the slaughter,” thought his
mother. She broke out afresh:

“Powder and dynamite are always more or less
dangerous, papa.”

“Never you mind, Tishy. They are safe
enough if rightly handled; and right enough, too,
when they are put to the right uses.”

‘““What’s the use of powder and die-a-mite ex-
cept to celebrate the Fourth with, papa?” asked
Joey.

“Die-a-mite! do you hear that Tishy?” laughed
Bearington. ‘Well sonny, they are good to blast
the rocks with and the English too and send
them flying up hill and down, if they should med-
dle with our affairs as they did before the revo-
lutionary war and have tried to do, two or three
times since.”

“Keeo!’ shouted Robbie. ‘“Skippetty hop!
Hoppetty skip! Bow-wow! Bow-wow!” In re-
sponse to his call, the three other boys joined him
and they went “skippetty hop” into the back yard
to worry Colonel Jordan’s English terrier.

Query. Was it the inward cussedness of the boy

59
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

nature that led them on to this species of brute
torture, or was it their father’s injudicious talk?

Mr. Bearington had been all suavity when talk-
ing with Mrs. and Mr. Cornwallis about the com-
ing celebration. He even intimated that they
might go over to a neighboring island and have
their little picnic all by themselves.

“One day is enough for my boys,” he added. “I
make them do all their celebrating on the iden-
tical day. I don’t believe in drizzling along in
such matters more than in others.”

Whereupon Mr. and Mrs. Cornwallis thanked
him heartily and rested in the belief that he would
not allow his boys to indulge in any annoying.
demonstrations on their daughter’s account, even
during Independence Day; but they like Ruth
were greatly mistaken. The day had scarcely
dawned when the racket began; and a big racket
it was for four small boys to make. But that was
not all of it. When they sat down to breakfast
they found a firecracker under each plate and the
boys were not in evidence, which showed that more
mischief was brewing.

“The good for naught imps!’ exclaimed the
landlady as she cleared away the stuff ; “they have
been trying to be funny all the morning—throw-
ing torpedoes under my feet and snapping fire-
crackers in my face. I am glad I don’t live in an
independent country if that’s the independence of
it.”

60
The Funny Fourth Racket on English Soil

There were twenty firecrackers, one for each
boarder. She put them into the cupboard to get
them out of the way and thanked her stars that
she had been able to do so before the rest of her
boarders came in—especially Colonel Jordan who
inclined to be violent if anything went amiss. He
had cursed her roundly once upon a time, because
a spider had invaded his napkin. What would he
have said had he found that insolent reminder of
the American victory over the English, underneath
his plate?

Colonel Jordan was the last to make his appear-
ance. He was in a ferocious mood, but he soften-
ed a little as he took his accustomed seat opposite
Ruth. —

“A beautiful day Miss Cornwallis—that is
right here, but I perceive they are having a right
smart thunder shower on the American side. A
volcanic or patriotic eruption so to speak. The
killed and wounded will not all be brought in before
tomorrow, possibly.”

Ruth made no response. Mr. and Mrs. Corn-
wallis looked anxious. The Colonel felt that some-
thing was amiss.

“Beg pardon, this ridiculous Independence Day
racket has cost me my morning’s nap; but I ought
not to be in a rage I suppose. I fancy you have
not enjoyed it either, Miss Cornwallis, although it
is one of your country’s choicest exports.”

Ruth began to show signs of nervous distress

61
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

and Mr. Cornwallis hastened to explain as well as
place and time permitted, their attitude on the
subjectand the sad experience that made them fug-
itives from home. He closed with a significant
look at Ruth, which would have been sufficient for
a more impressionable man—a civilian rather than
a soldier. Not so, however, with Colonel Jordan.
He thought it was the mother’s health that had
been effected by the loss of her son, as very natur-
ally it would be. There was nothing in that which
appealed especially to his sympathies. Besides,
his sympathies were tough. He turned to Ruth as
though he had discovered a good joke.

“Beg pardon, Miss Cornwallis; but it would ap-
pear from latest advices that the American victory
over England is being turned into a most ridicu-
lous defeat. If the Mother Country had only
known her wayward children’s fondness for the fire-
cracker and toy pistol all that she would have need-
ed to have done when they turned against her,
would have been to have furnished them with a gen-
erous supply of those dastardly things and they
would have destroyed themselves.”

“The London Pyrotechnist is shrewd enough to
take advantage of the situation,” laughed Admiral
Larkins. “He has surrounded the country with
his manufacturing tents and is said to have sold
$10,000,000 worth of Independence Day fireworks
to Americans to celebrate their victory over the
English, last year—American casualties for that

62
NY
een
et
HN)
Ayn
hI
|

 

THE FUNNY FOURTH RACKET ON ENGLISH SOIL.
The Funny Fourth Racket on English Soil

day footed up to about 3,500 in killed and wound-
ed. It’s a good scheme from a financial point of
view.

Another Englishman who had still less under-
standing of the Cornwallis matter, but was aware
of the annual higeria of Americans to foreign
lands to escape the noise and danger of their na-
tional day, remarked: “It’s a providential thing
though for the Americans of today that their fore-
bears did not push their victorious hordes up to the
north pole,else they would have no near-by place to
fly to, while their own country is being made too
hot for them.”

How long this conversation would have contin-
ued it is difficult to say had it not been for the dis-
tressful barking of Colonel Jordon’s English ter-
rier, who rushed in with a long string of firecrack-
ers tied to his tail.

His first dash was toward Ruth, probably for
the reason that she had taken his part one day
when the boys were tormenting him. He would
have leaped into her lap had she not warded him
off with the vacant chair by her side. He leaped
into the chair, however, then across the table to-
ward Colonel Jordon and down on the floor and off
to the lower end of the dining room where the land-
lady was cowering in mortal terror, as well she
might; for she had on a thin muslin dress and was
completely cornered. By that time the firecrackers
were in flame and the result was inevitable. They

63
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

set fire to the poor woman’s dress and pandemo-
nium reigned. The boarders rushed to the rescue
with cups of tea and coffee, pitchers of water and
milk, rugs and top-coats. She was finally saved
with only one leg burned; Colonel Jordon’s dog
was so badly hurt that he had to be shot to end
his misery. Little Teddy Bearington who came in
unobserved while the confusion was at its height
and was trampled down by hurrying feet, barely
escaped death by suffocation.

But the Bearington boys had enjoyed their cel-
ebration. Mr. Bearington paid the bill the next
day and the whole posse beat a retreat across the
Canadian border. They showed signs of disorgan-
ization during the remainder of the heated season ;
but when the fall political campaign came on, they
were in high feather again—at least Mr. Bearing-
ton and the three older boys. Hardly a day passed
that they did not tell how they had celebrated the
Nation’s Glorious Day on English soil.

64
CHAPTER VII.

THE DOUBLE ENGAGEMENT.

UTH and Ralph were alone on the cosy

little veranda of the Cornwallis cottage.

It was a beautiful evening in June—

full of moonlight, star-light and rose-

fragrance and so heavenly still that they could

have heard the beatings of each other’s hearts;

and very likely they did, for they were sitting side

by side in lover-like proximity. There was an in-

definable but easily understood something about

their movements and attitude that said as plain-

ly as words could have told it: “We are engaged

and are going to be married before many a day
goes by.”

“O, these perfect June evenings!’ exclaimed
Ruth in a voice of soft rapture. “But how swift-
ly they are flying! Only think of it, Ralph! a
week from next Tuesday will be the Fourth of
July! The dreadful, horrible Fourth! I heard the
first shot today. It went straight through my
heart. O, the fright and agony! How I wish it

65
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

were all over with and yet I dread its coming as I
would that of a monstrous bloodthirsty army.”

“Where shall we go to be rid of it, Ruth, and
celebrate our own independence? To Star Lake,
Moon Island or Canada?

“Never again to Canada, Ralph! I haven’t told
you our experience there last year—that is, not
all of it.”

“You told me about the Bearington boys and
the fireworks that were not funny.”

“Yes, but I did not tell you the talk at the break-
fast table before the fracas began. Papa begged
me not to talk about it, but I feel as though I can
tell you now, and will.”

“Of course you can, and you will tell me every-
thing,” laughed Ralph. “We are all one now,
that makes a delightful difference.” But she had
no sooner told him of Jordan’s joke at their ex-
pense than he exclaimed angrily:

“Ridiculous defeat! O the brute! How I wish I
had been there to answer him. He insulted you
and the country at the same time.”

“But you were not there, Ralph, and I don’t
know but I’m glad of it; for there is something
ridiculous about it. Only think of it, Ralph!
Fighting for freedom—and then deliberately turn-
ing the day that commemorates it over to careless
children and irresponsible criminals, and flying
away from it as though a legion of devils were let
loose! You see, Ralph, it hurt me more to think

66
The Double Engagement

that it really was ridiculous, than because Colonel
Jordon said it was; but I had to keep it to myself.”

“You could have talked to me, if I had been
there, to your heart’s content, you know you could,
Ruth, and I would have talked to the insolent Col-
onel to my heart’s content. He must have had the
epidermis of a rhinocerous or he would have known
better.”

“Papa had a long talk with him after the Bear-
ingtons left. I don’t know what was said, but
his manner changed entirely and for the worse—
that is, I mean, he was more disagreeable to me
than before—in a way—”

“TI understand,” said Ralph in a passion. “He
pitied you and made love to you! The impudent
rascal!”

“Yes, Ralph; but I will say this to his credit.
He had the good sense to retreat when he saw that
his attentions were disagreeable.”

“Humph!”’ said Ralph.

Ruth knew that “humph” was a sign that his
jealous wrath was effervescing and that she might
continue to pour out the feelings which had been
shut away from him for three distressful years.
She had a whole heart full of them now.

“Do you know, Ralph, I begin to think there’s
no use of going away any more to get rid of the
horrible Fourth. It goes with me or comes to me,
wherever I go—this terrible monster to which my
little brother was sacrificed. Every year counts

67
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

thousands of victims and every year more and
more! O, how many homes will be made desolate
on the day that is fast coming! How many
beautiful and precious mothers’ sons will be de-
faced or disfigured for life? Between three and
four thousand was the death and accident roll last
year. How many will it count this year and who
and how many of our little circle will be among
the hurt or slain?

“The Lord only knows, Ruth; but I mean to
know something about the why and wherefore of
the increase of the Independence Day death roll
in this town. I have been looking it up and it is
something appalling.”

“QO Ralph! Ralph! let us stay right here then
and see if we can’t do something to prevent it—
something to stay this cruel, cruel slaughter. It
seems to me we might talk to the boys and watch
over them and save now and then one at least.”

“You are right, dear. We could do it if we
could go to work hand in hand, with nobody to
hold us back. It would be better and braver to stay
here and wrestle with the monster than to try to
hide away from it; and please God we will do it—
after, you know when. We can’t hope to accom-
plish much if we go to work single-handed, eh? We
will be doubly armed for it before another year
comes around.”

The hand that lay in his gave a quick pressure
in response and he went on manfully:

68
The Double Engagement

“We have been fools and blind in this matter
long enough. Something is going to be done
about it before long. I have talked with a great
many with regard to it since Lutie had his fingers
shot off, and I have gathered some astonishing sta-
tistics—statistics that ought to set us to thinking
and acting too.”

“O Ralph! Ralph! Tell me all about it! Tell
me everything! I will work for it night and day.
Bless you, Ralph. O, how good it is to hear you
say that we can do something and will.”

Ruth was fairly wild with joy. She kissed his
hand and cheek and brow, over and over again
with a fervor that was new to him and very, very
delightful. The betrothal kiss was nothing in
comparison. Compliments on her grace and beau-
ty had failed to call forth any such expressions of
love.

“To begin with,” he said at last, “I have found
out that we have more Independence Day accidents
in this town than in any other town of its size in
the state. What do you think the reason is?”

“O! I know, Ralph. It’s because Millionaire
Schwarmer comes every Fourth and distributes a
carload of fireworks. I know it is; and I believe
he gave Laurens the package that cost him his
life, though he tried to make it appear that he did

-not. How does he know who he gives to when he
is distributing his death-dealers right and left!”
sobbed Ruth.

69
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“He doesn’t know,” said Ralph, “and he doesn’t
care or think about it; but he ought to be made to
think. We know he gave Lutie the box of car-
tridges that tore off his finger. He ought to have
been prosecuted for it and I am going to tell him
so some day. I am not afraid of his millions. The
trouble with people here is that they have got in
the habit of bowing down to him and worshipping
him—the golden calf! and being a calf instead
of a wise man he fancies that he owns us all—body
andsoul—and may doanything he chooses with us.”

“I believe it, Ralph. He has taken it into his
stupid head to pat my shoulder and call me Miss
Pretty when he sees me of late.”

_ Ralph was furious again and threatened dire
things. After he was sufficiently molified Ruth
continued seriously : “O Ralph! Ralph! How can a
man of mature years—a man like Mr. Schwarmer
—put such dangerous things into a boy’s hands?
If he were young and thoughtless and dazed by
custom ; but a man of his age and experience! How
is it that this Independence Day saturnalia has
been let to grow into such enormous proportions?
If all the fiends of the lower regions had been em-
ployed to make a plan for the destruction of the
youth of our land, they could not have done worse.
Only think of it, Ralph, taking powder and dyna-
mite, the most dangerous of all substances and
making them into attractive forms for children
to play with—play with as freely as though they

710
The Double Engagement

were carts or doll babies! O! O! what are we com-
ing to? What idiocy—worse than idiocy—how
Satanic !

“Yes, Ruth, and it does seem to be growing
worse and worse every year—as though we were
sinking down to the level of the brute. As though
Satan had gotten a lease of a thousand years and
was trying to see how many children he can de-
stroy—yes, and young men, too; for there are the
deadly games for the finish. Another century of
such brutal sports and celebrations and there
would not be a sound man left in the community.
We would be as hideous as the brutal, battle-
scarred Saracens. But I cannot think we shall
have another century of it. The climax will come
before that and there will be a turn in the right
direction.”

“What makes you think so, Ralph? As I see it
we shall have no homes—sweet homes with happy
healthy families. We shall have hospitals instead
—hospitals and hospitals, full of the crazed, crip-
pled, idiotic and beastly. If anything can be done
to prevent this dire calamity, why don’t we begin
at once.”

There was silence for a few moments. The full
moon sent its searching rays through the veranda
vines. The stars twinkled brightly and a pair of
eyes brighter than stars were looking into Ralph’s
face appealingly.

“Let us begin now, Ralph—this very Fourth

71
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

and see if we can’t do something to save our boys
from this terrible King Schwarmer. He’s a worse
king for us than old King Herod was for Israel.
Let’s dethrone him.”

“We will,” said Ralph in a voice of quiet de-
termination. ‘You have given me an inspiration.
The time is ripe for action. Our new President is
a Golden Rule man. A professed follower of the
original Golden Rule Mayor. He comes of the
same good old Quaker stock. He sings the same
songs. He has the Golden Rule in a frame of sil-
ver, ornamented with apples of gold, hung up in
his office, and he practices that rule as nearly as
any man can.”

“Let us go and see him, Ralph; he will help us
if he believes in that rule.”

“Yes, Ruth, and if we can manage to steer our
own Fourth of July craft so no one is hurt this
year, we shall have done something that will make
youhappier than you have ever been since Lauren’s
death; shall we not?”

“Yes! A thousand times, yes, Ralph.”

“One thing more, Ruth—one more sacrifice for
the cause. Can you guess what it is?”

“Tell me, Ralph! Tell me quickly.”

“We must be married before that frightful In-
dependence Day monster comes. We must be mar-
ried at once.”

“Go ask papa and mamma, Ralph. They are
in the west room with Dr. Muelenberg. I know

2
The Double Engagement

what they are talking about and I want you to
promise me one thing.”

“A thousand if you like, Ruth.”

“No, Ralph, only this one. Promise me that
you will not promise them to take me abroad for a
wedding trip.

“Remember,” she added, as she turned laugh-
ingly away, “if you do I will break the engage-
ment.”

13
CHAPTER VIII.

DR. MUELENBERG’S PRESCRIPTION.

S RALPH entered the west room, Mr.
Cornwallis was saying:
“You see how it stands, Doctor. We
can’t afford to go to Europe; and Can-
ada, the poor man’s abroad, is no longer effective.”
“Here’s Norwood,” said the Doctor, looking
quizzically at the young man. “There was a time
when he helped us out splendidly with Miss Ruth.”
“Yes, indeed,” said Mrs. Cornwallis, “and she
has always felt so grateful and wanted to do some-
thing to repay you, Ralph. She thinks now if she
had been here instead of in Canada when your lit-
tle brother was hurt, she might have entertained
him and kept him out of Schwarmer’s way.”
“Bless her heart; but I am the one that ought
to have kept him out of the way of that superb
idiot,” said Ralph with a glow of feeling. He was
thinking that Ruth’s objection to going away
might be grounded in a desire to be near himself,
although he was aware that she had not been con-

14
Dr. Muelenberg’s Prescription

scious of it, so quick had it been to expand and
reach out into more generous motives.

‘Now she thinks she might be able to save oth-
ers by getting up picnics and things of that sort ;”
said Mr. Cornwallis shaking his head, but we fear
she is not strong enough for that yet—that it
would bring on the old terror and do no manner of
good. She doesn’t realize what it would be to fight
against such a custom—a custom that was inau-
gurated when our New World began. It has
grown to be a monstrous evil, but like many an-
other serpent it has become so mixed up with busi-
ness interests that it will be almost impossible to
eliminate it. I have talked with more than one
manufacturer, feeling there was no other way to
rid ourselves of the vile Fourth of July abomina-
tions than by stopping their production and im-
portation, but they will not give in. They will em-
ploy noted scientists to analyze their wares with
the understanding that no germs of tetanus are to
be found. They will throw dust into the eyes of
the governing powers. They resent fiercely the
least intimation that they are responsible for the
killing or maiming of three or four thousand boys
per year. They charge it to parents and teachers.
One man swore at me when I approached him on
the subject and asked if I didn’t know that there
were danger traps all over God’s world and that a
boy should not be let to plunge into the river until
he knew how to swim. You see how it stands, Doc-

15
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

tor—the powers of light against the powers of
darkness. It’s a thing for the strong hand of gov-
ernment to take hold of instead of our frail little
Ruth. It will take a long pull, a strong pull and
a pull all together to accomplish anything of con-
sequence. You remember the efforts made last
year. They began with the Decoration Day
slaughter. The ‘Divine alarm’ was sent all over
the country and yet the list of the dead and hurt
was beyond all precedent.”

“And this good old Quaker state,” replied the
Doctor, “consecrated by the good old saint, Wil-
liam Penn, exceeds all others in Independence Day
accidents, and this town appears to be the storm
center of the whole. The gentle ‘Friends’ he left
to carry oa his work must be asleep and the fierce
spirit of the ‘Lord’s Committee of Colonies’ must
be awake and armed with the explosives which he
tabooed with such good effect. The cases of tetan-
us I had here last year nearly drove me mad. I
wanted to throw anti-toxin to the winds and turn
mayor or missionary myself and take this beastly
and idiotic custom by the horns. Call it patriot-
ism! It’s bad enough to bring children into this
dirty world, but to furnish them with instruments
to introduce the worst kind of dirt—the baccili of
tetanus into their sweet young flesh is deviltry or
insanity, at least. It’s of no consequence so far
as results go whether the wads in the blank car-
tridge are boiled or not. It is a fiend incarnate.

76
Dr. Muelenberg’s Prescription

No instrument could be more cunningly devised for
the injection of poison into the human system.
The flat head is like the head of a serpent. The
small boy gives it a starter. It hisses and carries
everything before it—pieces of flesh or clothing,
soiled or unsoiled, but usually soiled. It
buries and burns them deep in the flesh.
The gash shuts up and they are left to
fester there. Mien Gott! These are the things
that are invented, manufactured and sold for in-
nocent boys to play the deadly game of patriotism
with. They are good for no other thing—they
nor the toy pistol; and the wretch who invented
them ought to be put into a house of correction
and be kept there and preached to until he learns
to set his wits at better things. The people ought
to see to these matters. There are laws and laws
shut up in your statute books. They want the
spirit of flame put into them and the spirit of
enforcement back of them.”

“I was advised when I first came to this coun-
try, to take lessons in American patriotism. Mien
Gott! The lesson I have learned is that missionaries
are needed in all the fields around about. I should
say let Miss Ruth turn missionary—that is, if she
has no longer a fear of that dreadful work.”

“Her fear of going away seems to be greater
than the fear of the Fourth itself,” said Mrs.
Cornwallis. ‘“That’s the perplexing thing about
it. That’s why we doubt the expediency of going

17
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

at all. Whether the evil we fly to is greater than
the evil we fly from, is the question. She is all we
have left and we have been so very, very careful—
afraid to mention the subject almost.”

“T have been expecting this puzzle in Miss
Ruth’s case and I incline to take it as a healing
sign,” said Dr. Muelenberg looking keenly at
Ralph. “To engage in the work of stamping out
this monstrous horror would be far better than
ominous silence and the annual flight from it, for
you, for her, for the people of the town and for
the world, no doubt! But it will not do for Miss
Ruth to go out alone. She must have some one
with her, in heart and hand.”

“Here am I,” exclaimed Ralph, rising to the
occasion and making his errand known. Mrs.
Cornwallis was affected to tears when he promised
to try to be a good son. She was thinking of her
beautiful boy. Mr. Cornwallis gave a dignified
consent and Dr. Muelenberg grasped his hand
vigorously, saying:

“O! I suspected you, young man! I suspected
you and I am glad my suspicions have proven true.
I believe it will be for the betterment of all con-
cerned.”

And so it happened that Ruth’s engagement
proved to be a relief in more ways than one. It
was a relief to herself because she could talk freely
to Ralph. She could let her enthusiasm have full
rein on this subject without arousing his fears for

78
Dr. Muelenberg’s Prescription

her sanity of mind. Any nervous symptoms that
she might betray in so doing would not cause him
the undue fright and solicitude that they did her
father and mother. He would know that they
meant she must be doing something for the cause
so near her heart. It was certainly a relief to her
father and mother, who had begun to admit at
least to themselves (especially after Ruth’s disaf-
fection for Canada) that the annual going away
from home was taking the form of a cruel necessity.
Yes, and it continued to be a relief in spite of the
little flurry into which they were thrown a few
evenings later on when Ruth and Ralph appeared
before them hand in hand with the Rev. Dr. Nor-
mander smiling benignly in the background. They
knew what it meant, although there were no wed-
ding garments and the wedding feast was not pre-
pared. Ruth pleaded that there was important
work to be done. Ralph declared that he was “fol-
lowing Doctor Muelenberg’s prescription in not
allowing her to go forth single-handed.”

It was enough. The two hands were joined then
and there and before another morning dawned the
bride and bridegroom had planned their Indepen-
dence Day campaign.

79
CHAPTER IX.

THE BRIDAL TRIP.

ITH a roll of statistics in hand and Ruth
on his arm Ralph proceeded to the Gold-
en Rule President’s office the next morn-
ing after the marriage.

As they entered the hall they heard some one
singing in a deep, melodious voice.

“That’s the President,” whispered Ralph, crush-
ing Ruth’s arm to his side. “It’s his morning ma-
tin. I think he composes it as he goes along.
Sometimes he sings the Golden Rule mayor’s songs.

“Did you ever hear anything so quaint and
touching, Ralph?”

“Never, Ruth, outside of ‘Friends’ Meeting,’
where I used to go with Grandma when I was a kid.
They sang their sermons and sometimes they were
very touching.”

“O, listen!’ He’s singing plainer now, Ralph!”

“As long as you please, dear,” said Ralph. The

_rascalwas only too glad to listen,with Ruth’s pret-
ty head leaning against his shoulder and her fair

80
The Bridal Trip

cheek within kissing distance, while the following
words came rolling forth in a heartful voice:
“Co-workers with God! What a mission for men..
“What a promise! What glory awaits us then,
“When once we awake and our destiny see!
“The angels I’m sure might envious he.
“All hail to God’s workers! Our race they will save
“From the foul name of ‘master,’ or ‘idler’ or ‘slave.’ ”

“QO, I like that, Ralph,” whispered Ruth, after
the singing had ceased. “It sounds so hearty and
helpful—better than. cathedral music for poor mor-
tals like ourselves. I know he will help us. Let us
go in now.”

Ralph was in no hurry; but Ruth pressed him
eagerly forward. She would not wait even for the
proffered kiss. She rapped at the door.

“No need of ceremony here,” laughed Ralph.
He opened the door and they walked in.

The President was at his desk swinging his pen
as vigorously as he had been using his voice a mo-
ment before. He did not stop until he came to a
period. Then he arose quickly and extended both
hands.

“Glad to see you, Norwood, and twice glad to
see—”

“My wife,” stammered Ralph—the words were
new to him and the sound was new to Ruth. They
both blushed and the President asked as he shook
a hand of each:

“How long since, Norwood? I didn’t know you

81
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

were married. It must be newly. I see you haven’t
gotten used to saying ‘my wife?’ ”

“Only since last evening,” replied Ralph.

‘And you brought her to see me early this morn-
ing,” said the President, slapping his shoulder
while he retained Ruth’s little hand in his powerful
grasp. ‘Bless you! You are a good fellow, Nor-
wood. You are giving me a rare treat. It’s sel-
dom a man brings his wife to call on me and never
a newly-wedded one. I like the idea, though. It
shows you are thinking of others’ pleasure as well
as your own. That’s the right kind of love to have
even in the beginning.”

“She chose it for her wedding trip,” laughed
Ralph confusedly. Then he recovered himself and
added seriously: “She was very anxious to see you
and speak with you, and she would not wait a mo-
ment longer.”

- “Come and sit down,” said the President. ‘We
will talk. We will reason together if need be.”

