Solomon John had been very busy in inventing some fireworks.As Mrs.Peterkin objected to the use of gunpowder, he found out from the dictionary what the different parts of gunpowder are,-saltpetre, charcoal, and sulphur.Charcoal, he discovered, they had in the wood-house; saltpetre they would find in the cellar, in the beef barrel; and sulphur they could buy at the apothecary's.He explained to his mother that these materials had never yet exploded in the house, and she was quieted.
Agamemnon, meanwhile, remembered a recipe he had read somewhere for making a "fulminating paste" of iron-filings and powder of brimstone.He had written it down on a piece of paper in his pocket-book.But the iron filings must be finely powdered.
This they began upon a day or two before, and the very afternoon before laid out some of the paste on the piazza.
Pin-wheels and rockets were contributed by Mr.Peterkin for the evening.
According to a programme drawn up by Agamemnon and Solomon John, the reading of the Declaration of Independence was to take place in the morning, on the piazza, under the flags.
The Bromwicks brought over their flag to hang over the door.
"That is what the lady from Philadelphia meant," explained Elizabeth Eliza.
"She said the flags of our country," said the little boys."We thought she meant 'in the country.'"Quite a company assembled; but it seemed nobody had a copy of the Declaration of Independence.
Elizabeth Eliza said she could say one line, if they each could add as much.But it proved they all knew the same line that she did, as they began:- "When, in the course of-when, in the course of-when, in the course of human-when in the course of human events-when, in the course of human events, it becomes-when, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary-when, in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one people"- They could not get any farther.Some of the party decided that "one people" was a good place to stop, and the little boys sent off some fresh torpedoes in honor of the people.But Mr.Peterkin was not satisfied.He invited the assembled party to stay until sunset, and meanwhile he would find a copy, and torpedoes were to be saved to be fired off at the close of every sentence.
And now the noon bells rang and the noon bells ceased.
Mrs.Peterkin wanted to ask everybody to dinner.She should have some cold beef.She had let Amanda go, because it was the Fourth, and everybody ought to be free that one day; so she could not have much of a dinner.But when she went to cut her beef she found Solomon had taken it to soak, on account of the saltpetre, for the fireworks!
Well, they had a pig; so she took a ham, and the boys had bought tamarinds and buns and a cocoa-nut.So the company stayed on, and when the Antiques and Horribles passed again they were treated to pea-nuts and lemonade.
They sung patriotic songs, they told stories, they fired torpedoes, they frightened the cats with them.It was a warm afternoon; the red poppies were out wide, and the hot sun poured down on the alley-ways in the garden.There was a seething sound of a hot day in the buzzing of insects, in the steaming heat that came up from the ground.Some neighboring boys were firing a toy cannon.
Every time it went off Mrs.Peterkin started, and looked to see if one of the little boys was gone.Mr.Peterkin had set out to find a copy of the "Declaration."Agamemnon had disappeared.She had not a moment to decide about her headache.
She asked Ann Maria if she were not anxious about the fireworks, and if rockets were not dangerous.They went up, but you were never sure where they came down.
And then came a fresh tumult! All the fire-engines in town rushed toward them, clanging with bells, men and boys yelling! They were out for a practice and for a Fourth-of-July show.
Mrs.Peterkin thought the house was on fire, and so did some of the guests.
There was great rushing hither and thither.Some thought they would better go home; some thought they would better stay.Mrs.
Peterkin hastened into the house to save herself, or see what she could save.Elizabeth Eliza followed her, first proceeding to collect all the pokers and tongs she could find, because they could be thrown out of the window without breaking.She had read of people who had flung looking-glasses out of the window by mistake, in the excitement of the house being on fire,and had carried the pokers and tongs carefully into the garden.There was nothing like being prepared.She had always determined to do the reverse.So with calmness she told Solomon John to take down the looking-glasses.But she met with a difficulty,-there were no pokers and tongs, as they did not use them.They had no open fires; Mrs.Peterkin had been afraid of them.So Elizabeth Eliza took all the pots and kettles up to the upper windows, ready to be thrown out.
