3rty Bell and § Independence Hall. S t^^99999*9999*9W fHE famous bell that pealed the tidings of our first Fourth of July now stands, toneless, in the old Independence Hall at Philadel phia, but still ever was, after the lapse of a hundred years and more. Little did its makers realize that Ihe bell they were sending to a mere town hall in the far-off colony would be held in affectionate remembrance by a preat Nation a century later, nor was there an inkling of its future fame given the men who ordered the bell, despite the inscription stamped upon it. Isaac Norris, Thomas Leech and Edward Warner of the Province of Pennsylvania were the men who, aet 1-1 112 J^% ' vo* </ * v " il! '< * ' FRONT VIEW OF EXTERIOR OF INDEPENDENCE HALL. lng under the nutliority vesfed in them by the Assembly, wrote to Rob ert Charles of London soliciting his assistance in securing "a good bell of about 2,000 lbs." Above the Inscrip tion stating the act from which the bell drew its existence they ordered this inscription: Proclaim Liberty throughout all the land to all the inhabitants thereof.— Lev. sxv., 10. The bell was cast in Whitecliapel, by whom it is not known, and when brought on shore and hung in the bel fry of Independence Hall it was cracked by the tirst stroke of the clap per. The bell was recast by Pass & Stowe of Philadelphia. The result of their work was more pleasing to the eye than the English model, but it was deficient in tone.. The firm there upon made a new mold of different proportions, and again cast the bell. _ nyyvyy-i ~r 1 LIBERTY BELL AND BTAIBWAY TO TOWEB. ' In 1777, previous to the entry of the British, this bell, since known as Lib erty Bell, was removed to a place of safety. The elements had, by 1774, damaged the steeple and roof of Inde pendence Hall, so that the Assembly ordered the former taken down and the latter recovered. The events of the Revolution interfered with this intention until 1781. At that time the bell was brought back from Bethle hem, whither it had been transported, and put up under the roof and sus pended in the belfry by four posts, The old bell which, according to the poetic fancy of Isaac Norris, was or dered to be rung on July 4, 1776, in celebration of the Declaration of In dependence, which was read on that day, was removed to a lower story of the tower and only rung on special oc casions. "it was tolled In rejoicing at the news of the passage by the British Parliament of the act emancipating the R6man Catholics in 1828. It was sounded Feb. 22, 1832, in celebration of the centennial of Washington's birth. It was cracked on July 8, 1835, while tolling in memory of Chief Jus tice Marshall. On Washington's Birthday, in 1843, the crack was so much larger in size that the bell henceforth was mute forever. The old Independence Hall Itself was built in 1732 on a lot purchased by William Allen. Andrew Hamilton, then Speaker, prepared the plans and was the architect. The building was occupied for the first time by the As sembly in 1735. Along the sides of the main chamber were erected low wooden sheds of ob long shape, intended for the use of Indian deputations that often visited the city in large numbers. These sheds were pressed into service as store houses for ammunition, cannon and muskets during the Revolution. There was originally no tower to the State Hoifie, and the appropriation was not made until 1750 for this desir- able addition, together with another "structure on the south side, with a staircase and a suitable place for hanging a bell." In 1785 Colonel George Morgan pre sented the State with 100 eluis, which were planted in the square occupied by Independence Hall and other buildings. This was the beginning of a series of improvements, and was followed by the erection of a brick wall around the inclosure to protect it from intrusion. The wall had a cen tral iron gate which rose high r.nd proudly, like a grand doorway. When the seat of the Federal Gov ernment was removed to Philadelphia the County Court House portion of the building was given up to Con gress. The Senate occupied the sec ond floor, back, and the House of Representatives the first floor, hack. The Senate of that clay was remarka ble for its great gravity and dignity. Senators appeared each morning dress ed in richest material. Washington and Adams were inaugurated as Pres ident and Vice President in these rooms. The tribunal occupied the back room on the second floor. The District and the United States Circuit Court al6o occupied this chamber. Popular demonstrations naturally sought the State House as an appro priate place for the promulgation of their views. The City Regiment. 