Johnny’s Fourth of July

Johnny’s Fourth of July The dangers of the Fourth of July, From the New York Public Library Digital Collection

Johnny’s Fourth.

Johnny blew his eyebrows off.
“I don’t care,” said he.
“I can make another pair
With a cork, you see.”

When his fingers went he said,

“Who cares, anyhow?
I won’t have to practice on
The piano now.”

When his legs departed he
Still remained quite cool.
“Good!” he chortled. “Now I sha’n’t
Have to walk to school.”

So it went. By slow degrees

Johnny blew away,
Celebrating with much zest

Independence Day;

And when night came on the scene
Johnny cried with glee,
“Now there’s nothing left, pa won’t
Have to bury me!”

HORACE DODD GASTIT

Caricature; wit and humor of a nation in picture, song, and story, 1911

Have a Safe and Sane Fourth out there!

Mrs Daffodil wrote about one woman’s attempt to stop the firecracker carnage with pretty paper decorations.

Chris Woodyard is the author of The Victorian Book of the Dead, The Ghost Wore Black, The Headless Horror, The Face in the Window, and the 7-volume Haunted Ohio series. She is also the chronicler of the adventures of that amiable murderess Mrs Daffodil in A Spot of Bother: Four Macabre Tales. The books are available in paperback and for Kindle. Indexes and fact sheets for all of these books may be found by searching hauntedohiobooks.com. Join her on FB at Haunted Ohio by Chris Woodyard or The Victorian Book of the Dead.