Huzza! We are free!

I’ve always thought it was in the small towns that celebrations like those on the Fourth of July seemed most to reflect the character of our people.
Part of that thinking may come from the fact that about this time of year I usually delve again into the books and stories of Mark Twain. For some reason, Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn and some other of Twain’s independent rascals get tangled into my image of old-fashioned hometown celebrations with Sousa marches coming from bandstands in the square, kids popping firecrackers and rasslin’ in the grass, soaking up lemonade and homemade ice cream.
Tom and Huck and Twain figures like them were not untypical of generations of Americans who were filled with salt and vinegar – and the vision to create a nation that, for all its faults and problems, is still the envy of the world.
Small-town folk caught on to that early on. They saw Independence Day as an opportunity to celebrate the Declaration of Independence and all that it has meant, but also to promote themselves, show off some, to bring folks to town for a little fun and – it is the American way – for a little commerce.
For many years the Woodmen of the World led the big celebration in St. Martinville, and put on quite an event. The full-page ad in The Weekly Messenger in 1915 called for people from all around to come to town for a “big free parade” featuring “floats, automobiles, marching Woodmen and Boys of Woodcraft,” and more. That would be followed by patriotic speeches, debates, singing, drills, barbecue, a baseball game, and fireworks in the evening – in short, “A Real Old-Fashioned Fourth of July.”
The volunteer fire departments led the celebration in several communities and were featured prominently in the parades. The order of procession in Lafayette in 1912 was: “Mounted Police, U.S. Flag, Lafayette Concert Band, Grand Marshal, Four Young Ladies on Horseback, City Council, Firemen of ’76 Alfred Hebert and Jean Brun, Officers of Fire Department, Pelican Fire Co., Fire Co. No. 1, Home Fire Co., Couvillion Fire Co., Young American Hook & Ladder, Decorated Carriages.”
In 1909, the Rice Belt Journal pointed out a practical side to all this patriotism: “The celebration held here last year proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, that Welsh can put up as good a celebration as any of the towns in this section of the state. It further demonstrated that to do so is a paying proposition. ... It is a well recognized fact that the American people will spend their money on this day, and if we do not give them a chance to spend it here … they will go elsewhere to spend it.”
Welsh threw a party that kept getting bigger until, several years later, a Journal ad proclaimed that “all previous celebrations will be eclipsed in magnitude and grandeur.” The program for that Fourth of July included races, games, speeches, two championship baseball games, and music by the town’s brass band.
The Abbeville celebration in 1905 was typical in other communities as well. The Meridional reported, “From early morning until late at night the noise of guns, the fun and frolic of the multitude, the music of the band and the indulgence in sports and dance continued,” even though, “as usual … the rain spoiled some of the outdoor features … but … could not dampen the good nature and jollity of the people,”
And throughout the years editors of the community newspapers paused to reflect on the meaning of the day, such as in this description of the signing of the declaration by the St. Landry Clarion in 1903:
When the signing was complete, the article reported, a small boy who had been assigned the task “rushed to the old bellman, waiting with the rope in his hand to ring out liberty on the liberty bell. ‘Ring! Ring! Ring!’ the boy shouted, and the old bellman threw his whole weight upon the rope and the tongue of that liberty bell spoke to the crowd, and said, ‘We are free; the life of a new and great nation has begun. Rejoice and be glad.’ And the people shouted ‘Huzza! We are free!’”

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.