Memories of the Coes 27 - Fourth of July
The real glamour of Fourth of July seems to have been in our early days. Father would hitch up the team and we would all go to Le Roy in the Democrat, a two seated light wagon, to the "doings." There was a program, singing, reading the Declaration of Independence, an oration by some one from away or possibly a distinguished citizen, but the great even, to us children, at least was the Kalathumpian procession. I find I cannot describe them clearly. There were bands, caricatures of noted people, but the most I can recall was the living moving picture of men in gay colored fantastic costumes with masks of variety, creations of a dream world to me. Wonderfully delightful were the fireworks. I love them to this day with a sense of regret that anything costing so much should vanish in one ecstatic, glorious moment. Fire crackers and noise was no part of the enjoyment to me. Charles says that in the early days he and Albert and Lizzie had one bunch of firecrackers among them. I suppose they felt quite affluent when in later days they had one bunch apiece! I think E.F. had a home-made cannon which he fired at the break o'dawn ushering the great day. Charles says he made a cannon from a piece of gas pipe he got from the Jones's his cousins in Boston. Once it failed to fire off at the proper time and as he bent over it, it did go off, peppering his face with powder which had to be picked out. The Fourth was a great day for young men to take the best girls out. Of course they took the best driving horse well groomed, the buggy, clean and shining, to make the best appearance possible. The situation was too painful to contemplate when there were two or more brothers all wanting the best the family could afford, each in honor of his best girl!
It seemed that it always rained on the Fourth. Often it was a tumultous thunder storm sometime during the day. Once when I was a small girl, we were planning on going to Le Roy, but it rained all the Morning. We kept running to the window to see if it didn't clear up. Finally I looked out. The sky was a blue-gray, and I said "Oh, it has all cleared off, - the sky is all blue. Another look told better and I felt a shock of horror of having told something that wasn't true." A case for a psychologist.
A Fourth of July that I remember with pleasure was one when we had a picnic at the Gulf in the North Woods east and north of Le Roy. At about that time it seemed quite a way from people, - and wild, with ferns, mosses, and wildflowers, and many tall over-hanging trees. There was a stream in the gully which (urdined?) in parts, and paths leading down the steep banks. A flat topped rock was found among the many boulders in the Gulf, and we used that for our platform, and had an interesting program, provided the people young and old, who came to the picnic. I spoke Independence Bell, - "There was tumult in the city, the quaint old Quaker town." I received many compliments. It was a Red Letter day in my girlhood. To this day I cannot think of a more ideal way of celebrating. Whole families were present with some invited from the neighborhood. O course there was a great picnic dinner. Later in the day many of the young folks paired off and went for rides.
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Patty's notes on this entry
Fourth of July - Independence Day became a national holiday in 1870. In many communities, it was the largest community event of the year. Elizabeth Coe was born in 1862 - during the Civil War. She was 14 in 1876, the Centennial of the Declaration of Independence.
Painted by F.A. Chapman/Engraved by John C. McRae
Available from the Library of Congress via Picryl at https://picryl.com/media/the-day-we-celebrate-1876-painted-by-fa-chapman-engraved-by-john-c-mcrae-ny-1
Democrat - Democrat wagons were light farm wagons with two or more seats, usually drawn by two horses.
Shared on flickr by the Cloyne and District Historical Society at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdhs/25724896701/in/photostream/
Kalathumpian procession - Calithumpian processions were part of many 19th century celebrations. Generally, they were a created by band of people dressed in outrageous costumes, that made a lot of discordant noise. They were often associated with Fourth of July celebrations.
Charles - Charles Joslin Call (1859-1939) son of Robert Call (1831-1913) and Charlotte Joslin (1834-1908). He married Elizabeth Ann Coe (1862-1956) daughter of Albert Coe (1827-1907) and Deborah Prentice (1833-1919) in 1884.
Albert - Albert Henry Call (1857-1934) son of Robert Call and Charlotte Joslin. He married Effie White (1862-1925) daughter of Salma White (1816-????) and Besty Chittenden (1927-????) in 1879.
Lizzie - Elizabeth Alberta Call (1862-1929) daughter of Robert Call and Charlotte Joslin. She married Walter Scott Daniels (1863-1918) son of Charles Daniels (1839-1879) and Louisa (1843-????) in 1891.
E.F. - Ezra Frank Coe (1853-1942) son of Albert Coe and Deborah Prentice. He married Sarah Frances Ward (1856-1941) daughter of Charles Kendall Ward (1819-1898) and Laura Caroline Davenport (1822-1876) in 1883.
Independence Bell - Independence Bell was a poem, by an unknown author, often recited at Fourth of July celebrations.
There was a tumult in the city
In the quaint old Quaker town,
And the streets were rife with people
Pacing restless up and down–
People gathering at corners,
Where they whispered each to each,
And the sweat stood on their temples
With the earnestness of speech.
As the bleak Atlantic currents
Lash the wild Newfoundland shore,
So they beat against the State House,
So they surged against the door;
And the mingling of their voices
Made the harmony profound,
Till the quiet street of Chestnut
Was all turbulent with sound.
“Will they do it?” “Dare they do it?”
“Who is speaking?” “What’s the news?”
“What of Adams?” “What of Sherman?”
“Oh, God grant they won’t refuse!”
“Make some way there!” “Let me nearer!”
“I am stifling!” “Stifle then!
When a nation’s life’s at hazard,
We’ve no time to think of men!”
So they surged against the State House,
While all solemnly inside,
Sat the Continental Congress,
Truth and reason for their guide,
Over a simple scroll debating,
Which, though simple it might be,
Yet should shake the cliffs of England
With the thunders of the free.
Far aloft in that high steeple
Sat the bellman, old and gray,
He was weary of the tyrant
And his iron-sceptered sway;
So he sat, with one hand ready
On the clapper of the bell,
When his eye could catch the signal,
The long-expected news to tell.
See! See! The dense crowd quivers
Through all its lengthy line,
As the boy beside the portal
Hastens forth to give the sign!
With his little hands uplifted,
Breezes dallying with his hair,
Hark! with deep, clear intonation,
Breaks his young voice on the air.
Hushed the people’s swelling murmur,
Whilst the boy crys joyously;
“Ring!” he shouts, “Ring! Grandpapa,
Ring! oh, ring for Liberty!”
Quickly, at the given signal
The old bellman lifts his hand,
Forth he sends the goods news, making
Iron music through the land.
How they shouted! What rejoicing!
How the old bell shook the air,
Till the clang of freedom ruffled,
The calmly gliding Delaware!
How the bonfires and the torches
Lighted up the night’s repose,
And from the flames, like fabled Phoenix,
Our glorious liberty arose!
That old State House bell is silent,
Hushed is now its glamorous tongue;
But the spirit it awakened
Still is living—ever young;
And when we greet the smiling sunlight
On the fourth of each July,
We will never forget the bellman
Who, between the earth and sky,
Rung out, loudly, “Independence”;
Which, please God, shall never die!
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