This month of Stories of Our Holidays has just one holiday — the fourth of July!
Fourth of July’s reading words are
Fourth of July
I
terrible firecrackers
Bang! Bang! Bang! Oh, what a terrible noise! I hear fire-crackers.
I hear bells ringing. Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
I hear drums beating. Rub-a-dub-dub! Rub-a-dub-dub!
I wonder what is going on. It must be the Fourth of July.
Why do we have Fourth of July? Let me tell you why. It is our country’s birthday.
II
United States trains bonfires July galloped cannon
Here is the story of our country’s birthday.
It was after the ride of Paul Revere. It was after the battle of Bunker Hill.
Our soldiers were still fighting. George Washington was their general.
Our country was not free then. It was not the United States.
The king of England was our king. We called England our mother country.
The king kept sending more soldiers.
Some of our men said, “The king does not love our country any more. We ought to be a free country. We must be a free country.”
The people talked about it and chose leaders. They told the leaders to do whatever was best for the country.
They said, “We will trust our leaders.”
One man wrote a long paper. The paper said that our country was free.
Our leaders said, “What shall we do? Shall we write our names on that paper? It will mean that our country is free. Is that the best thing to do?”
When do you think they made up their minds? It was on the Fourth of July.
They said, “We will write our names on that paper. Our country is free.”
Men rode on horseback to tell the glad news. There were no trains then, but the men rode fast. They galloped their horses.
How happy the people were!
They said, “Our leaders have done the right thing.”
Everywhere people shouted for joy. The bells were rung. Ding-dong! Ding-dong! Ding-dong!
“Our country is free!” they said.
The men built big bonfires. The soldiers beat their drums. They fired off their cannon.
Everybody was happy. It was our country’s birthday.
Now we are the United States.
Every Fourth of July we are happy because it is our country’s birthday.
Will you try to remember what it means?
*****
I thought this one was kind of funny because it doesn’t even teach you anything — in fact, it makes no sense at all. This explanation of the 4th of July seems like it was written by someone who knew less about the holiday than the children did.
It acts as if the United States just decided they would be their own country and that was it. It has no mention of the American Revolutionary War, and acts as if everything was happy and set from the get-go. Yikes!
There are also photos of Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell for no apparent reason.
The next entry, which will be for August, is no holiday at all — it’s just a story about children playing. It’s kind of strange that they didn’t bother with thinking up any kind of occasion for August, but I’ll add it anyway. See you next month!