1.000 strong, met there in 1748, when trou ble threatened between England and France, and elected "Abe" Taylor Colonel, Thomas Lawrence, Lieuten ant Colonel and Samuel McCall Ma jor. Here also gathered the indignant protestors against the Stamp act in 1765, to deputize James Tilgham, Robert Morris, Charles Thomson, Ar chibald McCall, John Cox, William Richards and William Bradford to call upon John Hughes, Stamp Co'.lec tor, to protest against the Stamp act. On hearing the news of Lexington and Concord, 8,000 persons swarmed to the historic spot to send greetings of encouragement to their New Eng land brethren and to form a battalion of soldiers which they organized by selecting as Colonels John Cadwalla der, John Dickinson and Daniel Itob erdean. In 1787 the delegates framed in the famous hall the Constitution of the United States. It is no wonder, then, that this old hall, the scene of such stirring deeds, is held sacred by all Americans as a possession inexpressibly dear. When a man growls about the weath er it is because of crops or business; ' with a woman it is bonnets. Revolutionary Coat Maker*. In the summer of 1775, when the preparations for the War of the Revo lution were in a most unsettled and depressing condition, especially the supplies for the Continental army, the Provincial Congress made a demand upon the people for thirteen thousand warm coats, to be ready for the sol diers by cold weather. There were no great contractors, however, to sup ply the cloth and mnko the garments, but hundreds of hearthstones through out the country, wool wheels, and looms were started eagerly to work, and the order was filled by the handi work of patriotic American women. In the record book of some New Eng land towns may still be found the list of the coat makers. In the in side of each coat was sewed the name of the town and the maker. Every soldier volunteering for eight months' service was given one of these home spun, homemade, all wool coats us a bounty. A Conducive Argument. "Say, paw, can I have a nickel to buy some firecrackers with?" "No, Johnny, I don't believe In let ting children play with explosives. It is a very dangerous pastime." "All the other boys does." "That makes no difference. I con sider it a foolish waste of money, and I will not allow it" "All right, but you'll be sorry some day." "What do you mean?" "Well, s'posin' I should run for Pres ident when I get big, an' s'posin' the people should find out that I didn't celebrate the Fourth when I was a kid, what kind of a show would I stand then. I bet you'll wish you'd given me all the fireworks I wanted." One Little Firecracker. One little firecracker, eager ror a lark; Two little shavings ready for a. spark; Three little papers in a pretty iittle blaze; Four little flames going all sorts of ways; Five little dry sticks just in trim to burn; Six old timbers waiting for their turn; Seven great stories full of fire and fright; Eight burning buildings—such a sorrr sight! Nine big blocks—up in flames they leap! Ten million dollars in a blackened heap! They Were Carried Away With It. "Now, fellers, wait till yer hear de report dis gun will make." The report. THE DECLARATION THE 112 I FIRST TIME IN NEW YORK, j tooooooooooooooooooooooooc fO N July 9,1770 Gen. Wash up bis littl* ' mm. what Is now the Park Row side and fronting where stands the site of the Franklin stat ue. A copy of the Declaration ol Independence, signed in Philadelphia, had just reached New York City and It was to be read to the Continentals. Washington was on horseback in the center of the brigade squares, where, at 0 p. m.on a delightful sum mer evening, the Declaration was read to the troops, a large fringe of the populace standing in the rear toward Broadway. Aide-de-Camp Samuel Webb, the grandfather of Major-Gen eral Alexander F. Webb, now presi dent of our City College, read the document in a ringing voice. In the evening many incipient Sons of Liberty who had listened to the reading made an impromptu expedi tion to Bowling Green in order to vent their pent-up indignation upon the BEADIXQ OF THE DECLARATION OF IN DEPENDENCE BEFORE THE ARMY IN NEW YORK, JULY 9, 1776. equestrian statue of gilded lead that had been erected half a dozen years previously In honor of George 111. A few of the Continental soldiers, who were afterwlird reprimanded, aided in pulling the statue from its pedestal. Eventually it was cast into 45,1(00 bul lets, and, as "melted majesty," was fired at the King's troops in the battles that soon followed at Long Island, Harlaeui, Knight's Bridge and White Plains. The pedestal itself during half a century served as a doorstep foi the Van Voorst family in Jersey City. The occupation by the British ot New York City from 1777 to 1783 pre vented any either reading of the Dec laration until July 4, 1754, when it was read again in the park to a great concourse by Alexander Hamiltor while standing so as to face a greai crowd at where is now seen the part statue of Nathan Hale. A Victim. lie is minns a piece of his arm. For the surgeon found out he musi dock It. Though he tried to keep out of al" harm, lie lit the wrong end of the rocket. No Fun For Biin. Biggs—"Are you going to celebratf the Fourth?" Boggs—"Not much. That's my busj day. I'm in the fire insurance busi ness, you know." DR. TALMAGES SEBMON. SUNDAY'S DISCOURSE Br THE NOTED DIVINE. Subject: Clirlat Our Refuse A Steuage of Comfort. Commending the Behav ior of the Dlceiple* to Who Are ilurdened With Sorrow. ]Copyright lnuo.l WASHINGTON, D. C.