HOW I DECORATED ON THE FOURTH
In my home village the Fourth was to be celebrated, and citizens were especially requested to decorate their residences. The Red the White and the Blue are familiar colors to my family. During the long years of the civil war, my home blossomed like a garden with those hues, though at times black mingled with these bright colors. Once, before the war, when John Brown gave his life for his principles; then again when Lincoln was assassinated, and on Memorial Days. But the morning of this Fourth of July, 1879, I bethought it was best to again drape the colors in black, for are not treachery and falsehood more to be mourned than the end of a good life? And is not our country false to all its principles? And why should I fling its banners to the breese when it does not protect my rights?
In the early morning hour I hurried to the printers. “Can you let me have a number of large letters?”
“We can print what you wish.”
“At once?”
“Yes, at once.”
I wrote a few lines, “Send me those as soon as possible.”
While I was thus engaged, the national colors had been draped from my upper windows, hanging in graceful, sweeping festoons; flags had been suspended; trees and bushes had burst into sudden bloom. A few short moments more and two large pillars of my front verandah appeared in large, black letters upon a white-ground, the immortal truth repeated each Independence Day, “GOVERNMENTS DERIVE THEIR JUST POWERS FROM THE CONSENT OF THE GOVERNED.” Following this, “THE BALLOT IS THE METHOD OF CONSENT,” and below these words, “WOMAN HAS NOT CONSENTED.” Underneath all was a black band. Above was suspended the stars and stripes draped in mourning.
Upon a frame midway between the verandah and the gate were the words, “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION IS TYRANNY.” “WOMAN IS TAXED WHILE NOT REPRESENTED.”
Thus was my share of the decoration complete. Neighbors said “All right!” “That reads well.” “Glad to see you thus presenting your principles.”
Strangers looked, reading aloud and commenting; one Dutch artillery man from abroad saying “You beats them all mit your decorations.” Children queried, “What does that say ? What does it mean ?” The brighter ones replying, “Woman can't vote,” and so through the long Independence Day, until when too late to decipher the words from the street, the yard was even entered, those phrases were read and commented upon, and the seeds of a new meaning to certain familiar holiday sentiments were sown, doing more to instruct the multitude than the oft-read “Declaration,” whose familiar words tickle the ear each returning Fourth, to slip off the conscience as readily as off the orator’s tongue.
Women, how many of you thus protested upon Independence Day? No grander time to instruct the people ever comes, and that one day of the year such opportunity lies in the hands of all.
Transcribed from The National Citizen and Ballot Box, July 1879, page 2. Source: Toledo Lucas County Public Library Newspapers Collections at ohiomemory.org. Accessed June 26, 2024.
This wonderful excerpt was brought to our attention by Gage Center supporter, Tracy Allen.
