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4th July. Banners. Declaration and Spreadeagle speech in public square. Procession—Sunday schools, Masons, Odd Fellows, [Temperance Society, Cadets of Temperance], [the Co of St P Greys], [the Fantastics] (oh, so funny!) and of course the Fire Co and Sam R. Maybe in the woods. Collation in the cool shade of a tent. Gingerbread in slabs; lemonade; ice cream. Opened with prayer—closed with a blessing.


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Mark Twain made these notes about the people of Hannibal, Missouri, in late July or early August 1897, during a summer stay in Weggis, Switzerland. Hannibal, on the Mississippi River, had barely a thousand inhabitants when Clemens’s family settled there in November 1839, a few weeks before his fourth birthday.

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102.8–9 Temperance Society, Cadets of Temperance] The Hannibal chapter of Sons of Temperance, a fraternal order that promoted abstinence from alcohol, was organized in the spring of 1847.

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102.9 the Co of St P Greys] That is, the St. Petersburg Greys, presumably a militia company. No information has been discovered about its probable Hannibal prototype.

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102.9–10 the Fantastics] The Southern term for mummers, who dressed in fantastic costume and paraded on holidays (Lex, 78–79).