the teacher. Such a scrap-book can be made by using large envelops,
fastening them at the bottom within a cardboard cover, and labelling
each envelop according to its contents. As additions are made to the
songs, poems, programs, etc., a catalog of the contents can be kept on
the outside of the envelop. It will be best to mount recitations on
heavy paper in order to preserve them longer.
SUGGESTIVE PROGRAMS
PRIMARY GRADES
Opening remarks by teacher in charge
Singing by school, "America"
Recitation, "Our Flag" (by May Howlister), First grade pupil
Recitation, "Your Flag and my Flag" (by Wilbur D. Nesbit), Fourth
grade pupil
Song, "Our Country's Flag" (by Florence L. Dresser)
Flag Drill, All pupils
Presentation of new flag, Member of Parent-Teacher Association
Flag Salute, Entire audience: "I pledge allegiance to my flag, and
to the Republic for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible,
with Liberty and Justice for all"
Song, "The Star Spangled Banner"
GRAMMAR GRADES
Remarks by teacher or pupil in charge
Song, "The Star Spangled Banner," School, led by school orchestra
Oration, "Flag Day Address" (by President Wilson), Eighth grade boy
Recitation, "The Name of Old Glory" (by James Whitcomb Riley)
Song, "The Unfurling of the Flag" (by Clara Endicott Sears)
"Why we should love the Flag" (Best original speech by grade pupil)
Recitation, "Old Flag" (by Hubbard Parker)
Song, "We'll Keep Old Glory Flying" (by Carleton S. Montanye)
Flag drill and grand march, All pupils of grades 5, 6, 7, 8
Presentation of new flag by father of pupil
Flag Raising
Flag Salute: "I pledge allegiance to my flag and to the Republic
for which it stands; one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and
Justice for all"
Song, "America"
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE AMERICAN FLAG
On the 2d of July, 1776, the American Congress resolved "that these
united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent
states; and that all political connection between us and the states
of Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved." On the 4th
of July a Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Congress,
and sent out under its authority, to announce to all other nations
that the United States of America claimed a place among them. On this
4th of July the nation was born. Its flag, the visible symbol of its
power, was not adopted till 1777.
On the 14th of June, 1777, Congress 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."
The national flag--_our_ national flag--grew in the most direct way
out of the banners that had waved over the colonists. The flag of
the United Colonies had thirteen stripes, one for each colony, and
the stripes were alternate red and white. This part of the old flag
remained unchanged in the new one. Each colony retained its stripe.
The flag of the colonies, in its union, had displayed the king's
colors. There was now no longer a king in America, but a new Union had
arisen--a Union of Thirteen States--no longer a Union of kingdoms.
The union of the old flag had been the crosses of St. George and St.
Andrew conjoined on a blue field. The new union was a circle of silver
stars in a blue sky--"a new constellation."
The flag of the United States was derived from the flag of the
United Colonies in the simplest and most natural manner. The old
flag had expressed the hopes and aspirations of thirteen colonies
which had united in order to secure justice from their king and
fellow-countrymen in England. The new flag expressed the determined
resolve of the same thirteen colonies--now become sovereign
states--to form a permanent Union, and to take their place among
the nations of the world. They were no longer Englishmen; they were
Americans.
Many suggestions have been made to account for the appearance of stars
or of stripes in the new flag. It seems unnecessary to seek for any
explanation other than the one that has just been given. The old flag
of the United Colonies expressed the feelings and aspirations of the
revolted English colonists. They were willing to remain as subjects of
the English king, but they had united to secure justice. The new flag
expressed their firm resolve to throw off the yoke of England and to
become a new nation. The symbols of each flag exactly expressed the
feeling of the men who bore it.
There is a resemblance between the colors and symbols of the new flag
and the symbols borne on the coat of arms of General Washington that
is worthy of remark. General Washington was a descendant of an English
family, and his ancestors bore a coat of arms that he himself used as
a seal, and for a book-plate.
It has been supposed that the stars of the American flag were
suggested by the three stars of this coat of arms, and this is not
impossible. General Washington was in Philadelphia in June, 1777, and
he is said to have engaged Mrs. John Ross, at that time, to make the
first flag, though this is not absolutely certain.
