Happy Independence Day Pittsburgh!

Happy Independence Day Pittsburgh!

Fourth of July! It is a day, in the United States, in a manner described to the Goddess of Gunpowder. Ælius, in the classic fable, dedicated one day in the week to burn incense to the memory of Jupiter, and the patriotic, liberty-loving citizens of the United States set aside this day of every year to explode gunpowder by way of commemoration of the Declaration of Independence the spirit of which document is still cherished with characteristic national fervor. It has often struck us as being an odd way of celebrating an event in the annals of history by burning, whizzing, and streaming fireworks. The whole country, from the borders of Maine to the mouth of the Mississippi, is a scene of din and smoke.... Shops are shut, tradesmen suspend business, and even bankers and usurers seem to agree that toil shall have a gala-day.... The rich and the poor alike make merry. ~Henry Howard Paul, "Fourth of July in the United States,"

It is very inspiring, my friends, to come to this that may be called the original fountain of independence and liberty in America and here drink draughts of patriotic feeling which seem to renew the very blood in one's veins. ~Woodrow Wilson, Presidential Address at Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 1914 July 4th

The Fourth of July orator does not drink water between his rests and pauses. He disdains any fluid short of champagne and brandy, which seem to invest, not only himself, but his subject, with additional spirit. Your temperance cold-water orators are apathetic patriots at a dinner-table, being too definite and punctilious to stir up the mass. Sentiments red-hot from the furnace of the heart, and words as strong as Sampson's locks are in demand. Milk and amiability are good things in their way, but to‑day aque vitæ and enthusiasm suit the popular system. All the time this mental fire is going on inside, the fireworks and guns are blazing away incessantly without; squibs sometimes fall at the orator's feet, and if, like Charles the Twelfth, he does not move at the burst, he is unanimously voted as a fearless champion of the Rights of Liberty. Viva! ~Henry Howard Paul, "Fourth of July in the United States," 1851

You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. ~Erma BombeckA statistician made a few calculations and discovered that since the birth of our nation more lives had been lost in celebrating independence than in winning it. ~Curtis Billings

Is American Independence over when the last Fourth of July rocket dies in the darkness? Independence ascends stage by stage, from its infancy in political freedom, on toward a vigorous youth of material and economic emancipation, while the Delectable Mountains of the future beckon us to a national maturity... ~W.J. Cameron, 1937

What was that cluster of stars that fell with a sudden hiss into the blue waters of the bay. A sky-rocket? True—it is time for the fireworks to commence; and now we shall have the really brilliant phase of the festivities of this day of jubilee. Bang! bang! bang!... Turn an ear to the city, and the noise is terrific. Glance along the vista; how the little shooting-crackers sparkle and coruscate, as if the stars had condescended to come upon earth, and have a regular jolly row, just for the fun of the thing. ~Henry Howard Paul, "Fourth of July in the United States," 1851

Have A Great Day & Be Safe!

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