After they were seated Ruth took a little minia-
ture from her pocket and handed it to him.

“Please look at the picture so you will under-
stand exactly how I feel and why I appeal to you,
said Ruth.

“That’s right! just right! People don’t half
understand each other. That’s the reason why
they often seem so hard and unsympathetic.” Then
he put on his glasses and looked at the picture.

“What a beautiful face! How spiritual! It

82
 

 

 

GOING TO VISIT TITE PRESIDENT.
The Bridal Trip

almost seems as though I had seen one that looked
a little like it.’ He gave her a keen glance.

She shook her head. “You never saw him surely
—my beautiful little brother Laurens Cornwallis.
Hediedseven years ago this Fourth of July—Papa
and Ralph and Dr. Muelenberg found him lying
alone in the woods on the river bank, all torn and
mangled with fireworks. It was a dreadful sight
and an awful mystery! but probably you never
heard of it.”

“I was abroad then but it strikes me that I read
of some such accident. Probably an outline of it
and that there was something wrong about it;
but I want to hear more. I want to hear all about
the wrong things that have been, or are being
done in this town. My belief is that private
wrongs are too often hushed up. They ought to
be talked about in the open, as a rule, and even
where they are of a private nature they should
be talked of in the right way and to the right per-
sons.”

Thus encouraged, Ruth told more fully than
she had ever done before, the effect of her broth-
er’s death on herself—of the visions she had when
the brain fever was at its height—of the colossal
shadow of Millionaire Schwarmer looming into the
sky scattering implements of death and destruc-
tion everywhere—of the white-winged figure of her
brother flying along with the upward look, toward
a pit of writhing, fiery, serpents—how she fancied

83
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

that she ran after him and really did call and call
for him to come back; and how Ralph came in-
stead and made her think he was Laurens and the
delusion saved her.

“And so you have married your delusion. Bless
your heart, you have done just right,” laughed
the President, but, there was a suspicion of tears
in his eyes and Ruth went on:

“I was only eleven years old then. My brain
was saved, but I was a physical wreck. Year af-
ter year for seven years papa and mamma took me
to Canada to save me from the horror of our Na-
tional Day! Only think of that. Flying away
from it and trying to hide my fears of it. You
are right about ‘speaking out.’ I think now if I
had been encouraged to speak of it freely and do
something to remedy it, I need not to have gone
away, at least, so many times; but poor mamma
and papa! They were so broken down they could-
n’t bear to talk about it—papa especially; but I
know now that it would have been better for him
if he had. His hair was a beautiful brown when
little Laurens died, but now it’s as white as snow!
And there are others that ought to speak out
plainly. There have been a great many accidents
here since Mr. Schwarmer’s advent. None of
them have been quite so bad and mysterious as my
little brother’s, but they have been too bad to pass
by and have been increasing every year. Ralph
will show you that it is so.”

84
The Bridal Trip

After the statistics were read and commented
upon, Ruth broke out: “It’s coming again. It’s
almost here. We know dreadful things will hap-
pen if we don’t watch and watch and do everything
we can to prevent them and stir everybody up to
do the same. You can help us, I know you can.”

“Bless your heart! That’s just what I’m here
for, to help everybody. I can help you stir up the
people. I will call a mass meeting for this very
evening, and you and your delusion will be there
in the front row—and the curtains will all be torn
away from this beastly Fourth of July business.
He will read the figures and you will tell your
story and encourage every hurt soul to do like-
wise. This is what I believe in. What I don’t be-
lieve in, is forcing people to do things. But I do
believe in warming them up to do right things. I
don’t believe in masterings, bossings, tie-ups or
hold-ups; but I do believe in explainings, urgings
and entreatings.”

“The Rev. Dr. Normander tried the gentler
method with Schwarmer at the time of Lauren’s
death,” said Ralph, “and he declared that Inde-
pendence Day was a sacred day and that he had
as good a right to distribute free fireworks on that
day as a minister had to distribute free religious
tracts on the Lord’s Day, or words to that effect.”

“Q the idiot!’ exclaimed the President. “I
would not punch his head and make more of an
idiot of him; but if I could get my eye on his free

85
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

fireworks I would destroy them as I would a nest
of rattlesnakes. I would let him see that I know
the difference between good and evil—between God
and the devil, by an illustrative example.”

86
CHAPTER X.

A PUBLIC MEETING—STATISTICS AND RESOLUTIONS.

ARLY in the afternoon there was a big
poster on the Town Hall, with a procla-
mation, or rather, invitation from the
President, asking “the citizens one and

all, without distinction of sex, race or color to as-
semble together in order to discuss plans for the
saving of life, limb and property during the forth-
coming celebration of the Nation’s birthday.”

They came—old men and young men, women
and girls. The hall was packed with an expectant
crowd. ‘The President opened the meeting by
saying:
“Dear Friends and Townsmen:

“I did not invite you here to listen to a speech.
I don’t believe in cornerings of any kind and
surely not in cornering anybody and talking him
to death. I invited you expecting you would talk
to me and each other. I am a new man in civic
affairs; but I don’t want to stay new. I want to

87
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

get at the heart of the interests of this town. I
did not come among you to make millions. Like
my brother mayor over in Ohio, I should not know
what to do with a million of money; but unlike
him I am not afraid I shall ever be a millionaire
(applause). But I begin to fear that I have neg-
lected my civic duties. You know I was averse
to having the yoke of office put upon me. Now I
thank you for your kindly insistance. I have had
proof this very day that the yoke is good for me
and may prove to be good for the people of the
town also (cries of ‘why’ and ‘how’).

“Before I tell you why or how I want to give
thanks right here before you all to one who is not
here—one who has crossed over—my dear Quaker
mother, who taught me the Golden Rule and how
to apply it. I loved that rule, but I hesitated about
putting it up in the office, just as my brother may-
or hesitated about putting it up in his manufac-
turing establishment. I had very much the same
feeling about it, but I conquered it, thank God!
It resulted in this meeting (cries of ‘hear! ‘hear!’)

“Yes, you shall hear. I don’t believe in keep-
ing matters of this kind veiled. Early this morn-
ing a young woman came to my office. She brought
no axe to grind but she brought what was infinite-
ly better, a heart full of love and solicitude for
the youth of this town. Years ago her little broth-
er had fallen a victim to a terrible and mysterious
Fourth of July accident, and she wanted to do

88
A Public Meeting

something to save others from a like fate. She
thought that if I believed in the Golden Rule I
would help. God bless her.” (Cries of “God bless
her!’ “God bless her!)

The President wiped his eyes and continued:
“Yes, God bless her! She brought no axe to grind
but she brought her husband with statistics to
prove that this town has more Independence Day
accidents than any town of its size in the state.
(Cries of “shame on the town.”)

“Yes, shame on the town and every individual
of the town—especially those who profess to rep-
resent it. I am ashamed of myself—mortally
ashamed that I have let such a monster grow and
fatten right under my nose, without doing a thing
to prevent it. I don’t know how the rest of you
will feel about it, but I feel that I have very little
excuse for my stupidity in this regard; for the
same mother that taught me the Golden Rule also
taught me that war and its instruments and all its
vain-glorious celebrations such as our Indepen-
dence Day has grown to be, are wrong and that
we should lose no opportunity of speaking and
acting against them.

“She taught me all that and I accepted it or
thought I did. I proclaimed myself to be a man
of peace, an enemy to cannons, battle-ships,
swords, guns, pistols and all the implements made
for the killing of men; while I have had nothing
to say against the little murderous, viperous im-

89
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

plements that are put into the hands of innocent
and ignorant boys.” (Cries of “hear!” “We are
all in the same boat!’’)

“Then let us get out of the boat and go to
work in earnest to destroy the evil, root and
branch. There is nothing more sure than that this
Fourth of July slaughter is a branch of war—a
terribly crooked branch and a poison one—one
that can be easily made to grow into another
deadly Upas tree. We have all heard of that ex-
asperating old Upas the very fibre of which if
woven into a garment produces a constant itch-
ing to the wearer. The same thing happens to
the small boy who indulges in Independence Day
customs too freely. He gets an itching for war and
brutal sports. Ralph Norwood will now give you
the statistics of our annual Independence Day
slaughter for the last ten years, which will show
you, I trust, into what a fatal fetichism we are
rapidly descending.”

Ralph came forward with an immense roll which
he accidentally let slip. As it trailed on the stage
there were whispers of excitement from all parts of
the house, such as “See.” “See.” One rough fel-
low blurted out:

“That’s all right, Norwood, let’s have it sled
length.”

The first accident on his record was at the lay-
ing of the Corner Stone of the Schwarmer man-
sion. He explained that he had begun there be-

90
A Public Meeting

cause the disasters that had occurred previous to
that date had not been noticeably large. On that
eventful day Mr. Schwarmer had come from the
city and brought a carload of fireworks, cannon
included. His hostler was killed while firing off
the cannon. There were several minor accidents
the same day. But little account was made of
them in face of the greater accident. I believe
one of the boys who had his fingers shot off is in
the hall now. If so will he kindly raise up his
maimed hand in proof of the statement?”

The hand was raised and sighs of pity were
heard from various parts of the house.

“The next year the worst accident was caused
by a boy who threw a bunch of firecrackers at a
horse. It ran away throwing out a mother and
child. The child was killed and the mother’s back
almost broken. She lingered until the next Fourth
and died in a paroxysm of fear, piteously begging
to have the terrible fireworks stopped. I see that
Dr. Muelenberg is here. We would like to hear
his testimony.”

The doctor arose promptly and_ confirmed
Ralph’s statement. He also said “that in his opin-
ion there should be no temporizing with this mat-
ter. Everybody knew that explosives were dan-
gerous, especially those that were gotten up on
purpose to explode and that they should never be
put into the hands of the young or ignorant or
evil disposed.” He added sarcastically :

91
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“There is no need of appointing a lumbering
committee to go around the world and investigate
the injurious effect of powder and dynamite on
the human system. It is well known that a very
small quantity of either is sufficient to put a boy’s
eye out, tear off his fingers or produce one of the
most horrible diseases, lockjaw—a disease which
boasted antitoxin fails to cure in nine cases out
of ten. I don’t see how any man in his right
senses would dare to put such explosives into a
young boy’s hands. Surely such a man must be
afflicted with what the Germans call ‘Precocious
Imbecility.’ Permitting boys to kill themselves and
each other is almost worse than they do in Ger-
many. Boys there are carefully protected until
they are old enough to serve some purpose or to
be killed in the service of the King, while the
American small boy has almost no protection and
does not seem to be reared for any purpose unless
it is to be killed in the service of the King of Com-
merce. I speak advisedly for I perceive that he
is already being caught in the net-work of at
least two great business interests—those of Pyro-
technics and Antitoxin, to say nothing of the
lesser interests of hospital nurses and doctors.
What will come next to entangle him and hold
him there it were vain to forecast. As to the doc-
tors I am one of them, and ought to know what I
am talking about. I know it’s money in my pocket
to have the beastly thing go on; but I hope you

92
A Public Meeting

will believe me when I say that I don’t want it to
goon.” (Cries of “Yes! “Yes.’’)

“I came to this country straight from the Ger-
man University, with high hopes, but I have had
to let them down fully half way. Not quite down
to the lethargic German level but lower down than
I could possibly have imagined: for what do I see,
in this new-born land? A nation of freemen, court-
ing self-destruction! Arming their ignorant
young boys and hardened criminals against them-
selves! What do I see the next day and the next
after the glorious Independence Day of which I
heard so much in my own country? I see the dead,
the mutilated, the dying, the weeping mothers and
trembling sisters! I landed in New York the last
days of beautiful June eager to grasp my brother
practitioners by the hand and help them to make
this people as strong and healthy as they were
prosperous and free. But what did I hear in this
free land? A voice from the high seat of a great
City Government saying: ‘Prepare the way! Pre-
pare the way! (Not for the “Prince of Light’’)
but for the prince of darkness, death, din and dis-
order! Stand by with lint, bandages and anti-
toxin! Have an ambulance within call; for the
prince that rules this day is sure to leave hosts of
wounded and dying in his track.’ When I stood
still and asked why they allowed this thing to be,
they looked fierce at me and warned me to take
lessons in American patriotism. Certainly ‘pre-

93
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

cocious imbecility’ must be at the bottom of this
whole business.

Dr. Muelenberg sat down amidst a storm of ap-
plause and Ralph continued:

“The next year a terrible accident occurred and
a very mysterious one. A beautiful boy of eight
years was brought home with his clothes burned
off and his face scarred and torn beyond recogni-
tion. Nobody ever knew to a certainty where he
got the supply of fireworks which caused his death.
His parents certainly did not give them to him.
The father is in the house now and will no doubt
tell you so if you should desire to know.”

Cries of “‘yes, yes, yes, let the father speak!”
were heard on all sides.

Mr. Cornwallis turned pale and hesitated.

“QO! do speak father,” whispered Ruth, who was
sitting by his side in the front row. “If you don’t
I must, but I had rather you would speak. I know
it would do you good. Tell them just how you
feel about it. You may be the means of saving
some other boy’s life.”

Ralph waited serenely. He knew well enough
what Ruth was saying, although he could not hear
her; for they had talked the matter over and she
had promised ‘to be as near as possible, to spirit
him on and urge her father to speak instead of
speaking herself.

He was so elated with the consciousness of the
one presence that he hardly realized that her fath-

94
A Public Meeting

er was on his feet until his agonized voice rang
out:

“Yes, it is as Mr. Norwood has said. My boy
was brought home unrecognizable beyond any
words of mine to describe—as though all the
agencies of hell had been employed to hurt and dis-
figure his little body. His once fair face was so
gored with powder and blotched with colored fires,
that not a vestige of likeness remained.”

Mr. Cornwallis paused and closed his eyes. The
room was deathly still— as still as though the
audience had been actually looking at little Lau-
rens’ mutilated face. His wife clasped his hand
and Ruth whispered: “Have courage, Father!
Have courage!”

Then he went on more calmly than before:

“We never knew where he got the fireworks.
They must have been given to him; nor does it
seem possible that one person could have given him
all that he appeared to have had. Mr. Schwarmer
distributed fireworks very freely that day but he
insisted that he did not give any to Laurens and
not enough to any one boy to injure himself with.
My idea is that some one who was assisting
Schwarmer in his distributions, must have given
him some of the colored pieces intended for evening
display; and that he was seized upon, or induced
by other boys to go into the woods and stack them
together, in order to have a big explosion, and that
he was the victim of that explosion. Facts and cir-

95
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

cumstances have since come to light which have
confirmed this belief. Schwarmer brought a lad
with him from the city to help him celebrate. There
were a great many strange boys in town. They
came from the surrounding country, walking in on
the railroad tracks or rowed down the river in rick-
ety boats. There was a rumor that one boat load
of boys went over the falls and were drowned. Be
that as it may, there were undoubtedly a large
numberof rough characters attracted to this place
by Mr. Schwarmer’s free distribution of fireworks,
and by the alluring advertisements that appeared
in all the country newspapers hereabouts, with re-
gard to it.”

Mr. Cornwallis paused again, and again there
was silence—the silence of expectancy. He went
on:

“T have only one word more to say. The Lord
help me to say it. I charge no man with the death
of my son, still I believe we are all more or less to
blame. We are surely to blame for allowing our
National Day to be turned into a fiery Moloch for
the sacrifice of the youth of our land. I see it as
plain now as though it were written in letters of
fire; and I ought to have seen it before. I ought
to have been doing something to guard our little
ones from this dreadful monster all these years
while I have been mourning for my boy; but the
misery was so great, the mystery so incomprehen-
sible that I could not bear to think of it. It seemed

96
A Public Meeting

as though I should go crazy. Besides I had great
fears for my wife and still greater for my daugh-
ter. But all that has passed by, thank God, and
I am ready now to join you in the good cause.”

He sat down amidst cries of “Amen” and
“Amen!”

Ruth leaned back in her seat and looked at
Ralph radiantly. He continued his statistics:

“The next year two boys died of lockjaw, caused
by the blank cartridges known to have been given
them by Mr. Schwarmer. Several others lost fin-
gers and eyes. If there are any of the latter pres-
ent will they please make it manifest ?”

Three young men rose to their feet. One was
totally blind and the others partially.

Every eye in the hall was turned toward them
and expressions of sympathy were heard from all
sides. These object lessons had a good effect, but
there was no time for more and Ralph hurried on
withthe statistics, confident that no more were need-
ed. The list being completed, then came the ques-
tion—Why was it that this town of Killsbury con-
tributed the largest quota to the Fourth of July
death roll of any town in the state? He sat down
amidst cries of “why” and “shame on the town.”

“Yes, shame on the town,” said a man rising
promptly in his seat; “ and shame on Mr. Schwar-
mer. I think we all know that he is responsible for
the surplus of accidents in this town. That it is
directly due to his distribution of free fireworks

97
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

among the ignorant and irresponsible classes ; for I
happen to know that he doesn’t always draw the
line at the small boy. I saw him on one occasion
throw boxes and boxes of firecrackers and car-
tridges among a crowd that had collected around,
just as kings do money, and then stop and laugh
to see the scrabbling after them.

“Still I suppose we ought to go slow in the mat-
ter of fixing the blame on Mr. Schwarmer—a. val-
uable man and one who is supposed to have done or
is expected to do so much for the town though I
can’t just tell what he has done—can’t give the
statistics, not having lived here always, as friend
Pollock who sits by my side has. Perhaps he can
tell you.”

“T’ll be plagued if I can think of a plaguy thing
he’s done for this town,” said Pollock testily. The
fact is, he was born on the Town and our fathers
fed him and clothed him and gave him a good send-
off as soon as they saw that he had spunk enough
in him to go. After he turned up in the Stock
Exchange, he paid them off by tom-fooling their
sons and taking every spare dollar from them to
gamble with and lose for them and finally win back
again into his own pocket. I know that well
enough for I knew one of the tomfools. There were
lots and lots of others, but they never told how they
got sucked in. It leaked out little by little though
and more than one spoke out plainly before they
died ; but it seems as though we were determined to

98
A Public Meeting

be blind, deaf and dumb in the matter and all be-
cause he coddled us boys—giving us—what?
Things to kill and disfigure ourselves with. You
see this crippled hand, don’t you?” he added, hold-
ing up his right hand, which had three stiff fn-
gers. “Well I am indebted to him for that and
I’ve cursed him for it many a time in secret, but
T’ve never been honest enough to out with it ’til
now. That’s all he’s ever done for me. I can’t say
as to the carpenters that built his house. I never
heard that any of them got rich out of his carpen-
tering though he built a big house for himself,
then a big stable for his horses, and then an addi-
tion to the stable for more horses. All he’s
ever done for the town is to make a big show
up on the hill, with his sky-scraper and sky
rockets. He has never benefited the people except
with the kind of benefit that a cat may get by look-
ing at a king.”

“That’s about it,” said a man in the back end
of the hall, addressing his remarks to those imme-
diately about him. “There was a time when the
boys could go a fishing in the river and get a nice
mess of Bull-heads for Fourth of July dinner. But
now he owns the river and all that’s in it. He had
Ben Hawley arrested last Fourth for fishing in
his river. Humph! It won’t be long before he will
own us as well as the river. He thinks he has more
right to us now than the Lord Almighty.”

“‘Keoo!” shouted an overgrown lad. “The river

99
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

is his and all that’s in it. Let’s dump some more
of his traps in the river. I’ll help, by gar, I will!”
At that moment Father Ferrill came in and took

the noisy boy in charge.

100
CHAPTER XI.

APPEAL INSTEAD OF PROHIBITION.

HE matter of responsibility for the in-
}) crease or rather surplus of Independence
Day accidents in the town of Killsbury,
being settled the question was, what
should be done about it?

Alderman Spofford proposed that “a paper—a
smooth kind of paper such as Lawyer Rattlinger
could write should be gotten up and sent to Mr.
Schwarmer asking him to desist from distributing
fireworks among the boys of the town. He said
he would like to hear Rattlinger’s views on the sub-
pect.”

“As I understand it,” replied Rattlinger, “the
main object of this meeting is to save our town
from this year’s slaughter—a slaughter that will
surely take place if free fireworks are distributed
here as usual. The day is at hand. The peril is
imminent. The question is what would we do if
we had word that the king of Spain had sent arms
and munitions of war to this place and that he
would be here to-morrow to distribute them or arm
the irresponsible classes?’

101
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“We would say he was the devil in disguise and
we would have none of his works,” said a white-
haired man rising slowly in his seat. It was Philip
Daycoy, the oldest man in town. He had the rep-
utation of being one of the thirteen men who
(painted and disguised as Indians) boarded the
steamer, Sir Robert Peel; and yelling their war
cry—‘‘Remember the Caroline,” put the passen-
gers to flight, plundered it and sent it ablaze down
the river.

“My proposition is that we do just about as our
forefathers and the Emperor of China did with
the tea and opium that England tried to force
upon them.”

There was a round of applause from the crowd
that had gathered in the back part of the hall and
cries of “how! how! Tell us just how, Patriot Day-
coy, and by gorra, we'll do it!”

Was the brutal instinct being stirred up? Philip
Daycoy, who was sitting by the Reverend Dr. Nor-
mander, looked at him appealingly. Many a year
had elapsed since he had thought of himself as a
patriot or of the burning of the Sir Robert Peel
as a truly patriotic transaction.

“Help me out, for God’s sake, Doctor. I don’t
like that brutal howling back there. ‘There must
be a way and a right way to do this thing—a way
to do it without using muskets and bayonets and
setting the cars on fire.”

The reverend gentleman arose quickly and

102
Appeal Instead of Prohibition

stretched out his arms as though to still a rising
tempest.

“Our aged brother Daycoy has authorized me
to answer the question for him. I know perfectly
well how he feels about matters of this kind. He
doesn’t feel exactly as he did when he was young
and inexperienced. He was only 18 years old
when he boarded the English steamer, with his re-
vengeful cry. He has learned a better and higher
wisdom since then. He wants the right thing done
every time. He believes in extreme measures in ex-
treme cases but he does not believe in savage meas-
ures. That is, he does not propose that we should
disguise ourselves as Indians, arm ourselves with
muskets and bayonets and seize the patriotic stuff
which Lawyer Rattlinger has likened very aptly
to arms and munitions of war. To dress like a sav-
age and use the war implements of the civilized
man would be making a composite of the worst
features of both. He simply means that we must
act promptly and with sufficient energy to avert
the horrible annual slaughter so near at hand. I
am with him in heart and soul. I believe the short-
est way would be the surest way and I, like the
President, would take it if possible; and I believe
we all would. For instance, if by some miraculous
event, there should be a load of these dangerous ex-
plosives standing in the street as we go out of this
hall I believe we would seize upon them with divine
accord and proceed to throw them in the river or

103
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

put them where they could never harm any one.
But as nothing so miraculous is likely to occur I
propose the next shortest way—that is that the
common council take the matter in hand and act
promptly and to the full limit of its power. My
impression is that the City Fathers have a reserve
of power vested in them for such emergencies, and
my belief is that the great trouble with those in
authority everywhere is that they fail to use the
authority when it is needed the most. If I am
wrong on these points I hope Lawyer Rattlinger
will correct me.”

“You are right in the main,” replied Rattlinger.
“The City Fathers have a reserve of power for
just such cases and now is the time for the people
to call on them to use the reserve. It is needed
now, every inch of it; and the whole moral force
of the people back of it. Begging the reverend
gentleman’s pardon, I think generally that the
great trouble with the people is that they do not
come out as strongly as they should and make their
grievances known.”

“That’s as true as Gospel, Mr. Rattlinger—at
least as far as I am concerned; and I wish, as a
representative of the moral force (supposedly so)
to confess right here, that I have not done my
whole duty with regard to our Independence Day
peril; for while I have lost no opportunity of
warning my church people against it, I feel that
I have done very little outside of the church and

104
Appeal Instead of Prohibition

ought to repent, not exactly in sack-cloth and
ashes, but by doing double duty hereafter—work-
ing outside of the church as well as in it. I there-
fore propose that a notice be drafted prohibiting
the selling or giving away of any kind of explo-
sives to any person within the corporation and
that said notice be printed and posted up early to-
morrow morning in all of the most conspicuous
places. I don’t know as to the legal efficiency of
such a notice in suppressing the nuisance at once,
but I think it would help very greatly. Am I right,
Mr. President.”

“In view of the shortness of time and more espe-
cially of the ease with which prohibitory laws are
evaded,”’ replied the President, “I propose that in-
stead of a prohibitory notice there be a short but
stirring appeal to the people, one and all, to refrain
from buying, selling, using or giving away any of
the iniquitous Fourth of July implements. Accord-
ing to the doctrine of love and trust that I have
been taught, a good strong appeal is far ahead of
prohibition. Prohibition savors of tyranny and
kingliness. It is American bossism. It is squarely
against human nature. Tell a child he shan’t do
a thing and impose a heavy penalty, and he is sure
to do it, if possible. It’s the same with children
of a larger growth and more especially so with the
makers of millions. They care nothing for fines
and even imprisonment is being made delightful
for them; but they have a lot of human nature in

105
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

them and they can be ruled by love as well as the
rest of humanity.

“Asto Millionaire Schwarmer we should love him
for the good he might do, and probably would do,
had he been brought up and educated in an Ideal
Town and under an Ideal Government. We should
love him and hate his fireworks and rid ourselves of
them as soon as we can get hold of the infamous
things. I see that Editor Parnell is present. I
think he could get up the right kind of an appeal
—an appeal that would be so truly loving that it
would reach every heart and yet be as urgent as it
possibly can be without antagonizing the will. We
would like to hear from him at all events.”

