PLANS
“NO firecrackers, and no toy pistols!” exclaimed Ibee Brave to his
Sister Soami, when she told him about the lesson given the girls’ class
the day before. “That’s all right for girls, but I can’t imagine boys
on the glorious Fourth without firecrackers and pistols!”
“You wait until you hear what Miss Helpem told us. Your lesson comes
this afternoon, doesn’t it? You may change your mind,” prophesied Soami.
“Pooh!” exclaimed Ibee. “I bet I don’t! What kind of a fellow would I
be, with a brother off with the troops in Mexico, if I were afraid of a
toy pistol!”
“Oh, dear me,” laughed Soami, “you don’t understand. It’s not the
pistol you ought to be afraid of; it’s——”
“Oh, say, talk sense, can’t you?” exclaimed Ibee. “What are you driving
at, anyhow?”
[Illustration: “NO FIRE CRACKERS AND NO TOY PISTOLS!”]
“That’s all for the present, class,” replied Soami, tantalizingly, as
she ran off with Angie, who had just appeared.
Ibee decided to hunt up Tom Holden before going to class, to find out
what he knew. But Tom hadn’t heard anything about the question.
“I don’t see any harm in a few proper celebrations,” said Tom. “What’s
Miss Helpem’s idea, I wonder?”
By the time the class assembled all the boys had heard something
about “Miss Helpem’s Fourth of July idea,” and there was an unusual
air of expectancy as the assistant nurse came into the class room
carrying—what do you think?—a toy pistol, a bunch of tiny firecrackers,
a bunch of medium-sized firecrackers, and some “giant cannon” crackers.
Of course, they were very tiny, just the right size for Mary Frances’
dolls. The “cannon” crackers were like the tiniest real ones you ever
saw.
Miss Helpem had just laid them all on the little glass table near the
little glass medicine closet, when Shesa Brave came in carrying a
little cannon—which would really “go off, if loaded.”
The boys certainly were surprised, for they thought they were to hear
these very toys condemned.
“Good afternoon, boys,” smiled Miss Helpem, straightening her cap.
“This is to be a very interesting lesson. It’s our Fourth of July
lesson, even though the Fourth doesn’t come until next Tuesday. I
hope we are all going to have a grand time on the Fourth. The girls’
class have planned their part in the town event. Doctor Surecure is in
charge, you know. He is planning a civic and patriotic celebration.
I shall ask Miss Shesa to read you the program. You will notice that
your space is left blank. That is, left open so that we may fill it in
to-day. Now, Shesa, read if you please.”
Shesa read the—
PROGRAM FOR FOURTH OF JULY CELEBRATION
10.00 A. M. Bugle Call to Village Green.
10.05 A. M. Music by Town Band.
10.10 A. M. Reading of Declaration of Independence.
By the Mayor.
10.20 A. M. Flag Raising. Singing: “Star Spangled Banner.”
10.30 A. M. Parade Assembles.
11.00 A. M. Parade Moves:
1. Up Main Street.
2. Through River Avenue.
3. Along Lake Drive.
4. Down Main Street to Village Green.
Order of Parade:
1. Master of Ceremonies on Horseback.
2. Town Council on Horseback.
3. Hearus Band.
4. The Red, White and Blue.
Borne by Six Boy Scouts.
5. The Boy Scouts.
(Who will arrange their own program.)
6. Float:
Camp Fire Girls.
7. The Spirit of ’76.
8. Float:
Our Veterans.
9. Float:
The Spirit of 1916.
10. Floats:
First Aiders:
(_a_) Girls.
(_b_) Boys.
11. Future Citizens:
Baby Parade.
12. Float:
Our Hope.
School House, over which the Dove of Peace hovers
with outstretched wings, just under the American
Flag.
Decorated Dollsmobiles.
(Best to be awarded a silver cup.)
Intermission.
2.00 P. M. Bugle Call to Village Green.
2.05 P. M. Music by Hearus Band.
Reading of Lincoln’s Address at Gettysburg.
By the Mayor.
2.15 P. M. (_a_) Work Horse Parade.
(_b_) Pony Parade.
3.00 P. M. Prizes Awarded.
3.15 P. M. Singing—“America.”
3.30 P. M. Races:
1. Sack Race.
2. Three-legged Race.
(By girls and boys.)
