At all events, it unrolled to the breeze, and waved over as gallant a young officer as ever trod a quarterdeck. Fairly afloat--twenty-nine years of age--healthy, well-knit, though of light and slender frame--a commissioned officer in the American Navy the young gardener saw with joy, the shores receding as the fleet steered for the Bahama Isles. The result of this expedition was the capture of New Providence with a hundred cannon and abundance of military stores. And the capture was brought about by the perseverance and daring of young Paul Jones. _J. T. Headley_ (_Arranged_) THE FIRST SALUTE _That Flag and I are twins, born at the same hour.... We cannot be parted in life or death. So long as we shall float, we shall float together. If we sink, we shall go down as one._ PAUL JONES June 14, 1777, was a great day for the United States and for Paul Jones. On that self-same day, Congress passed two famous Resolutions;--and _Commander_ Paul Jones and the Flag of the Nation were “born at the same hour”:-- _Resolved_: that the Flag of the Thirteen United States be thirteen Stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen Stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation. _Resolved_: that Captain John Paul Jones be appointed to command the ship _Ranger_. Thus it came to pass that the gallant young Scotchman, eager to fight for Liberty, hastened to make the _Ranger_ ready for sea. Then he sailed away under orders for France. From the harbour of Nantes, he convoyed some American ships to place them under the protection of the French fleet in Quiberon Bay. The commander of the French fleet was Admiral La Motte Picquet, who had been ordered by his Government to keep the coast of France free from British cruisers. And it was there in Quiberon Bay, that John Paul Jones received the first salute ever given by a foreign Nation to our Stars and Stripes--a salute that recognized the Independence of the United States. It was on Washington’s Birthday, 1778, that Paul Jones wrote to our Government describing this great event:-- “I am happy in having it in my power to congratulate you,” he said, “on my having seen the American Flag, for the first time, recognized in the fullest and completest manner by the Flag of France. “I was off their bay, the 18th, and sent my boat in the next day, to know if the Admiral would return my salute. “He answered that he would return to me, as the senior American Continental officer in Europe, the [Illustration: PAUL JONES HOISTING THE STARS AND STRIPES] same salute which he was authorized by his Court to return to an Admiral of Holland, or of any other Republic; which was four guns less than the salute given. “I hesitated at this; for I had demanded gun for gun.