The editor replied “that he did not come to ex-
press his own opinions but to report and publish
the opinions of others, but he would say that he
thought the President’s idea of an appeal in place
of prohibition was an. excellent one; and since he
had given such a luminous idea of it, he was willing .
to undertake it and would make it as urgent as
possible without distancing the party for whom it
was chiefly intended.”

He also begged leave to say “that although he
was not quite up to Thoreau’s idea of Civic diso-
bedience, still he believed it necessary at times to
act quite contrary to government rules, or at least
give the governing powers a few instructions in
civic procedure. As the matter now stands we
have two national days on our hands that have be-

106
Appeal Instead of Prohibition

come public nuisances to say the least. The one
is Independence Day and the other is Decoration
Day. In my opinion they should be reformed,
abolished or merged into Thanksgiving Day and
re-baptised.

“But as this meeting under Golden Rule leading
has added a sort of civic confessional department,
I am obliged to confess, like my aged brother, Day-
coy, that I did not feel that way when I was eigh-
teen or thereabouts, which leads me to suggest an
educational department, or a return to the old-
fashioned Town meeting which contained the bud
of the ‘referendum’ that has borne such good fruit
in far away Oregon and Switzerland.”

The editor sat down amidst cheers, laughter and
cries of “Draft the appeal, Parnell.” ‘Make it
urgent.”

The appeal was drafted, read, approved and
handed back to the editor for printing and post-
ing. Then the President made the closing speech
in which he said:

“I believe we have done all that it is expedient
to do at this time in this direction. But we can
work in a great many other directions—just as
many as there are persons in this hall. Everybody
can do something individually toward preventing
Fourth of July accidents. As to Schwarmer I hope
the honest scoring he has had at this meeting will
make a new man of him. It may have been a little
too hard, but formerly it was surely too soft. In

107
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

fact it is difficult to treat a millionaire exactly
right.

‘We incline to think that because a man is worth
millions, he must have every other good quality.
This is absurd. He lives in the same world that we
live in, and if he does not live in a glass house, he
does live in a house with large plate glass windows
in it, and is exposed to the same surveillance and
temptations. He has the same need of honest
treatment. He is drawn by the same chords of
love and sympathy.

“As to the children, I believe that one of the
greatest obstacles in the way of this reform is the
inclination of the older people to shut their eyes to
the doings of the youngsters on this day. This
will not do, my friends. It is not until we have
taught them the higher lessons of love and right
action for every day of the year, that we can hope
to accomplish a pure and permanent reform. Like
Brother Parnell I believe in the old-fashioned edu-
cative Town meeting, but I would not have it too
old-fashioned. The city mothers as well as fath-
ers should be in it, just as they are here tonight.”

The meeting closed with the doxology. Father
Ferrill and the Reverend Dr. Normander went out
arm in arm—and the miraculous happened! The
overgrown boy who shouted “Keeo! Let’s dump ’em
in the river,” was sitting in his express wagon un-
der the strong light of the street lamp. As soon
as he saw the clergymen, he called out:

108
Appeal Instead of Prohibition

“A miracle, Father Ferrill! Explosives un-
guarded, Dr. Normander! Shortest way out of
Fourth of July racket! I would like to know the
sense of this meeting. Will it have sense enough
to order me to drive on to the river? I’d like to
drive on. Will the folks surround me? Id like to
be surrounded. Will they help me dump this pa-
triotic stuff into the river? Id like to be helped.”

Father Ferrill went to the lad and spoke to him
in a low tone of voice, after which he rose up in his
seat. The lamp flared full in his face. He raised
his eyes and made the sign of the cross.

This is the sign that his words are true,” said
Father Ferrill turning to the crowd. “It would
seem that miraculous things do happen even in
these sinful days. The logic of it is this (You see
I understand that the real Yankee always wants a
reason for everything): When a very important
matter agitates the community, no knowing where
the wave will end or what it will bring back to us.
It is then that a miracle happens. Dr. Normander
wished for a miracle and something very like it
has happened. The history of it is this: This lad
through whom the so-called miracle has come, was
the foster child of Captain Dan Solomon, who was
killed several years ago by the bursting of a can-
non on Schwarmer Hill. He has always thought
that Schwarmer was to blame for that accident.
He had an order from him this afternoon to deliver
the Fourth of July goods at his mansion on the

109
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

Hill. He stopped in to this meeting on his way to
the train. When Dr. Normander expressed a de-
sire to get his eye on those explosives he hastened
out. Now he is here with the atrocious things and
has given me the bill to read for your enlighten-
ment:
200 boxes of firecrackers (common)
100 “ « = (giant)
100 “ “blank cartridges
50 “ “Toy pistols
Express Agents please handle with care.
J. E. ScuwarMer.”

“Yes! yes! We'll handle them with care—on to
the river!” shouted a chorus of voices.

Where’s the President ?”? asked Father Ferrill.

“Inside with the aldermen;” cried Ralph, “but
we need not wait for him. We will go on at once.
He will approve. He believes in the people. He
sings a song about them. Come on Dick Solomon!
Come on everybody! I will sing his song for you
while we go.” He burst forth in a beautiful tenor
voice:
“O I’m a man without a party—a free untrammeled soul!
An undivided atom, within a mighty whole!
I believe in all the people; in them we shall be blest,
It is through the common people we shall find the promised

rest.”

They went on, Ralph and Ruth, arm in arm,
and the crowd followed. The moon came out in
regal splendor as they reached the bridge. It was

110
Appeal Instead of Prohibition

Schwarmer’s bridge that the corporation had built
for him. It had a lamp on each end, making it
light enough to read the names on the boxes with-
out difficulty. There was a large assortment of
patriotic death-dealers such as the bill had shown
—and more too. In a bundle tied up separately
they found some choice specimens such as Pow-
dered Crackers, Sacred Mandarins, Aaron’s Rod,
Yankee Doodle Doos, and Giant Torpedos.

“These were for the large boys,” said Ralph.
“Truly Mr. Schwarmer was going to give every
boy in Killsbury a glorious chance to kill himself
this year.”

“Do you suppose that any of those boxes could
possibly be fished out?” asked Ruth after the last
box had gone over the falls.

“Hardly,” laughed Ralph. “I never heard of
anything being fished out that went over the falls
into the deep hole at the foot. Some say it goes
through to China. If it did it would be serving
old China right—sending their vicious wares back
to them.”

“And a curious reminder to John Chinaman if
it be true that he uses the American Missionaries’
tracts in the construction of firecrackers for the
American market,” said Father Ferrill. “At any
rate we have the consolation of knowing that this
batch of powder will be too wet to do any damage
this Fourth. The City Fathers can get their ordi-
nance in perfect working order before the next—so

111
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

perfect that no miracle will be needed to help them
out. Cromwell’s order to his soldiers was to ‘trust
inthe Lord and keep their powder dry.’ Lord grant
that we may trust in His Holy Name and keep our
powder wet.”

It was a reversion of the brutal saying that has
been taught in military schools for more than a
century, and it sounded like a benediction to Ruth
as she took Ralph’s arm and turned away with a
thankful heart.

They walked on in lover-like silence until Ruth
broke out in her enthused way:

“Do you know, Ralph, I just love Father Fer-
rill!”

“Hold on there! Not too much of that, Ruth!”

“But I do love him very much! He’s so good
and wise. Wasn’t it splendid his re-version of
Cromwell’s order?”

“Yes, Ruth, it was very apt, but you are not to
love him.”

“Hush, Ralph! you ought to be ashamed of
yourself.”

But it was honey-moon time and Ralph was not
ashamed either of his words or actions on that
charmed occasion. He finally admitted, however,
after sundry concessions from Ruth that Father
Ferrill was a very fine man, and that his re-version
of the old Cromwellian adage had given him a new
idea on the subject of adages.”

“What is it, Ralph?”

112
Appeal Instead of Prohibition

“Tell it not to the professional litterateur or the
dusty book-worm, Ruth; but the idea is that all
those brutal old sayings that have been handed
down to us from warring ages need to be revised
or done away with as badly as the old brutal cus-
toms of which they were born.” ‘In times of peace
prepare for war,’ is another old serpent.”

“It should be, ‘In times of peace prepare for
more peace,’ ”’ said Ruth.

‘And love,” added Ralph.

As to the rest of the crowd that wended their
way homeward that night it is safe to say that
there was not a soul among them that did not feel
elated with the thought that they had done a deed
that would save more than one mother’s heart from
anguish on the day that was fast approaching,
and might be the means of saving scores upon
scores in the years that were to come.

The Golden Rule President was more than
pleased when he found that the shortest way had
been made available, and that the people, “the
blessed people,” had caught the inspiration of
Divinity and had done their own work.

Editor Parnell’s report was a luminous one; but
whether it hit the conscience or pride of one of the
passengers on the Killsbury train the next morn-
ing will be revealed hereafter.

113
CHAPTER XII.

A GOOD CELEBRATION—ADELAIDE SCHWARMER AND
RUTH’s DOG.

ALPH learned that the Schwarmer Pyro-

technics and the agent employed to show

them off had come as usual on the mid-

night train. His wife and daughter had

also come, so as a matter of course there would be

an extra display. They did not come every year
as Schwarmer himself did.

They were in London last Fourth and were roy-
ally entertained by a celebrated Pyrotechnist, who
invented a patriotic piece called Eagle’s Screams
on purpose for them,” said Ralph.

“Perhaps they brought one home with them.”
laughed Ruth.

“And will bring it to the Hill to show off,” add-
ed Ralph. “Well it will be better and less danger-
ous than those abominable rockets.”

“I thought rockets were not very dangerous,
Ralph.”

“There are rockets and rockets, sky rockets and

114
A Good Celebration

war rockets and the Satanic inventors are getting
up new and worse ones every year. No knowing
what kind they have on the Hill. I have known
of their having one at least that travelled a much
longer distance than from here to the Hill and
then went swooping down to the earth like a thun-
der bolt from the sky; but how stupid of me to
tell you so, dear. Forgive me if I have made you
afraid.”

“Not a bit, Ralph! I am never going to be
afraid any more—that is, if you will tell me all
about those fiendish inventions, so I can keep out
of their way and help keep others out also. O how
dreadful though to think that such horrible things
are made! Surely they never ought to be. They
are made to kill, They are a menace to human life
on a prodigious scale and the men who invent them
are no better than would-be murderers and should
be arrested and treated as such.”

“That’s true, Ruth, and yet the governments of
the world approve and hasten to buy the murder-
ous inventions. There’s an inventor in this state
who has made a gun for this government that will
throw a shell thirty miles and crash a boat into
kindling wood and kill every soul on board. And
now he is trying to invent one that will throw a
shell one hundred miles—one that can reach from
the coast of France across the English channel
and rip out the heart of London!”

“Q how hideous!” exclaimed Ruth. “He must

115
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

be a fiend incarnate; but what about the Schwar-
mer rocket?”

“Here it goes,” said Ralph.

“Mamma came within an inch of having her arm
gored by one of the rockets sent down from the
Hill only last year. She cautioned me not to write
to you about it. I thought it foolish not to; but
perhaps it was right not to tell you then. Now it
is different. You have grown so brave—so sud-
denly brave. It seems to me you are growing
braver and braver every hour. It’s like a miracle!
Explain.”

Ruth’s explanation set Ralph into raptures.
Presently, however, she called for an explanation
in turn.

“There isn’t much more to explain,” said Ralph.
“We all sat on the piazza watching the sky-rock-
ets that were being sent up from the hill, at least
the rest were. If I remember rightly I wasn’t pay-
ing much attention to them. My imagination had
‘crossed over’-—you understand gone over the bor-
der—across the river—you see?”

“Yes! yes Ralph, you foolish fellow—go on.”

“All at once up went a splendid rocket—ever
and ever so high—‘up out of sight,’ papa said;
but he was mistaken, for a second after it came
whizzing down close by mamma’s arm and crashed
into the ground. Mamma was sitting very near to
the edge of the veranda. If she had only been an
inch nearer it would have gashed her arm fright-

116
A Good Celebration

fully without doubt. I dug the thing up the next
morning and am going to keep it in remembrance
of Millionaire Schwarmer.”

“How did it look, Ralph?” I never saw one ex-
cept in air; tell me.”

“A conical shaped piece of lead, Ruth—worse
than a cannon ball, because it has a pointed end.
Tl show it to you to-morrow.”

“We must tell the President about that and see
if something can’t be done before another Fourth
comes to stop him from showering such things
upon the town,” said Ruth with decisive emphasis.

Then they went to the grove and worked like
heroes. Ere long there was a great army of them.
Tables were spread as if by magic and laden with
fowls, fruits, cakes and candies of all description.
The brass band played its best music. Flags flut-
tered in the breeze—mottoes were every-where and
over the arched entrance was the unique invitation
—“A feast is better than firecrackers. Come boys
and girls. Save your eyes and your pennies.”

They came in overwhelming numbers—hand
in hand with their fathers, mothers and
teachers and with looks of eager interest on their
young:faces. They enjoyed themselves and each
other’s society as they never had before on their
nation’s birthday.

In fact the whole community seemed to have
been taken suddenly off its feet (“out of the pit
and miry clay” as the minister expressed it) and

117
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

whirled up to a higher plane. He preached the
best sermon of his life, if it could be called a ser-
mon.. It was short and to the point—well adapted
to the higher plane on which he was standing with
all the rest.

Among the good things that he said was that
“our National Day should be a day of tender mem-
ories, regrets and righteous resolves—tender mem-
ories of those who had died that we might have
a free country in which to live. Regrets that such
death and bloody sacrifice should have been essen-
tial or seemed so—deep regrets that we did not
have a court of arbitration in the pre-revolution-
ary times, such as we now have; and resolves to
appeal to it and abide by its wise decisions for all
future time. As to this community which has been
so providentially turned God-ward, or lifted to a
higher plane let it be further resolved that we will
maintain that high position with our whole might
and main—that we will go ahead in this good fight
until all these devil-caught celebrations, life-de-
stroying games and brutal amusements are done
away with—or the devil in them cast out.”

Ralph seconded the minister’s resolution and it
was carried amidst manifestations of great joy.

It was afterward averred that the church peo-
ple really kissed each other according to the bib-
lical instruction and it is true that many mothers
kissed their boys and that Ralph kissed Ruth fer-
vently, whereupon those who did not know of their

118
 

A FEAST IS BETTER THAN FIRECRACKERS,
A Good Celebration

marriage became suddenly aware of it and there
was a general rush to kiss the bride and congrat-
ulate the bridegroom.

‘And so they have got their wedding reception
after all, Angeline,” laughed Mr. Cornwallis, “and
without any fussery or finery of the tiresome cut
and dried pattern.”

Then the brass band played a wedding march.
Lawyer Rattlnger and President Hartling
dropped in and made excellent, “higher plane”
speeches—that is, speeches delightfully devoid of
brutish war-sentiment and silly spread-eagleism—
after which the Sunday-school children sang, “God
Bless Our Native Land,” with great vigor and
were rewarded with a delicious finish of ice-cream
and lemonade.

They went home as happy as larks, although
their pockets were stuffed with nuts and candies
instead of baneful firecrackers and deadly toy-pis-
tols—a lively protest for their elders who have
been too ready to say that a boy will not be sat-
isfied with anything that does not possess the ele-
ments of noise and danger.

As Ralph surmised, the Schwarmers were mak-
ing great preparations for the evening display.
It was to be a splendid one. A select party had
been invited from the city to witness it. They
came on the afternoon train while the celebration
was at its height; so their advent made no sensa~
tion. The shops were closed and the streets were

119
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

quite deserted, greatly to Mr. Schwarmer’s cha-
grin, for in making his plans for a brilliant gath-
ering he had counted on a background of gaping
people and corruscating fireworks. The deficiency
was so noticeable that Mr. Alfonso Bombs, the ris-
ing Pyro-spectacle King of the city—the guest
par excellence whom he wished to honor in an ap-
propriate manner, exclaimed derisively :

““How’s this, Schwarmer? Have they exhaust-
ed your huge supply already and annihilated them-
selves in the performance? I thought this was
your kingdom (so to speak) and we should be
treated to a triumphal entry.”

Schwarmer would rather have had the matter
unnoticed, but it was not and he would not imperil
his reputation for bluntness by keeping silence.

“You’ve been in England too long, Alfonso.
You’ve forgotten that we don’t have things of that
sort as they do on the other side of the pond—that
is, except in a way, you understand—an irregular
sort of way. Consequently we never know just
what will take place at a given point, you see—or
just when a triumphal entry will materialize, so to
speak, most assuredly we don’t. It’s never been
at all like this before; most assuredly it hasn’t.
“There have always been plenty of racket, plenty
of fireworks and things of that sort from dawn to
dark and fore and aft—variegated with a run-
away horse and excitements of that kind; but the
fact is a great moral wave has struck the town—

120
A Good Celebration

a very large one. You see, even a moral wave is
liable to be of very large dimensions, this side of
the pond.”

“Moral wave! Mr. Schwarmer,” drawled one
of the ladies. ‘“Re-al-ly you must be joking. I
have been educated to think it was an exceedingly
immoral procedure not to celebrate our Indepen-
dence Day in an appropriate and impressive man-
ner.”

“Impressive—yes truly impressive, dear lady;
but you see it’s too impressive sometimes—too
largely impressive, as everything is apt to be in
this country—that is if it’s impressive at all, and
now and then it impresses the wrong boy. Last
year a lawyer’s little boy had a finger broken and
an alderman’s boy had an eye hurt.”

“Ah indeed! That was most unfortunate,” re-
plied Miss Drawling; “and they were people of
consequence—that is, in this small community.”

“Certainly! certainly—that is of the ‘toad in
the puddle style’ ”’ laughed Schwarmer. “So you
see they called a meeting, a sort of grievance meet-
ing and resolved not to let their children have any
more fireworks. Now I believe they are having a
pious celebration in the church grove or grave-
yard, I don’t know which.”

“Whew! oh whew!”? whistled Mr. Bombs; and
so you have all that patriotic fervor on your
hands! Shall we make a bonfire of it tomorrow as
a starter to their lagging patriotism?”

121
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“Not unless we go a-fishing,” laughed Schwar-
mer, beckoning him aside. “You know how a thing
of that kind turns when the sediments are all
stirred up so to speak. A lot of cranks seized the
fireworks and dumped them all into the river! They
fancied they were our forefathers, I suppose,
dumping the English tea into Boston Harbor—
the knaves!”

“Zounds! exclaimed Mr. Bombs. “That was
a steep proceeding. How high do you suppose it
will climb?”

“K. K.,” replied Schwarmer. ‘Probably until
the attention is called off by some new thing—
very new and of more dazzling proportions—like
those new inventions of yours—for instance.”

“T understand! Good! Good! Nero is himself
again. The siege of Yorktown! The Battle of
Gettysburg! and Johnny Bull’s Bellows to offset
Pang’s Eagle Screams! Eh, Schwramer!” added
Bombs in a low tone, giving him a sly poke in the
ribs; ‘and money made out of them. That’s bet-
ter than giving away things to an ungrateful
public. They can’t throw Yorktown into the
river if they should try. You are a trump,
Schwarmer.”

That ended the business for Schwarmer. There
was nothing that pleased him better than being
called a trump. He had not really intended to
make a business proposition; but the shrewd
would-be million-maker and son of a million-maker

122
A Good Celebration

had construed it into that meaning, and it was un-
derstood to be an unwritten bargain between them.

Thereupon a great silence fell upon the spirit
of Alfonso Bombs. He was resting in rich secur-
ity—the.kind of security he liked. The $10,000,-
000 that for a few brief moments seemed jeopard-
ized would eventually flow into the great Bombs’
coffers and the time would come when he would be
more envied than the President of the United
States; and his old-time victor would be beaten
back to the place from whence he came.

“Bah!” the thin lips parted with an ironical
smile, and the word of contempt came very near
falling out. He congratulated himself on having
checked it in time, for turning aside he saw a pair
of clear but rather penetrating eyes looking
directly at him, and a gentle voice asked:

“What is it that pleases you so dreadfully, Mr.
Bombs?”

It was the voice of Adelaide Schwarmer.

“QO! Ah! Beg pardon, Miss Adelaide,” said
Mr. Bombs, in the flurried way which was usual
with him when she asked him a sudden question,
although she was only a chit of a girl, barely fif-
teen years of age.

“For the smile or the style of it, Mr. Bombs?”

“For both if need be; but where did you come
from so suddenly? I didn’t see you at the train.”

“No, I wasn’t there, I stopped to shake paws
with—guess who?”

123
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“The baker or candlestick-maker or some stick-
‘at-home fellow. Most of the folks seem to have
gone away.”

“No, it was a dog—Ruth Cornwallis’ dog. He’s
funny. He always wants to shake paws with me
when I come. I haven’t been here in two years,
but he was on hand to shake all the same. I won-
der why?”

“Can’t say, Miss Adelaide. All I know is that
dogs were on hand to bark at us when we got
off from the train, quite a number of them and
there was one that led the band.”

“I wonder if it was Ruth’s—he came running
from that way. How did he look?”

“Can’t say. They looked so much alike; but I
think this one had a new white collar on, as though
there had been a wedding in the family.”

“O that’s the one, Mr. Bombs. I wonder what
made him bark at you?”

“None but a dog could tell, Miss Adelaide, and
they are dumb.”

“I wouldn’t blame him if you had that dreadful
smile on, Mr. Bombs.”

“It wouldn’t do any good to blame him anyhow,
Miss Adelaide. Dogs know what they are about
as well as folks.”

“Don’t you think it does any good to blame
folks when they do wrong?”

“Not much, not much. Sometimes it does harm
—almost always to contrary people.”

124
A Good Celebration

“Well, I’m going to blame them any way every
time I see them doing anything I know is wrong
after this and take the chances. I'll be fifteen
years old tomorrow.”

“Better put it off until you are of age, Miss
Adelaide.”

“No, I will not, Mr. Bombs. You needn’t smile
that smile—I’m going to begin tomorrow at the
very hour.”

They walked slowly up the hill while the rest of
the party dashed by them in the Schwarmer turn-
outs; but they did not speak to each other again
until the party had gathered on the broad veranda
to witness the evening’s entertainment.

125
CHAPTER XIII.

ALFONSO BOMBS’ PYROTECHNICS AND ADELAIDE
SCHWARMER’S BLAME.

R. BOMBS had brought with him some
of the most elaborate and artistic works
known to the trade. He had in mind
works of a much grander and more in-

structive nature—works that would be truly great
and high and far reaching (so he said); works
that would be fit for the greatest king on earth
to look at; that would startle and vivify the entire
world and make the family name illustrious. He
had been collecting material for his works through-
out his college course—historical events, especial-
ly the burning and storming of cities and such of
the battles and conflicts as lent themselves readily
to pyrotechnic delineation. He was busy experi-
menting with his material. He expected to have
his first historical piece finished by this time next
year, and he was happy to think he had secured
so good a place for its representation.

126
Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics

He thought the people of the town would like
it—this new and higher development of pyrotech-
nic art; but that it did not matter much whether
they liked it or not. There would be a big crowd
from the city of invited guests and others, for
Schwarmer would be in it heart and soul as well as
purse. He had given him efficient aid in getting
his pieces ready for the evening.

“I wonder if those idiots down below will disdain
to watch our performance,” asked Bombs, as he
was about to begin.

“Undoubtedly not—that is after they’ve
spanked the children and sent them to bed,”
laughed Schwarmer. “That’s the extent of the
moral wave with that sort of people. It generally
stops with the youngsters. After they are dis-
posed of they’ll sit on their door stones until the
last flare, most assuredly they will. Shall we send
a searchlight after them?”

“No! no! Schwarmer. We can’t afford to waste
time and timber, hunting up such light-quenchers.
We can’t begin any lower down than ‘mosaics’ if
we do full justice to ‘T'ourbillions’—that is get in
all the inventions and improvements which I have
made the last year.”

“Go on, then, Alfonso. Let’s have the improve-
ments life-size and inventions too, all of them,
though the heavens should fall and the nearest
stars have to be knocked out, so to speak?”

“O papa! papa!” exclaimed Adelaide in a tone

127
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

of reproach, “true stars are so much prettier than
manufactured ones can possibly be, and they don’t
tire anybody to death.”

Bombs winced but he went about his mosaics
and was soon receiving flattering comments and
profuse compliments from the guests.

“Allow me to congratulate you, Mr. Bombs,”
said Miss Drawling. “Your mosaics are truly
splendid, especially the designs of your own inven-
tion. They are quite beyond the artist’s dream. I
saw a great many pieces of mocaic work when I
visited the galleries of Greece and Rome. They
were supposed to be very wonderful but commend
yours to me.”

“Thanks and thanks for such kindly apprecia-
tion,” replied Bombs, bending low and glancing
aside at Adelaide. She had not retired, and was
looking as though she were trying to be amused.

“T never cared much for mosaics,” remarked
Mrs. Shannon—“the real ones. They are so small
and look so trifling and dull; but yours are bright
and sizable and so charmingly changeable, Mr.
Bombs.”

Even while the shower of compliments was in
process the many colored pieces gave a sudden toss
up as though in disdain and came down in the form
of letters—at least the letters were there dancing
along on the dusky background and arranging
themselves into words; and the words were ‘“Wel-
come to Schwarmer Hill!”

128
Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics

It was pronounced “a charming welcome.”

‘Written in all the colors of the rainbow and
without the tiresome pen and ink,” remarked Miss
Drawling. It was a surprise even to the Schwar-
mers. They were highly delighted—at least Mr.
and Mrs. Schwarmer. Miss Adelaide was inhaling
the fragrance of a rose which she had brought in
from the dewy garden. She said nothing; but the
guests were enthusiastic in their praises—espe-
cially of the dexterity which had been displayed.

“A warm welcome, indeed,” was the fiat of the
college bred Miss Hannibal—“written in letters of
fire; and such letters! So graceful and serpentine!
and some of them quite new! Your own invention
or modification without a doubt. Surely I have
never seen anything in the shape of letters so per-
fectly unique!’