3. Hurdle Race.
4. Fencing Contest.
(Between two boys.)
5. Flag Drill.
By Boy Scouts
and
Blue Birds.
4.30 [P. M.] Music—Hearus Band.
5.00 P. M. Regatta on Looking Glass Lake.
In the evening, fireworks will be set off on the
Village Green in front of Town Hall.
Music by Hearus Band.
_Notice to the Public._
It will be unlawful to use firecrackers and toy pistols
or blank cartridges.
By order of the Town Council.
Signed by THE MAYOR.
“Some program!” commented Tom Holden.
“But why not let us have firecrackers and toy pistols?” asked Ibee
Brave.
“Yes, Miss Helpem, why not?” asked half a dozen voices.
“I am prepared for that question,” smiled the assistant nurse. “If you
will kindly open your note-books, I think by the end of this lesson
you will understand that it is not because anyone wishes to deny you
fun that you are asked not to use these little toys,” pointing to the
table, “but because—well, after you have heard the lesson, I think you
will know something about the danger from—
GUNPOWDER WOUNDS
Gunpowder is not antiseptically clean. It is very dirty
because it contains so many of the deadly germs of
lockjaw.
This germ has such a terrible effect upon the body that
if not destroyed in time, it causes the jaws to lock
so tightly together that they cannot be forced open.
Gradually the patient starves to death and finally dies
in terrible convulsions of pain.
Toy pistols, firecrackers, blank cartridges, being
loaded with gunpowder are very dangerous playthings,
and their use should be discouraged. Any physician or
nurse will tell you that the hospitals have many deaths
from tetanus (lockjaw) after the Fourth of July.
WHAT TO DO FOR POWDER WOUNDS
See a doctor.
Absolutely every wound of this character _must_ be
treated with anti-tetanic serum.
If doctor is not seen immediately, paint with iodine
and anoint with vaseline; but the doctor _must_ be seen.
“We never understood the dangers before, Miss Helpem. Now, what will we
have in that parade?” spoke up the scout patrol leader.
“We need decide only about the float of the first-aiders,” said Miss
Helpem. “Your scout-master will confer with you scouts as to the other
part of the program.”
“Oh, yes,” rejoined the patrol leader; “but, Miss Helpem and Miss
Shesa, have you thought out anything for our first-aiders’ float?”
“To confess the truth,” laughed the nurse, “I think Miss Shesa has no
less than twenty ideas. Will you make a few suggestions to the boys?”
turning to her.
“Miss Helpem has more ideas in a minute than I have in an hour,” began
Shesa, “but she thought one of my ideas good. It seemed to me that you
boys might fix up an improvised first-aid tent on your float, leaving
it on the Village Green after the parade. In case any real accident
occurred, Miss Helpem could have at hand everything she needed—for
somebody might be foolish enough to get hurt. Then you could really do
a little actual service by being at her call.”
“It sounds wonderfully important,” said the patrol leader.
“Only I do wish you boys had had some lessons in bandaging,” commented
Miss Helpem. “But we’ll all do our best, anyway, and look forward with
pleasure to those lessons.”
“Why couldn’t we have a little chap all bandaged up, with that toy
cannon at his feet and a string of firecrackers and a toy pistol in his
hands, with a printed card on him saying, ‘I used these toys on the
Fourth,’ and another little perfectly well chap all dressed in bunting,
carrying a flag and holding a horn, bearing a sign, ‘I didn’t’?” asked
the patrol leader.
[Illustration: “THAT’S A FINE IDEA”]
“That’s a fine idea,” said Ibee Brave, “but where do _we_ come in?”
“We? Oh, we—” the patrol leader answered so lamely that everybody
laughed.
“I can tell you, boys, a good way to be better prepared for important
work,” said Miss Helpem. “If you are willing to take two more lessons
before the Fourth, I feel quite certain Miss Shesa will show you the
simplest first-aid bandages. She has been taking a full course in
first-aid at the hospital, you know. Then, on the float, you may adjust
bandages to each other.”
“That’s awfully kind of Miss Shesa,” said the leader. “Will all you
fellows come?”
Everybody said yes, and the class was dismissed.
“Say, I wonder what the girls are going to do,” exclaimed Tom Holden
suddenly on the way home.
“That’s so! I wonder why we didn’t ask?” said another boy.
“I’ll try to find out,” said Ibee Brave.