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Uncle Peter’s Flevg Fourth c f J u l y S t o r y By CI.AKISSA MACKIE I I At '!ii'|n?r Aunt Itvbecca mentioned ' .............intug nnuiversary for the first time in a week. “ W h at you going to do about a flag?\ she asked. \Nothing except run up the old one.\ \ said Uncle Peter dispiritedly. \Seems too ! ad you couldn't have a new one! How much was the big cam bric ones, Peter?\ \I've forgotten. Rebecca—tnore’n 1 inn afford anyway. I’ve been count- < - If I'd hadn't l.ad any terhacrer for three years 1 inicht W ve had that new tiag. Shows how a had tin bit will trip you up sooner or later.” \ ’T a ln't a bail habit the way you smoke.\ defended Rebecca warmly. \My land. 1 guess you’re entitled to that little comfort' the way you’ve worked all your life!’* \ ’T a ln't no credit to me that I've worked. IPs what I was put in the world for. Never mind about the flag. Reeky. There'll be Just us much pa triotism in my soul when I run her up us If she was made of the finest silk. T h a t’s all th a t counts—w h a t's inside your heart.” \1 suppose you’re right, father,” said Refiecca. a little smile curling her Ups ns she arose to clear the table. After the dishes were washed and put awiiV Rebecca tbs I on her white apron and went on to the porch, where the set ting sun was gilding Uncle Peter's white head Into a roseate crown. \W h at you doing?\ inquired Rebecca “Going to run up the Hag. No one in I.itt’e River ever got a flag up ahead of me yet.\ m u ttered Uncle Peter be tween Ins teeth clinched around his pipestem. lie moved across the g rass to tile flag pole and fumbled w ith the halyards. Relivvca hustled into the house and came out with a mass of red. white and blue folds In her arm s. She stood \I know it, Rebecca. 1 h aven’t done | d o s e to Peter’s elbow before she spoke, more than price these big flags—$15 and when she opened her lips her voice for this size unless I get a cam bric : trembled. [C o p y right, 19'.:, by A m e rican P r e s s A sso ciation.] T ’LL be the first tim e in my life that a ting hasn’t flown from the pole on a national holiday,\ murmured Uncle Peter Mason Borrow fully as lie squinted up a t the tallest flagstaff in Little River. it stood in the middle of his front yard, and it’s gilded bull reflected the sun light high above the highest tree. His wife. Aunt Rebecca, held at Arm's length a dingy \object that once had been uu American flag. Now the red and white stripes had been lieatvu by weather until they took on a uni form gray color, and there was little enough of it, too. for the wind had whlpited the emblem to a few tattered rags that might not have l>een recog nizable had It not been for the stars carefully stitched by hand and the faded fragm ents of b and sewed stripes. \It don't look like this had once been ten foot long,” rem arked Aunt Rebec cn. \A fter your father alw ays flying the biggest Hag in Little Rlvuf and you carrying out the sam e idee 1 h a te like poison to run up a small, cheap one, hut I don’t know w h a t to do. That in terest comes due the 1st of July, and there ain't a cent to spare over, even for patriotism .” one. You can alw ays tell what a flag’s made of by its hang and by its float Job Little offered to let me have the flag aud said 1 could pay him up by installm ents, but 1 says to him that was poor patriotism .” “A cambric flag Is better than none.\ said Rebecca sensibly. “I was telling E tty ultout It the other day, and she says, says she, 'If I had time I'd make pa a flag, but I’m alw ays so butty with the children’s clothes it seems as If 1 was tired from morning to night.' 1 told her If anybody made a flag It would lie me, but the material would cost a sight if ’tw a s made of wool or Bilk.” \My mother made this flag, every bit,\ said Uncle Peter. \I wish I’d thought of it l>efore.” said Rebecca to herself. “I might have done something to get him a flag. The Fourth of July Is his birthday. There’s a hull week yet. I'll see what I enn do In the m eantime.” Rebecca Mason went up in the gar ret th a t morning and turned out the contents of a dozen trunks. Garm ents of every color were spilled on the clean floor, and while the wasps hum med about In the shadowy rafters Re becca turned aud sorted and shook and d iseased until a pile of white garm e n ts lay !