After the fiery welcome there was a fountain.

“Guests are supposed to be thirsty,” remarked
Dr. Orison. “That was a happy thought of yours,
Mr. Bombs.”

“And you must have patterned it after the fam-
ous old Italian fountains,” added his wife—‘“‘the
royal ones that were filled with wines of all kinds
and colors and sparkle and spirit also. You are a
genius, Mr. Bombs.”

After that there were palm trees and Highland
tartans, which were duly praised and commented
upon. ;

Then came the sun—the last of the fixed fire-

129
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

works. Then the rotating ones—the firewheels
and finally the whole solar system. After this
there was an intermission of half an hour during
which the guests were regaled with rare wines,
cakes and cigars.

Young Bombs shied away from the flattering
spectators and went over to the secluded corner
where Adelaide was sitting. He had a full goblet of
wine in one hand and a choice Havana cigar in the
other. He did not go because he was especially
or magnetically drawn or wanted her society, but
because he wanted no society. It had been some-
thing of a strain on his nerves to see that every-
thing went off right and was effectively and har-
moniously arranged, and the end was not yet. He
was in no mood to listen to extravagant praise,
and he knew where he would not get it.

Adelaide still had the rose in hand and was en-
joying its beauty—bestowing loving looks and
lips upon it as well and inhaling its fragrance.

“Nothing but a rose,” said Bombs, after he had
seated himself leisurely at her side and taken a sip
of wine.

“Nothing but a rose,” repeated Adelaide; “but
a rose is a great deal, Mr. Bombs. It is beauty,
fragrance and color—soft and restful color.”

“O! I understand. I know you don’t like fire-
works, nor much of anything as yet—that is in
the line of human invention.”

“J like human inventions but I don’t like inhu-

130
Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics

man ones that dazzle my eyes out. I think they
would make me stone blind if I had to look at them
long at a time.”

Mr. Bombs looked at her fixedly while he con-
tinued to sip the wine. He noticed for the first
time that her eyes were of the palest blue and her
hair of the palest gold and wondered if there was
anything in her physical makeup that made it nat-
urally antagonistic to fiery display. “Did the
doves hate fireworks and did the serpents like
them?” was the question he asked himself.

“Perhaps you will like my new piece better,” he
remarked after he had finished the wine.” ‘“Tour-
billions are a higher form of Pyro.”

‘When is your new piece going to be spoken?”
laughed Adelaide.

“At the end, of course. You hadn’t better retire
—it might wake you up. It will be huge, Miss
Adelaide.”

“The bigger they are the more I don’t like them,
Mr. Bombs. The little ones tire me and the big
ones scare me. You know how I screamed when
that horrid London Pyro-King sent off his biggest
rockets. They looked so dangerous—as though a
terrible comet or electric storm were crashing into
the earth to destroy it. Is your new piece dan-
gerous, Mr. Bombs?”

“Not very, I hope,” Miss Adelaide.”

“You mean that it is a little dangerous, Mr.
Bombs. Now I want to know if you don’t think

131
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

there are dangerous things enough in the world
without inventing any more?”

“T think you are mightily like old Pythagoras,
Miss Adelaide.”

“Why so, Mr. Bombs?”

“He was said to be an ‘assiduous questioner’,
Miss Adelaide.”

That ended it. He lighted his cigar and went
out into the garden.

Soon afterwards the Tourbillions began to as-
cend; and the heavens, at least that portion of
them that belonged to Schwarmer Hill, was soon
filled with jets and coils of flame and stars of
many magnitudes and colors. The spectators ap-
peared to be highly delighted—all except Ade-
laide. She was growing tired. Her eyes burned,
her head ached and she was thinking of going to
her room, when suddenly the sky cleared and she
heard the voice of Bombs announcing the closing
piece—‘“his new contribution to Pyrotechnic art.”

He said among other things that he had invent-
ed the piece especially for this occasion; that it
had as yet no name; that he had left it for the
ladies to name—that is, if it proved to be a suc-
cess, or materialized as he expected it would.
Otherwise it might better be nameless; for if it
were mentioned at all it would be called “The light
that failed.” However he would say this much as
to its composition and intention. It was intended
to be a sort of cross between the girandole and the

1382
Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics

war-rocket. The girandole proper was getting to
be rather monotonous, having been used as the end
piece to pyro-spectacles for fifty years or more.
He thought it was high time to have a new one.
It was also necessary that the new one should be
superior to the old one, both in size and splendor of
coloring. There was no such thing as going back-
ward in this matter. We might as well talk of the
decadence of American institutions or the annihil-
ation of “The Fourth of July.”

“As to its composition,” continued Bombs, “I
think you will believe after you have seen it, that
it was no slight thing to get up a piece of this
kind—so many points had to be considered. As
an example there was the one thing of garniture.
The ladies will appreciate this very readily. If I
mistake not, a lady would think a week spent in
selecting the proper trimmings for her dress was a
long time. What then would she say if I told her
that I spent two months selecting the most effect-
ive garniture for my piece—two months to get it
entirely out of the region of commonness—the re-
gion of gold and silver rain and of the ‘Peacock’s
Tail!’ ” The ladies waved their fans and clapped
their hands, during which commotion Mr. Bombs
disappeared from view.

While Adelaide was wondering where he had
gone to so suddenly, a huge stream of serpentine
fire issued from the Engine House. It grew larger
and larger every moment. It lifted itself into mon-

133
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

strous coils. It hissed and sent forth tongues of
flame. It vomited forth all sorts of hideous
shapes, in all sorts of lurid colors, ever increasing
in size and horror until no more could be conceived
—then there was a loud report and a great globe
of fire plunged downward and disappeared behind
the brow of the hill!

The gentlemen applauded. Bombs had said in
the beginning that the piece was a cross between
a war rocket and a girandole and they supposed
that the report and the ball of fire was the war
part of it, but Adelaide knew that it was an acci-
dent and she thought of the gardener’s cottage
with a thrill of fear.

A moment afterwards a sheet of light and flame
came streaming up from that direction, a woman’s
voice cried “Fire! Fire!” and a woman’s form clad
in white appeared on the fiery background. The
spectators were startled for the moment; then they
broke out in wild applause.

Dr. Orison said “It is ever thus after war.”

The woman was standing still with her arms
twisted about her body, as though in mortal agony.
They thought she was there advisedly to represent
the realistic finishing of Mr. Bombs’ piece. But
they weresoon undeceived. Another cry rent the air.

“It’s Mary, the gardener’s wife! Help! help!
Her house must be on fire.”

It was the cry of Adelaide Schwarmer as she ran
to her assistance.

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“FIRE, FIRE!” CRIED A VOICE.
Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics

“O my baby! My baby!” moaned the poor wo-
man stumbling along toward her.

“Where is it, where??? asked Adelaide.

“Lost! Lost!” she cried, sinking down in a dead
faint.

Mrs. Schwarmer divined the situation and was
soon at her side. She threw her magnificent shawl
over the prostrate figure. Her husband was sent
for. He was in the kitchen helping the servants.
They came and carried her in. Dr. Orison offered
his services and the rest of the men hastened to the
fire; but a stream of water was pouring down on it
from the Engine House and their aid was not
needed. ‘They returned and reported that “the
fire was a trifling affair.”

“But where is her baby!” asked Adelaide. “She
said she had lost her baby. We must find it for
her.”

“Adelaide,” said her mother sternly, “go to
your room at once. It is not proper for you to ask
questions about such matters. Your father and
Mr. Bombs will make whatever search the doctor
thinks necessary.”

‘Half an hour afterwards Dr. Orison returned
to the guests and reported the woman to be out
of danger. His silence with regard to the baby
was understood to mean that it had never lived and
that it was a matter of no earthly consequence.

A matter of much greater interest to one and
all of the gay people assembled there, appeared to

135
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

be Mr. Bombs’ ingenious explanation with regard
to the failure of his piece and his prompt action
in turning on the hose for the quenching of the
fire—for the last of which he received many com-
pliments.

On the contrary Adelaide could think of noth-
ing but the gardener’s wife and her lost baby.
She could not sleep. She was in an agony of sus-
pense—to know how it had fared with them. She
thought the guests would talk it over at the break-
fast table; but she was mistaken. Not a word
was said about it and all seemed as lively as
though nothing at all had happened. She did not
dare to ask them any questions on the subject af-
ter her mother’s rebuke, but she knew she could
ask her father. She saw him out on the hill and
ran after him.

“Mary! poor Mary! how is she, father?” she
gasped out.

“QO! she’s all right Addie, only a little scare.
She'll be all right again in a few days the doctor
says.”

“And the baby. Did you find the baby?”

“Yes we found it, Addie, and took it to her.
Bombs found it, just over there by that clump of
milkweeds—but it wasn’t much of a find—most
assuredly it wasn’t. It was dead of course; and
I guess it was a Providence for they’ve got two
little tots now and they’re not very forehand-
ed. If they kept on at that rate they’ll have a

186
Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics

swarm of them soon, and I shall have to turn them
off.”

“O don’t say that! It’s dreadful. She loved
her baby and she was in such agony when she lost
it! OI never saw such agony! You must not turn
them off—never, never. It would be wrong,
I know it would after this awful fright! We
ought to give them something to make up for it.
I know we had, father! I know it! And I’m go-
ing to give her all I have got in my purse and I
shall remember her as long as I live!”

“Softly Addie! Softly! Don’t let any of the
gentry over there hear you. They’d think you
were crazy. We’ll fix it between ourselves—we
won’t be hard on them if they do have a big swarm.
We’ll see that they don’t starve. Most assuredly
we will.”

“They ought to have good big wages. They
make the flowers grow so beautifully.”

“Yes Addie the flowers are all right; but where’s
the lawn, the green velvet lawn that your mamma
raves about so much. The grass can’t grow with
so many little feet trotting over it.”

“But little feet are of more consequence than
grass, you know they are, only you don’t stop to
think. And little children are better than fire-
works. I wish all the ugly old fireworks were at
the bottom of the sea. You ought not to have let
Mr. Bombs send off his piece over the gardener’s
house.”

137
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

He had not told her about the fireworks that
were at the bottom of the river and he hated the
idea of doing so. He turned away and she went
to the engine house. Bombs was there. She was
going to blame him for what had happened—that
is all that he deserved to be.

“Was your piece more dangerous than you
thought, Mr. Bombs?”

“Well, rather, Miss Adelaide—that is I didn’t
expect it was going to burst up—or down I should
say.”

“But you knew it was dangerous enough to set
things on fire if it did burst and strike them, Mr.
Bombs.”

“Yes, Miss, I knew enough for that.”

“Then you are to blame for sending it off where
you did, Mr. Bombs, and father is to blame for let-
ting you doit. I have just told him so.”

“There was no other place—that is handy—
where the ladies could see it and be comfortably
seated, Miss Adelaide.”

“Then there ought to have been a place made,
Mr. Bombs, and if there couldn’t have been, then
you ought not to have sent it off at all. You know
you had not, and I shall always blame you for it.
It was very, very wrong.”

“T see!” laughed Bombs. “You are on your
blaming expedition this morning, Miss Adelaide.
You are right about having a place made, though.
There ought to be for large works; and when I

138
Alfonso Bombs’ Pyrotechnics

get my historical piece done there will be a place
on purpose for it—a large place—a sort of a
grand amphitheatre something like the old Roman
but Americanized and more enjoyable. That’s
my ambition. I have got through even with tour-
billions.”

189
CHAPTER XIV.

SCHWARMER’S THEATENED ARREST.

R.SCHWARMER was a man who talked
very bluntly, so he admitted, but he ex-
pected to give his hearers the impres-
sion that his bluntness was simply a spe-

cies of noble frankness. The next day but one af-
ter Independence Day, he informed the few ac-
quaintances whom he happened to meet at the de-
pot, that he was obliged to return to the city at
once for two reasons. The first was a rise in
stocks and the second was to see his family off on
the steamer, but that he would return on the fif-
teenth of the month and arrest and punish the
chief leaders in the plot which had resulted in the
destruction of his property.

For once or rather for the first time in his deal-
ings with the Killsbury community, his bluntness
was taken literally and turned to good account. A
mass meeting was_not called but there was a great
deal of calling and consulting among the women
of the town. Ruth Cornwallis Norwood was very
busy during the interval of expectancy. She sct

140
Schwarmer’s Threatened Arrest

her own wits to work and inspired others to do the
same. The result was that rather a novel plan was
proposed—‘“So novel that it was funny,” said the
President’s wife; but the more they talked and
laughed about it, the more they thought they
would try it. They assumed to begin, with that
they instead of their husbands were the chief
leaders or instigators in the destruction of the
Schwarmer property. Ruth was duly charged with
and promptly confessed being at the head of the
whole affair. ‘Therefore it was resolved that when
the dread day came and the dread form of Mil-
lionaire Schwarmer was apparent on the Hill, they
would not wait to be arrested. They would call on
him in a body and deliver themselves up. They
reasoned that it would be a pity to put him to the
trouble of arresting them singly; besides it would
be a great expense to the town. They supposed
that the citizens of the town would have to pay for
all the arrests and they felt sure that they could-
n’t afford to—or at least that they had a right to
cut down their own expenses wherever they chose.
They had other ideas in their heads also. Some
of them could make speeches and delivering them-
selves up to Mr. Schwarmer gave them a chance.

In an interview with President Hartling, he
said:

“T agree with you. There’s many a truth spok-
en in jest and my opinion is that women excel in
this direction.”

141
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

Then he stopped and hummed a tune that

wound up with the words:
“I believe in all the people
Tis through them we shall be blest.”

“Yes,” he added, “ I believe especially in the
women people and my impression is that the wo-
men of this town can settle this business with
Schwarmer. You know what the town needs and
what he has always been promising it. After the
arrests are settled you might extend your wits and
get him to ‘fork over’ as the boys say. I can’t tell
you just how to do it. I don’t like the bossing
business and I’m sure you will know how to act
better than I can tell you. The work of the Com-
mon Council is to get their ordinance in good
working order before the next Independence Day
comes. Father Ferrill’s miracle and the appeal
brought us through safely this year. The educa-
tional and moral waves which are the only true
preparation for good laws were set in motion; but
something more may be required next year for the
scourging of the money-changers. There are
signs in the air that prohibitory measures will
have to be resorted to.

“Schwarmer’s determination to distribute fire-
works in spite of the appeal is a sign,” said Ralph.
He repeated the whole story, not even leaving out
Ruth’s experience with Mr. Schwarmer in the
matter.

“T see,” said the President. “Many kinds of

142
Schwarmer’s Threatened Arrest

effort will have to be made to squelch this many-
headed monster. More and more laws may be
called for but it makes me sad to think of it. I
am prejudiced against law—its autocracy, its in-
sulting enforcements, its perplexing entangle-
ments. As to celebrations when they grow to be
such dangerous nuisances as to require the inter-
ference of law to any great extent, it is a sure sign
that they ought to be done away with.”

“How I wish this savage old Fourth which is so
full of boasting and danger, could be done away
with!” said Ruth. “It will be so hard to make it en-
tirely harmless—especially for the children—the
little innocent children who are born into the world
so helpless, and have to live in it so many years be-
fore they can learn how to avoid its dangers—the
simple every day dangers, to say nothing of the
complex and deadly ones that lie concealed beneath
attractive forms. Who have to be taught, denied,
imprisoned and punished every step of the way al-
most. O what a task for loving parents!”

“And what a shame,” said Ralph, “that people
should go on inventing and manufacturing more
and more of those horrible-things and almost forc-
ing them onto the community and into children’s
hands! What can we do about that?”

“There’s a place for strong prohibitory laws
and a call for the enforcement of those we have.
Appeals are all right for sensible grown-up Amer-
ican citizens; but the young and innocent should

143
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

not be permitted to walk into the fire, the idiotic
and mercenary should not be allowed to furnish
the fire for them to walk into, and the devil’s imps
should be prohibited from pushing them into it.
Yes this is a good place for prohibition. Prohi-
bition that does prohibit—not as it now stands. I
believe that the whole system will have to be over-
hauled to make it largely effective. That the gen-
eral government will have to take it in hand and
appoint earnest ununiformed watchers for all per-
ilous times and places.”

“O that would be splendid,” cried Ruth—“like
having guardian angels, invisible but earthly, for
. the young and innocent!”

“They are not here yet, dear,” laughed Ralph,
“except for the President of the United States and
others in authority, but I’m sure they are needed.
It’s a sorry spectacle to see the small boy dodging
the policeman and the hoodlum intimidating him
with stones. I am glad we did not have a prohib-
itive notice on that account, besides Schwarmer’s
hand would not have shown up so plainly.”

“And so am I,” said Ruth. Then she thought
of the hand that had tried to pat her shoulder and
blushed while Ralph grated his teeth and the
President said in a serious voice:

“And I was just beginning to be sorry that we
did not accept Dr. Normander’s wise prohibition
to back the appeal since I perceive that lack of it
hascaused youneedless trouble,insult and expense.”

144
Schwarmer’s Threatened Arrest

*“O we did not care about that, our hearts and
souls were in it,” said Ruth and Ralph in chorus.

“But I care about it. It was not right. I per-
ceive it would grow to be a grievous burden, it
must not go on,” he added in a pre-occupied way
as though speaking to himself. “Providence has
helped me through this time but I «lmost know He
would not do it again. He has shown me the way.
I will strive to walk in it. There are many lights
by the way. I believe they are all essential and
will be suffused at last into the one great light—
the eternal verity.”

A moment later Dr. Normander came in.

“You are just in time, Doctor. I was going
over to confess that your way was better than
mine; or that my appeal needed your prohibitive
crutch. Why didn’t you argue me down—down
te the practical level at least? They call me a
Golden Rule Man, but I am only a President—a
figure-head, a blundering mortal and too much
afraid of having more laws than are necessary,
or than will be obeyed without hatred and strife.”

“Because I am prejudiced in favor of the lov-
ing appeal—the higher way, I suppose,” laughed
Dr. Normander.

“But you did not propose it, Doctor. Did you
think that tthe higher way—the way of appeal,
was too high to be largely operative?”

“Yes, I could hardly help thinking that, for I
have been preaching it for years; but I had a

145
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

glimpse of the immediate good that a wise prohi-
bition might do.”

“And the one you proposed covered Schwarmer
very neatly, I noticed,” laughed the President,
“but I don’t remember the exact wording.”

“It was not reduced to legal form but the idea
was to prohibit the sale and giving away of all
the dangerous Independence Day Fireworks,”
said Dr. Normander.

“That will help, and we will have it put in°
legal phrase and made ready for use without de-
lay; for I begin to think that Schwarmer is not
to be trusted in this matter. He may need as many
as two or three chains to hold him, that is, unless
some sort of miraculous conversion overtakes him.
You know miracles do happen now and then, Doc-
tor, and I am rather expecting one from The Wo-
man’s Educational or Missionary Department be-
fore the next Independence Day begins,” laughed
the President. “There is no greater pest to so-
ciety than a millionaire idiot, and there is no bet-
ter way to get him to use his money rightly than to
hand him over to the best women of society.”

“One more question before we are arrested, or
arrest ourselves,” laughed Ruth.

“Can a law be made to prohibit Schwarmer or
his guests from showering rockets on the town?”

“After he is through with the arresting busi-
ness, we will see about the showering,” replied the
President. “TI fancy he will not be so much enam-

146
Schwarmer’s Threatened Arrest

ored after that, with fiery showers as with those of
a gentler kind, and really I don’t know as any laws
could be made to prevent a man from having fire-
works on his own premises, but he could be arrested
for damages to the property or persons of others.”

“But we want him arrested from doing dam-
ages and burning up money,” said Ruth.

“Then I believe you women will have to do it,”
laughed the President. “The law isn’t premature
enough. However if you fail I will study it up
and see what it will do. I think the way is being
prepared on the banks of the Hudson, by the Yale
graduate who is dying at the house of a million-
aire, from an injury received by a flying rocket.”

147
CHAPTER XV.

THE KILLSBURY WOMEN ARREST THEMSELVES.

N the fifteenth of July Schwarmer came
as he was expected to do; for besides be-
ing a blunt man, he was known to be
one who rarely broke his promise. He

arrived on the morning train and in the afternoon
. while he was sitting in his beautiful office with the
Golden Rule President on one side of him and Law-
yer Rattlinger on the other, the door opened sud-
denly and disclosed a very pretty sight—namely
a procession of ladies tastefully hatted and
gowned. The ribbons which were fastened dainti-
ly on their shoulders fluttered like wings in the
strong breeze caused by the opening of the door.

He had been informed that a delegation of
ladies would do themselves the honor of calling
upon him to ask a favor, the nature of which was
not apparent, so he arose to his feet at once, with
his broad smile and blunt speech.

“Bless you ladies! Really ladies! This is a
great and unexpected surprise. A truly great
and truly happy one. Bless you all. How love-

148
The Killsbury Women Arrest Themselves

ly you look. You do me proud, most assuredly
you do. Ask me any faver you choose. I almost
know what it will be before you open your pretty
lips—pardon or excuses for your husbands or sons
for the destruction of my property. Ladies are
always doing something of that kind, God bless
them! I feel like accepting even before you ask
me to, most assuredly I do. I know it wasn’t your
fault. I know ladies don’t approve of such vio-
lent doings or go into them, unless dragged in by
their husbands or sweethearts. I understand that.
I shouldn’t be my mother’s son if I didn’t, ladies.
You may make your requests without fear or trem-
bling. I am blunt in my speech but I trust my
. treatment of ladies is exactly the reverse.”

The lawyer winked at the President as much as
to say that exactly the reverse of blunt would be
sharp; but his wife was among the crowd and as
she was a lady who laughed easily he felt obliged
to keep his countenance of the usual length.

“The ladies, God bless them,” Schwarmer con-
tinued in his closing peroration. “They are all
angels—all except those that are very strongly
tempted to be the reverse.”

The President’s wife laughed this time in spite
of her husband’s long drawn face. Several oth-
ers caught the infection. No knowing where it
would have ended had not Mr. Schwarmer sat
down suddenly. ‘They knew that their time had
come and the thought sobered them.

149
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

Mrs. Muelenberg was the first to speak. She
said:

“We know you are very kind, Mr. Schwarmer,
and we have come to make our confessions and ask
you for substantial proofs of your kindness. We
all had a hand in the destruction of your proper-
ty—a free hand, and we are going to tell you why
and pay the damages. We are averse to the tech-
nicalities, expense and delay of the law, so after
we have made our plea—that is, all the plea we
can make, we trust that you will make out your
bill. We have brought our purses and wish to
settle the damages on the spot.”

“Damages against the ladies!” gasped Schwar-
mer, looking with dismay at the purses conspicu-
ously displayed. ‘My intention is to settle this
little matter with the men who had a hand in it.
I don’t want any pay for my property, dear
ladies. Rest assured I am not that sort of a man.
All that I shall insist upon is to have the law re-
spected—the rights of property regarded.”

‘And all that we shall insist on, if it goes to the
courts, is that the rights of mothers be respected
and the lives of their children properly regarded,”
said Mrs. Rattlinger. “I am not a lawyer but I
am a lawyer’s wife and I think I know about where
we should stand in such a case.”

“Of course you do,” replied Schwarmer, “and
being a wife and mother, very naturally you
would, as one and all thus situated. I shall see

150
The Killsbury Women Arrest Themselves

to it that no harm comes to you, rest assured I
shall. I have an almost unbounded respect for
mothers and a great tenderness for children and
would be more than willing to do all I could to pre-
ventthem from injury on our natal day, without in-
terfering with its proper enjoyment, most assuredly
I would. I am very fond of them all. I lament
with our lamentable President that there are not
more mothers and more children. There can’t be
too many of them to suit me. It takes a great
many to keep up the supply, as they are more
prone to accidents than grown people, especially
on and around our glorious Fourth—for the rea-
son that their little hands and pockets which pa-
triotism requires us to fill with firecrackers, are
so much nearer their little eyes than ours are.
Most assuredly they are. For these and other rea-
sons of a similar nature, there can’t be too many
children born into the world. They make it live-
ly. Truly, ladies, I am a very blunt man and I
must say that I think mothers should have many
more children than they do have. Yes, a great
many more and be happy to do so. Very happy
indeed, ladies. There is no sight on earth so per-
fectly lovely in my estimation as that of a moth-
er surrounded with her children. Completely sur-
rounded I should say—north and south, east and
west—surrounded as with a halo, so to speak.”
Schwarmer’s pronunciation of halo sounded so
much like hello that Sybil Bolt, whose little boy

151
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

had lost a finger three years before, in consequence
of his Independence Day gift, whispered to the -
woman who stood next to her:

“Yes a fine hello—young ones with their fingers
blown off, eyes blown out, and faces scarred.”

She whispered loud enough to be heard across
the room and Schwarmer may or may not have
heard her. He continued:

“Don’t be alarmed, my dear ladies. I wouldn’t
have the heart to hurt a hair of your heads, nor
a hair that belonged to your children. Be assured
I shall lay up nothing against you, and I’m not
going to be hard with your husbands and lovers
either, rest assured I am not. Go in peace.”

He waved his hand as though waving them out;
but they did not “follow the wave.”

Mrs. Normander came to the front and gave
the list of accidents as Ralph had done at the mass
meeting. She also repeated the statement that the
list was out of all proportion to that of other
towns throughout the state. Then she turned up-
on him squarely.

This being the case the question was, why it was
so? “You know how that question was settled at
‘the meeting, Mr. Schwarmer, and the result.”

