FOURTH OF JULY

     Fourth of July was a fun time to be at Walnut Farm. The Grange usually had a Mystery Ride the night before. Most of the grownups went and Grandma stayed home and watched the kids. There was a type of firecracker called a Torpedo. There were different sizes, the smaller ones were safe for kids and the larger ones for adults. You set them off by throwing them as hard as you could against a hard surface such as the cement of the front porch. On one of the Mystery Rides, Uncle Bud had a pocket full of the larger ones and bumped up against a wooden counter and set off his whole pocket full. He had a sore side for quite a while.

     Since they got in late the night before, my folks usually slept late the next morning. One year I can remember I'd gotten up at the usual time and Grandma fed me breakfast and then I sat on the front porch in the sun and I was so cold. The other kids were playing around in front of me but I didn't feel like joining in. Grandma came out and tucked a blanket around me. When my mother got up, Grandma said, "Go look at your daughter." I was covered with spots and had come down with the measles. We had come down with Uncle Ed, Aunt Lucy and Teddy as we didn't have a car at the time. The only one who caught the measles from me was Teddy because he'd bee in the car with me the night before.

      All year they saved brush and branches and old wood crates, etc. in a big pile down in the lower pasture not far from the old cars. On the Fourth they would set a light to it and have a great blaze. We kids could throw the firecrackers that we weren't allowed to light by hand into the fire. I can remember someone holding both Junior and I by the backs of our clothing to keep us from falling into the fire when we threw a cracker as we'd get so excited. There was one with about fifty very small firecrackers braided together. You were supposed to light it at the braided end and it made many small bangs. My father unbraided it so I had lots of firecrackers to throw into the blaze.

     One year Bud and Doc and the Smith boys wanted to see what would happen if they put a large firecracker in a milk can and put the top on. Well they tried it and it blew the cover to the top of the pole where the wisteria grew. It also made a large bulge in the side of the milk can so that the can was no good anymore. My mother was upset because she said the mild can cost money but Uncle Leon was simply furious because he said someone could have been hurt when that cover came down because we were all standing around watching. It was one of few times I ever saw him really cross. He lit into the boys at quite a good rate.

     Each family would buy a bag of different fireworks like sky rockers, pinwheels and roman candles to set off in the evening as soon as it got dark. The morning of the fourth,  Bud and Doc would go into town to a place that sold fireworks and got some more at half price. They usually got the biggest ones. As soon as it was dark, the show would begin. We'd sit on the front porch and the boys would set off the pieces on the tennis court. People would come in their cars and sit in from of Mrs. Robbins' red brick house and watch from there. You could see down to the farm from the road then.   

Contact Diane Wetherbee at ddwbee@aol.com  for comments or information