Harper's Round Table, July 2, 1895 Part 18

BOOKS FOR SUMMER READING

From Harper's Young People Series.

_Ill.u.s.trated. Post 8vo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.25 each:_

=_The Mystery of Abel Forefinger_.= By WILLIAM DRYSDALE.

=_Raftmates_.--_Canoemates_.--_Campmates_.--_Dorymates_.= By KIRK MUNROE.

=_Young Lucretia, and Other Stories_.= By MARY E. WILKINS.

=_A Boy's Town_.= By W. D. HOWELLS.

=_Diego Pinzon_.= By J. K. CORYELL.

_Ill.u.s.trated. Square 16mo, Cloth, Ornamental, $1.00 each:_

=_Wakulla_.--_The Flamingo Feather_.--_Derrick Sterling_.--_Chrystal, Jack & Co., and Delta Bixby_.= By KIRK MUNROE.

=_The Talking Leaves_.--_Two Arrows_.--_The Red Mustang_.= By W. O.

STODDARD.

=_Prince Lazybones, and Other Stories_.= By Mrs. W. J. HAYS.

=_The Ice Queen_.= By ERNEST INGERSOLL.

=_Uncle Peter's Trust_.= By GEORGE B. PERRY.

=_Toby Tyler_.--_Mr. Stubbs's Brother_.--_Tim and Tip_.--_Left Behind_.--_Raising the "Pearl_."--_Silent Pete_.= By JAMES OTIS.

=_The Four Macnicols_.= By WILLIAM BLACK.

=_The Lost City_.--_Into Unknown Seas_.= By DAVID KER.

=_The Story of Music and Musicians_.--_Jo's Opportunity_.--_Rolf House_.--_Mildred's Bargain, and Other Stories_.--_Nan_.--_The Colonel's Money_.--_The Household of Glen Holly_.= By LUCY C.

LILLIE.

Published by HARPER & BROTHERS, New York.

_For sale by all booksellers, or will be mailed by the publishers, postage prepaid, on receipt of the price._

THE "FOURTH."

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration]

[Ill.u.s.tration: PHILANDER BRIGGS PREDICTED THAT HIS PYROTECHNIC CYCLE WOULD BE THE SENSATION OF THE DAY. AND IT WAS.]

FOURTH OF JULY.

"Well," said Aunt Mary, "so the Fourth of July is here again. How many fingers do you expect it to leave you with, Tommy?"

"Ten," answered Tommy, promptly. "I didn't know there was anything about the Fourth of July to make extra fingers sprout out on a boy's hand."

"There isn't anything about it that is apt to increase the number of a boy's fingers; but there is something about it that makes it a good time for a boy to get rid of any extra or superfluous fingers he may have.

Bursting cannon and big fire-crackers are very serious things for fingers."

"Well, I haven't any fingers that I want to get rid of," said Tommy.

"Of course you know what the Fourth of July commemorates?" remarked Aunt Mary.

"The signing of the Declaration of Independence," answered Tommy, promptly.

"Yes. Now suppose it had been signed the 15th of January, what sort of a Fourth of July do you suppose that would have made?"

"Too cold--snow would put out the fire-crackers," replied Tommy.

"Just what Thomas Jefferson said," returned Aunt Mary. "Charles Carroll of Carrollton wanted to sign it on the 15th of January, but Jefferson said, 'That's no time for fire-crackers. The snow will make 'em sputter and go out. We owe something to posterity.'"

"Now, Aunt Mary," broke in Tommy, "I believe you--"

"Listen," went on Aunt Mary. "Listen, and learn about history. 'I think it will do well enough,' said Charles Carroll of Carrollton.

'Fire-crackers are dangerous things. Let posterity go sleigh-riding on the glorious 15th of January, and make a noise by cracking the whip.

Besides, Thomas A. Edison will soon invent snow-proof fire-crackers.'"

"Aunt Mary--"

"Don't interrupt me, Tommy. 'No,' said Jefferson, 'September is the time. We'll sign it on the 27th of September. Think of the glorious 27th! How the cannon will boom, and the rockets whiz, and--' 'I won't agree to put it off a moment beyond the 22d of February,' said Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 'That won't do,' answered Thomas Jefferson.

'That's the birthday of the father of his country. Two holidays rolled into one wouldn't be the thing. People would celebrate too hard. I'm willing to make it the 13th of August.' 'Let's settle on the 10th of March,' replied Charles Carroll of Carrollton. 'Thirty-first of July,'

said Jefferson. 'Fourteenth of April,' answered Carroll. They finally compromised on the 4th of July."

"What history did you study?" asked Tommy, as the best way of exposing his aunt's romancing.

"All of the good ones," she answered. "Smith's, and Brown's, and Thompson's, and Robinson's, and Jones's. Wherever I found a good fact I picked it up. I was always very fond of facts when I went to school. Did you ever hear about the dispute Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carroll of Carrollton had when they came to write and sign the Declaration of Independence?"