frocks and
sunbonnets walked side by side with their daughters in white muslin and
pink sashes, with gala hats on their young heads. The avenue was a sight
and a scandal. Strings ran across from house to house high above the
heads of the throng, upon which little yellow flags with "Votes for
Women" hung thick as waving goldenrod upon October hills, alternating
with the red, white, and blue larkspur of the national colours. The
Women's Cooeperative Store was a seething beehive of activity. There was
a cake and lemonade stand stretching across the entire front, where, for
the first time in the history of glorious Fourths, you got your lemonade
and gluttonous wedges of cake free of charge. This may or may not have
accounted for the fact that, as the day advanced, the avenue outdid the
square in popularity. The latter was barely able to hold its own by
means of a very tall greased pole with a ten-dollar bill sticking on top
of it, which was to be had by any boy climbing the pole. The crowd
yelled itself hoarse as urchin after urchin slid back to defeat. Finally
a little fellow, who had surreptitiously smeared the inside of his
breeches with pitch, reached the top and seized the prize. The crowd
went wild, threw its hats high in the air over this performance, then,
with the fickleness of its nature, it turned again toward the avenue and
the free lemonade dispensed by the fairest maidens in Jordantown. But
before the stream could turn the corner, a long-legged black pig greased
with the lard of its forbears was turned loose--to become the property
of any man who could catch and hold him. A wild scramble ensued. The pig
darted this way and that, slipped nimbly through detaining hands, until,
by much handling, his grease was rubbed off, and he was held, a
squealing trophy, by a young farmer. One after another the attractions
of the square failed, and the crowd surged into the avenue, where it was
fed to repletion--all free of charge. The stomach of man is singularly
elemental in its cravings, and not subject to political or any other
influence which fails to meet this demand.

Long before three o'clock in the afternoon the Town Hall was filled and
jammed to its doors with men and women. The farmers were in such high
good humour that, laying all masculine prejudice aside, they were
determined to witness the last feature of the day's entertainment, or
rather they would indulge in the humour of gratifying their masculine
prejudic