“Yes, I know,” said Schwarmer, “that my pro-
perty was meddled with and I know that accidents
occur or are liable to occur all over the coun-
try on the Fourth, and we don’t know where they
will occur, nor how many will occur at a given

152
The Killsbury Women Arrest Themselves

point, most assuredly we don’t, and we don’t know
just how many occur in our own town. They are
not always reported, or made much of. There will
be accidents on that day as a matter of course,
truly there always have been and must be—it’s an
accidental world—full of accident policies—eh,
ladies? The Fourth of July wouldn’t be the Fourth
without accidents, surely it wouldn’t, would it
ladies ?””

“Yes it would,” said Mrs. Normander. ‘We
have had one this year—a lovely Fourth. We all
enjoyed it—especially the children. They said
they had never had such a splendid Independence
Day. They had no fireworks and not a single one
was hurt. We heard there was quite a serious ac-
cident at your place where you had an elaborate
pyrotechnic display.”

“O! a small one, ladies, a very small one—truly
very small—not worth mentioning, ladies.”

“Not for you,” cried out a voice angrily; “but
for the poor mother who lost her child!’

She broke off sobbing. She was the widow whose
little boy had died of tetanus a few years before.
The ladies all knew it and were visibly affected.

“Beg your pardon, dear woman,” said Schwar-
mer fussing with his pocket handkerchief. “Beg
your pardon, one and all, dear ladies, I meant no
harm—no insult to your sex—most assuredly not.
I’m all sympathy for any one in a delicate condi-
tion and exceedingly sorry for any loss they may

153
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

sustain and would not do or say anything willing-
ly to aggravate the one or the other. I trust you
know I would not. You know also that accidents
of that kind do happen very frequently, and with-
out any fright from pyrotechnics. The only dam-
age that can be truly chargeable to the rocket,
was very slight indeed, very—only a matter of a
few bundles of straw and an old tumble down shed.
It made quite a blaze of course, you know it would
ladies, and the excitement may have been the one
straw too much for the mother delicately situated
but there is no real proof of it—that is, no abso-
lute proof you understand ladies. I mean to say
that something else might have happened that
would have led to the same disaster—something
quite trifling, such as a husband coming in late
and slamming the door. To speak bluntly we have
all heard of such things bringing on premature
difficulties. Truly we have, have we not, my dear
ladies ?””

“I see, I see, silence gives consent,” continued
Mr. Schwarmer quite jauntily, “and I know you
have forgiven me any little hand I may have had
in the matter—which was very slight indeed, I as-
sure you. The pyrotechnics referred to were un-
der the auspices of a much greater than I—that
is pyrotechnically considered. No less a person
than the young son of a billionaire friend of mine
who has a great taste for pyrotechnics. The piece
which caused the premature loss referred to was

154
The Killsbury Women Arrest Themselves

designed by him. It was very original and power-
ful—most assuredly it was—almost too powerful
for inland display. It would have been truly gor-
geous out at sea or off Coney Island or Manhat-
tan Beach. He’s a great genius, the young fellow
is, and an aspiring one and needs a great deal of
room to display his talents, as all geniuses of any
size, invariably do. When he was abroad he was
royally entertained by the greatest of living Py-
rotechnists, King Pang, whose father was knight-
ed by the queen for doing something splendid. I
have forgotten just what it was. By the way, he
made a very good pun out of the little accident he
had here, after he got back to the city. He said that
his ‘Pet Rocket rocked the cradle prematurely’—
or attempted to rock it, or something of the kind.
I can’t quite remember which; but really it was
very good and characteristic also. He always
spoke of his creations as though they were live
creatures and really they are very lively—very
lively indeed, I assure you, ladies.”

“They are fiends in disguise,” exclaimed Ruth
rising suddenly and lifting the rim of her hat so
he might recognize her without difficulty. She
had managed to hide herself from his observation,
she hardly knew why. She had a mixed sort of a
feeling that she would like to see him let himself
entirely out and that he would be more likely to
do so if he did not know she were there. She meant
to have her say. She had come prepared for it;

155
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

but she would not say a word until her whole soul
was in it and she could hold back no longer. She
had brought the spent rocket that had come so
near killing or injuring Ralph’s mother. She held
it up so everybody could see it plainly.

“Yes,” she went on with righteous indignation.
“They are fiends in disguise. Here is one of them,
with its pretty red, white and blue wrapping torn
off. Look at it one and all. It’s only a rough
stick and a lump of lead. It looks dull and harm-
less now but backed by powder and dynamite it
can do terrible execution. Look at it Mr. Schwar-
mer. It was sent over from the hill on last Fourth
and came within a hair breadth of hitting a lady’s
shoulder! If it had, it would have laid her arm
open to the bone, for it dashed down the whole
length of it and buried itself in the ground. What
kind of a pun would your City Pyro King have
made of that? What does he care for the homes
made desolate, the youths that are slain and mu-
tilated, this son of a millionaire, so that he adds
more millions to his possessions? What does he
care for such misery as I have suffered? Every
year for seven years I had to be taken from my
home and sent to Canada in order to escape our
Independence day horror. Every year since the
terrible accident to my little brother. You all
know about that. I was only eleven years old
then. I did not fully understand what the Eng-
lish officers meant when shay said ‘Very sensitive

156
The Killsbury Women Arrest Themselves

to foreign foes Americans are, and yet they arm
the home foes and ignorant boys with enough
powder and dynamite to kill and wound thousands
every year.’ ‘A very free country that whose peo-
ple have to fly to Europe or to us for safety.’, But
it dawned on me little by little, year after year.
Last year I saw it all. This year I am here, de-
termined to leave no stone unturned to do away
with the cruel, barberous idiotic celebration of our
national day.

“Think of it, Mr. Schwarmer! How would you
feel to have your little innocent brother, or child,
frightfully scarred, burned or torn to pieces by
fireworks that some careless person had put into
his hands? Take it to your heart and conscience.
Remember, we do not assume that you are a bad
man because you distribute fireworks among the
children of this town. We know you don’t think
when you give a lot of boys a lot of toy pistols
that they are going to kill or injure each other
with them. You are just like a great many others.
You have been brought up to ‘think it right for
boys to celebrate our Independence Day and you
don’t stop to think of the new elements of danger
which have been, and are constantly being intro-
duced. The firecracker and the torpedo were al-
ways dangerous nuisances and should have been
done away with long ago for something harmless
and more sensible. Instead of that they have been
developed into giants and are now manufactured

157
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

in enormous quantities—enough to burn up the
whole world; and they do burn up millions of dol-
lars worth of property each year.

“Think of it! It’s not only the loss of life that is
to be considered but it’s the waste of money. It’s
a pity to see it recklessly burned up when we are
needing so many things. We need a public lib-
rary. All we have now are a few old ragged
books. We need a public park, where the children
can go to fly their kites, look at the gold fishes,
listen to the music, smell of the flowers, laugh,
play and sing, and be out of the dust and danger
of the crowded thoroughfare. We need good
roads and bridges. There isn’t a thoroughly
good road in town except the speedway, which the
corporation helped you build over beyond the hill.
The sewers and water works are incomplete. You
have about all there are at your place and the
towns-people have paid the corporation taxes, al-
though they have been doubled since your coming,
without grumbling. Think of all these things,
Mr. Schwarmer. Investigate this whole matter
for yourself and see if you can’t do something
better for us than you have been doing. You have
refused to take pay from us for the destruction of
your property. We thank you but we do not wish
you to think that we did not give our whole
strength and influence to the work. What J did was
to put it into the head of my husband (that now
is) to help me do something at once, to prevent the

158
The Killsbury Women Arrest Themselves

horrible burnt sacrifice that would surely take
place if your fireworks were distributed here as
usual. I could not rest after hearing the English
boast as I did last year that a shrewd English
Pyro-king had sold millions of dollars worth of
fireworks to the American people to burn up
on their ‘awful Independence Day’ as they called
it, and that the demand was so great that he had
to send a supply from the London manufactory.
You see how it is, Mr. Schwarmer. I have heard
and thought about these things through days and
nights of suffering and exile on English soil. And
now I have to confess that I am the instigator-in-
chief of the destruction of your property. You
will be kind enough to reckon with me if you do
with anybody. We bid you good day and a God
speed in the right direction.”
The ladies withdrew without being waved out.

159
CHAPTER XVI.

THE EFFECT OF RUTH’S SPEECH.

ERE words can give but little idea of
(D Ruth’s speech. It was what would be

called in military phrase of the “rapid-

firing order.” Her pretty brown eyes
were ablaze with feeling. Every gesture struck
home. The Golden Rule President encouraged
her with nods and smiles. Lawyer Rattlinger was
amused and interested. ‘The ladies were effected
to tears, while Schwarmer turned all sorts of col-
ors—red being the predominant one. His face
seemed full to bursting at times; but her final in-
vocation steadied him a little and after the last
lady had disappeared, he gasped out:

“Well gentlemen, really and truly! What are
we to do about a thing of this kind? I don’t quite
understand the ladies. They have such a sort of
vascilating way—most assuredly they have.”

“Yes, but there’s where the love comes in,” said
the President. He was humming a tune and
twitching his ample fingers in a lively way as

160
The Effect of Ruth’s Speech

though they might be playing on a harp of a
thousand strings. Then he sang out:

“OQ! it’s through the women people we shall find
the promised rest. The women, God bless them!
They know what ‘the town needs if the rest of us
don’t, Mr. Schwarmer, and they are going for it.
You may as well capitulate—capitulate grace-
fully and give them a library.”

“And you, Rattlinger, I would like your view of
it,most assuredly I would—that is, the legal view.”

“Certainly, you are welcome to my point of
view both legal and experimental,” replied Rattlin-
ger. “I should say to begin with that the upris-
ing is too respectable and tee-total to be ignored.
Experimentally I know that a woman is the deuce
for persistence when she once gets after a thing.
I should say that when a whole army of them get
on the war-path the library would have to come.
Legally considered, you have not given a promis-
sory note, but you have given them promissory
words. There’s a point of honor, you see.”

“Well, really, gentlemen, I have always intended
to give a library or something of that kind, in the
end, you know, but I don’t fancy being forced to
do it—prematurely, so to speak; and you can’t
blame me for that, most assuredly you can’t.

“No! No! Mr. Schwarmer,” sang the Presi-
dent :

“Yowre a free untrammeled soul
An undivided atom within a mighty whole.”

161
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“But you’d better divide up with the ladies, Mr.
Schwarmer,” laughed Rattlinger, “or you will
have to enter the field against them; I don’t be-
lieve you want to do that. At least I shouldn’t.
I should know that I would have to beat a retreat
in the end and I should rather beat a retreat in the
beginning while I could do it and save my honor;
as the famous French General always did. I would
not wait ’til I had a lot of indictments social or
otherwise tacked onto my coat-skirts. As I un-
derstand it they have quite a number of things
laid up against you; and you know the ladies are
famous for making things look picturesque.”

The laugh of the President at this remark was
so contagious that Schwarmer couldn’t help join-
ing in.

It’s all over with you, my good man,” said the
President, slapping him on the shoulder as he pro-
ceeded to put on his hat.

“The women people have pleaded guilty—guil-
ty of doing a good deed and they have won their
case according to Lawyer Rattlinger’s opinion.
You had better send the library along at once. A
little concession of that sort makes everything run
as smooth as silk.”

The President and the lawyer went home to tea
and Schwarmer returned to the city on the next
train. Nothing was heard from him until Sep-
tember first. Then he came on in his rushing way
with a surveyor, two architects and half a dozen

162
The Effect of Ruth’s Speech

contractors. The news ran through the town like
wild fire that he was really going to begin the long
looked for library building. It was to be on the
vacant lot where he was born. The house not be-
ing of a substantial character had been demolished
long ago and the lot itself had been voted a nui-
sance by the adjacent neighbors; so there were
more reasons than one for rejoicing. The ladies
were especially delighted.

“Behold the result of your maiden speech!’ ex-
claimed Ralph when he came home with the good
news.

“Newly married speech,” laughed Ruth; but
as Ralph went on to tell of the large preparations
which were being made she shook her pretty head
and “hoped Schwarmer would not be so idiotic as
to put all his donation into a splendid building
and leave nothing for books. A good plain, com-
modious building is what we want. Not a pala-
tial, monumental thing that will make our homes
look like hovels and turn out to be a monument
for himself, for us to keep in order.”

“Seneca the Sensible,” were Ralph’s next words,
“but, you are right, dear love,” he added, “Schwar-
mer needs watching. ‘Eternal vigilance’ is the
price when you deal with such a man. The cor-
poration is not obliged to accept his library un-
less it is properly furnished and endowed. I’ll speak
to the Golden Rule President about that, at once.
Bless your heart for putting it into my head.”

163
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“Who in the world is Dombey bringing us?” ex-
claimed Ruth as her dog came leaping and frisk-
ing up the walk. He acts as though he had
secured a great prize.”

“Millionaire Schwarmer’s daughter as I live,”
exclaimed Ralph! “Isn’t it comical though. I
never knew before that dogs could be obsequious!
See that brute trying to smile.”

The girl came on slowly and rather timidly up
the long walk, while the dog rushed backward and
forward and indulged in all sorts of joyous an-
tics.

“Excuse me for coming,” she said when she
got within speaking distance, “but the dog would
have it so.”

“Dombey knew you would be welcome,’
Ruth.

“He met me at the train and followed me all
around to every place I went, but when I got to
this street he took the lead. I went on but he came
after me and cried and took hold of my dress. I
guessed what he wanted so I came a little way with
him; but when I turned to go back he whined and
made such a time of it, that I gave up and came
home with him.”

“And now he wants you to come up on the
verandah and rest,” laughed Ruth, looking down
into the blue eyes. She thought she had never seen
any so blue and true looking.

“T will a moment, but I can’t stay. I came up

164

’

replied
The Effect of Ruth’s Speech

with father. I wanted to see poor Mary who got
scared and lost her baby Fourth of July night.”

“T heard she was better,” said Ruth.

“Father heard so too, and thought I hadn’t
better come, but I would come. I know she feels
bad about her baby and I want to tell her how sor-
ry I am and how much I blame Mr. Bombs.” The
blue eyes filled with tears.”

“Fireworks are dangerous things,” said Ruth.
She felt her own eyes getting misty and she was
wondering if Schwarmer’s daughter knew of their
action in regard to the Schwarmer fireworks.

“Yes, they are dangerous,” said Miss Schwar-
mer, “and they are horrid—all that I have ever
seen; and I blame father for ever buying such
awful things to give away. I don’t believe he ever
will any more. There are so many pretty things
to buy.”

“Bless your heart,” said Ruth. “I’m sure he
never will if you ask him not to.”

“I have asked him not to and I’ve blamed him.
He is going to let me buy things after this, for
the children here.”

“O that will be lovely,” exclaimed Ruth—“then
we shall see you often shall we not?”

“JT wish I could stay here always,” said Miss
Schwarmer. “I don’t like to travel but we’re all
going over to London with Mr. Bombs. I don’t
like him, though he is honest with me. I blame
him for not being honest with others. Father says

165
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

he was educated to amuse and mystify the people.
Isn’t it horrid to be mystified?”

Ruth assured her it was and then she left with
Dombey at her heels.

‘“Dombey knows,” said Ruth; and it’s no won-
der. She is so good and honest.”

“The wonder is that Mr. Schwarmer should
have such a child,” said Ralph, “or Mrs. Schwar-
mer either from all we hear about her. What a
pity that she should be dragged around the world
against her will; but she ‘blames’ them and no
doubt but they need her blame.”

“And Mr. Bombs, the man that’s been educated
to amuse and mystify people. He needs her
blame without the shadow of a doubt; and he will
end by falling desperately in love with her,” said
Ruth. “It came over me like a flash, when she was
speaking of him.”

“Then it must be so,” laughed Ralph, “for you
have a sample on hand. I hope she will marry
him and put him to beneficent uses.”

When Ralph came home to tea he brought an-
other item of news. Some kind of a building was
going to be constructed on Schwarmer Hill; and
no one as yet had been able to find out what it was
to be.

“A Bombs’ mystification, perhaps,” sighed
Ruth.

The library building went on very rapidly and
by the time the cold weather set in, it was enclosed

166
The Effect of Ruth’s Speech

and ready for inside work. It gave evidence of
being a plain, substantial, common sense struc-
ture, with nothing showy or monumental about it.
Whether it was due to Ruth’s original sugges-
tions, Ralph’s timely action, Lawyer Rattlinger’s
shrewdness or President Hartling’s practical abil-
ity, was not known. The one thing that, was known,
however, and made sure of by every taxpayer in
town was that it would not be saddled onto them
for support. That it was to be an absolutely free
gift. That there would be a liberal sum for books
and a sufficient sum set aside to keep it in good
running order.

The knowledge concerning the building on
Schwarmer Hill was not so clear. In fact it was
“extremely hazy,” as Lawyer Rattlinger expressed
it. And yet there was no seeming of secrecy about
the matter. The boss-workman as well as the arch-
itect and builders were remarkably unanimous in
saying when questioned, that it was to be a sort
of amphitheatre for sports and games of various
kinds.

“That settles it, or rather unsettles it,” said
the President, “for there are various kinds—a
large number of them. They are very various and
very brutal many of them. Yes, a great many of
them all the way down from the Indian LaCrosse
game and Fillipino Hurdle races to Jiu-Jitsu—the
treacherous Japanese game of ankle and _ neck-
breaking. Even the college sports must be

167
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

pursued with the old time barbaric violence
and virulence. If we send a son to college
in these days to cultivate his mental powers, we
may expect he will be swept into the rage for phy-
sical culture, and wind up by losing an eye or two
fingers at the least.”

This was the President’s point of view very de-
cidedly after having had a friend who cultivated
his physical powers while in college to that extent ;
but he was ready to confess that he had not al-
ways held such a view. He recalled with regret
a time when he had encouraged brutal games by
inviting a party of tired young men and women
to witness a football game.

“What an idiocy,” he exclaimed, “when there
were so many perfectly harmless amusements
which I could have taken them to; but I didn’t
think about it. I wanted to take them where they
wanted to go, instead of wanting to take them
where they ought to go and managing to make it
pleasant for them.”

‘And so there was a Providence in your friend’s
hurt after all, you see,” said the minister.

“No, I don’t see it,” replied the President, “else
I should have to accuse Providence of hitting the
wrong man. I ought to have been the one to have
had my eye plucked out or my hand plucked off.
For I had been taught the good old Quaker rule,
to avoid all games that are gotten up by men, for
the purpose of beating each other; I’m going to

168
The Effect of Ruth’s Speech

stand by that rule after this, and I hope Schwar-
mer can be induced to draw the lines at the dan-
gerous games.”

Ruth hoped so too, but her solicitude was not
to be put aside. Every week she would have Ralph
go with her to The Hill presumably for a walk,
but in reality to see what the huge thing looked
like. She feared it was going to be something ob-
jectionable and unhelpable. —

“It doesn’t matter so much, does it dear, if he
keeps it to himself—that is if it doesn’t slop over
onto us?”

Yes it does matter, Ralph—that is if it turns
out to be an arena for pyrotechnics and that hor-
rible Bombs is in it. If he is, it will be an adver-
tisement for the blinding and demoralization of
every youth within sight of it. Powder and dyna-
mite will be the fashion and our Fourth of July
horror will rage again. O Ralph! Ralph!”

“Flere am I, dear! Trust! trust! We will be on
the watch-tower. If Mr. Bombs comes we will see
what we can do with him. There’s always something
to be done if we can only keep a level head. You
must not get too much excited over it, dear, you
know the reason why. You remember the garden-
er’s wife, poor soul. Let’s stop and see her on our
way down.”

“Yes, Ralph,” replied Ruth eagerly. “Perhaps
she will know if Miss Schwarmer is coming up this
Fourth. If there is anybody in the world who

169
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

can influence that perverse Mr. Bombs rightly
I believe it is she.”

Mary Langley, the gardener’s wife, had never
recovered from the hurt and fright caused by the
explosion of Mr. Bombs’ rocket. Hers was one
of those double hurts for which materia medicae
has no remedy. She recovered sufficiently to be
able to attend to her household duties and to the
wants of her two little children. Miss Schwar-
mer’s well filled purse had helped her thus far; but
it could not tide her over the invalid line. Dreams
of fiery serpents and the lost baby kept her from
refreshing sleep night after night. Her husband
ridiculed her in vain for her so-called woman’s
weakness. Her hurt was too deep for money or
ridicule to mend. She grew thinner and thinner,
day after day, and ghostly white until it was ru-
mored about town that she was going into a de-
cline.

The Norwoods were ill prepared, however, for
the frail spiritual looking creature who met them
at the door.

“Beg pardon,” said Ruth, “perhaps you are not
well enough to receive us. I have heard about you
and have been wanting to come and see you ever
since; but I thought you had so many friends—
and better ones—at least those who could do more
for you. You are well acquainted with the
Schwarmers, of course. Miss Schwarmer is love-
ly and she spoke to me so kindly about you.”

170
The Effect of Ruth’s Speech

“Yes,” replied Mrs. Langley, “Miss Adelaide is
very, very kind and as good and honest as she can
be and she did help me all she could, bless her
heart, in deed and word; but she had to go away
and it seemed as though nobody else knew just
how I felt, and she so young too—the others made
fun of me.”

Tears came into the hollow eyes as she stopped
speaking.

“Made fun of you?” questioned Ruth, looking
at Ralph wonderingly.

“OQ! the brutes!” he exclaimed, angrily. He
could not trust himself to say more. He wanted
to ask who the brutes were and why her husband
did not resent such cruel insult?”

“I suppose I was foolish,” she said apologeti-
cally. “Even my husband can’t quite understand
why I was so frightened—frightened out of my
wits, he says; nor why I can’t get over it. Why I
want to go away from this place. He hired to
Mr. Schwarmer for three years and he can’t go
and it wouldn’t do to quarrel with him. Poor
James! He works hard all day and is so tired at
night ; and night is the time I feel the terror com-
ing on!”

Ruth gave a little sob.

“I can understand you, dear Mrs. Langley. It’s
the horrible fireworks and their promoters you are
afraid of, and you are afraid they will come again.
I used to feel that way until we went to work to get

171
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

rid of them; but you are helpless here on the
Schwarmer grounds. Then there’s the new build-
ing. Have you any idea what use that will be put
to?”

“My husband talks of beautiful horses and
races and fairs and things of that kind, but I have
my fears. I know they won’t let Fourth of July
pass without doing something dreadful; but I
shan’t be here then.”

Ruth knew that she meant that she expected to
die before that time, but she would not take it so.

“Indeed you must not stay here. You must come
over and stay with us. We are not going to have
any of those horrible things. You must come, you
and the children, too; if you do not come of your
own accord, we will come and take you away,”
laughed Ruth.

Mrs. Langley promised to come and Ruth and
Ralph went home far better pleased than they
would have been if they had been returning bridal
calls in the ordinary stereotyped fashion.
CHAPTER XVII.

THE QUERY. RUTH’S DOG DOMBEY BRINGS HER A
NOTE.

HE first day of May Mr. Schwarmer
came and brought a carload of work-
men. There had been a very large num-
ber from the beginning. The Library

building was completed and the building on the
hill had been going on very rapidly, particularly
through the months of March and April, but the
pace was nothing to what it was after Mr.
Schwarmer’s advent. The large lot on which the
main building stood was enclosed by a high wall
with gates, elevated seats and awning posts. The
building itself was decorated, winged, painted,
balconied and improved in wonderful ways. Band
stands and observation towers arose as if by
magic.

Mr. Schwarmer was a man who liked to rush
things, and he was here and there and everywhere,
pushing the work. When questioned as to its
uses he laughed and said:

173
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“That is a query even to myself. Come to think
of it, I guess I'll name it “The Query.’ It would
be a good name for it and might be spelled with
one ¢ or two. A very good one truly. A capital
one, since its gates are to be open to all the queer
and popular things—that is the most popular,
amusing, instructive and queer; and as there is
always a question as to which is the most truly
popular eé cetera. The people of Killsbury and
the county can hold their fairs here if they wish,
and bring their showiest bed quilts and biggest
pumpkins or things of that kind, most assuredly
they can.”

A week after Mr. Schwarmer’s arrival Mrs.
Schwarmer and Adelaide came, bringing with
them the Librarian and the books. ‘The work of
putting the Library in order was to be rushed
also, for it was to be formally opened and handed
over to the town on the Fourth of July, with ap-
propriate ceremonies.

On the day of their arrival Dombey did not
make his appearance at dinner—a function which
he was in the habit of observing as punctually as
the other members of the family.

“Where in the world is Dombey!” exclaimed
Ruth. “You don’t suppose he has gone to the
train to meet Adelaide Schwarmer again? Mrs.
Langley told me she was expected today.”

“Very likely,” laughed Ralph. “Dogs get hab-
its as well as the rest of us. See, there he comes,

174
The Query

running like Jehu! He hasn’t captured her this
time; but he acts as though chain lightning had
struck him. Something is up you may be sure.”

And so there was. Dombey came rushing up
to Ruth with a note tied to his collar. It was from
Adelaide Schwarmer, inviting her to meet them
at the Library the next morning. They (she and
her mother) wanted to consult her about some of
the arrangements. “Father,” she said, “was very
busy and had given it all into their hands to man-
age.”

“It’s well he has,” said Ralph angrily. “You
wouldn’t have my consent to go, if he were going
to be there.”

“Oh I don’t think he is really a bad man, Ralph.
Only blind with regard to the characters of those
about him, just as he is custom-blind in regard to
other things. Anyway I forgive him for his
daughter’s sake.”

“Better wait until you see what performances
he introduces on Schwarmer Hill.”

“As long as Miss Schwarmer is there I feel as
though the Hill has a guardian angel—or a re-
cording angel at least, Ralph.”

“Be careful though. Don’t let them harness you
into doing any hard work at the library. You
know rich women are apt to do that sort of thing
and you have to be extra careful of your health
just now. Your mother would never forgive me
if I should let you overdo while she is away.”

