Latest / Kendall County News - Shaw Local / Reflections: Almost time to celebrate Independence Day; where’s your anvil?

Transcript

Reflections: Almost time to celebrate Independence Day; where’s your anvil? · Kendall County News - Shaw Local

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Reflections. Almost time to celebrate Independence Day. Where's Your Anvil?
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Written by Roger Mattel for Shaw Local News Network. This
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: article is being read by an automated voice brought to
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: you by Everlett. Will be celebrating, and I mean celebrating
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: a special Independence Day this year as we mark the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fiftieth year of the nation's independence from Britain.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Around the Fox Valley. There will be no lack of celebrations,
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: from old time traditional ones like Yorkville's which is to
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: be updated with a spectacular drone show, to huge ones
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: like Auroras. Independence Day has been a festive occasion ever
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: since the Declaration of Independence was signed on July fourth,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: seventeen seventy six, not that those signing the document thought
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: it in and of itself was such a big deal.
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: The actual legal separation of the thirteen American colonies from
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: Great Britain took place July second, seventeen seventy six, when
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: the Second Continental Congress formally voted to approve a resolution
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: of Independence. After voting for independence, Congress turned its attention
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to adopting the Declaration of Independence. A statement explaining their
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: momentous decision. The Declaration was written by a committee with
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: Thomas Jefferson as its principal author and editor. Congress debated
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: and revised the declaration, finally approving it for publication on
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: July fourth. John Adams, then serving in the Continental Congress,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: wrote to his wife Abigail on July third that he
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: believed July second would go down in the nation's history
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: as a day of thanksgiving and celebration for generations to come.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: Predicted Adams, the second day of July seventeen seventy six
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: will be the most memorable epoch in the history of America.
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: by succeeding generations as the Great Anniversary Festival. It ought
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: to be commemorated as the d of deliverance by solemn
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: acts of devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: from this time forward forevermore well. He was close, but
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: didn't win the celebration prediction Cigar. Instead of the vote
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: to separate from Great Britain, the nation chose to celebrate
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: the date Jefferson's elegantly written declaration was approved, and ever
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: since it really has been solemnized with pomp and parade,
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations. From
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: one end of the nation to the other, our ancestors
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: had a great time every July fourth, both with formal
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: celebrations and until they were banned as too dangerous by
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: firing off illuminations in every backyard, often to the annoyance
• 2:50
  Speaker 1: of neighbors. Because those ancestors weren't as staid a bunch
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: as you may have been led to believe, especially when
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: you read accounts in the local papers. As in modern times,
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: celebrations sometimes got out of hand, propelled and lubricated by alcohol.
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: For instance, the Kendall County Records Oswego correspondent reported in
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: July eighteen sixty nine that, probably owing to the approach
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: of the fourth, a good deal of hilarity, stimulated by
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: whiskey and lager, has been manifested among a certain class
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: during the week. On one occasion, a young man got
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: his countenance disfigured, caused by bringing it in contact with
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: another's fist or boot. Some boys more patriotic than anus
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: broke during last night, a light pain out of Coffin's
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: store window and stole some firecrackers. A large flag is
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: suspended across the street from the drug store to Coffins,
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: and the cannon is fired on the old National Hotel lot.
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: Two years later, it was reported from Oswego that the
• 3:48
  Speaker 1: glorious Fourth of July was ushered in early this morning
• 3:51
  Speaker 1: with thirteen loud blasts from the Oswego Cannon. The holidays
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: hilarity ebbed and flowed. The next year, eighteen seventy two,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: the Record reported that the quietest Fourth ever experienced in
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: the annals of Oswego was the one last week. The
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: patriotic drunks were limited down to a very few. While
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: some years featured ad hoc celebrations gotten together on the
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: spur of the moment, some years were marked with elaborately
• 4:17
  Speaker 1: planned events. The Record reported on July first, eighteen seventy five,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: that Oswego residents were invited to participate in a community
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: wide celebration in Judson's Grove, the area just south of
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: the current Oswego Cemetery on the west side of Main Street,
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: reported the Record, on Saturday will be held the celebration
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: of the fourth of July in Judson's Grove. The procession
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: will form at eleven o'clock. The Reverend TF. Jessup of
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: Kendall will be the principal orator. Also, Reverend Beans will
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: make a short address. The precedings will be enlivened at
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: intervals by the band, and there will be singing. Croquet
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: playing will form part of the amusement, and there will
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: be races. No popping of fireworks will be allowed on
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: the grounds. But it was always the noise that seemed
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: to make people feel good on July fourth. If it
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: wasn't firing cannons or firing off firecrackers, it was firing anvils.
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: Wait anvils. The Record reported from Oswego on July sixth,
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: eighteen eighty two, that the glorious racket was commenced earlier
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: this morning with thirteen anvils before Sunray's. The weather was
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: gloriously chilly. The Garfield campaigned pole was lowered yesterday, the
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: rope adjusted, and from it the glorious old flag is
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: now waving. What exactly was firing an anvil? Well, it
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: was a truly glorious way to make a heck of
• 5:37
  Speaker 1: a racket without benefit of cannon, and that looked a
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: lot like one of the experiments they conducted on the
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: Mythbuster's cable TV show. Firing an anvil requires at least
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: two large iron blacksmith anvils, one of which is placed
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: upside down on the ground with its base facing up.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: The base, which is slightly concave, is filled level full
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: or a bit higher with black gunpowder, a fuse inserted,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: and the second anvil, called the flyer, is placed carefully
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: right side up on the base. The fuse is lit,
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: and the resulting explosion can blow the flyer up to
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty feet into the air, depending on
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: how much gunpowder will fit in the base anvil. If
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: you'd like to watch an actual anvil firing, go to
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: this year's Fourth of July will undoubtedly involve plenty of
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: noisy and entertaining celebrations, but part of the fund ought
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: to be realizing our great great grandparents could be just
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: as if not more wacky, as we are today. Looking
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: for more local history, visit