|
James Cox - My Native Land
followed by a discharge of field-pieces, were drank, and so the afternoon ended. On the evening there
was a cold collation and a brilliant exhibition of fireworks. The street was crowded with people during
the exhibition.
"What a strange vicissitude in human affairs! These, but a few years since colonies of Great Britain, are
now free, sovereign, and independent States, and now celebrate the anniversary of their independence in
the very city where, but a day or two before, General Howe exhibited his ridiculous Champhaitre."
Independence Hall remains to-day in a marvelous state of preservation. At the great Centennial
Exposition, held to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the events to which we have alluded in this
chapter, tens of thousands of people passed through the room in which the Declaration of Independence
was signed, and gazed with mingled feelings upon the historical bell, which, although it had long
outlived its usefulness, had in days gone by done such grand proclaiming of noble truth, sentiment and
action. Up to quite a recent date, justice was administered in the old building, but most of the courts have
now been moved to the stately structure modern Philadelphia is now erecting at the cost of some
$16,000,000.
Independence Hall and Independence Square are lovingly cared for, and visitors from all nations are
careful to include them both in their tour of sight-seeing while in this country. Within the Hall they find
old parchments and Eighteenth Century curiosities almost without number, and antiquarians find
sufficient to interest and amuse them for several days in succession. Every lover of his native land, no
matter what that land may be, raises his hat in reverence when in this ancient and memory-inspiring
building, and he must be thoughtless, indeed, who can pass through it without paying at least a mental
tribute of respect to the memories of the men who were present at the birth of the greatest nation the
world has ever seen, and who secured for the people of the United States absolute liberty.
The illustration of the interior of Independence Hall on page 17, was furnished for use in this work by the
National Company of St. Louis, publishers of "Our Own Country," a large work descriptive of a tour
throughout the most picturesque sections of the United States. The letter-press in "Our Own Country"
was written by the author of this work, and it is one of the finest tributes to the picturesqueness of
America that has ever been published. Other illustrations in this work were also kindly supplied by the
same publishing house.
CHAPTER II. THE WITCHES OF SALEM.
A Relic of Religious Bigotry - Parson Lawson's Tirade Against Witchcraft - Extraordinary Court Records
of Old Puritan Days - Alleged Supernatural Conjuring - A Man and his Wife both put to Death - Crushed
for Refusing to Plead - A Romance of the Old Days of Witch Persecution.
Among the curiosities of New England shown to tourists and visitors, is the original site of some of the
extraordinary trials and executions for witchcraft in the town of Salem, now known as Danvers, Mass.
Looking back upon the events of two hundred years ago, the prosecution of the alleged witches appears
to us to have been persecution of the most infamous type. The only justification for the stern Puritans is
the fact that they inherited their ideas of witchcraft and its evils from their forefathers, and from the
country whence most of them came.
One of the earliest precepts of religious bigotry was, "Thou shalt not allow a witch to live," and from
time immemorial witchcraft appears to have been a capital offense. It is on record that thousands of
people have, from time to time, been legally murdered for alleged intercourse and leaguing with the Evil
|