—Dr. Talmage, in the following dis. ,urse, which ne hassc-i for publication this week, gives a prescrip tion for all anxiety and worriraent. and illustrates the divine sympathy for all who are in any kind of struggle. The te-t is Matthew xiv, 12, "And His disciples went and told Jesus." An outrac»ous assassination had just taken place. To appease a revengeful woman King Herod ordered the death of that noble, self-sacrificing prophet. John the Baptist. the group of tne disciples were thrown into grief and dismay. They felt themselves utterly defenseless. There was no authority to which they cjuld ap peal, and yet grief must always find ex {>ression. If there be no human ear to lear it, then the agonized soul will cry it aloud to the winds and the woods and the waters. But 'here was an ear that was willing to listen. There is a tenner pa thos and at the same time a most admir able picture in the words of my text, "They went and to d Jesus." He could understand all iheir grief, and He imme diately soothed it. Our burdens are not more than half so heavy to carry if another Bhoulder is put under the other end of them. Here we find Christ, His brow shadowed with grief, standing amid the group of disciTjle.--, who, with tears and violent gesticulations and wringing of hands and outcry of bereavement, are ex pressing their woe. ltaphael, with his skilltul brush, putting upon the wall of a palace some scene of sacred story, gave not so skillful a stroke as when tlie plain hand of the evangelist writes, "They went anu told Jesus." The old Goths and Vandals once came down upon Italy from the north Eu rope, and they upset the gardens, and they broke down the statues and sv.-ept away everything that was good and beau tiful. So there is ever anu anon in ihe history of all the sons and daughter.-! of our race an incursion of rough handed troubles that come to plunder and ran sack and put to the torch all that men highly prize. There is no cave so deeply cleft into the mountains as to afford us shelter, and the foot of fleetest courser cannot bear us beyond the quick pursuit. The arrows they i>ut to the string nv with unerring dart until we fall pierced and stunned! 1 teel that I bring to you a most appro priate message. 1 mean to bind up all your griefs into a bundle ami set them on fire with a spark from God's altar. The prescription that cured the sorrow of the disciples will cure all your heartaches. I have read that hen Godfrey and his army marched out to capture Jerusalem* as they came over the hills, at the first Hash of the pinnacles of that beautiful city, the army that had marched in si lence lifted a shout that made the earth tremble. Oh, you soldiers of Jesus Christ, mnrclung cn toward heaven. J would that to-day. by some gleam from the palace of (rod's meny and God's strength, you might be lifted into (Treat rejoicing and that as the prospect of its peace breaks or your enraptured gaze you might raise one glad hosanna to the Lord! In the first place J commend the beha vior of those disciples to all burdened souls who are unpardoned. There comes a time in almost every man's history when he feels from some source that he has an erring nature. The thought may not have such heft as to fell him. It may be only like the dash in an evening cloud just after a very hot summer day. One man to get rid "112 that impression will goto prayer, another will stimulate himself by ardent spirits, and another man will dive deeper in seeularities. But sometimes a man can not get rid of these impressions. The fact is. when a man finds out that his eternity is poised upon a perfect uncertainty, and that the next moment his foot may slip, he must do something violent to make him self forget where lie stands or else fly for refuge. Some of you crouch under a yoke, and you bite the dust when this moment you might rise up a crowned conqueror. Driven and perplexed as you have been by sin. go and tell Jesus. To relax the grip of death from your soul and plant your unshackled feet upon the golden throne Christ let the tortures of the bloody mount transfix Him. With the beam of His own cross lie will break down the door rf your dun geon. From the thorns of tiis own crown He will pick enough gems to make your brow blaze with eternal victory. In even tear on His wet cheek, in every gash of His side, in every long, blackening mark of laceration from shoulder to shoulder, in the grave shatterinir. heaven storming death groan 1 hear Him say. "He that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out." "Oh," but you say, "instead of curing my wound you want to make another wound—namely, that of conviction!" Have you never known a surgeon to come and find a chronic disease and then with sharp caustic bum it all out? So the grace of God coiVies to the old sore of sin. It has long been rankling there: but. by divine grace, it is burned out through these fires of conviction, "the flesh comin" again as the flesh of a little child:" "where sin abounded, grace much more aboundeth." With the ten thousand unpardonable sins of your life, go and tell Jesus. You will never get rid of your sins in any other way, and remember that the