The Fourth We Used to Know

Oh, for another July Fourth,
The Fourth of days agone,

When cannon bellowed on the Green

Before the break of dawn,

When with the village band we marched,

Afire with freedom’s glow!

Ah, let it come, with fife and drum,
The Fourth we used to know.

Do you remember how we rose
Long ere the break of day

And hurriedly slipped on our clothes

And made a dash away

To where the bells and cannon were
Where smoke was hanging low?

Ah, yes, a morn of freedom born,

The Fourth we used to know.

Do you remember, too, the flag
Above the village square;

How proud and glorious we felt
To see it waving there?

Do you recall the stirring speech
Which set our hearts aglow?

The grand parade, the games we played,

The Fourth we used to know?

The Fourth we used to know! Oh, where

Has the old spirit fled?

We still are brave; I cannot think
That spirit wholly dead

The spirit born at Bunker Hill,
At Concord long ago;

No, let it come, with fife and drum,
The Fourth we used to know!

Dec. 20, ‘99

Acc. by American Press Association,

Printed in The Summit (NJ) Herald  in July, 1905