To the Editor:
Things are pretty quiet down on Rutherford Island on a holiday. So it was as my other half was at work on July 4. I was home alone, in the garden and wishing I had gone to the parade.
Suddenly, what sounded like someone, or many someones, beating on pots and pans, and a chorus of voices singing “America” echoed from the other side of the cemetery, through the trees and across the gravestones.
Then came a rag-tag parade of children of all ages and sizes marching along Boot Hill waving flags and, yes, banging on pots and pans. They were led by a mother or two who stepped out and stopped any traffic coming up or down the hill. Just as they got to the end of the drive someone rang the bell in the old school tower.
The procession crossed the street and marched around the Post Office lot, banging, singing and waving, before returning to disappear whence they had come.
As the tears ran down my cheeks I realized my Independence Day was complete, with a parade after all. What a country we live in!
Maude Olsen, South Bristol
