As Ralph surmised, the Schwarmers were making great preparations for the evening display. It was to be a splendid one. A select party had been invited from the city to witness it. They came on the afternoon train while the celebration was at its height; so their advent made no sensation. The shops were closed and the streets were quite deserted, greatly to Mr. Schwarmer's chagrin, for in making his plans for a brilliant gathering he had counted on a background of gaping people and corruscating fireworks. The deficiency was so noticeable that Mr. Alfonso Bombs, the rising Pyro-spectacle King of the city--the guest par excellence whom he wished to honor in an appropriate manner, exclaimed derisively: "How's this, Schwarmer? Have they exhausted your huge supply already and annihilated themselves in the performance? I thought this was your kingdom (so to speak) and we should be treated to a triumphal entry." Schwarmer would rather have had the matter unnoticed, but it was not and he would not imperil his reputation for bluntness by keeping silence. "You've been in England too long, Alfonso. You've forgotten that we don't have things of that sort as they do on the other side of the pond--that is, except in a way, you understand--an irregular sort of way. Consequently we never know just what will take place at a given point, you see--or just when a triumphal entry will materialize, so to speak, most assuredly we don't. It's never been at all like this before; most assuredly it hasn't. There have always been plenty of racket, plenty of fireworks and things of that sort from dawn to dark and fore and aft--variegated with a run-away horse and excitements of that kind; but the fact is a great moral wave has struck the town--a very large one. You see, even a moral wave is liable to be of very large dimensions, this side of the pond." "Moral wave! Mr. Schwarmer," drawled one of the ladies. "Re-al-ly you must be joking. I have been educated to think it was an exceedingly immoral procedure not to celebrate our Independence Day in an appropriate and impressive manner." "Impressive--yes truly impressive, dear lady; but you see it's too impressive sometimes--too largely impressive, as everything is apt to be in this country--that is if it's impressive at all, and now and then it impresses the wrong boy. Last year a lawyer's little boy had a finger broken and an alderman's boy had an eye hurt." "Ah indeed! That was most unfortunate," replied Miss Drawling; "and they were people of consequence--that is, in this small community." "Certainly! certainly--that is of the 'toad in the puddle style'" laughed Schwarmer. "So you see they called a meeting, a sort of grievance meeting and resolved not to let their children have any more fireworks. Now I believe they are having a pious celebration in the church grove or graveyard, I don't know which."