broad invitation which I extend_ to you will not always be extended. King Al fred. before modern timepieces were in vented. used to divide the day into three parts, eight hourseach. and then had three wax candles. By the time the first candle had burned to the socket eight hours had f;one. and when the second candle had mrned to the socket another eight hours had gone, and when all the three candles were gone out then the day had passed. Oh. that some of us, instead of calculating our days and nights and years by any earthly timepiece, might calculate them by the numbers of onportunities and mer cies which are burning down and burning out, never to be relighted, lest at last we be amid the foolish virgins who cried, "Our lamps have gone out!" Again, I commend the behavior of the disciples to all who are tempted. I have heard men in mid-life say thev had never been led into temptation. If you have not felt temptation, it is because you have not tried to do right. A man hopnled and handcuffed, as long as he lies quietly, does not test the power of the chair., but when he rises up and with determination re solves to snap the handcuff or break the hopple then he finds the power of the iron. And there are men who have been for ten unci twenty and thirty years bound hand and foot by evil habits who have never felt the power of the ehain because they have never tried to break it. It is very easv togo on down with the stream and with the wind lying on your oars, but just turn around and try togo against the wind and the tide, and you will find it is » different matter. As long as we go down the current of our evil habit we seem to get along quae smoothly, but if after a while we turn around and h:: l the other way, toward Christ and pardon and heaven, oh, then how we have to lay to the oars! You will have your tempta.icn. You have one kind, you another, you an other, not one person escaping. Again, I commend the behavior of the disciples to all those who are abu:cd an J to the slandered and perfecuted. When Herod put John to death, the disciples knew that their own heads were not safe. And dj you know that every John has a Herod? There are persons in life who do not wish you very well. Your misfortunes are honey com L.to them. Through their teeth they hiss at you, misinterpret your motive*, and would be glad to see you up- . net. No man gets through life without having u pommeling. Some slander cornea after you horned and husked and hoofed to gore and trample you, and what are you to do? I tell you olainly that all who serve Christ must suffer persecution. It is the worst sign in the world for you to be be able to say, "I have not an enemy in the world." A woe is pronounced in the Bible against the one of whom everybody speaks well. If you arc at peace with all tlie world and everybod • likes you and approves your work, it is because you are an idler in the Lord's vineyard and are not doing your duty. All those who have served Christ, however eminent, all have been maltreated at some stage of their ex- i perience. You know it was so in the time * of George Whitefield when he stood and invited men into the kingdom of God. What did the learned Dr. Johnson say of him? He pronounced him a miserable mountebank. How was it when Robert Hall stood and spoke aB scarcely any unin spired man ever did speak of the glories of heaven? And as he stood Sabbath af ter Sabbath preaching on these themes his face kindled with the glory. John Foster, a Christian man, said of this man, '"Robert Hall is only acting, and the smile on his face is a reflection of his own van ity." .lohn Wesley turned all England upside down with Christian reform, and yet the punsters were after him. and the meanest jokes ;n England were perpetrated about John Wesley. What is true of the pulpit is true of the pew: it is true cf the street: it is true of the shop and the store.. ' All who live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer persecution. And I set it down as the very worst sign in all your Christian experience if you are any of you at peace with all the world. The religion of Christ is war. It is a challenge to"the world, the flesh and the devil," and if you will buckle on the whole armor of God you will find a great host disputing your path between ibis and heaven. Again, I commend the behavior of the disciples to all the bereaved. How many in garb of mourning! How many emblems of sorrow you behold everywhere. God has His own way of taking apar a fam ily. We must get out of the way for com ing generations. We must get off the stage that others may come on.and for this reason there is a long procession reach ing down all the time into the valley of shadows. This emigration from time into eternity is so vast an enterprise that wt cannot understand it. Every hour we hear * the clang of the sepulchral gate. Tht sod must be broken. The ground must bt plowed for resurrection harvest. Eternity must be peopled. The dust must press out eyelids. "It is appointed unto all men once to die." This emigration from tinu into eternity keeps three-fourths of the families of the earth