A Fount] of July confession
DY CHARLES EUGENE RANKS.
(Copyright, 1902. by Dally Story Pub. Co.)
"Mr. Arnold, 1 don't think you be
lieve what you say.”
"Indeed I do, Miss Darlington.”
"Fourth of July is a farce? Then
you really think that?”
"I mean to say that all the money
spent in firing off crackers and burn
ing rockets has no useful purpose."
"It expresses our feelings, I think,
and that is all anything can do for us
in this world.”
“I do not agree with you. There are
many simpler and more sensible ways
of giving expressions to our emotions
than by tilling the air with noise and
smoke, it is childish. Grown people
ought to be able to show their patriot
ism in a more sensible way.”
“Fudge. You are getting as dry and
uninteresting as those old books you
bury yourself in most of the time. 1
believe in life. Books are all well
enough In their way. but that is gener
ally a very tiresome way.”
The young man stooped to the side
of the path and picked up a dry twig,
held it before his eyes for a moment
and then snapping it sharply threw the
ends into the air.
“Why Isn’t that as good an expres
sion as though It had been tightly roll
ed paper with a little saltpeter con
fined at its heart? If 1 break the stick
with a devotional thought concerning
the Declaration of Independence 1
shall experience as sublime a thrill
as though I had fired off a cannon.”
“You might, Mr. Wiseman, but we
are not all so gifted with Imagination.
Most of us require something outside
of ourselves to move us sublimely."
The hot blood surged into the face
of the young man at the retort. He
turned his gaze full on the girl at his
side, but she was already turning
away, calling softly to a robin hopping
in the shade of an old apple tree that
grew beside the gate leading into the
farmhouse grounds.
“Milly!” he called, reproachfully.
“Wait till George Lounsbery comes
home from New York to-morrow and
you'll see what the Fourth of July
means to a man with real red blood in
his veins. He was up last year and
brought more than a hundred dollars'
worth of fireworks. I don’t believe
any one went to bed that night at all.
The sky was filled with red lire and I
realized for the first time what it
meant to be an American.”
“You mean the son of Farmer
Lounsbery, 1 suppose?”
“Yes. He’s a great man now. al
though he was born and grew up in
this illiterate neighborhood.”
“Milly-”
“Miss Darlington, if you please, Mr.
Shakespeare. Does your dingy old
leather-covered books tell you that a
young man has the right to address a
young lady that he met only four
weeks ago with as much familiarity as
though she was his sister?”
The girl tossed her pretty head with
an air that might have been learned
in the court of a queen, although she
had little knowledge of the ways of
the world outside of Mohawk Valley.
But was she not a woman, young,
pretty, proud, whimsical—as most
pretty young women are? And wjiat
need had she for instructions in the
art of coquetry? To the serious young
student who had come into the neigh
borhood with no other idea than that
of earning a modest living by teaching
in the public school she had knowledge
enough and to spare. He loved her,
of course. There was no escape from
that. She knew it. too, as well as
though he had told her so with all the
impassioned fervor of a Romeo. But
ho had not told her so. How could he
when she met every attempt of his to
utter what filled his heart with good
natured ratlery. But he had not been
discouraged. "She will listen to me
some day,” he told himself over and
over again as he walked over the hills
or sat in his little room with an un
read book in his hand. A woman does
not like to be easily won. His read
ing told him that. He had never
dreamed of a rival. The few young
men of Randall seemed to feel that
she was not for them and treated her
with marked reverence or surly dis
dain. . What was this she had been
saying but now? George Lounsbery!
A real man, with red blood in his
veins. He felt the blood freezing in
his heart.
"Is he—is Mr. ixiunsbery a friend
of yours?”
"A friend of mine? Indeed ho is. I
have known him ever since I was a
child. He is a great man now. Cash
ier in a bank in the city and trusted
with tons of money. Wait till you see
how things will move when he ar
rives."
He did wait, although with no pleas
ant anticipations. And that night he
saw the rockets streaking across the
sky and heard the honest country folk
cheer the neatly dressed, smooth-spok
en young man who set off whole pack
ages of fire-crackers with far less
thought that one of the wealthies!
among them would have struck i
match. And when It was all over, wher
the last red flame had faded out of the
sky, the last pin-wheel had spit out its
spiteful little life, the last bunch ol
firecrackers popped and danced ovei
the singed and trampled lawn, Arnold
walked home alone through the woods
carrying the burnt end of a single
cracker tightly clutched in his band.
After all had he not been righl
when he told Milly that all this cele
bration was "noise and fury, signify
ing nothing?” She had boasted to him
that Mr. Lounsbery would bring a hun
dred dollars’ worth of fireworks from
the city to voice the patriotism of the
neighborhood. And her boast had
been made good. A hundred dollars!
Why, that was more than he wa; to
get for the three months' term of
teaching in the Randall district school.
A hundred dollars! What could lie
not have done with the money ibat
bad been consumed in an evening, for
the glory of patriotism? He thought
of the long, dreary struggle behinJ
him, and the dark, dreary, tedious
days ahead and a great bitterness
clutched at his heart and an unfimil
iar oath rose in his throat and de
manded that he give it tongue. What
was all this boasted liberty if it
brought nothing to one and so much to
another? Why should thiB young coun
try boy be favored by fate so that the
best positions in a great city were his
for the asking, while he, the student,
the scholar, the man with a real pur
pose and a high aim, was left to win
his way among such hopeless surround
ings? Hopeless, indeed. For she who
had wakened in his heart new aspira
tions. made even the frowning future
bright with promise, she had turned
from him with scarcely a word to join
in the praise and adulation lhat was
showered upon the successful man of
the world.
She was heartless. He was sure of
that now, and it was well that he had
found no opportunity during the bustle
of the day and evening to give her the
written declaration he had found it im
possible to make in spoken words. Ar
least he was saved the humiliation ot
a refusal. Let it be burned with a'l
the other useless things of the day.
He ran his hand into his pocket. It
was empty. The letter he had penned
in a fever of hope and despair was
gone. He must have dropped it on the
lawn. The thought of some one find
ing and reading it brought the blush
to his cheek and sent him back over
the fields with impatient strides. He
left the beaten path and climbing the
snake fence that divided the pasture
land from the orchard hurried forward
in the shadow of the trees. As he
came out upon the lawn a white bit of
paper gleaming in the dew'-wet grass |
caught liis eye and he sprang forward
and eagerly caught it up. It was the
envelope that had held ins letter, but
it had been opened and tne letter was
gone.
It is said that every man has one
murder in his heart which he will be
ready to commit if the proper moment
arrives. To the great majority this
moment never presents itself; only
one in ten thousand is therefore forced
to face the gallows. Whether this be
true or not it was fortunate that the
person so suddenly to face the young
schoolmaster at that moment was be
yond the power of his hands. A man
would have to be a devil indeed to
wish harm to a fine young woman with
the fresh color of the country on her
cheeks, the light of roguery in her
eyes and the moonlight clothing her as
a garment. And then if she laugh
merrily and the next instant throw
her arms about his neck and tell him
he is "an old goose,” he isn't likely to
wish harm to his worst enemy.
"I read your letter all through, you
silly old thing, and there isn’t a word
of truth in it. If there was I should
be caught up to heaven mis minute.
You were awfully scared when you
found some one had opened It? Oh, I
could see your eyes flash even in the
moonlight. And you swore, too. I
heard you; don’t deny it. That's what
decided me. Up to that time I was
afraid you were too good to be human.
There's just one thing more you must
do before I’ll promise not to refuse
you. You’ve got to admit that the
Fourth of July is the grandest day in
the year and promise to celebrate it
like a true American every year with
real fire-crackers.”
"I shall always hold the day sacred
in my heart, dearest,” ho said, solemn
ly. "It has brought me-”
"Slavery, sir, slavery. But. there.
I’ll try to make your chains as light
as possible, and—Frank, I love you
better than all the rockets In the
world.”
Evolution of Our Flag.
Although the United States Is one
of the youngest nations of the world,
its flag is one of the oldest among
the powers. The country’s standard,
with its thirteen stars and stripes,
which was first unfurled June 14, 1777,
just 125 years ago, has remained prac
tically unchanged through the prog
ress and growth of the country of
which it saw the birth. The star
spangled banner which now floats
over Uncle Sam’s possessions on
lands and seas, is unaltered, with the
exception of the number and arrange
ment of the stars, from the one which
Betsy Ross, at Gen. Washington’s re
quest, made at her home. No. 239
Arch street, Philadelphia.
The device of a rattlesnake was
First Flag Made by Betsy Ross.
popular among the colonists, and its
origin as an American emblem is
a curious feature in our national his
tory. It has been stated that Its use
grew out of a humorous suggestion
made by a writer in Franklin’s paper
—the Pennsylvania Gazette—that, in
return for the wrongs which England
was forcing upon the colonists, a
cargo of rattlesnakes should be
sent to the mother country and “dis
tributed in St. James Park and other
places of pleasure.” Col. Gadsden,
one of the marine committee, pre
sented to congress on the 8th of Feb
ruary. 1776, “an elegant standard, such
as is to be used by the commander
in-chief of the American navy,” be
ing a yellow flag with a representa
tion of a rattlesnake coiled for at
tack.
Another use for the rattlesnake was
upon a ground of thirteen horizontal
bars, alternately red and white, the
snake extending diagonally across the
stripes, and the lower white stripes
bearing the motto, “Don’t Tread on
Me.” The snake was always repre
sented as having thirteen rattles. One
of the favorite flags also was of white
with a pine tree in the center. The
words at the top were: "An Appeal
to God,” and underneath the snake
were the words: “Don’t Tread on
Me.” Several of the companies of
minute men adopted a similar flag,
giving the name of their company,
with the motto, “Liberty or Death.”
The Connecticut troops, who took
part in the exciting times that fol
lowed Lexington and Hunker Hill,
had a state banner with the state arms
The Flag As Altered in 1795.
and motto, "Qui transtulit sustinet.”
The troops of Massachusetts adopted
the words, "An Appeal to Heaven.”
Early New York records speak of dif
ferent standards; indeed, the regi
ments from the different states, has
tening to Washington's aid, flaunted
flags of numerous devices, having only
loral interest and being only used on
the occasion that originated them.
The first striped flag was flung to
the breeze in America at Cambridge,
Mass., Washington, headquarters, Jan.
2, 1775. It had thirteen stripes, alter
nate red and white, and the united
crosses of St. George and St. Andrew
on a blue field. When reported in
England it was alluded to as the
“thirteen rebellious stripes."
In 1775 a navy of seventeen vessels,
varying from ten to thirty-two guns,
was ordered. The senior of the five
first lieutenants of the new Continent
al navy was John Paul Jones. He left
it on record that the “Flag of Ameri
ca” was hoisted by his own hands on
his vessel, the Alfred, the first time
it was ever displayed by a man-of
war. This was probably the same de
sign as the Cambridge flag used in
January. 177G.
We now come to the time when the
crosses of St. George and St. Andrew
were taken from the Union flag and
a blue field with white stars substi
tuted for the symbol of English an
thority. One hundred and twenty-five
years ago this June 14 the American
congress, in session at Philadelphia,
resolved “that the flag of the United
States be thirteen stripes, alternate
red and white; the union to be thir
teen stars, white, on a blue field,
representing a new constellation, the
stars to be arranged in a circle.”
There are many traditions afloat
concerning the origin of this design,
but the one in which there is un
doubtedly the most truth is that which
credits the idea of the design to Wash
ington. The General found in the
coat-of-arms of his own family a
hint from which he drew a design for
the flag. The coat-of-arms of the
Washington family was two red bars
on a white ground, and three gilt
stars above the top bar. The Ameri
can flag, once decided upon, was
rushed through in a hurry, for the
army was in need of a standard.
Betsy Ross enthusiastically under
took the work, and in a few days a
beautiful star-spangled banner was
ready to be unfurled. She had made
one alteration in the design submitted
by Washington. The General had
made his stars six pointed, as they
were on his coat-of-arms. Betsy Ross
made her stars with five points—and
five points have been used ever since.
For several years Mrs. Ross made the
flags for the government.
The first using of the stars and
stripes in military service, it is
claimed, was at Fort Stanwix, re
named Fort Schuyler, now Rome, New
York, 1777. Aug. 2 of that year the
fort was besieged by the British and
Indians; the garrison was without a
flag, but one was made in the fort.
The red stripes were of a petticoat
furnished by a woman, the white for
stripes and stars were furnished by an
officer, who gave his shirt for the pur
pose, and the blue was a piece of
Flag of the Colonies.
Col. Peter Gansevoort's military cloak.
Three women worked on the flag, and
it was raised to victory ori the 22d of
August, when the redmen and the
English were defeated at the fort.
The next record of the using of the
Stars and Stripes is on the first anni
versary of American independence,
which was celebrated at Philadelphia.
Charleston, S. C., and other places,
July 4, 1777. The banner was used
at the battle of the Brandywine Sept.
11, 1777; at Germantown, Oct. 4 of
the same year, and it also floated over
the surrender of Burgoyne. This flag
cheered the patriots at Valley Forge
the next winter; it waved at York
town and shared in the rejoicings at
the close of the war.
Some of the first flags were made
under difficulties and at great cost,
the greatest ingenuity being required
on occasions to secure the necessary
materials for the banners. History
tells us that Madame Wooster and
Mrs. Roger Sherman made the first
national flag for the Connecticut
troops used in the army from their
own dresses.
As long as the states remained thir
teen in number the original design of
the circle of stars was all right, but
when, in 1791, Vermont, and in 1782
Kentucky were taken into the Union,
it was decided to arrange the stars
in the form of one huge constella
tion.
In 1795 it was decided to add a
stripe as well as a star for each state
which came into the Union, conse
quently in that year Vermont and
Kentucky were marked on the flag,
The Flag As It Is To-day.
one by a white and the other by a red
stripe; but some wise prophet, look
ing ahead some twenty or more years,
saw that this plan of adding a stripe
as well as a star for each state added
to the Union would mean a constant
changing of the flag, which would, in
a few years, become so large and un
gainly that its beauty would be lost
A committee in 1812 was elected by
congress to decide upon a permanent
design for the flag, and tne result
was that the thirteen original stripes
were again used, the stars arranged
on the blue field in the form of a
square, with one constellation for each
new state. In 1818 this plan was for
mally adopted by congress, and the
flag, with Its thirteen stripes and stars
correspondng in number to the states
In the Union, became the established
[ emblem of America.