However this may be, it is known that the American flag of thirteen
stars and of thirteen stripes was displayed at the siege of Fort
Stanwix in August, 1777; at the battle of Brandywine on September 11;
at Germantown on the 4th of October; at the surrender of the British
under General Burgoyne on October 17. The flag had been adopted in
June of the same year. The vessels of the American navy flew this flag
on the high seas, and their victories made it respected everywhere....
The treaty of peace between England and the United States was signed
(at Paris, France) on September 3, 1783. This was the acknowledgment
of Great Britain of the independence of her former colonies; and the
other nations of Europe stood by consenting. Our flag was admitted, at
that time, on equal terms with the standards of ancient kingdoms and
states, to the company of the banners of the world....
In April, 1818, the Congress passed "An Act to Establish the Flag of
the United States":
"Section I. _Be it enacted, etc._, That from and after the fourth day
of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal
stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union have twenty stars,
white in a blue field.
"Section II. _And be it further enacted_, That on the admission of
every new state into the union, one star be added to the union of the
flag; and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth of July
next succeeding such admission. _Approved_, April 4, 1818."
No changes (other than the addition of new stars) have been made in
the national flag since 1818. The stars have been added, one by one,
until in 1898 there are forty-five in all. Every state has its star;
each of the original thirteen states has its stripe.
So long as the United States exists the flag will remain in its
present form, except that new stars will be displayed as the new
states come in. It will forever exhibit the origin of the nation from
the thirteen colonies, and its growth into a Union of sovereign states.
_Edward S. Holden_
MAKERS OF THE FLAG
This morning, as I passed into the Land Office, The Flag dropped me a
most cordial salutation, and from its rippling folds I heard it say:
"Good-morning, Mr. Flag-Maker."
"I beg your pardon, Old Glory," I said, "aren't you mistaken? I am not
the President of the United States, nor a member of Congress, nor even
a general in the army. I am only a Government clerk."
"I greet you again, Mr. Flag-Maker," replied the gay voice. "I know
you well. You are the man who worked in the swelter of yesterday
straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or
perhaps you found the mistake in that Indian contract in Oklahoma, or
helped to clear that patent for the hopeful inventor in New York, or
pushed the opening of that new ditch in Colorado, or made that mine in
Illinois more safe, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyoming.
No matter; whichever one of these beneficent individuals you may
happen to be, I give you greeting, Mr. Flag-Maker."
I was about to pass on, when the Flag stopped me with these words:
"Yesterday the President spoke a word that made happier the future of
ten million peons in Mexico; but that act looms no larger on the flag
than the struggle which the boy in Georgia is making to win the Corn
Club prize this summer.
"Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will open the door of
Alaska; but a mother in Michigan worked from sunrise until far into
the night, to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the flag.
"Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and
yesterday, maybe, a school teacher in Ohio taught his first letters
to a boy who will one day write a song that will give cheer to the
millions of our race. We are all making the flag."
"But," I said impatiently, "these people were only working!"
Then came a great shout from The Flag:
"The work that we do is the making of the flag.
"I am not the flag; not at all. I am but its shadow.
"I am whatever you make me, nothing more.
"I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become.
"I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, of heartbreaks
and tired muscles.
"Sometimes I am strong with pride, when men do an honest work, fitting
the rails together truly.
"Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically I
play the coward.
"Sometimes I am loud, garish, and full of that ego that blasts
judgment.
"But always I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to try
for.
"I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope.
"I am the day's work of the weakest man, and the largest dream of the
most daring.
"I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and the statute
makers, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep, cook,
counselor, and clerk.
"I am the battle of yesterday, and the mistake of tomorrow.
"I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why.
"I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution.
"I am no more than what you believe me to be and I am all that you
believe I can be.
"I am what you make me, nothing more.
"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."
_Franklin K. Lane_
THE NAME OF OLD GLORY[I]
[I] From the Biographical Edition of the Complete Works of James
Whitcomb Riley, copyright 1913. Used by special permission of the
publishers, The Bobbs-Merrill Company.
