|
**********
“The
biggest and rarest occasion to small boys, even
rivaling the coming of a circus, back in the days when
kerosene lamps were evidence of extravagant tastes in
Monroe County, were the Illuminations with which
illuminations were when the Democrats thought they had
elected Samuel J. Tilden in 1776 and when they put
Grover Cleveland across in 1884. Row of tallow
candles were set across all the store windows in town
and in all the windows of the old courthouse. At
the appointed hour they were lighted. Main street
at once was transformed into fairyland, what with all
those blazing candles, the blares of music from the
local brass band, the firing of guns and the marching
of the torchlight procession, a movement of several
hundred men and boys, the men carrying torches and the
boys shaking oyster cans in which small rocks had been
placed. Truly, those were the days of real sport
and grand whoopee.”
Source:
The Monroe County Appeal Centennial Edition dated 13
August 1931; submitted by MaryBeth Kirtlink. |