«‘slde her, and In her lap was heaped her wedding gown, a bright blue delaine. During the next week Aunt Rebecca was mysteriously busy. She washed great quantities of white poplin, and her dye kettle bubbled secretly In the cellar wash room. Her hands were 'stained with red. and the sewing ma chine In the spare cham b er hummed busily in every spare moment. Uncle Peter Mason was busy with the June work In his garden, where the long, straight rows of carefully tended vegetables looked Just like the plcturt-s In the seed catalogues which he studied all winter. lie had not men tioned the m a tter of the flag again, and Rebecca had been too busy with her own plans and the fear of discov ery to broach the subject. Her daugh ter E tta, who lived over the river, was up to her ear* in sewing for her two children, so Rebecca was quite undis turbed In carrying out her pleasant plans. The day before the Fourth A u n t Re becca, looking tired, but very much pleased w ith herself, carried some neatly rolled bundles up to the garret and stored them aw ay in the trunks. There was a rod of blue delaine and another of w h ite poplin. This latter w a s very email Indeed, f o r there were b greet many etare to m ake now. \Peter look here,” she quavered. Uneie Peter Mason looked and gasp ed : “What in land. Reeky Mason! that he would rather have hung up his best Sunday shirt than have her cut up her wedding gown. \lltn o w how wllu men feel about such things,\ he apolo gized, trying to keep his delight out of his faded eyes. “Don't say a word, Peter. It's the happiest day of my life!” cried Aunt Becky warmly. “Let's h’ist her up now, Peter, and show Little River we’re still on deck!” Ju s t then there was a light step on the graveled path, and E tta came around the corner of the house with a huge bundle under her arm. When she T h e S t a r S p a n g led \Banner — Long M a y It 'COa.'Ve saw the flag she stopped and stared. “Why, where did th a t come from ?” she gasped. Aunt Rebecca proudly explained. \W ould you believe It?” exclaimed : poor E tta. ’’Look here, ma and pa!” She unrolled the bundle under her arm and spread It on the grass. It was another flag. Just as large as Rel>ecca’s, but made of new m a terial— j some sort of cheap hunting neatly sewed into a flag. Uncle P e ter was i openly crying. “Did you m ake this, E tty?” he de m a n d e d \Every stitch!” she Bald proudly. “If I’d only known ma was going to make one—hut there, ma, if I’d only told you you might have saved your wedding dress, hut a in’t you sm a rt to make it?’’ “I’ve got two flags,\ sobbed Uncle Peter, “made by the two best women in the w o rld ” “Look a t w h a t’s coming!” cried E tta, alert w ith new In terest “It’s J o b Lit tie and three men from the lodge.” When Job L ittle’s speech was con cluded U n d e Peter found himself the possessor of another Immense flag, a gift from a few of his closest friends who wanted it to fly from the tallest staff in Little River. And that was not all. L a ter the ex press wagon drove up and left Peter a box which turned out to contain anoth er flag—this one made of silk that rus tled richly as it fell from the box. \W ho the land?” gasped Aunt Re becca. “Compliments and best wishes of John Ham ilton and fam ily—for Uncle Peter Mason. Long may she wave!” read Uncle Peter brokenly from the card in his hand. “Who would have believed them sum mer boarders would have remembered our old flag was wore out,\ comment ed E tta practically. “Now, pa, what yotrgoing to do? H ere you’ve got four flags. You can’t hang ’em on the pole all to once without some being half Uncle Peter's hat had been removed long ago, when he had brought out the tattered rem n a n t of his m o ther's flag and the setting sun gilded his white head and glorified the faces of the men and women who stood about him. \I slmll use ’em alternate.” announc ed Uncle Peter at last; \first one and then another. Tomorrow, being the Fourth of July, I shall divide the day Into four watches of three hours each and give every flag its turn. I can't thank anybody yet. I'm too happy. 1 hope nobody will be offended, but 1 feel like I'll run up my m other's flag first with Rebecca’s. She made it from her wedding dress. Nobody object ?” \Of course not!” they cried heartily, and in a trice the faded bit of hunting that had been flung to the breeze so many years once more floated over Lit tie River, and beneath It rippled out the splendid folds of Rebecca's flag, i \T think them two flags better float all day tomorrow,” said Job Little de ! cidedly, \and these three others—Et I ty’s anil Ham ilton's and ours—we'll jest drape on the piazza. W hat say?” 1812 , conflict which w a s made memora- which toward its closs gave r u e to the N E H U N D R E D years ego marked the beginning of t h e w a r of E l ble by the successee of t h e American forces on the seas and incident t h a t led to t h e writing national anthem. This poem w a s written fleet in Chesapeake bay under e flag of truce in an effort to arran g e for the release of a prisoner Mr. Key w a s detained on board a ship while the attack was made on Baltimore, S e p t 10, 1814. The flag w a s still flying when darkness hid the scene, and toward morning the firing ceased. Key knew that the battle was over, but he did not know which side was victorious, and while pacing t h e deck of the British vessel in restless anxiety he thought of t h e theme and compoaed most of the lines of “ T h e S t a r Spangled Banner.” When dawn cam s he saw the flag still waving. of \The S t a r Spangled Banner,” t h e song now generally regarded as our ■itten by Francis Scott Key, an attorney who had gone to the British of truc e in a n effort to arra n g e fo r th e releas e of a prison e r or war. ADOPTING THE DECLARATION. W here did you get It ? It ain’t—it ain’t it'Iooks I t t e ' i r W t T a d you'giri £ ? ’’ He was excitedly slinking out the 1 ^ folds of the big flag, and his feeble old •> Angers trembled as he saw th a t It was Jj quite as large as the one his m o ther •> hod made so many years ago. j % A u nt Rebecca was crying with de- ! ^ lig h t She helped him spread the stars and stripes on the grass. \This blue,” she said, touching the star sprinkled field, “is made from my blue delaine—my wedding gown. Pe ter.