Independence Day : $b its celebration, spirit and significance as related in prose and verse
History
Independence Day : $b its celebration, spirit and significance as related in prose and verse
Fourth of July -- Poetry; Fourth of July celebrations; Fourth of July orations
The roll-book of the members is something more than a mere list of
names. Before each name is the year, showing when the member was
admitted into the society, and there is also given in a paragraph his
genealogical history so far as it relates to his ancestors who were in
any way connected with the Revolutionary struggle. There is a general,
or national society, divided into state societies which regulate their
own affairs. Under the rules of the New York State society, ten or more
members can organize within any county outside of the county of New York,
such a body being called a local chapter. The total membership is now
about six thousand. When membership is asked on the ground of an ancestor
having been a “sailor” or “marine,” it must be shown that such service
was other than shore duty and regularly performed in the Continental
navy, or the navy of one of the original thirteen states, or on an
armed vessel other than a merchant ship. When the ancestor has been an
“official” his service must have been sufficiently important in character
to have rendered him specially liable to arrest and imprisonment, if
captured by the enemy, as well as liable to conviction of treason against
the Government of Great Britain.
A few years ago the society stimulated interest in its work by offering
two prizes to the cadets of the United States Naval Academy, at
Annapolis, Md.,—a gold medal and a silver medal—for the best original
essays upon the subject, “The Navy of the Revolution.” A singular and
patriotic feature of these essays was that they were not to contain less
than 1,776 words. A gold medal is likewise annually awarded by the New
York society to a student in the College of the City of New York, for the
best essay on a patriotic subject, and gold, silver, and bronze medals to
the scholars of the high schools throughout the State for like essays.
Similar prizes are awarded by the societies in other states.
Congress has also been urged, by the Sons of the Revolution as a body,
to pass a bill which has already been introduced in that body, making an
appropriation of a sum of money to erect a monument to John Paul Jones.
It has also memorialized Congress to enact such a law as will secure the
publication of all the archives of the United States Government relating
to the War of the Revolution, in a manner similar to the publication of
the records of the War of the Rebellion.
The seal of the society is an interesting study, suggesting as it
does, in small compass, the spirit of patriotism the society desires
to cultivate. The seal consists of the figure of a minute-man, in
Continental uniform, standing on a ladder leading to a belfry. In his
right hand he holds a musket and an olive branch, while his left hand
grasps a bell-rope. Above is seen the cracked Liberty bell, from which
issues a ribbon bearing the motto of the society: _Exegi monumentum aere
perennius_. Many members of this society did gallant service in the war
with Spain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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