Old Glory! say, who,
By the ships and the crew,
And the long, blended ranks of the gray and the blue--
Who gave you, Old Glory, the name that you bear
With such pride everywhere
As you cast yourself free to the rapturous air
And leap out full-length, as we're wanting you to?--
Who gave you that name, with the ring of the same,
And the honor and fame so becoming to you?--
Your stripes stroked in ripples of white and of red,
With your stars at their glittering best overhead--
By day or by night
Their delightfulest light
Laughing down from their little square heaven of blue!--
Who gave you the name of Old Glory?--say, who--
Who gave you the name of Old Glory?
The old banner lifted, and faltering then
In vague lisps and whispers fell silent again.
Old Glory--speak out!--we are asking about
How you happened to "favor" a name, so to say,
That sounds so familiar and careless and gay
As we cheer it and shout in our wild breezy way--
We--the crowd, every man of us, calling you that--
We--Tom, Dick and Harry--each swinging his hat
And hurrahing "Old Glory!" like you were our kin,
When--Lord!--we all know we're as common as sin!
And yet it just seems like you humor us all
And waft us your thanks, as we hail you and fall
Into line, with you over us, waving us on
Where our glorified, sanctified betters have gone--
And this is the reason we're wanting to know--
(And we're wanting it so--
Where our own fathers went we are willing to go)--
Who gave you the name of Old Glory--O-ho!--
Who gave you the name of Old Glory?
The old flag unfurled with a billowy thrill
For an instant, then wistfully sighed and was still.
Old Glory: the story we're wanting to hear
Is what the plain facts of your christening were--
For your name--just to hear it,
Repeat it, and cheer it, 's tang to the spirit
As salt as a tear;--
And seeing you fly, and the boys marching by,
There's a shout in the throat and a blur in the eye
And an aching to live for you always--or die,
If dying, we still keep you waving on high.
And so, by our love
For you, floating above,
And the scars of all wars and the sorrows thereof,
Who gave you the name of Old Glory, and why
Are we thrilled at the name of Old Glory?
Then the old banner leaped, like a sail in the blast,
And fluttered an audible answer at last.
And it spake, with a shake of the voice, and it said:
By the driven snow-white and the living blood-red
Of my bars, and their heaven of stars overhead--
By the symbol conjoined of them all, skyward cast,
As I float from the steeple, or flap at the mast,
Or droop o'er the sod where the long grasses nod--
My name is as old as the glory of God.
... So I came by the name of Old Glory.
_James Whitcomb Riley_
WE'LL KEEP OLD GLORY FLYING
_Song_
We'll keep Old Glory flying fair,
No matter where we are;
We'll let the breeze caress each stripe
And proudly kiss each star.
'Twill never know the despot's heel,
This Banner of the Free.
We'll keep Old Glory flying high,
For Home and Liberty!
No matter where we go, or when,
No matter where we go,
Our starry flag in grandeur proud,
To us the way will show.
On foreign shores, afar from home,
We'll carry it on high,
And let the foeman know its might--
To honor it or die.
_Carleton S. Montanye_
OUR COUNTRY'S FLAG
_Song_
Beneath our country's flag today,
We stand a children's band,
And to it now in loyalty
We pledge each heart and hand.
We love its colors as they wave
Beneath these summer skies,
The flag our fathers fought to save
Is sacred in our eyes.
Our country's flag, the dear old flag,
To it, ev'ry heart beats true!
We will follow far each gleaming star,
Our own red, white and blue.
'Neath each clust'ring fold, as in days of old,
It will gather those oppressed,
And secure from harm and from all alarm,
It will bid them safely rest.
To its slightest call, we will rally all;
Ev'ry pledge it makes to keep;
And it leads us forth over lands afar,
O'er the ocean's blue so deep.
_Florence L. Dresser_
OLD FLAG
What shall I say to you, Old Flag?
You are so grand in every fold,
So linked with mighty deeds of old,
So steeped in blood where heroes fell,
So torn and pierced by shot and shell,
So calm, so still, so firm, so true,
My throat swells at the sight of you, Old Flag.
