"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 clustered stars and the steadfast bars, The red, the white, and the blue. Flag of the sturdy fathers, Flag of the royal sons, Beneath its folds it gathers Earth's best and noblest ones. Boldly we wave its colors, Our veins are thrilled anew By the steadfast bars, the clustered 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 institutions 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 constitution, 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 noble 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