in desolation. The air is rent with farewells, and the black tasseled vehicles of death rumble through every street. The body of the child that was folded so closely to the mother's heart is put away in the cold and the darkness The laughter freezes to the girl's lip, and the rose scatters. The bov in the harvest field of Shunem says. "My head, my head!" and they tarry him home to die on the lap of his mother. Widowhood stands with tragedies of woe struck into the pal lor of the check. Orphanage cries in vain for father and mother. Oh. the grave is cruel! With teeth of stone it clutches foi its prey. Between the closing gates of tht sepuleher our hearts are mangled and crushed. But Christ is always near—before you, behind you, within you. No mother ever threw her arms around her child with such warmth and testacy of affection as Christ has shown toward you. Clone at hand, nearer than tne staff upor which you lean, nearer than the cup you put to your lip, nearer than the handker chief with which you wipe away your tears. I preach Him an ever present, all sympa thizing, compassionate Jesus. How can you stay away one moment from Him with your griefs? Go now. (io and tell Jesus. It is often that friends have no power to relieve us. They would very much like to do it, but they cannot disentangle our finances, they cannot cure our sickness and raise our dead, but glory be to God that He to whom the disciples went has all power in heaven and on earth, and at oui call He will balk our calamities and at just the right time, in the presence of an applauding earth and a resounding heaven, will raise our dead. He is mightier than Herod. He is swifter than the storm. Ht is grander than the sea. He is vaster than eternity. And every sword of Hod's om nipotence will leap from its scabbard and the resources of infinity be exhausted rath er than that Goa s child shall not be de livered when fie cries to Him for rescue. Suppose your child was in trouble. How much would you endure to get him out': Vou would say. "1 don't care what it will cost. I must get him out of that trouble." Do you think God is not so good a father as you? Seeing you are in trouble and *• having all power, will 11c not stretch out His arm and deliver you? He will. He is mighty to save. He can level the mount ain and divide the sea, and can extinguish the lire and save the soul. Not dim of eye, not weak of arm, not feeble of re sources. but with all eternity and the uni verse at His feet. Go and tell Jesus. Will you ? Ye whose cheeks are wet with the night dew of the grave, ye who cannot look up, ye whose hearts are dried with the breath of sirocco, in the name of the religion of Jesus Christ, which lifts everv burden and wipes away every tear and delivers every captive and lightens every darkness, I im plore you now go and tell Jesus. A little child went with her father, a sea captain, to sea, and when the first storm came the little child was very much frightened, and in the night rushed out of the cabin and said. "Where is father, where is father?' Then they told her, "Father is on deck guiding the vessel and watching the storm." The little child im mediately returned to her berth and said, "It's all right, for father's on deck." O ye who are tossed and driven in this world, up by the mountains and down by the valleys and at your wits' ends, 1 want you to know the Lord God is guiding the ship. Your Father is on deck. He will bring you through the darkness into the harbor. Trust in the Lord. Go and tell Jesus. If you goto Him for pardon and sym pathy, all is well. Everything will bright en up. and joy will come to the heart, and sorrow will depart, your sins will be for given, and ybur foot will touch the up ward path, and the shining messengers that report above what is done here will tell it until the great arches of God re sound with the glad tidings if now with contrition and full trustfulness of soul you will only go and tell Jesus. But I am oppressed as I think of those who may not take this counsel and may remain unblessed. 1 cannot help asking what will be the destiny of these people. Xerxes looked off on his army. There were 2.000,(100, perhaps the finest army ever mar shaled. Xerxes rode along the lines, re viewed them, came hack, and stood on some high point, looked off upon the 2.000,- 000 men and burst into tears. At that mo ment, when every one supposed he would lie in the greatest exultation, he broke down in grief. They asked him why he wept. "Ah." he said, "I weep at the thought that so soon all this host will be dead." So 1 think of these vast popula tions of immortal men and women and re alize the fact that soon the places which know them now will know them no more, and they will be gone—whither, whither? There is a stirring idea which the poet putin very peculiar verse when he said: 'Tie not for man to trifle: life h brief, And sin is here; Our age is but the falling of a k _f, A dropping tear. Not many lives, but only one have wc— One, onlv one; How sacred snould that one life ever be- That narrow span!
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers