THE DAY WE CELEBRATE
> - . .i
'
We will meet you, (
And beat you i
At such base tricks; <
We will show you the ‘Spirit of ‘76.’ <
And a theme will supply 'I
For our children to boast of e&ch Fourth ' i
of July.” Ji
And so this is why j
Independence is ours, and we tryants .
defy. i
And the small and the great, ('
Will the day celebrate i.
As the years come and go, <[
That the fires on our altars may never S
burn low. 1,
And waving our banner, “Old Glory,” on S
high. i
With its streamers of Red, (i
To remind as how heroes and patriots i'
bled. i'
And its pure folds of White. ('
Telling eloquent tales of the fight for the <!
Right. i
And its star-spangled Blue,
Which reflects Heaven’s hue, 'i
We will show to the world 'i
That this flag is unfurled, S
We will ever be true >
To the flag of our fathers, ,1
The Red. White and Blue. ,1
As they were when they fought in the i1
days long gone by. i'
To make for this Nation a Fourth of 1
July. <[
INDEPENDENCE
DAY ^ 1904
WASHINGTON
_ AND THE AMERICAN FLAG
” BY REV. F. P. DUFFY. M. D.
Secretary of the American Church Bible Institute
Copyright, 1904 :: By Rev. F. P. Duffy
It is universally admitted that as a ’
patriot George Washington stands
without a rival in the annals of the
world. It is not, however, so gener
ally allowed that as a military genius
he transcends all others. Americans
and his admirers the wrorld over
might well rest content with behold
ing their ideal citizen acclaimed with
universal consent the unique figure
in the annals of human weal, industry
and peace. Yet I do not think it would
be hard to show that even in military
genius he is still without a peer.
But the arts of peace, not war, is
our theme, and we shall therefore
leave the question of military genius
to a more convenient season and ad
dress ourselves to the subject in
hand: Washington and the American
flag. This naturally falls under the
threefold head—Washington's Ances
try, the Evolution of the Flag, and the
Symbolism of the Flag.”
First, Washington’s Ancestry. As
far as historical research has yet
reached' back, Washington’s ancestry
has been located iu Durham, in the
north of England. From Durham some
of the Washingtons migrated to Lanca
shire. Then we find them settling in
Northamptonshire, in the reign of
Henry VII. From Northampton the
great-grandfather of Washington emi
grated to America in or about the year
1657. The pursuits followed by the
Washingtons may be summed up
under the church, the army, the law
and the farm. It is around this last
that the most interesting and roman
tic incidents of the family gather, and
Northampton is the scene of the vary
ing vicissitudes that culminated in the
emigration of Lawrence Washington
to Virginia.
The emigrant, who was knighted by
James I., spent his younger days in
Bringtcn. In the parish church there
are two sepulchral stones of absorbing
interest to every American. One with
the date 1616 Is over the grave of the
emigrant’s father. On it appears his
arms “impaled” with those of his wife.
The second covers the grave of an
uncle, and has on a brass a simple
family shield with the extraneous
crescent appropriate to a younger son.
But that which is of transcendant in
terest to very American citizen is that
here on the tombstone of the dead
are emblazoned emblems sacred to a
great nation and w’hich thrill the soul
of a mighty people; the embryo of the
National Flag—the Stars and Stripes.
The stars on the shield have this
peculiarity, they are five pointed,
whereas six points are the general
characteristic of heraldic stars. On
the coat of arms are three stars and
two horizontal bars or zones with
“alternate gules and white”—gules
being the word in heraldry for red—in
a vertical position. Here we discover
the nucleus, the fons et origo, of the
American Flag.
Three years ago, when spending a
lengthened vacation in England, I had
charge of a parish not far from Bring
ton. It was a source of never failing
gratification to visit “God’s Acre,” to
stand close to the ashes of the dead,
to meditate upon the origin of the
American Flag, to delight in the dis
covery of the hidden meaning of its
symbolism, and oft to quote the open
ing lines of Cowper's hymn:
"God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform."
Second, The Evolution of the Flag.
In colonial times each colony had its
own peculiar ensign, and both army
and navy of the United Colonies dis
played various flags. Some were colo
nial, others were regimental, and still
otho's were for special occasions.
That at Fort Sullivan, Charleston har
bor, was a blue field with a silver
crescent. The ensign under which the
battle of Bunker Hill was fought was
the New England flag. The flag of an
American cruiser is thus described by
the London Chronicle of January,
1776:
“The field is white bunting; on the
middle is a green pine tree; and on
the opposite side is the motto. “Ap
peal to heaven.” The flag of the Cul
pepper mea, who marched with Pat
rick Henry, had a rattlesnake, colled
ready to stritoe, with the words, “Don’t
tread on me.”
The first American flag havng thir
teen alternate red and white stripes
upon it, there is good reason to believe
was presented to the Philadelphia
Light Horse by Captain Markoe, early
in 1775. The earliest naval flag show
ed thirteen alternate red and white
stripes with either a pine tree or rat
tlesnake, with the words “Don’t tread
on me.” The union flag raised a-€am
bridge, Jan. 1, 1776, had thirteen alter
nate red and white stripes with the
English union in one corner.
When the necessity for a national
flag made itself felt the Congress of
June 14, 1777 resolved; That the flag
of the United States be thirteen
*
stripes, alternate red and white, and
that the union be thirteen stars, white
on a blue field representing a new
constellation.” The first display of
this flag at a military post was at Fort
Schuyler, site of the present city of
Rome, N. Y. Paul Jones claimed he
was the first to show the stars and
stripes on a naval vessel. The nation
al flag first appeared over a foreign
stronghold, Fort Nassau, New Provi
dence, Bahama Islands, on its cap
ture, June 28, 1778. Capt. Mooers of
the whaling ship Bedford, first flew
the flag in Great Britain. Feb. 3, 1783.
At length a committee was appointed
to definitely fix the national standard.
This committee called in Capt Sam
uel C. Reid of the privateer Arm
strong, to devise a new flag. He re
tained the original thirteen stripes
and the blue ground of the union, but
added a star for every state, and this
has been the device of the flag ever
since. On the admission of a territory
as a new state, a new star is added to
the field of the National flag. In 1901
there were forty-five stars.
Third, The Symbolism of the Flag.
In the Bible there are certain num
bers and emblems to which a sacred
character is attached. These are sig
nificant in the Christian as they were
in the Mosaic and the Edenic dispensa
tions. In the flag there are numbers
and emblems apparently unconscious
ly adopted. It is remarkable that the
numbers and emblems of the Bible
and the flag are the same. Yet we
cannot for a ..moment think that the
designers of the flag consciously
selected these numbers and emblems
because of their sacred character; or
knew that they were sacred at all,
from which we are shut up to the con
clusion that the choice was made
under a controlling providence.
To begin with: The flag as a whole
represents unity. In itself this is
nothing extraordinary. But then
four cardinal points, the four seasons
of the year, the four winds of heaven,
and in Biblical imagery the four Liv
ing Creatures, the four Judgments of
God, etc. But three and four make
seven, another sacred number. In the
Book of Revelation we read of the
Seven Candlesticks, the Seven Seals,
the Seven Trumpets, the Seven Stars,
the Seven Spirits of God, etc. Then
the six white stripes are doubly sym
bolical. First, six Is a sacred number,
being a double triad, or Trinity twice
repeated, the emphatic trine and sec
ond, white is a unity composed of
seven, as white light is composed of
the seven prismatic rays which con
sist of three primary and four second
ary, a remarkable correspondence to
the three long and the four short red
stripes of the flag. But these two,
six and seven, make another sacred
number, thirteen. The sacredness ol
thirteen is intensified by looking at it
it another way. Three and four multi
plied together produce twleve, anoth
er sacred number, as the twelve
tribes, the twelve Apostles, the twelve
signs of the Zodiac, and such like.
But twelve and one make thirteen.
There is something more than remark
able in the sacred numbers of the flag
that culminate in twelve. They are:
1 +3+4+6+7+12= 33, the exact num
ber of years that Christ lived on
the earth, and the exact average of
human liff upon the earth, and the
exact number of veal's in lunl-solar
cycles of time. Is all this mere chance
work ?
But this is not all. The colors are
sacred also. When God would give
outward expression to the mystic
symbolism of Religion He was careful
to express the colors of His choice.
“Blue and purple and scarlet and fine
turned linen”—the colors of the
American flag—red, white and blue.
Red is the sign of redemption, blue
of heaven, white of purity and peace.
Washington on the Battlefield of Trenton.
unity, or one, is of a sacred nature.
Thirteen is popularly considered to be
an unlucky number. But the nation
and the flag belie this superstition.
The original United States were thir
teen, and the original national flag
had thirteen stripes and thirteen stars.
This alone would stamp the flag
as providential. But then the alter
nate stripes were seven red and six
white; and both numbers are sacred.
Let us deal with the seven red stripes
first. Look at your flag, and you will
find that the long stripes are three
in number and the short stripes four.
Why are they so divided? Why not
five and two? The answer is: Be
cause three is a sacred number, and
next to one is the most significant,
and four is a sacred number also. One
represents the unijty of the Godhead,
and - three the Threefold personality
of the Deity. Unity and Trinity, or
1 plus 3 equal 4, and four in symbolic
numbers represents completion or
perfection. Pour is unique in its com
prehensiveness. Thus we speak of
the four quarters of the globe, the
When the civilized world would sym
bolize mercy, it could only think of a
red cross on a white ground—two of
the flag’s colors, and that sign will
touch the hearts of enraged combat
ants, Christian and pagan, now en
gaged in deadliest strife, for where it
flies there is “holy ground.”
The Star, too, is a sacred figure.
It is a scriptural sign, a prophetic
symbol, an apocalyptic emblem. The
Star sang creation’s hymn the first
Sabbath morn; spoke to the Father
of the Faithful from the midnight
sky, and heralded the Prince of Peace
standing above the Bethlehem hills.
Can a flag so inslinct with heaven’s
emblems, and pulsating to every
breath of breeze or blast of storm,
with holy sign and sacred symbol,
have come by chance? Believe it who
may, an American can never!
Ravenswood, Chicago, 111.
Every great man is always being
helped by everybody, for his gift is
to get good out of all things and all
persons.-—Ruskin.
?decl!^
^ Let the Children Read and Remember the J
? Immortal Document
When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with an-*
other, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal
station to which the law’s of nature and of nature’s God entitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the
causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal;
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that
among these, are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure
tnese rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just pow
ers from the consent of the governed; that, whenever any form of govern
ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter
or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on
such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem
most likely to effect their safety and-happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dic
tate that governments long established should not be changed for light and
transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown that mankind
are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufTerable, than to right them
selves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But, when
a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object,
evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right,
it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for
their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies,
and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former
systems of government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is
a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having, in direct object,
the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this,
let facts be submitted to a candid world:
He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for
the public good.
He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate and pressing
importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be
obtained; and, when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large dis
tricts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representa
tion in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants
only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfort
able, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole pur
pose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly for opposing, with
manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions to cause others to
be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have re
turned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the
mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convul
sions within.
He ha3 endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that
purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to
pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of
new appropriations of lands.
He has obstructed the administration of justice by refusing his assent to
laws for establishing judiciary powers.
He has made judges dependent on his will alone for the tenure of their
offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of of
ficers to harass our people and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the
consent of our legislature.
He has affected to render tha military independent ©f, and superior to, the
civil power.
He Las combined, with others (that is, with the lords and commons of
Britain) to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unac
knowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legis
lation.
For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders
which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states;
For cutting cff our trade with all parts of the world;
For imposing taxes on us without our consent;
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of trial by jury;
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses;
For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province,
establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries,
so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the
seme absolute rule into these colonies;
For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and
altering, fundamentally, the forms of our government;
For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested
with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated government here by declaring us out of his protection,
and waging war against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and de
stroyed the lives of our people.
He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to
complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun, with
circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barborous
ages, and totally unworthy the head of a fivilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to
bear arms against their country, to become the executioner of their friends
and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored
to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savagaes,
whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages,
sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress, in
the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have been answered only by
repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act
which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We
have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to
extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of
the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed
to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them, by the
ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would in
evitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They, too, have been
deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, ac
quiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as
we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace, friends.
We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in
General Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world
for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of
the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these
United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States;
that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British crown, and that all
political connection between them and the state of Great Britain is, and ought
to be, totally dissolved; and that, as Free and Independent States, they have
full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish com
merce, and to do all other acts and things which Independent States may of
right do. And, fay the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on
the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our
lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor.
Tokens of the Day.
The shooting and the tooting
Ascending to the skies.
The hip hurrah from uncle's boys.
Both little and man’s size.
The starry banners waving
From every fence and gate;
These joyful tokens go to mark
The day we celebrate.
The patriotic spouters »
On platform and on stump
Tell how we gave the British
A most artistic bump
And signed the declaration
To mark the glorious date
And clinched in blood and shooting
The day we celebrate.
Turn loose the firecracker.
And eke the rocket bright!
No use in celebrating
Unless you do it right.
And let the cannon thunder
Their message long and late
To loudly mark in passing
The day we celebrate.
Then let the little children
Throw up their h&fs and cheer.
Suppose they lose sdme fingers?
It's only once a year.
On crackers and torpedo
Pay cheerfully the freight •’ *
And thus enjoy like chiiuren
The day we celebrate. i
The Interrupted Fourth.
The Fourth we celebrate to-day
Appears to be quite mild;
Why, when us older ones were boys
We'd set the whole town wild
And-(Room!,Bang! Boom!
Biff! Whizz! Glang-glang!
Shish! Fire! Fire! Zoom!)
And let me say emphatically
The Fourths to-day are tame
Why. when we old gray beards were boys
Wed set the town aflame, J
And—(Boom! Bang! Boom!
Whizz! Bing! Boom!
Zizz! Bang! Blankety-blank—
Shish! Fire! Fire! Zoom!)
The Fourths were not so quiet then—
(Biff! Boom! Bangety-bang!
C-r-r-rack! Clangety-clang:
Boom! Bangety-bang!
Zizz! Soom! Fire! Fire!)—.
When we old ones were boys.
And—(Boom!) I can't complete *1-*
For that infernal noise. s
*
*
Never light your Roman candle at
both ends.
It Is sometimes the loudest cracker
that makes the loudest report.
It is the pin-wheel that loses by do
I ing a good turn.
SONG OF LIBERTY.
I • • I I
Copyright, 1904, by Rev. F. P. Duffy.
SERMON DID HIM GOOD.
Churchgoer's Homely but Very Effec
tive Comparison.
The late Father MeGoldrick of Dor
chester, Mass., was one of the great
est pulpit orators in the archdiocese
and always took delight in seeing
what effect his sermons had upon the
lowly members of the congregation.
One Sunday, while leaving St. Peter’s
church, where he had been stationed
many years, he met a parishioner who,
touching his hat to the reverend gen
tleman, said:
“That was a beautiful sermon you
preached to-day, father. It did me a
power of good.”
“I’m glad of that,” responded the
clergyman. “Can you tell me what
particularly struck you? What was
the main point?”
“Well—er—I don’t rightly remem
ber—I don’t just exactly know. I ah
—ah—what’s the use; sure, I don’t
remember an individual word of it.
Sorra a bit of me knows what it was
at all, at all.”
“And yet,” said Father MeGoldrick,
with a smile, “you say it did you a
power of good.”
“So it did, Father; I’ll stick to
that.”
i\ow, tea me now.
“Well, Father, new’ look here.
There's my Sunday shirt that my wife
is after washing, and clean and white
it is by reason of all the water and
soap that’s gone through it. But not
a drop of water or soap or blue has
stayed in it, d’ye see? And it’s the
same w’ay with me an’ the sermon.
It’s all run through me an’ dried out.
but all the same, like my Sunday
shirt, I'm the better and cleaner for
it.”
Wages in Spain Low.
Wages are very low in Spain. Farm
laborers get about $1.50 a week. The
women who work in vineyards do not
get more than 15 cents for ten hours’
work.
Where Horsewhips Are Prohibited.
There is a notable law’ in force in
most of the large Russian towns con
cerning horses that deserves special
mention. Among the curious things
that arrest the attention on arriving
in Moscow is the entire absence of
whips amorifc drivers of cabs, car
riages, and all sorts of vehicles. There
is a law prohibiting their use. There
is not a single whip in use in Moscow.
The excellent condition of the horses
attests the benefit of this humane law.
Nothing can exceed the beauty of the
sleek and well-groomed horses used in
the carriages of Moscow.
Titled Englishman Coming.
Lord Brooke, an Englishman 22
years of age and quite marriageable,
is about to pay a visit to this countrv.
He is a son of the countess of War
wick, who as Lady Brooke was a fel
low guest at Tranby Croft with the
prince of Wales (now King Edward)
when the famous baccarat * scandal
convulsed all England. It was she
who told of the .trouble of outsiders,
this earning her nickname of “the
babbling Brooke.”
DIARY OF A REAL BOY.
Its Perusal Gave Father Insight Into
Many Things.
There is a certain 9-year-old kid in
, this city, who is keeping a diary says
j the Philadelphia Telegraph. The book
i was given him last Christmas by a
relative, and nis father had forgotten
all about it until he accidentally found
the volura? the other day. Curious to
see what his small son had written in
it, he opened the book and found tnat
the diary had been faithfully kept.
Here are a few of the entries:
“I am 9 years old to-day. Ixioked
in the glass, but whiskers aint sprout
in' yet.”
‘‘Sassed a boy. Got lickt.”
“Pop borrowed ten cents for car
fair, that makes $1.15 he owes me.
Wonder if lie ever get it.”
‘‘Jimrfeie - stole my ball. I
iicKt mm tor it.”
"Ast Pop for some of my money
and he giv me a nikil. I want that
doler.”
“We feloes got up a btiseball club
to-day. Ime picher. If I had that
i doler 15 I could get a unaform.”
"Pop got paid today and giv me my
money.”
"Mamma borrid a doler. Bother
| these people anyway. A felo cant save
I nothin’.”
"Ast Pop about banks. I want to
put my money ware carfair aint so
skarse.”
"Got. lickt again.’
There was more of this, but “Pop”
had read enough. As a result there
was a conference, and now the ar
rangement is to pay 5 per cent, a week
interest, and settle every payday. The
kid got his “unaform.’
A Bunch of Fire Crackers.
A lit firecracker in the hand isn't
worth two in the pack.
There is no use pulling the triggei
after the gun has been fired.
Do not look a gift cannon in the
mouth.
Largest Map in the World.
The largest map in the world is the
Ordnance Survey map of England,
containing aver 108,000 sheets, and
costing .£200,000 a year for twenty
years. The scale varies from ten feet
to one-eighth of an inch to the mile.
The details are so minute that maps
having a scale of twenty-five inches
show every hedge, fence, wall, build
ing, and even every isolated tree in
the country. The plans show not only
the exact shape of every building, but
every porch, area, doorstep, lamppost,
railway, and fire plug.
Knew Where He Slept.
John L. Sullivan, at his recent Bos
ton benefit, said to two schoolboys
who approached to shake his hand:
“Boys, if you want to get on do
your work. Work is the only thing
to make men happy and successful.
“Don’t be like the lad who worked
so bady that when his father wrote to
the boss of the concern asking where
his son slept, the answer sent back
was:
“ ‘Your sen sleeps in the shop in
the daytime, but we don’t know where
he sleeps at night.’”