\ “Oh, Becky!\ uttered her husband reverently. “And the stripes was made from all the w h ite poplin dresses I ’ve had, and there w a s a sight of the stuff—eome of It I dyed red—an d ”— Uncle P e ter bad her in his anna, and they w ere kissing each other, and Un cle P e ter was trying to tell his wife T H E INSPIRATION OF LIB ERTY. Q U R exam ple has aroused the world spirit of independence. The exi>eriment of liberty if It had failed with us most surely would not have been attem p te d by others. Our counsels a nd Sets operate as powerful precedents In the great fam ily of republics. And so a wise and harmonious adm inistration of the public of- fairs—a faithful, liberal and pa triotic exercise of our private du ties as citizens—while they se cure our happiness a t home will serve the cause of liberty be yond the e q u ator and the Andes. —Edw a rd Everett. ♦♦»»»» How the Immortal Document W a s Put Through Continental Congress. yB LTIIOUGII the Fourth is the day L K that Is celebrated by many as that on which the Immortal Declaration of independence was sign ed, sealed and promulgated, as a m a t ter of fact such is not true. The great document was read to the people on the Fourth after having been ap proved by congress, but it was not signed on that day. On July 2 Jefferson presented for adoption the immortal Declaration aft er congress had adopted a resolution presented by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia, which had been placed before the body on June 7. 1770: Resolved, T h a t these united colonies are and of a rig h t ought to be free and Inde pendent sta t e s ; th a t th e y are absolved from all allegiance to th e B r itish crow n : a n d th a t all political connection betw een ‘ them and the sta t e of G r e a t B r itain is and ought to be to tally dissolveif This resolution was debated for n e ar ly a month, and. owing to the absence of Ivee, who had been called home, the defense of it fell on his colleague. Jef ferson. It needed defense, for in that congress were able men who opposed Its passage and revolution. Great, therefore, Is America's ^ b t to Jeffer son and Lee. On July 2 I,ee's resolu tion was adopted, and Jefferson’s draft of the Declaration was adopted on July 4. 1770. John Hancock, president of congress, and Charles Thompson, its secretary. Immediately signed the document and became thus the first olftelal traitors from an English point of view. It was made public to the citizens by John Nixon, who read It to the citizens of , P hiladelphia In Independence square. On July 15 It was ordered to be en- i grossed, and on this being done the sign- ' ers appended their names pn Aug. 2. Meanwhile there had been some changes in the personnel of congress John Dickinson, Edw a rd Biddle, Thom as W illing and Charles Hum phreys of Pennsylvania fought Vie Declaration, and the commonwealth sent Benjamin Franklin. Robert Morris, George Ross I a n d Jam e s Wilson to congress in their places to sign the great paper. t No foothold h td freedom in all of the earth, No home had dem o cracy outside a prison. And every republic thaV since has had birth Is child of hers, through her example has risen Till all of the contin-nts now have divined The light of the new day that breaks for mankind. |IN R S T France caught the gleam , she whose soldiers had fought As brothers with ours: with the blood and the treasure She gave vn'o us I-nr own freedom she bought. Repaid thus in liberty’s bounteous measure. Then glistened th e light upon Switzerland's crags. Next all the Americas glowed into moaning And, under the eagle’s wing, blossomed with flags, A wreath of republics the New World adorning. B raz 1 followed soon, and then over the ses Our guns thunder- d < horns and Cuba was free. 'I'H E growing republican phalanx moves on. Proud Portugal y e s terday swelling the number. Today o ’e r the orient blushes the dawn A rd Ch na awakes from her ages of slumber. Tomorrow w h at new land will tum to the light 7 Already the rule of the people grows stronger Throughout all the earth, an d the day is in sight a W hen kin^s and their minions shall govern no longer: Already the e r a of promise is nigh W hen each land shall boast its own Fourth of July, f IMi, by A m e rican P r e s s Association.