175
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“Don’t be foolish, Ralph. You know how it has
always been with papa and mamma. They were
over-solicitous. I was never so strong and healthy
in my life as I am now. I feel as though I could
work, and should be glad to in such a cause. Only
think of it! The gift of books and books and
books and books instead of firecrackers and cart-
ridges and toy pistols! An invitation to come and
help arrange them instead of an order to pack up
and leave the country to get rid of the horrible
Fourth! Then the exercises in the Library in-
stead of the carnival of death and destruction. Can
you realize it, Ralph? Do you really take it all
in?”

She seized hold of his arms and gave him a vig-
orous shaking up.

“You see Dombey got here first; but how well
you are looking,” exclaimed Adelaide, when Ruth
entered the library. “How plump and fair you
have grown since I was here! Let me kiss you.”

A pink glow came to Ruth’s cheek which made
her pretty face look still prettier, and had its ef-
fect on Adelaide also. She added shyly: “Are you
tired? Did you walk? I ought to have come for
you in my phaeton.”

“My husband brought me,” replied Ruth, re-
covering herself in time to meet the formal saluta-
tion and the cold discriminating glance of Mrs.
Schwarmer, with wifely dignity.

“J trust your father and mother are usually

176
The Query

well. Perhaps I ought to have sent for them to
assist me in this matter; but Adelaide told me you
were very enthusiastic about the library and knew
everything about books. There’s an alcove set
aside for the very, very choice ones—books that no
one should be allowed to handle, who is ignorant of
their value, so the Librarian says; but he has so
much to do, we are going to help him all we can.”

“Papa and mamma are in Chicago with an uncle
who is very ill—not expected to live day after
day.”

“How sad,” said Mrs. Schwarmer, in the even
tone which made it difficult to tell whether she
meant the uncle’s sickness or the father’s and
mother’s absence from home. “Mr. Bombs is in
Chicago, too. He went there to meet Mr. Pang,
the celebrated Pyrotechnic King. Chicago is to
celebrate its centennial before long, and Mr. Pang
is to do wonders there. A fac simile of old Fort
Dearborn will be built on purpose for him to burn
down, and he will give a realistic representation of
the “Great Chicago Fire” by covering the roofs of
all the highest and largest buildings in the city
with Roman lights, which are to be lighted all at
once and burn for hours and hours, and make it
appear as though the city were really being burned
up again. No doubt it will be splendid. Did Mr.
Bombs say anything about it in the letter you got
this morning, Adelaide? I was too busy to read
it.”

177
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“He didn’t say he’d seen Pang himself, but the
Pang Co. are making great preparations for the
burning,” said Adelaide, “and I think it’s horrid.
It’s bad enough to have a city half burned up by
accident ; but to pay thousands of dollars to have
it burned up in play is silly and sinful and I’m go-
ing to tell Bombs so when he comes back.”

“Hush, Adelaide,” said Mrs. Schwarmer, au-
thoritatively. “You are too young to express such
strong opinions.”

“My poor uncle lost his all in that terrible fire,
his wife and children even. It broke him down ut-
terly. He has never seen a well day since,” said
Ruth. “To him even the shadow of such an expe-
rience would be dreadful.”

“Indeed! what a pity!” said Mrs. Schwarmer in
the same even tone that left one in doubt as to
where her pity came in, as she went into an adjoin-
ing room to have another consultation with the
Librarian, after which she rustled out to her car-
riage and drove swiftly away.

“IT am going to take you home in my phaeton
when you are ready to go,” said Adelaide; “but
you must see the rare books first.”

“Certainly,” replied Ruth, “and I would like to
do something to help you, and perhaps I can.”

“It would help me to have you here, to see you
and talk with you,” replied Adelaide; “but you
must not climb or reach or handle the heavy books.
It isn’t necessary. I can climb like a cat, and I

178
The Query

know some nice boys who would handle them as
carefully as you or I or mamma. It’s all moon-
shine, what the Librarian says about them. They
will have to be handled by anybody who chooses,
if they are going to be of any use to the town.”

*‘Ralphwould be delighted to help—help climb,”
laughed Ruth, “I know he would. Then how about
the catalogues? I can write fairly well—so my
husband says?”

“Oh I’m so glad, Mrs. Ruth. Pardon, let me
call you Ruth. It’s such a pretty name. I write
a horrid hand. Besides, I want your company.
Mamma is going to be awfully busy up to the
house, and Mr. Bombs is coming back in a few
days. May I drive around for you every morning
at ten o’clock?”

“Yes indeed you may,” replied Ruth. I shall
be delighted to come and be with you and help you
and talk with you, I’m sureI shall. We think alike
about so many things—about monstrous celebra-
tions and dangerous fireworks and the burning up
of money, when so much is needed to make the poor
comfortable, and improve the world. As though
there were not sad accidents enough in the world
without going to work and making accidents. Only
think of the poor people of Martinique! Only just
recovered from the catastrophe of Mont Pelee
when a hurricane comes and sweeps away their
homes again! I wonder the horrible Fire-kings
don’t go over there and try to amuse the people

179
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

with a Mont Pelee eruption! This making sport
out of such terrible happenings seems to be the
rage just now.”

“King Pang has invented a Mont Pelee fire-
cracker,” said Adelaide; “and a huge noise-maker
it is—fifteen feet long and explodes fifty times!
Do you know we visited him when we were in Lon-
don and I didn’t like him at all, though he is aw-
ful rich and entertained us splendidly. He invents
fiery shows and goes all over the world to pile
up money out of them, although he is worth mil-
lions already.”

“Please tell me about him,” exclaimed Ruth
eagerly. “I wonder if he is the one that I heard
so much boasting about in Canada. The one that
wooled the Americans into buying their ‘Indepen-
dence Day annihilators’ of him they said. Those
horrible cannon crackers, and things of that sort
which kill and maim so many every year—danger-
ous things that never ought to be manufactured
or sold in any country under the heavens. He
seems like an arch-fiend to me.”

“He is as proud as Lucifer anyway,” replied
Adelaide. “The whole family are as proud as
they can be. They have a coat of arms and every-
thing as magnificent as the royal family.”

“A Coat of Arms! What has he done to deserve
a Coat of Arms?” asked Ruth.

“OQ! horrible things !—or his grandfathers have.
One of them invented a war explosive for the

180
The Query

British navy and another gave them a lot of pow-
der to carry on the awful Crimean war! The
Government made a Knight of him to pay him for
his powder; and they are dreadfully proud of it.
They’ve got it all written down on their Coat,”
laughed Adelaide.

“They had better write down the number of
human beings their fiendish inventions and gifts
have killed,” said Ruth indignantly.”

“O how glad I am to hear you say that. I told
Mr. Bombs so in those very words,” exclaimed
Adelaide with her eyes brim full of honest glow.
And mamma said I was too young to have an opin-
ion about such matters,” she added in a grieved
tone.

“I am only nineteen,” remarked Ruth, “but I
have had an experience, and that amounts to more
than years, sometimes.”

“Do you know Mr. Bombs is only twenty-one.
It seems so strange that he should take it into
his head to be a Pyrotechnist. But his mother
died when he was young and I suspect his father
was too busy making his millions to think about
his training. He told me once that his nurse used
to take him to the beach every evening almost, to
see the fireworks. So you see he had them burned
into him almost.”

“Probably the nurse had a fondness for that
sort of barbarism,” replied Ruth. “O how wrong
it is for parents to be so careless of their children!

181
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

To trust them as they do, to the ignorant, the fool-
ish and the wicked—they know not whom—often
to anybody who is willing to wear a nurse’s cap
and apron.”

“I’m sure that’s the way it was with Mr. Bombs.
His head is full of fireworks. He went over to
London on purpose to see King Pang and get hold
of the secrets of the trade; but I think he found
him rather foxy,” laughed Adelaide.

“Of course,” said Ruth. The English Pyro-
king does not relish having a rival in the American
market.”

182
CHAPTER XVIII.

MR. BOMBS’ DISGUST WITH CHICAGO AND THE PYRO-
KING’s PLANS.

R. BOMBS came on from Chicago the
evening after the first meeting of Ruth
and Adelaide in the Library, greatly to
the surprise of the Schwarmers, espe-

cially to Adelaide; but when she questioned him
about it, he turned away without giving a reason-
able excuse and went in search of her father.

“What! torn yourself away from Chicago so
soon,” exclaimed Schwarmer—“the mighty cen-
tral city—the huge centre of finance, rush and
pluck!”

“Faugh!” replied Bombs, turning green. “The
huge centre of soot, dirt and smoke! The mighty
central inferno, with the Pang emissaries plotting
to reburn it, and measuring it to see how much
more smoke and flame it will contain.”

“Hold on, Fons,” laughed Schwarmer, “you are
young yet and you are not in it. With the Ameri-
can millionaire in it and the foreign millionaire

183
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

out of it, Chicago might have its attractions, even
for you—that is, in a business way, most assured-
ly it might. You might have to wade through mud
or dust ankle deep to get at the heart of Finance—
that mighty man-made canon in La Salle St.; but
hark, Fons, let me tell you that when you are real-
ly and truly up and dressed for business, that can-
on will seem almost as glorious to you as the very
finest of the God-made ones. Most assuredly it
will. It’s the brainy business man’s paradise.
Enough of the ‘filthy lucre’ is handled there every
day to run a kingdom.”

“More’s the pity,” retorted Bombs. “Why can’t
they use a little of the stuff to abate the smoke and
mud nuisance and fill up the ‘bad lands’ that girdle
it like a slimy serpent?”

“Because the very size of the business stands in
the way, Fons. From every street corner you no-
ticed about a dozen chimneys spouting clouds
of black smoke. At least I did when I was there; but
I knew it meant business and a great deal of it,
and that it would not be interfered with. Rest
assured it wouldn’t. Then there are the Stock
Yards. They are not beautiful but they are migh-
ty. A thousand acres of slaughter-pens mean meat
for the hungry millions. They are mighty inter-
esting looked at in that way, most assuredly they
are.”

“J didn’t give the whole thing but one look,”
sniffed Bombs.

184
Mr. Bombs’ Disgust with Chicago

“No, of course you didn’t,” laughed Schwarmer.
“You were on the wrong scent, no doubt. After
the beautiful, so to speak. Well, I reckon nobody
ever accused Chicago of being beautiful, really
and truly beautiful; but even the leopard has its
spots, and there are some spots around and about
the sides and tail end of the city that are just beau-
tiful enough.”

“Yes, it ts beautiful along the margin of the
lake, where the city is not—or the great bulk of
it—but they are making huge preparations to
spoil that. When its Centennial comes they will
turn its liquid beauty into a bed of hissing, fiery
serpents a mile long!”

“Yes, and Pang’s bill is to be a mile long, rest
assured it is,” laughed Schwarmer. ‘“He’s sharp
enough for them. He isn’t there for fun or in
search of the beautiful. He’s there for business
and he’s got it, Johnny Bull fashion, by the horns
—on the lake front and on the house-tops, most
assuredly he has. No, Fons, business isn’t a beauty
of itself, you know, or will know when you get into
the whirl of it; and Chicago is the wildest kind of
a whirlpool for business.”

“But I’m not there by a long shot,” said’ Bombs,
with a sigh of relief, “and Pang is not there, at
least I couldn’t find him.”

“But you’ve found us and we are glad to see
you, most assuredly we are; and really there isn’t
much time to spare if you are going to get your

185
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

new piece in tip-top order. It won’t do to have
any failure this time, most assuredly it won’t.”

“T can’t do much until the Pyro-men come; but
I’m glad to be here again and out of that infernal
business hole,” said Bombs, frankly. “I found
Pang’s pyro-men so immersed, so perfectly pickled
in the big scheme of bombarding Fort Dearborn,
reburning the city and burning Mr. Flamingdon
(or whatever his name is) that I couldn’t find out
about the new colors—the scientific things of the
trade. It’s all trade and no science with them now.
They intend to cover everything in their line. They
are scheming to get hold of ‘The Chicago Amuse-
ment Association,’ I suspect.”

“What's that, Fons?”

“Can’t describe it full length,” laughed Bombs,
“but one section of it is directing attention to the
small boys’ amusement on the Fourth of July.
Conducted by himself they have discovered that it
is not only dangerous but altogether insane, so
they are seriously at work trying to construct a
sane Fourth, which is to wind up with fireworks of
such a splendid order as to indemnify the small
boy for not being allowed to have a hand in letting
them off. Of course this is where Pang will plot
to come in with a ten or twenty thousand dollar
piece.”

“Truly, this Fourth of July reform business is
growing to be pretty wide, to reach as far as Chi-
cago. They’ve got a new name tacked onto it

186
Mr. Bombs’ Disgust with Chicago

though. ‘Sane Fourth? Pretty good. You know
I told you the other day you hadn’t better go into
Fourth of July trimmings too deep—most assur-
edly I did, Fons.”

“T don’t intend to, Mr. Schwarmer. Historical
Pieces are my ambition; but that reminds me, I
want to ask you something.”

“Out with it, my lad, you can’t ask me anything
I wouldn’t be happy to answer, most assuredly you
can’t.”

“Jt’s about Adelaide,” said Bombs, in an assured
tone. “ I know you and father have talked of unit-
ing your families. Of course she is young yet and
I am not very aged; but I am old enough to enter-
tain the idea; and what I want to ask of you is
permission to talk to her about it. My father has
written me that I am to go abroad for an extended
trip—that is, after I have got through here and
witnessed the reburning of Chicago. When I re-
turn I shall be quite a mature man and she will be
a charming young lady, no doubt. You see what
would be likely to happen; but I do not feel like
going away without sounding the depths—getting
a sort of a free-holder’s lease—lest another fellow
should come along and secure the prize. I think
it well to look out for such matters ahead of time.”

“All right, Fons. I would like nothing better
than to unite our families—consolidate them, so to
speak. I believe in consolidations of that kind, I
assure you I do, with my whole heart; but you'll

187
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

have to do your own proposing. I’m a true Yankee
on that head. I should never get Anglicised on
that point if I should sail over to England every
month. I assure you I shouldn’t. You will have
to do the straight thing. You needn’t try to win
her in a round-about way through me or her mam-
ma. She’s always had her head pretty much, and
perhaps that’s what makes her rather heady. She
is honest, though, and has very strong notions of
the right and the wrong of things. She often
takes me to task for not squaring my business con-
cerns by the ‘Golden Rule.’ Probably she would
do the same with her husband. Eh! Fons?”

“T understand,” replied Fons. ‘“She’s at the
formative period now. She will have left off a
great many of her notions in two or four years’
time. Besides, I am not afraid of them even as they
are.”

“Proceed then, young man. Push ahead with the
sounding. You have my hearty permission, most
assuredly you have. You seem like an only son al-
ready; and you have my best wishes for your suc-
cess with the plummet-line, so to speak. No use of
wasting any great amount of lead on it, though,
most, assuredly not. You will be able to ascertain
the exact degree of perpendicularity in Addie’s
case without an enormous waste of time or money.
She is straight up and down as a rule, most decid-
edly so. There’s nothing crooked about her or
slantendicular, as there often is about the opposite

188
Mr. Bombs’ Disgust with Chicago

sex—rest assured there is not. Unlike the vast
majority of fathers I have kept up an intimate
acquaintance with my daughter ever since she was
born, and I can give you my hand or oath on that
point, most assuredly I can. I’ve nothing more to
say except that I shall keep an eye on the other
fellows while you are away, and that she’s heart
free to date. She’s only a grown up child, so to
speak—all ready to bloom but not fully bloomed
out, rest assured she is not.

With such characteristic assurance, Mr. Bombs
left his prospective father-in-law to seek Adelaide.
He was anxious to make his first experiment with
the plummet-line as Mr. Schwarmer had not alto-
gether inaptly called it. It pleased him to fancy
that he had already scored a success in the matri-
monial line, but whether it was Mr. Schwarmer’s
hearty permission to talk freely to his daughter,
or the plummet-line illustration that tickled his
fancy the most, he could hardly have told. He may
have been pleased to think that his own expression
as to “sounding the depths,” had been its inspira-
tion, for he was at the age when he was beginning
to use idiomatic language and large-sized words
and would be apt to note their effectiveness. As
to Schwarmer, he may have had a youthful ex-
perience with plummet-lines even though it may
have gone no farther than the sounding of a goose-
pond.

When he found her she was coming up the hill

189
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

from Mrs. Langley’s. She appeared on its summit
at the moment when the sun was plunging down
behind it like a ball of fire. It was rather a remark-
able coincidence and it struck him as such, that
when she got to the place where Mrs. Langley had
first appeared on the night of her accident, she
stopped, threw her head upward and clasped her
hands around her body just as the poor scared wo-
man had done. He understood the pantomime per-
fectly and it pleased him, although it recalled one
of his most signal failures—that is from a profes-
sional point of view. From the artistic point it
had been considered quite a success—“quite ma-
donna like,” Miss Drawling had said, and although
he would not have given a “fip” for her opinion on
any other subject, he thought she had said one
very good thing. His regret for the accident had
never been heart deep. He inclined to the brute
belief that accidents as a rule added to the human
interest in life—at least the kind of accidents that
call forth the tenderest kind of sympathy.

“You have been posing,” he said as he went for-
ward to meet her. “Really you did it well. You see
I was watching for you—to tell you something.”

“T have been down to see poor Mary. She hasn’t
got well of her fright yet. What a dreadful thing
it was!”

“Yes, but you blamed me for it at the time,
roundly. I hope you are not going to blame me
over again,” said Bombs lightly.

190
Mr. Bombs’ Disgust with Chicago

“There’s no use. The blame will last.”

“You will forgive me before I go away.”

“How do you know, Mr. Bombs?”

“QO Pythagoras in Petticoats! You are here
again! Iam undone!” laughed Bombs.

“Don’t call me that or I shall run away before
you tell me your something.”

“That would be a dense calamity.”

‘Why dense, Mr. Bombs?”

“Because I could never get through the tangle
if you were not here to ask leading questions, Miss
Adelaide.”

“T am here and I am listening. But if you don’t
begin to tell me at. once I am going.”

“Here it is, then, without exasperating prelude.
I am going away immediately after the Fourth to
be gone from one to four years—four probably.
Only think of that immense stretch of time! Are
you glad or sad to hear the astounding revela-
tion?”

“Before I answer I want to ask where you are
going and exactly why?”

“To Germany, Austria and China. To schools
of Pyrotechny everywhere—to study up the art
and find out the secrets of the craft.”

“In order to beat King Pang at his trade and
become an American Pyrotechnic King?”

“Undoubtedly! my father is worth his million,
he would not let me take a back seat in any profes-
sion.”

191
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“T am sorry then, Mr. Bombs.”

“For whom or what, Miss Adelaide.”

“For you, and that you are going on such a
quest.”

“Are you not the least bit sorry on your own ac-
count. Will you not be a trifle lonesome without
me to blame, Miss Adelaide?”

“Perhaps, Mr. Bombs, in a way.”

“In what way, Miss Adelaide?”

“Just as your sister or mother would be, I
fancy.” ;

“Sisterly! Motherly!’ laughed Bombs. ‘“That’s
infinitely, correct, just now, but in two or four
years from now wifely will be the proper word,
and you will feel very different.”

“I’m sure four years or a thousand will not make
any difference in my feelings about—”

“About what or who?” insisted Bombs.

“About you,” she added promptly.

He was looking at her with a brazen sort of fix-
edness that would have made almost. any mature
woman blush. He wanted to make her blush and
he expected she would, but he was disappointed.
She looked straight at him and was as placid as the
traditional moonbeam.

192
CHAPTER XIX.

SCHWARMER DOES A LITTLE HUSTLING ON ADE-
LAIDE’S ACCOUNT—-A FOURTH OF JULY BUGLE.

HREE skilled Pyrotechnics came down
from the city a week before the Fourth
to set up Mr. Bombs’ Pyro-spectacle,
The Siege of Yorktown. Mr. Bombs

himself was very busy superintending the work,
which was conducted with all possible secrecy. He
did not absolutely refuse to answer Adelaide’s
questions; but he called her Pythagoras in Petti-
coats quite frequently and she knew that whenever
the epithet came in, it was to stand in the place
of an explanation; but she soon found out enough
about it to know she wasn’t going to like it, and she
told him so frankly. She could not do otherwise.
The frankness that her father claimed to have she
possessed in a full degree. Moreover, she had a
desire for correct knowledge which he did not pos-
sess.

She re-read the Siege of Yorktown and the life
of Washington during those days and she could
talk intelligently about both.

193
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“It’s sad enough to think, Mr. Bombs, that
Yorktown was besieged and so many lives lost. and
so much property destroyed, wee having it
done over and over and over again.”

“I’m afraid you don’t love your country and the
Father of it as well as you should, Miss Adelaide.”

“Yes, I do, Mr. Bombs. I love my country and
I love Washington and I wonder what he would
say, were he to come back after all these years, and
see us besieging an imaginary Yorktown, and
burning up money which he and his men had al-
most perished for the want of. You haven’t rep-
resented the misery and poverty of it, Mr. Bombs.”

“No, Miss Adelaide, nor the money chests of
Rochambeau and Laurens,” laughed Bombs.

“You represent only what you consider the
glory of it, Mr. Bombs. Washington would never
admit that there was any glory in war. He said
it was ‘a plague that should be banished from the
earth.’ What would he say if he should take a look
at the earth as it is now and see the millions and
millions spent to glorify war, be-star it and write
it on God’s sky in lines of fire! And, worse still,
see thousands of innocent youths sacrificed yearly,
not to the patriotic sentiment, but to the patriotic
fury. There was little Laurens Cornwallis’ terri-
ble accident! Have you any idea how it could have
happened, Mr. Bombs?”

“Yes, I have an idea, Miss Adelaide—at least
an idea of how it might have occurred, but ideas

194
A Fourth of July Bugle

are not worth much without proofs. They are apt
to be rather prejudicial, especially with young
ladies of your age. Perhaps I will tell you my
idea sometime.”

“Before you go away, Mr. Bombs?”

“No, surely not. You will not be much older
then,” laughed Bombs. “When I come back from
Europe you will be quite a young lady. The ex-
plosion of an idea or of fireworks will not be apt
to shock you then.”

“J shall always be shocked when I think of that
beautiful boy’s death, Mr. Bombs. It’s a dread-
ful mystery !”

“Was his name Laurens or Lawrence.” asked
Bombs, laconically.

“Laurens. It was his mother’s maiden name.
Her ancestors were French.”

“Laurens Cornwallis! Indeed! Two celebrat-
ed names. English and French conjoined. Do
they claim to be descendants of the French finan-
cier and of the English fighter?” asked Bombs.

“T have never heard so. Wouldn’t it be lovely
though? Foe meeting foe in true love and friend-
liness through their children. Mr. and Mrs. Corn-
wallis are a very devoted couple.”

“My point of view was simply consolatory.
Providence permitting, it might not be well to have
too many Cornwallis’s on American soil,” said
Bombs.

“We have room enough and to spare. I read

195
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

a letter yesterday from Washington to Lafayette.
He said it’s a strange thing that there should not
be room enough in the world for men to live with-
out cutting each other’s throats.”

“But he laid siege to Yorktown all the same,
Miss Adelaide.”

“Yes, but after it was all over and he had grown
older and wiser, he saw how horrible it was. I al-
most know he did.”

“I am only twenty-one and the siege is booked,”
laughed Bombs. “I wonder if Mrs. Ruth Corn-
wallis will come to witness it? I should think she
would be interested, especially if one of her grand-
fathers paid French money for it and the other
had to surrender.”

“J think she will not, but I’m going to ask her
today,” replied Adelaide, as she started off for the
Library.

When she returned she told Bombs that Ruth
was supposedly allied to the Laurens and Corn-
wallis of Revolutionary fame and that her hus-
band, Ralph Oswald Norwood, could trace his an-
cestry back to the British merchant who told King
George that “nothing would satisfy the Americans
short of permission to fish to an unlimited extent
on the banks of New Foundland.”

“Then I shall have to give them seats in the
front row, I suppose,” laughed Bombs.

“No, they are not coming, Mr. Bombs. Ruth at-
tended the Queen’s birthday celebration once when

196
A Fourth of July Bugle

she was in Canada. It wound up with one of the
great London Pyro-king’s shows. She did not like
it at all and was afterwards shocked to learn that
Americahad paid millions of dollars for such shows
during the twenty-five years of his occupancy of
her market and that they were advertisements for
' his Fourth of July Fireworks, which are a curse to
the land.”

Mr. Bombs received the information with an air |
of unconcern and Adelaide went to her father’s
office. She had a piece of information for him
also, and something more.

“O father, Ruth can’t come to our dedication
if you are going to have a military company with
guns and swords and a Fourth of July racket, band
in the procession. Such things make her sick.”

‘What nonsense, Adelaide! I guess she can
stand it since the small boy is not permitted to
have a hand in it.”

“No she can’t, father. It isn’t nonsense. How
would you feel if I should be brought to you to-
morrow all torn to pieces as her little brother
was?”

“O, my dear child! don’t mention it!”

“But I must mention it and I want you to look
straight into my eyes and answer me truly! Sup-
pose I should be brought home to you this Fourth
with my eyes both blown out and mamma’s jewels
lodged in the sockets, do you think you could ever
bear the sight or sound of horrid explosive things

197
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

after that—bear them without a shudder—even if
they were in the hands of grown-up people?”

“Such a thing never could happen, Addie.”

“It did happen to Ruth’s little brother. The
jewels were his mother’s wedding sapphires.”

“Q Addie! Addie!’

“Answer me truly, father.”

“No, dear child, I never could.”

