The Little Book of the Flag Part 7

MAKERS OF THE FLAG

FRANKLIN K. LANE

[A portion of an address delivered by the Secretary of the Interior to the employees of the Department of the Interior, on Flag Day, 1914.]

This morning as I pa.s.sed into the Land Office, The Flag dropped me a most cordial salutation, and from its rippling folds I heard it say: "Good-morning Mr. Flag Maker."

"I beg your pardon, Old Glory," I said, "aren't you mistaken? I am not the President of the United States, nor a member of Congress, nor even a general in the army. I am only a Government clerk."

"I greet you again, Mr. Flag Maker," replied the gay voice; "I know you well. You are the man who worked in the swelter of yesterday straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or perhaps you found the mistake in that Indian contract in Oklahoma, or helped to clear that patent for the hopeful inventor in New York, or pushed the opening of that new ditch in Colorado, or made that mine in Illinois more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyoming.

No matter; whichever one of these beneficient individuals you may happen to be, I give you greeting, Mr. Flag Maker."

I was about to pa.s.s on, when The Flag stopped me with these words:--

"Yesterday the President spoke a word that made happier the future of ten million peons in Mexico; but that act looms no larger on the flag than the struggle which the boy in Georgia is making to win the Corn Club prize this summer.

"Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will open the door of Alaska; but a mother in Michigan worked from sunrise until far into the night, to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the flag.

"Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and yesterday, maybe, a school teacher in Ohio taught his first letters to a boy who will one day write a song that will give cheer to the millions of our race. We are all making the flag."

"But," I said impatiently, "these people were only working!"

Then came a great shout from The Flag:--

"The work that we do is the making of the flag.

"I am not the flag; not at all. I am nothing more than its shadow.

"I am whatever you make me, nothing more.

"I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a People may become.

"I live a changing life, a life of moods and pa.s.sions, of heart breaks and tired muscles.

"Sometimes I am strong with pride, when workmen do an honest piece of work, fitting the rails together truly.

"Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically I play the coward.

"Sometimes I am loud, garish, and full of that ego that blasts judgment.

"But always, I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to try for.

"I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and enn.o.bling hope.

"I am the day's work of the weakest man, and the largest dream of the most daring.

"I am the Const.i.tution and the courts, statutes and the statute makers, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep, cook, counselor, and clerk.

"I am the battle of yesterday, and the mistake of to-morrow.

"I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why.

"I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution.

"I am no more than what you believe me to be, and I am all that you believe I can be.

"I am what you make me, nothing more.

"I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself, the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this nation. My stars and my stripes are your dream and your labors. They are bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with faith, because you have made them so out of your hearts. For you are the makers of the flag and it is well that you glory in the making."

OUR FLAG

MARGARET SANGSTER

Flag of the fearless-hearted, Flag of the broken chain, Flag in a day-dawn started, Never to pale or wane.

Dearly we prize its colors, With the heaven light breaking through, The cl.u.s.tered stars and the steadfast bars, The red, the white, and the blue.

Flag of the st.u.r.dy fathers, Flag of the royal sons, Beneath its folds it gathers Earth's best and n.o.blest ones.

Boldly we wave its colors, Our veins are thrilled anew By the steadfast bars, the cl.u.s.tered stars, The red, the white, and the blue.

OUR HISTORY AND OUR FLAG[1]

WILLIAM BACKUS GUITTEAU

Love of country is a sentiment common to all peoples and ages; but no land has ever been dearer to its people than our own America. No nation has a history more inspiring, no country has inst.i.tutions more deserving of patriotic love. Turning the pages of our nation's history, the young citizen sees Columbus, serene in the faith of his dream; the Mayflower, bearing the lofty soul of the Puritan; Washington girding on his holy sword; Lincoln, striking the shackles from the helpless slave; the const.i.tution, organizing the farthest west with north and south and east into one great Republic; the tremendous energy of free life trained in free schools, utilizing our immense natural resources, increasing the nation's wealth with the aid of advancing science, multiplying fertile fields and n.o.ble workshops, and busy schools and happy homes.

This is the history for which our flag stands; and when the young citizen salutes the flag, he should think of the great ideals which it represents. The flag stands for democracy, for liberty under the law; it stands for heroic courage and self-reliance, for equality of opportunity, for self-sacrifice and the cause of humanity; it stands for free public education, and for peace among all nations. When you salute the flag, you should resolve that your own life will be dedicated to these ideals. You should remember that he is the truest American patriot who understands the meaning of our nation's ideals, and who pledges his own life to their realization.

[Footnote 1: From _Preparing for Citizenship_. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1913, 1915.]

THE AMERICAN FLAG

JOSEPH RODMAN DRAKE

Flag of the free heart's hope and home!

By angel hands to valor given; Thy stars have lit the welkin dome, And all thy hues were born in heaven.

Forever float that standard sheet!

Where breathes the foe but falls before us, With Freedom's soil beneath our feet, And Freedom's banner streaming o'er us?

THE FLAG OF OUR COUNTRY

ROBERT C. WINTHROP

There is the national flag. He must be cold indeed who can look upon its folds, rippling in the breeze, without pride of country. If he be in a foreign land, the flag is companionship and country itself, with all its endearments. Its highest beauty is in what it symbolizes. It is because it represents all, that all gaze at it with delight and reverence.