anniversary "should be observed" on any of those various
outlying dates which by now, must have produced in her
immediate people such indecision as to the date upon
which Her Majesty really did come into the world. That
day, and that only, was the observed, the celebrated, a
day with an essence in it, dawning more gloriously than
other days and ending more regretfully, unless, indeed,
it fell on a Sunday when it was "kept" on the Monday,
with a slightly clouded feeling that it wasn't exactly
the same thing. Travelled persons, who had spent the
anniversary there, were apt to come back with a poor
opinion of its celebration in "the old country"--a pleasant
relish to the more-than-ever appreciated advantages of
the new, the advantages that came out so by contrast.
More space such persons indicated, more enterprise they
boasted, and even more loyalty they would flourish, all
with an affectionate reminiscent smile at the little ways
of a grandmother. A "Bank" holiday, indeed! Here it was
a real holiday, that woke you with bells and cannon--who
has forgotten the time the ancient piece of ordnance in
"the Square" blew out all the windows in the Methodist
church?--and went on with squibs and crackers till you
didn't know where to step on the sidewalks, and ended up
splendidly with rockets and fire-balloons and drunken
Indians vociferous on their way to the lock-up. Such a
day for the hotels, with teams hitched three abreast in
front of their aromatic barrooms; such a day for the
circus, with half the farmers of Fox County agape before
the posters--with all their chic and shock they cannot
produce such posters nowadays, nor are there any vacant