“Ruth can’t either. She has more reason than
you could have. She’s like poor Mary, the gar-
dener’s wife. Her husband and parents know it
wouldn’t be safe for her to come if there’s going
to be guns or things of that sort. She wants to
come so much that Ralph was going to speak to
you and see if they couldn’t be left out; but I told
him I was the one to speak, because the Library
was going to be named for me.”

“Well, there is something in that, Adelaide,
most assuredly there is ; but, it’s rather short notice.
The military company were coming on the morning
train.”

“Telegraph. You’d do it if stocks were in
jeopardy—you know you would—you are such a
hustler.”

“Of course, of course!” Here it goes then. I
can’t ruin my reputation as a hustler,” said
Schwarmer, stepping to the ’phone and calling up
the regiment. ‘Don’t come to the dedication of
The Adelaide Library.”

“Now, there’s one hustle for you, what next?”

198
A Fourth of July Bugle

laughed Schwarmer. Adelaide laughed too and
clapped her hands.

“QO! isn’t it jolly, father! The soldiers can stay
at home for once and dear, sweet, little Mrs. Ruth
can come.”

‘What next, Addie? I’ve got on my hustling
cap. Call off.”

“The Independence Day racket band and the
rockets must be left out of the procession, father.”

“O! now! that strikes nearer home, Addie! But
I can doit. I can hustle things near by, most as-
suredly I can, if I once set out with my hustling
suit all on. Bombs will have to confine his fire to
Yorktown if I say so, won’t he?”

“Yes, and you’ll say so, won’t you, father?”

“Yes, Addie, Pll say so if you really want me to;
but aren’t you afraid it will hurt Bombs’ feelings
to have his precious rockets left, out in the dark,
so to speak. He has invented a new kind on pur-
pose for daylight show—very rich and dark and
velvety, exceedingly so, and he has named it the
‘Airy Navy Rocket.’ I suppose he intends it for a
hit at, Lord Tennyson’s ‘airy navies grappling in
the central blue,’ and no doubt but they’d get hurt
if they should ever materialize sufficiently to get
hit with Bombs’ rockets,” laughed Schwarmer,
looking at Adelaide, keenly. He was wondering
how she stood affected toward the young man.

“Airy Navy Rocket!” exclaimed Adelaide. “I
won’t have it. I don’t care if his feelings are hurt.

199
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

You know how his horrid rocket hurt poor Mary.
It killed her baby, hurt her feelings and made her
sick. She and her children are going over to
Ruth’s to stay the night of the Fourth. She is
afraid to stay with us. O dear! dear! I think it’s
dreadful to have our own people feel that way to-
ward us. I can’t endure it. I thought the Com-
mon Council had passed a law against sending off
dangerous rockets.”

“They have, but it didn’t include Bombs’ brand-
fired new navy rocket; and even if it had a few lit-
tle fines wouldn’t cramp him much,” laughed
Schwarmer.

“But I include it. I say he has no business to
putthose hissing horrors into the Adelaide Library
procession. I won’t have the Library named Ade-
laide if he does.”

“Good for Adelaide,’ laughed Schwarmer.
“That ends it. I promise. What next? There is
something more. I see it in your eye.”

“Yes. There is one thing more. Promise not
to have the cannon let off. Ruth doesn’t like to
hear it and it makes her mother cry, because little
Laurens shivered when he heard it the morning be-
fore he was killed, and asked her why you didn’t
have a bugle?”

Schwarmer turned quickly to the *phone and
called up a music-dealer: “Please send me at once
the best bugle and bugler that there is in the mar-
ket.”

200
A Fourth of July Bugle

“That’s all, dear blessed father. I’m so happy!
What a truly glorious time we are going to have,”
cried Adelaide, as she danced out of the office and
hastened away to the Library to tell Ruth the good
news. She did not tell her about the bugle; but it
came in time to speak for itself.

It’s sweet notes penetrated the Cornwallis cot-
tage as the Fourth of July dawned. Mr. and Mrs.
Cornwallis were asleep when the first note came.
When the second note came Mrs. Cornwallis awoke
and wondered if she were still on earth. She had
dreamed of being in Heaven with Laurens and lis-
tening to a bugle call. It seemed so real to her
that she shook her husband’s arm.

“The bugle! The bugle! Did you hear it? Are
we in Heaven?”

“Not quite, Angeline, but I think we are happier
than we have been in years and I do hear a bugle.
It’s time for the cannon. Do you suppose anybody
could have put it into Schwarmer’s head to have a
bugle instead of a cannon?”

Ruth and Ralph were awake when the first note
sounded. She was gathering up her nerves for
the booming of the cannon and Ralph was saying:
“I believe Miss Schwarmer would influence her
father to do away with that monster if she
knew how it hurt you and especially. your
mother.”

“She does know it, Ralph, and I believe she has
done it,” exclaimed Ruth, springing up and lis-

201
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

tening intently. “Yes, Ralph, don’t you hear it?
It’s a bugle! Really a bugle!”

Another note sweeter and louder greeted them.

“Yes, it is a bugle and a very fine one. What a
blessed creature Adelaide Schwarmer is!’ said
Ralph.

Ruth could not speak. Her heart was so full of
gladness, but she indulged in what Ralph called

“a happy cry.”

202
CHAPTER XX.

THE DEDICATION OF THE LIBRARY.

® HE dedication of the library proved to
be a very enjoyable affair although the
military “fuss and feather,” the Indepen-

dence Day racket and the ostentatious
hoisting of flags were left out. It was more like a
church dedication, minus the mounted marshals
and uniformed cadets which are among the latter
day improvements or experiments. The Schwar-
mers stood out more conspicuously than they would
otherwise have done; but they were no more so than
the Killsbury people felt that they had a right to
be. Mrs. Schwarmer was in regal robes with which
the ladies were much pleased. Mrs. Martin nodded
to Mrs. Arundel and said:

“She has honored us at last by putting on her
best apparel.”

Adelaide was dressed in a lovely white mull. No-
body had noticed until then how very pretty she
had grown. Mr. Schwarmer insisted on wearing
his plain business suit as it was eminently proper

203
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

he should since he had to do the main business
part—that is, hand over the deeds to the Town.
That being done he made a short characteristic
speech, in which he said:

“This building is not a monument to myself,
most assuredly it is not; but it would have been if
the architect had carried his point. He planned to
have a giraffe style of tower, which was to rise
about sixty feet above the roof and be furnished
with a bell that would weigh 3,000 pounds and peal
out every hour of the day and night. But as it
was going to be a gift to the people and named
after my daughter I thought they ought to have
something to say about it, and they did; most as-
suredly they did (cheers and laughter). You see,
my dear friends and fellow citizens, I have dis-
carded the old barbarous saying—‘Never look a
gift-horse in the mouth.’ Hereafter my maxim
will be: Look a gift horse in the mouth very care-
fully and pay particular attention to his grinders.
(Laughter and applause.) But, as I was saying,
the architect’s plan was handed over to the Golden
Rule President and referred to the people—all
the people,’ my daughter included, and they de-
cided that the giraffe tower and thunderous bell
would be a superfluity if not a nuisance, most as-
suredly they did. They decided that they did not
want to be kept awake nights by the clanging and
the whanging of a brazen bell. Also that they had
never had any trouble finding out the time of day.”

204
The Dedication of the Library

Schwarmer sat down amidst cries of “Good,
good!’ “Schwarmer’s a wit.” ‘“What’s the mat-
ter with Schwarmer? He’s a wit. He’s a wit.”

Mrs. Schwarmer was to do the naming of the
library as Adelaide was under age; and so it was
highly proper and natural that Adelaide should
stand between her father and mother during the
process; and she did stand between them with her
slender hands resting on an arm of each and look-
ing as one of the Killsburyians remarked, “for
all the world as though she were going to fly.”

She really did feel happy enough to fly when she
saw the radiant faces of Ruth and Ralph and of
Mrs. and Mr. Cornwallis, who had come on from
Chicago on purpose to attend the dedication.

Yes, the people of Killsbury really did enjoy this
peaceful, home-like affair. Although they may
not have been fully aware of it, they really en-
joyed it much more than they possibly could, if
there had been a whole regiment of strange sol-
diers to take all the best seats and leave them to
hang on the outside and peer in at the doors and
windows. They enjoyed the speeches, for all the
speech-makers in town were there, the Golden Rule
President and Father Ferrill inclusive. They
would not have heard a word of them if they had
been pushed to the background, with an Indepen-
dence day racket in the rear. Besides it was so
much more in harmony with books and the spirits
that made them or would wish to commune with

205
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

them, than the ordinary civic fuss and noise would
have been.

Mr. Bombs did not attend. Indeed why should
he? He had no interest in it after his new rockets
were left out and he was almost as much a stran-
ger in the community as the soldier would have
been. Besides he was going to rehearse his piece.

Adelaide appreciated the former reason and
Mr. Schwarmer the latter.

“That's. right, Fons,” said Mr. Schwarmer,
“yeu must have your siege all fixed so nobody
will get hurt, most assuredly you must. You’d
better leave out some of the most striking things
than to have anybody struck blind. I don’t know
of anybody on this side of the drink that would be
willing to be made black and blue all over or have
his hair burned off by the falling of a burning
tower, as old Crags did at a Pyro-show in Lon-
don.”

“You forget that even his willingness didn’t
hold out,” laughed Bombs. “He clothed himself
with asbestos for the last night.”

“Don’t know as I blame him much and I’m sure
Addie wouldn’t blame him at all, most assuredly I
am,” nodded Schwarmer significantly.

Adelaide and her mother came out a moment
later dressed for the library. Bombs looked at
Adelaide as though he had never seen her before,
made his lowest bow and went to his rehearsal. It
was well he did for one of the Pyro-men was on the

206
The Dedication of the Library

point of charging a motor that would have laid
Yorktown in ashes before the siege began.

“As it was, however, the siege came off at the ap-
pointed time and was witnessed by a large major-
ity of the people of Killsbury besides the Schwar-
mer guests that came up on the evening train.

The best that can be said of the siege is that it
passedoff very smoothly and without incident. His-
torically considered it was just about as valuable
as the famous pyro-show of the burning of Rome,
where Nero goes down beneath a falling pillar of
fire. The siege of Yorktown ended with the go-
ing down of Lord Cornwallis and his 8,000 sol-
diers into the pyrotechnic gulf especially pre-
pared for them.

The audience applauded and Adelaide was feel-
ing relieved to think that all was over when a
vociferous encore set in and Mr. Bombs came on
the stage. He looked amazingly brilliant. He
had all his jewels on surely, and more too, she
thought. There seemed to be a nest of them in the
curl of jet black hair on his forehead. Was he
going to do that tiresome siege over again? No,
he would make a bow and a speech, and that would
end it certainly.

He began: “The London Pyro-king who boasts
of his prowess in this country, has invented a piece
which he calls ‘Eagle Screams’. Turn about is
fair play. I have invented a piece which I have
named ‘Johnny Bull’s Bellows.’ You will now have

207
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

the pleasure or grief of looking Johnny full in
the face and listening to his bellowings.”

He bowed again more politely and gracefully
than before—as graceful as a—serpent, she fin-
ally put it and “polite enough to shake hands with
a crab,” as the Indians say. She had never seen
him look so splendid—so—startling ; but she liked
him less than ever.

The bull’s head that was formed while Adelaide
was forming her opinions was shaped like a veri-
table bull’s head and outlined with stars of small
magnitude. From its mouth and nostrils issued
great streams of different colored fires. The bel-
lowings were effectively but mysteriously pro-
duced.

“T can’t see faw the life of me, Mr. Bombs, just
how you could have compassed all that,” Miss
Drawling was saying, when something in the na-
ture of a revelation cut short her sentence. The
bellowings suddenly ceased and loud oaths and
grumblings and groanings took their place. Mr.
Bombs rushed behind the scenes and saw the man
whom he had engaged to do the bellowing, lying
in a collapsed condition on the floor of the stage
with a whiskey bottle in his hand.

“Confound you!” exclaimed Bombs, “what does
all this mean?”

“Tt means that the lungs av me have been giv-
ing out with the dress rehearsal and the play on
top av it and I am sthriving to reinforce them.”

208
The Dedication of the Library

‘Allow me to say that your efforts are not suc-
cessful. You can be excused until further notice,
and you,” he added turning to the chief Pyro,
“will oblige me by winding up the spectacle with-
out any more swearing.”

The spectacle of Johnny Bull’s Bellows was
wound up according to order and Mr. Bombs ap-
peared on the stage and gave a humorous account
of the complication behind the scenes which had
cut off the spectacle rather prematurely, and add-
ed that it was not quite so bad as the thing that
had happened to Mr. Pang on his first presenta-
tion of the burning of Rome. He related the in-
cident and the guests were greatly amused—al-
most as much, perhaps, as they would have been
if “Johnny Bull’s Bellowings” had been carried
out to the full extent.

And so, Mr. Bombs fancied he had not failed
after all. If he had done nothing more he had
proved himself to have the proper personality for
the making of a successful Pyro-King. He could
fascinate and mystify the public. ‘You see,” he
said to Adelaide the next morning, “I might bet-
ter have such accidents and experiences now than
when I get about my larger piece—‘The Battle
of the Wilderness.’ ”

“The Battle of the Wilderness!” exclaimed Ade-
laide. “Is it possible you are going to try mak-
ing an amusement out of that dreadful battle?”

“Yes, it’s a possibility,” laughed Bombs, “and

209
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

I know of another possibility, that will match it
beautifully.”

“What is it, Mr. Bombs?”

“That Miss Adelaide Schwarmer will not be so
scrupulous about such matters when I return from
Europe as she is now.”

“Why do you think so, Mr. Bombs? Have you
changed that way since you were my age?”

“No, Miss Adelaide, but I was a boy and you
are a girl.”

“What difference could that make, Mr. Bombs.”

“A mighty sight of difference, Miss Adelaide.
You were not educated or expected to have any-
thing to do with business concerns. I was and
with the very biggest kind, and they all mean war,
more or less.”

“O dear, how dreadful! I can’t understand it
at all, Mr. Bombs.”

“Of course you can’t, Miss Adelaide. No truly
good woman can. Business, especially of the
vasty kind is a devil incarnate in her pure eyes.”

“And it seems to me that your kind of business
is the worst of all, Mr. Bombs, and that there’s no
need of it in this world.”

“Can’t you think of something more consoling?
This is your last chance. I am going to the city
tomorrow to see King Pang beat himself in his
twenty-fifth saturnalia of fire. Then to Chicago
to see him help the Chicagoians beat the St. Louis
dedication and re-burn the city. After that I will

210
The Dedication of the Library

start out on what you have called my ‘worst of all
business.’ ”

Adelaide thought of Laurens Cornwallis’ tragic
death, of Mary Langley’s fright and the poor
man with the exhausted lungs; but she did not
speak until the silence had become unbearable to
Mr. Bombs and he asked:

“What is it, Miss Adelaide? Why don’t you
speak out?”

“Hush! Mr. Bombs. I am listening! I thought
I heard a voice. Your mother’s or mine.”

They were discouraging words for the last—
almost cruel he thought for him who had known
nothing of mother love and very little of parental
care. They made him feel like a savage almost.
He went to Miss Drawling for an offset. He knew
he could get enough encouragement there and he
did find more than enough. Not but what he liked
her flattery but the personality behind it. Faugh!
It was simply disgusting. Any woman who could
think and talk as she did, was worse than a man.
She was a brute. Would it be ever thus, was one
of the questions he asked himself. Was one truly
loveable creature going to say things to him that
would not be endurable in themselves and was
another going to say opposite things which would
make herself a creature to be abhorred. With the
unreasonableness of the youthful man he hoped
to find a mean between the two—that is a woman
who would love himself most deeply and devotedly

211
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

even while she was finding fault with and condon-
ing his business enterprise. He did not realize
it but it was as much as to say that he knew he
was launching out in an unrighteous course; but
that he was determined not to turn from it for the
love of any creature whatever. ‘Adelaide under-
stood his attitude toward herself and she did not
care a rush for it; but there was something about
his attitude to others which she did not fully un-
derstand. It was struggling to light and it filled
her soul with dread.

212
CHAPTER XXI.

ADELAIDE STAYS AT HOME WITH HER FATHER.

R. BOMBS did not go to Chicago alone
(D nor as soon as he intended. He planned
to go at the first breaking out of the
Centennial, which was to be on the day
when Chicago was exactly one hundred years old.
The city was expected to be in an unusual state of
ferment from the beginning; and many things
were going to be done to herald the coming glory
of the Jubilee week, among the most important of
which was to be the much advertised re-burning of
the city.

“King Pang is trying to keep his fires to the
front; but his ‘ads’ will cost him something,”
laughed Bombs scornfully; “for there are others
and others and they are going to make a big show
of everything, from a razor-back porker to a
Golden Rule Mayor. It will be tedious.”

“Everything ‘from a jackass to a lyre,’ as the
Romans say,” remarked Miss Drawling.

“Yes, and you might spell it l-i-a-r,” sneered
Bombs. “I don’t believe Pang will be there.”

213
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“Then why do you go so soon?” asked Mrs.
Schwarmer. “You will die of te-di-wm—not te-
deum. There! Mr. Bombs you have spoiled me. I
never made a pun before in my life. I had rather
make a pie than a pun.”

They all laughed and Bombs said he “must obey
his royal father’s mandate, and find out all he
could about Pang’s trade, with or without King
Pang’s aid.”

“Perhaps if you will wait a little we will go with
you and try to divide the tedium into shares,” sug-
gested Mrs. Schwarmer, whereupon there occurred
a large amount of social banter which finally end-
ed in a declaration from the ladies that if he would
wait they would surely accompany him; and a
declaration from him that if they would surely ac-
company him, he would surely wait.

“And you, Miss Adelaide, and Mr. Schwarmer
—you will go and take shares with us, will you
not?” asked Bombs.

“Say no, father. We don’t want any stock in
the Chicago Jubilee. Let’s stay here together,”
said Adelaide.

“Of course we will stay and keep house, Addie—
that is, eat up our dividends, so to speak.”

“Good! Good!” laughed Adelaide.

“Indeed, Miss Adelaide! Won’t you feel rather
lonely to have us all flit away?”

“No, Mr. Bombs. I can go to see Ruth every
day and the faithful Dombey will be my escort. I

214

x
Adelaide Stays at Home with Her Father

like it here. It’s so beautiful, still and sweet. I
would not go to Chicago and be in all that smoke,
dust, fire, dynamite and stuff for anything. O
how happy we are going to be here, aren’t we
father?”

“Yes, Addie, quite comfortable, I reckon. Of
course we shall miss them, most assuredly we shall ;
but we'll try and not grow thin over it,” laughed
Schwarmer.

The next day after their departure Adelaide
went to see Ruth and took her mother’s journal as
she had promised.

“You see how dearly I prize it,” she said, taking
off the rose-scented covering. “I have had it re-
bound and adorned with her own portrait and
those of other Friends so far as I can find them—
every one she mentioned in the Journal—William
Penn, Elizabeth Fry, Lucretia Mott and many
others.”

She handed it to Ruth to look at the portraits.
It was bound in soft gray plush and had bands
and clasps of solid silver.

“O how delicate and shining!’ exclaimed Ruth
taking it tenderly from her hand—like her quiet,
cheerful spirit I fancy.”

“Yes, that’s the way I tried to have it seem,”
replied Adelaide brushing away a tear; “but I
didn’t know as you would understand it. Her
dresses are all of this dove-like tint. Sometimes
when I am alone I put them on.”

215
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“Did she wear the Friends’ cap and bonnet?”
asked Ruth.

“No, she did not think them essential; but she
drew the line at adornments for the production of
which human life is imperiled or animal life reck-
lessly destroyed,” replied Adelaide.

“And this is your mamma on the first page?
How much you look like her!”

“Not mamma, but mother,” said Adelaide.
“She wanted me to call her mother—to speak of
her and think of her as mother, and I always have.
I call my second mother, mamma.”

“How old were you when she died?” asked
Ruth.

“Three years, and father married again when I
was four.”

Ruth handed back the journal and Adelaide be-
gan reading in a low tuneful voice like that of a
mother talking to her child.

“My Dear DaucuTEer ADELAIDE:

The doctors say that I have consumption—the
incurable disease, and that I cannot live many
years at the longest. I can hardly believe it—I
feel so well and happy and have such a desire to
live and be ever near thee to guard thee against
the evils and perils of this world; but lest I may
not I will try to make it plain to thee what the
evils and perils are that encompass us around and
about—plain to thee according to my light, re-
ceived through the teachings that have been hand-

216
Adelaide Stays at Home with Her Father

ed down to me through a long line of ancestry,
from such good and wise men as George Fox and
William Penn. Remember that I do not say that
they werethe only wise teachers in the world or that
their lightis the perfect light or rather all the light;
but that it is good so far as it goes has not as yet
been gainsayed. Even thy father who was not
reared in my faith, can find no flaw in it except
that it is impracticable in the present imperfect
conditions of the world. I trust he is beginning
to see the light of Christ as it is and will be. Keep
near him, dear child, very near him. Seek for the
living light together, hand in hand. It is needed
everywhere,in cur daily walk and conversation and
even in our dress and adornments. I am not one
who thinks that the cut or style of a dress or hat is
of great importance and yet I have been led to per-
ceive that there is a line beyond which it would be
a sin to go—that we should use nothing for per-
sonal adornment which calls for the cruel slaugh-
ter of animals or for vicious and degrading work
from our fellow creatures. Lest words fail to ex-
press my meaning, I will give thee an experience
of my own as an illustration.

“Thy father gave me a set of pearls for a wed-
ding gift. All my friends both in and out of
Friends Society said it was a beautiful and appro-
priate gift. I thought so too. Their gentle lus-
tre pleased me. They were in harmony with my
silver-gray gown. We went to Paris for our wed-

217
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

ding trip. Oneday wevisited the famous oyster mar-
kets and parks which provide such a bountiful food
supply for the sustenance of the human race.

“ ‘What a blessing particularly to the working
people,’ said thy father. ‘The ever-ready meat that
unlike beef does not have to be killed and cooked.’

“But even while we were talking of the good-
ness of Providence in furnishing such a convenient
sort of food, a shadow crossed our path, that
startled us both. It was a man with a sallow com-
plexion, bulging brow and piercing eyes. He was
hurrying on at a wild and rapid pace but as he
observed us he stopped stone still and glared at us
—or rather at my pearl brooch and ring—glanc-
ing from one to the other with a greedy look that
frightened me for I had read of people being
robbed of jewels in the streets of Paris in broad
daylight.

“Oh! he’s not dangerous,’ laughed the guide.
‘He’s one of those scientific wretches who is on the
watchout for pearl oysters. He goes prowling
around the oyster beds and markets in search of
them. He was looking at your pearls to see if
they had a perfect skin and a fine orient.’

** ‘I see he is interested in oysters as pearl pro-
ducers instead of food products,’ said thy father.

***Ffe has curious ideas about pearls,’ said the
guide. ‘He says they are the product of disease
in the animal—that the disease is contagious and
he is hard at work trying to spread the contagion!

218
Adelaide Stays at Home with Her Father

“Spreading contagion among oysters! What
a work for a sane man,’ said thy father. ‘How does
he manage the business?’

“*Hfe takes the oysters that are afflicted with
the pearl disease and puts them in the bed with
those that are not afflicted and keeps them there
until they catch the disease. He says it is as easy
to spread as the small pox.’

“O how horrid! I cried. How satanic! To
think of going to work deliberately to introduce
disease and contagion, even among the lower forms
of life! And he does all this, not to benefit the
hungry poor but to hang more and more pearls
around the necks of the greedy rich!

“Thy father laughed; but it was no laughing
matter for me. I cried over my wedding pearls
that night and resolved to lock them up out of my
sight as soon as I returned home.

The next day I was strengthened in my resolu-
tion by meeting with a pearl diver. The poor man
was worn out before his time by this dreadful bus-
iness. He sat day after day by the sea looking out
upon its sparkling surface and dreaming and talk-
ing of the perils he had encountered down below
in its green gloom—of the hideous armor he wore
when he went forth to war with its savage army
of sharks and devil-fishes, in order to win pearls
for the Queens of the world and the queens of
men’s hearts.

“Will you show us your awful armor? I asked.

219
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“ ‘Certainly, madam, and get my son to trick
me out in it, though I’ve never worn it since the
day that the shark cut off my air pipe and the
terrible pressure blew out my eye balls and ear
drums to the bursting point.’

“QO don’t put the horrid thing on, I pleaded,
only show it to us.

“But put it on he would—the ply upon ply of
clothing, the heavy weights for the feet, back and
breast and the awful barred helmet, which was
screwed up at last like a lid to a coffin, making him
deaf and dumb to the outside world! O, my child,
Icannot tell thee of the sensations I felt as I looked
upon that manacled denuded specimen of the hu-
man being sent out to fight the vain war for
pearls!

“But the worst of all is the war between gov-
ernments and nations. It is the giant murder. It
impoverishes and brutalizes humanity. It is the
cardinal sin against which the Society of Friends
have always striven. George Fox began the good
fight, and William Penn though reared for the
army and tempted by rewards of glory and hon-
or, renounced all and joined the blessed Brother-
hood of Peace. Not only that but he came to this
new world and put his principles into practice, as
thou wilt see when thou are old enough to read his
life which thou wilt find in my little library that I
have willed to thee. Read it and ponder it in thy
heart, dear child. It will tell thee far better than

220
Adelaide Stays at Home with Her Father

I can of the sin and horror of war and the beauty
and loveliness of peace.

“Look about thee and search out the apostles
and prophets of peace the world over and estab-
lish spiritual or visible communion with the friends
of peace everywhere. Those that preach and write
and paint—foremost among whom at the present
time are Count Tolstoi and Vassili Verestchagin of
far off Russia. I had read much about Tolstoi
and knew of his great influence for peace; but it
had never occurred to me that an artist could make
the painted lesson fully as effective until we met
Vassili on our trip abroad and talked with him face
to face. He was educated for the navy even as
Penn was, but he laid aside the sword for palette
and brushes and painted the horrors of war so
truly and in such living colors that no one with a
soul could look upon them without being converted
to peace—so truly that the German soldiers were
not permitted to look upon them! So truly that
the Russian soldiers fled their country rather than
be compelled to join the army. So truly that he
was counselled by the Government to destroy one
of his greatest truth-tellers—a large picture of
Alexandre II. sitting safely on a hill watching the
awful slaughter of his soldiers at the battle of
Plevna.

“The truth seems terrible to behold, especially to
‘the powers that be,’ said Vassili as we stood by the
ghastly picture of the ‘Frozen Sentinel in the Ship-

221
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

ka Pass, but I can’t help that, I must paint the
truth or nothing. I wade through the inferno of
the most hideous battles for the precious kernel
of truth, and when I find it I can’t gloss it over
and make it appear what it is not. If you ever
have another awful war in America I shall have to
come over and paint it truly.”

“You need not wait for another war,’ said I,
“to get material for a warning truth. We have a
glorification of war every year—yes, twice a year
now; that is more dangerous than war itself, be-
cause it begins at the root. It takes hold of the
children.”

**‘T shall be there in good time,’ were his last
words to us. I believe that he will come, dear child,
and that thou wilt see him and help him in his mis-
sion of truth.

“Next to the giant murder of war there is an-
other murder that is like unto it. It is not whole-
sale murder like that which is done by the Gov-
ernment army, but it is worse in some respects. It
is surely worse for the one who strikes the death
blow—for the man that is hired by the Govern-
ment to murder its criminals inasmuch as such a
life-taker is abhorred not only by the criminals
whom he releases from life as gently as possible,
but by the people whose instrument he is; while
the other murderer, the army officer who leads
hundreds of splendid young men and horses over
wounded bodies of friends or foes to cruel slaugh-

222
Adelaide Stays at Home with Her Father

ter is applauded on all sides and covered with hon-
or and glory.

“J saw them standing side by side one day—
these two kinds of murderers. One was plainly
dressed and carried a grimy black bag in his white
bony hand. He was wrinkled and old before his
time. He was nervous and shrinking, as though
the fingers of the living were pointing at him and
the curses of the dead following him.

“The other man was richly dressed and had a
sword at his belt. He was large, full-fleshed and
florid. Ee was bold, brazen and bulging, as
though the whole world were at his back, pushing
him forward and encouraging him to cultivate
every bestial faculty to the full extent.

“Yes, dear Adelaide; I saw these two men
standing side by side one day at a railway station.
It was before thou wert born. I knew well enough
who the man with the sword was, but the other !—
the frightened, woe-begone looking man? Thy
father did not want to tell me about him at first.
He thought it might hurt thee and me. He was
foolish about such matters as kind husbands are
apt to be. It cannot hurt anyone to talk and
think freely at any time about anything that is
worth thinking or talking about. It hurts them
and those born of them to suppress the truth.”

“O how true!” exclaimed Ruth! “Ralph ought
to hear that.”

Adelaide nodded as she went on.

223
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“And I did think of those men until my journey
was ended, and I have thought of them many times
since. Thanks to my righteous teachers I was
able to see them as they were. They filled my soul
with horror and pity—pity, for I perceived that
they were the monsters the Government (which is
. ourselves) had made. But I pitied the scared look-
ing man with the grimy black bag in which his
weapon of death lay concealed more than I did the
man with the glittering sword that he wore boldly
in the eyes of all. He looked so wretched, so op-
pressed and conscience stricken, that I thought the
time would surely come when he would throw off
the terrible yoke that had been put upon him and
refuse to use the bolts of heaven for the extinc-
tion of human life. But when I heard that he
was working by night and day on an awful chair
—~a veritable throne of death on which the crimi-
nal will sit and die without looking upon his exe-
cutioner’s hated presence; my pity was mingled
with loathing, for I perceived that he was a will-
ing instrument instead of a terrible necessity, and
that he cared nothing for the victims of the law
except that he might be spared from their curs-
ings and hate. That he was plotting against them
while he was hiding away from them and making
of that death-machine a life-work.

“Beware of all such men, my dear daughter.
Believe thy mother when she tells thee that the life-
taker is sure to be a brute. Trust not thyself

224
Adelaide Stays at Home with Her Father

least of all to the so-called capable brute. See to
it that the occupation of the man that would mar-
ry thee be not of their kind.

“In short, marry no one unless the spirit moves
thee strongly. Remember that the credit is not to
those who bring the most children into the world
but those that bring the best or take the best care
of those that are already here.”

Adelaide paused and looked at Ruth question-
ingly.

“She meant that the Krupp guns, torpedo boats
and all those horrible war implements were inven-
tions of the capable brute, did she not?” asked
Adelaide.

“Yes, and more too. She meant all those dan-
gerous things that are made for boys to celebrate
with,” said Ruth.

“And the capable brutes are such inventors as
Krupp and Pang—and Bombs,” added Adelaide
hesitatingly, as though averse to including him in
the same class.

“Yes,” replied Ruth; but Mr. Bombs is young
and perhaps you can influence him to do better
things.”

Adelaide shook her head vigorously. Ruth had
not quite caught her meaning but she did not know
just how to explain it, so she went on with the
journal.

“Next to the cruel game of war are the celebra-
tions that glorify war or warriors. They are mur-

225
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

derous at the core and they are growing worse and
worse every year. Notably our Independence Day.
I was never so fully conscious of it as now. I have
just been to see a little boy who is dying of T'etan-
us. His sufferings were terrible to witness. His
father gave him that invention of the evil one, a
toy pistol. No father in our society would have
done such a thing. O how I wish Vassili had been
there to paint the scene in its true horror and ex-
hibit it all over this reckless American continent.

“Last of all come the games of chance. Many
of them are dangerous to life and limb and all of
them are more or less sinful. They are wrong in
principle inasmuch as they are'a waste of energy
—the great Divine energy that was given us for
the regeneration of the world and the building up
and beautifying of the God-given body instead of
tearing it down, defacing it, brutalizing it and
arousing within it the murderous spirit of resist-
ance and revenge. Such games are too numerous
to mention. Thou wilt know them by their signs.
They are among the perils that encompass thee
around and about.

“Look at them with an unclouded vision. Let
not custom blind thee to their sinuousness and
wrong. Set an honest face against them. Cast
out the devil that is in them and invent new ways
of amusing the young and entertaining the old.

“Think of these things, dear child. Think of
the women and children that are shivering and

226
Adelaide Stays at Home with Her Father

starving while millions and millions are being spent
in battleships and hideous inventions for the de-
struction of human life. Raise thy voice against
them and do whatsoever thou canst, to avert or heal
the poverty and misery that follow in their track.

“How I wish I could be spared to go with thee,
for I feel that thou wilt go about doing good to
souls in need. Yes, the spirit tells me so, dear
child, and I must listen and be content.”

Truly thine,
ELzeanor TowNnsEND SCHWARMER.

“How I wish she could have been spared; and
how I wish I could see Vassili Verestchagin!”
whispered Adelaide as she closed the journal.

227
CHAPTER XXII.

A WONDERFUL CHANGE IN KILLSBURY.

L N less than four years after the events
recorded in the last chapter a young
man of fascinating appearance stepped

off from the train at the Killsbury sta-
tion. His name was Alfonso Bombs. He had just
returned from his trip abroad. He had seen the

Russo-Japanese army fighting like fiends—setting

hellish traps for each other and blowing whole

regiments into eternity. Vassili Verestchagin had
lost his life in the terrible explosion of the Petro-
pavlovsk and thousands of men had died awful
deaths through the same satanic agencies that had
snatched this noble truth-painter from his needed
work. The commercial world was being made hid-
eous with the manufacture and transportation of
monstrous battleships and explosives. Mr.

Schwarmer had been blown to atoms by a dyna-

mite explosion on a railroad train and his widow

had married a military man and was deeply inter-
ested in “The Society for the Prevention of Cruel-
ty to Animals.” She contemplated giving a fine

228
A Wonderful Change in Killsbury

building for its use and enlarging its scope by
adding an infirmary for disabled war-horses; but
Mr. Bombs was not thinking of these things nor
of the immense army of youth that was being pre-
pared for the annual slaughter although it was In-
dependence Day and the nation’s flag was flying
from every train. He refused the proffered car-
riage and walked leisurely through the town, stop-
ping here and there and looking around in pleased
surprise. It seemed to him that the whole atmos-
phere of the place had changed. The gardens
were full of flowers, the lawns were green and vel-
vety, the crooked old fences had disappeared, the
sidewalks were in a perfect condition, the roads
were gravelled, and the ugly hollows filled up.

When he got to Library Street, he stopped
and surveyed it critically. The improvement was
still more apparent there. The Adelaide Library
was handsomely winged. He wondered how it would
be with Adelaide herself. He felt that she would
have wings spiritual if not visible—quite after his
heart’s desire. He reasoned that if all these im-
provements had been made through her influence,
she must be a very rare woman and well beloved—
so well that she would not need any other love per-
haps. Then the little viper of jealousy slid into
his heart; but he cast it out with the lash of self-
assurance. He would not think that he could not
win her if he should approve of her and really wish
to have her for his very own.

229
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

Up to this point he had not met any one he knew
and he was glad he had not. He went on noting
changes until he found himself at the point, where
the street branched off for the “Round About
Way” to Schwarmer Hill. He avoided it instinc-
tively. He took the Straight Road; but his rev-
erie as he ascended the hill had a tragic element in
it that robbed it of its charm.

After that, the reign of disappointment set in.
Schwarmer mansion had not improved in the least
—rather the reverse.

If he had expressed his thought he would have
said:

“It looks as though it had doffed a turret and
were reaching down to bring the buildings below
up to its own stature.”

The truth was, Adelaide had ordered one of the
most useless and imposing turrets to be taken
down as it was found to be unsafe.

The Queery buildings remained intact and the
grounds were greatly improved; but he saw at a
glance that it was an improvement in which he and
his Pyro-pieces had not been taken into account.
Little children were playing on the grass, small
boys and girls were running from the fountain to
the garden and baby carts were being wheeled about
the numerous walks. He hastened on to the man-
sion and rang the bell.

Mary Langley opened the door and started
back.

230
A Wonderful Change in Killsbury

“O I see that you remember me,” laughed Bombs.
“Is Miss Adelaide at home?”

“Miss Adelaide is down at the college. Will
you come in and wait for her?”

“Thanks. I will wait on the veranda or roam
about. I find many changes of interest.”

He sat down and rested from his walk while he
looked out over the handsome grounds and inhaled
the odor of violets and mignonette. After he had
rested he went out to the brow of the hill. There
was always a strong breeze on the brow of the hill;
but there was something else this morning—some-
thing more stirring than the rustling leaves.
There were musical sounds. His first thought was
that they were from the throats of young orioles.
He listened intently and heard instead of warb-
lings, fine strains of music like those of an aeolian
harp.

“Yes a hundred aeolian harps!’ he ejaculated
and the fancy possessed him that Adelaide had
taken advantage of the situation and had strung
aeolian harps in the tops of the trees for the winds
of heaven to play upon. He did not try to find
out if it were so. If it were a delusion he preferred
to enjoy it instead of dispelling it. He stood still
and listened intently.

Without knowing it he stood on the very spot
where Mary Langley had lost her baby. He hit
his toe against a stone and looking down he saw
that it was fringed with moss and bore a name and

231
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

date in tiny artistic letters. The name was Adelaide
S. Langley and the date was July 4th, 1902. He
knew then that he had been doubly remembered ;
but it was not flattering to his vanity to be remem-
bered so strongly in this case, any more than it
was to be entirely forgotten in the matter of trans-
forming The Queery grounds into a children’s
park. He turned away abruptly and saw Adelaide
Schwarmer coming up the hill.

He knew her at a glance; but he was a trifle
disappointed. His first thought was, that like the
mansion she had been holding herself down to the
level of the Killsbury people.

“You surprise me,” he said. ‘““You have changed
so very, very little.”

“And you do not seem to have changed at all;
and yet I am not surprised.”

“But you were at the changeable age and I was
not.”

“And you have been changing places and peo-
ples and views constantly. I should think
you would be changed by reflection if nothing
more.”

“There. is something in that apparently,”
laughed Bombs. “Then it must be because you
have lived in the same place and with the same peo-
ple that you look the same. If the theory is true
you should move on in order to attain a full de-
velopment. That would be in accordance with
Goethe’s idea would it not?

232
A Wonderful Change in Killsbury

‘Keep not standing fixed and rooted.
Briskly venture—briskly roam.’

“Perhaps I didn’t ‘foot it freely’ enough to re-
ceive a benefaction of bronze and muscle that the
ladies admire.”

“From the Occident to the Orient even on
wheels, there must be much to see and learn, Mr.
Bombs.”

“Yes, Miss Adelaide, and much that is not worth
learning. When I was in Turkey, I learned noth-
ing of more interest than that the Sultan had fin-
ished his forty days fast at Ramazar and taken a
new wife.”

“But the treacherous war, with its horrid
weapons! You must have seen how awful it was,
Mr. Bombs?”

“Tt was the same old story, Miss Adelaide; men
were made to kill each other with fists or dynamite
—no matter which.”

“You are caustic as ever, Mr. Bombs. You
must have spent your time chiefly with chemicals
and in lurid laboratories—looking inward instead
of outward—trying to find out and master the
hidden forces. Father told me of your investiga-
tions only the day before he died,” said Adelaide
closing her eyes and leaning back in her chair.

There was silence for a few moments, then she
added: “Please tell me what you have discovered,
Mr. Bombs.”

“There isn’t much to be told at present date,

233
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

Miss Adelaide, except that I have discovered or
think I have, the long sought for and greatly to
be desired explosive—the ideal force which com-
bines the highest known power with perfect safety
in use; an explosive which when put upon the mar-
ket and used in the place of dynamite will make
such accidents as that which cost your father his
life, practically impossible.”

“IT don’t believe such awful things can be made
safe, any more than the arch-fiend himself, Mr.
Bombs.”

“But they can be, Miss Adelaide, if properly
harnessed and handled—at least my explosive can
be. It will not explode unless rightly treated or
en-treated. It is very particular about that,”
laughed Bombs. “It won’t respond to hard knocks
or kicks or a shower of bullets, and a child might
treat it to a lighted match and coals of fire and it
would do no more than burn with a gentle blue
flame. An ounce of it would make a safe and sat-
isfactory firecracker in a boy’s hands; while the
same quantity in skilful hands, could be made to
blow up an immense battleship !”’

“How horrible!’ exclaimed Adelaide. “What
need have we for such powerful explosives? Are
we commanded to wreck the world—or grind it
into powder? I heard a few days ago of a man
who had invented a machine that would crunch up
great rocks in its horrible jaws in less time than
it takes a dog to eat a bone. At that rate there

234
A Wonderful Change in Killsbury

wouldn’t be a rock left in a few years’ time and the
blessed earth would be little else than a succession
of pitfalls!”

“Pretty good,” laughed Bombs. “It’s time for
the inventor of safety appliances to come to the
rescue, eh! Miss Adelaide.”

“We cry safety! and yet there is no safety with
such monsters all around us. If we were all good
and wise—full grown savants, we might talk of
safety—but there are the children who don’t know
how to use safety appliances and the criminal who
is using dynamite to terrorize the railroads.”

“There’s where my explosive has the advantage.
There isn’t but one way to explode it; and there’s
too much science about it for the child, the idiot or
the railroad dynamiter. He couldn’t be on hand
with an electric battery; and it can’t be exploded
by accident.

“Let me show you something,” said Bombs,
fumbling in his pocket and bringing forth a small
piece of reddish brown substance. “You see how
harmless it looks; and so it is ordinarily but by
employing certain agencies it could be made to
blow up as large an establishment as your library
building.”

She shuddered involuntarily.

“T see you have no confidence in it, Miss Ade-
laide,”” he said tossing it up and down in his hand.
“T have some larger pieces in my traveling case. I
will prove them to you some day if you like.”

235
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

“No! no! Mr. Bombs. I don’t want any proof!
This is no longer a fit place for proving grounds,
as you will see.”

She looked out over the network of walks and
added: “The children have gone home to dinner,
but they will be back again soon. They come and
go like the birds of heaven.”

“OQ Adelaide, how cruel,” exclaimed Bombs, half
in jest. “If your father were here, he would re-
ceive me with open arms. He would be proud to
have me show up my discoveries and inventions. He
built the Queery at my instigation; but you—”

“Father told me I might do as I liked and he
knew I did not like dangerous things. We were
alone here for several weeks and we talked it all
over and made plans,” sobbed Adelaide.

“Well, don’t cry, Adelaide. I shall not insist. I
ought not to wonder that you feel as you do espe-
cially since his death and about anything of the
same nature that caused it; but you will change
your mind I am sure when you see that my inven-
tion is entirely the reverse of the old and everlast-
ingly dangerous ones. I am going to have some
experiments tried with it by Government author-
ity at the Indian Head Proving Grounds later on,
and I hope you will be induced to come and see for
yourself that it will be a blessmg rather than a
curse. It is ten times more powerful when its
power is needed than the horrible dynamite of
which you have had such a sad experience; but it

236
A Wonderful Change in Killsbury

is religiously believed that the very might of it
will make disastrous celebrations and even war
practically impossible.”

“Religiously believed!’ exclaimed Adelaide. “I
should say that it was anything but, religious to
believe that disastrous celebrations and wars are
to be done away with by monstrous life destroying
agencies instead of the human and divine agencies
of love and true friendliness. No! no, Mr. Bombs!
That is treacherous military pretense. We have
never had any Independence Day accidents here
since the fireworks were abolished. We had a great
many before. Ruth Cornwallis began the crusade
against them and our Golden Rule President with
his earnest appeals and wise prohibitions made a
clean sweep of them. You remember Laurens Corn-
wallis’s mysterious death. You said you would
tell me what you knew about it when you came
back. Please tell me now, Mr. Bombs.”

237
CHAPTER XXIII.

MR. BOMBS TELLS ALL HE KNOWS ABOUT LAURENS
CORNWALLIS’ MYSTERIOUS DEATH.

OMBS began to explain and Adelaide lis-
B tened with silent attention until he came
to the point, where he sent the four boys
to the river bank to make Laurens divide

the fireworks with them.

“How could you think of doing such a thing?”
she asked.

“J didn’t stop to think, Miss Adelaide. I knew
they were little rascals; but I had a feeling that
Laurens was too goody-goody, and that somehow
or other the two extremes would be equalized by
setting them onto each other.”

“How dreadful! Mr. Bombs! And so you set
your four little devils on to one little angel, to
overpower him? You must have known they would
destroy him!”

“No! No! Miss Adelaide. I did not know that.
I had the unwisdom and rashness of youth. I was

238
Mr. Bombs Tells All

only fifteen years old. I had a perfect passion for
pyro-spectacles. I had been brought up on them
you know; and I had faith in my inventions. They
were intended to amuse, scare and mystify. I had
been taught early and late that danger gives zest
to enjoyment. Besides I had never known of any-
body of consequence within my circle of acquain-
tance, being killed by fireworks; and I was of the
opinion that they never would injure anybody
except idiots, who deserved to be injured.”

“But you knew that Laurens Cornwallis was
not an idiot, and that the boys were reckless and
the fireworks dangerous.”

“Yes, but Laurens had charge of them and he
could have held up a score of boys if he had known
how to handle them.”

“But you knew he did not know and the other
boys did.”

“Yes, but I thought he ought to have known.”

He saw the rising of an indignant flush in Ade-
laide’s face and added quickly, “besides I intend-
ed to go back and see that no harm was done, Miss
Adelaide.”

“Why did you not go?” inquired Adelaide
shortly.

“Your father claimed my services. First to help
store away the surplus stock I had brought with
me. That done, we gave chase to some boys that
were making up the river with his boat. We head-
ed them off. They got into a panic, lost one oar

239
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

and broke another, then went down over the falls
and were drowned. You heard about it did you
not?”

“Yes, but not much.”

“Well, there wasn’t much said about it. They
were of no account anyway. They were a squad
of tough boys that came up from the prolific
French settlement, to work their little game and
see how much they could get out of ‘old Schwar-
mer,’ as they called him. Of course the parents
wouldn’t say anything on account of the stealing
of the boat, and probably they had about fifteen
other children and were glad to be rid of them.
I shouldn’t have remembered it had it not been for
one little circumstance.”

“What was that?” asked Adelaide breathlessly.

“They were the boys I sent to Laurens Corn-
wallis for a division of fireworks.”

“And they killed him with the terrible things
and were trying to make their escape,” exclaimed
Adelaide in dismay.

“That’s the mystery, Miss Adelaide. They quar-
relled with him, without a doubt. The killing was
most likely accidental. They had a hand in the
accident, probably, were frightened, ran to the
river and took the boat to make good their escape.
Only God knows !”

‘And the parents thought father must have giv-
en him the fireworks. How strange!”

“Yes, it was strange. Strange that all who

240
Mr. Bombs Tells All

knew anything about it should have met a violent
death. It looks as though Providence or whatever
you choose to call him, was on my side, doesn’t it,
Miss Adelaide? But I did not know your father
was suspected. I regret that.”

She did not reply. She was trying to analyze
her feeling.

““Non-plussed I see,” said Bombs. “Well I don’t
wonder. I had something of that feeling at first.
Nobody could blame me but myself, because no
living person knew about it but myself. Now no
one knows it but you and I; and I am used to your
blame; I rather enjoy it. In fact I like it so well
that I have come to ask you to marry me.”

“But you would not marry me knowing that I
would continue to blame you—knowing that I
would work against your business interests, Mr.
Bombs.”

“IT would marry you, knowing that. you could
not harm my adamantine interests,” laughed
Bombs. “It would take a hundred years of such
gentle leaven to affect them materially or imma-
terially and we shall both be in heaven before that
time, where everything is changed in the twinkling
of an eye and reforms if needed would not have to
be worked out by the tedious, sinuous and rather
sour or unsavory processes of fermentation.”

“But you would not marry me knowing that our
thoughts, feelings and tastes were entirely antago-
nistic—that I should strive with my whole might

241
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

to pull down the things you would build up? In-
possible!”

“I would marry you and love and admire you
all the same, Adelaide. And I would give you carte
blanche out of the proceeds of my ‘horrid’ inven-
tions to use in your work of demolishing, recon-
structing and Christianizing.”

“You are jesting, Mr. Bombs.”

She broke off and rested her head on both hands.
The old weariness had come again, and more! Even
the multiplicity of his adjectives affected her.
They tired her to death just as his Pyro-shows
used to do—with their flash after flash.

“You are the same and yet you are not the
same,” she added, arousing herself and turning
away from his glittering gaze with a gesture of
despair. ‘“O why did you come back to torment
my life?”

He came swiftly to her side and whispered in
her ear—whispered, although he might have spok-
en aloud; for there was no one in the room and
no sleeping Adam anywhere among the shrub-
beries: “I came to fulfill my promise to your fath-
er and claim you for my wife.”

She started from him as though bitten by a ser-
pent, or rather as though she had been mistaken
for the original Eve and a real serpent had been
whispering in her ear.

“Your wife!’ Her face turned surface-red as
though scorched with outside flame. “Your wife,”

242
Mr. Bombs Tells All

she repeated, “and the elected burden-bearer of
your secret, sinful knowledge! I have never
thought of being your wife and never could be or
should be, and father would not have insisted.”

‘Adelaide! Adelaide! You don’t know what
you are saying. You will feel differently after
everything is proven and you have time to think
it over.”

“Never! Mr. Bombs, never! I shall never think
differently. Leave me! Go out of my sight for-
ever !”

“Adelaide! Is it possible! Whatever I have
been to others I have always been honest with
you.”

“Honest? Yes! You tell me of your black and
sinful deeds, then try to make them look sinless
and white. Leave me at once. Your presence is
more than I can endure.”

She turned to an alcove in the far end of the
room and stretching her arms high above her head
in agonized supplication, she added:

“And thou Angelo Cornwallis! Beautiful spir-
it! be with me! Help me undo the dreadful deeds
that have been done in our midst; and when I have
done all I can at home, lead me on and on; for as
it is here so it is elsewhere all over God’s great
world. The good and beautiful are being battered
and slain, that the coffers of the bad and beastly
may be filled to overflowing with gold!”

The picture before which she stood was an ar-

243
The Independence Day Horror at Killsbury

tist’s realization of what Laurens Angelo Corn-
wallis would have looked like, if he had lived to
reach man’s estate. It was a life-sized portrait of
rare beauty and nobility thrown out in strong re-
lief from a bluish-black background of peculiar
make-up. Was it the work of Vassili Verestchagin
and had her wish to see him been granted, or fail-
ing to be granted had she taken him for her spir-
itual teacher and inspirator and painted it her-
self ?

Alfonso Bombs looked in her direction and rec-
ognized both the portrait and the significance of
its setting—the marvelous whiteness, brightness
and angelic beauty of the one, and the mysterious
darkness, luridity and startling suggestiveness of
the other—as though the artist had at the last mo-
ment dipped his brushes in the paint pots of the
Inferno for characteristic colors with which to por-
tray the dread and nameless shapes that had
threatened to destroy his fair creation.

Feelings of jealousy, rage and resentment over-
whelmed the spirit of Alfonso Bombs as he looked
at his unconscious paint and canvas rival and de-
tected in that, hellish background unmistakable
shadowings of himself; but for the first time in his
life he had no specious plea to make. He had re-
ceived his answer and the proof of its finality. He
turned away with the swift and subtle movement
habitual to him and left the house and the town.

Tue Enp.

24d
 

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