What of the men who lifted you, Old Flag,
Upon the top of Bunker Hill?
'Mid shock and roar and crash and scream,
Who crossed the Delaware's frozen stream,
Who starved, who fought, who bled, who died,
That you might float in glorious pride, Old Flag?
What of the women brave and true, Old Flag,
Who, while the cannon thundered wild,
Sent forth a husband, lover, child,
Who labored in the field by day,
Who, all the night long, knelt to pray,
And thought that God great mercy gave,
If only freely you might wave, Old Flag?
What is your mission now, Old Flag?
What but to set all people free,
To rid the world of misery,
To guard the right, avenge the wrong,
And gather in one joyful throng
Beneath your folds in close embrace
All burdened ones of every race, Old Flag.
Right nobly do you lead the way, Old Flag.
Your stars shine out for liberty,
Your white stripes stand for purity,
Your crimson claims that courage high
For Honor's sake to fight and die.
Lead on against the alien shore!
We'll follow you e'en to Death's door, Old Flag!
_Hubbard Parker_
THE UNFURLING OF THE FLAG
_Song_
There's a streak across the skyline
That is gleaming in the sun,
Watchers from the lighthouse towers
Signalled it to foreign Powers
Just as daylight had begun,
Message thrilling,
Hopes fulfilling
To those fighting o'er the seas.
"It's the flag we've named Old Glory
That's unfurling to the breeze."
Can you see the flashing emblem
Of our Country's high ideal?
Keep your lifted eyes upon it
And draw joy and courage from it,
For it stands for what is real,
Freedom's calling
To the falling
From oppression's hard decrees.
It's the flag we've named Old Glory
You see floating in the breeze.
Glorious flag we raise so proudly,
Stars and stripes, red, white and blue,
You have been the inspiration
Of an ever growing nation
Such as this world never knew.
Peace and Justice,
Freedom, Progress,
Are the blessings we can seize
When the flag we call Old Glory
Is unfurling to the breeze.
When the cry of battling nations
Reaches us across the space
Of the wild tumultuous ocean,
Hearts are stirred with deep emotion
For the saving of the race!
Peace foregoing,
Aid bestowing,
First we drop on bended knees,
Then with shouts our grand Old Glory
We set flaunting to the breeze!
_Clara Endicott Sears_
YOUR FLAG AND MY FLAG
Your flag and my flag,
And how it flies today
In your land and my land
And half a world away!
Rose-red and blood-red
The stripes forever gleam;
Snow-white and soul-white--
The good forefathers' dream;
Sky-blue and true blue, with stars to gleam aright--
The gloried guidon of the day; a shelter through the night.
Your flag and my flag!
And, oh, how much it holds--
Your land and my land--
Secure within its folds!
Your heart and my heart
Beat quicker at the sight;
Sun-kissed and wind-tossed--
Red and blue and white.
The one flag--the great flag--the flag for me and you--
Glorified all else beside--the red and white and blue!
Your flag and my flag!
To every star and stripe
The drums beat as hearts beat
And fifers shrilly pipe!
Your flag and my flag--
A blessing in the sky;
Your hope and my hope--
It never hid a lie!
Home land and far land and half the world around,
Old Glory hears our glad salute and ripples to the sound!
_Wilbur D. Nesbit_
OUR FLAG
There are many flags in many lands,
There are flags of every hue,
But there is no flag in any land
Like our own Red, White, and Blue.
Then "Hurrah for the flag!" our country's flag,
Its stripes and white stars, too;
There is no flag in any land
Like our own Red, White, and Blue.
_Mary Howlister_
This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem of
our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has
no other character than that which we give it from generation to
generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above
the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And
yet, though silent, it speaks to us--speaks to us of the past, of the
men and women who went before us, and of the records they wrote upon
it.
We celebrate the day of its birth; and from its birth until now it has
witnessed a great history, has floated on high the symbol of great
events, of a great plan of life worked out by a great people. We are
about to carry it into battle, to lift it where it will draw the fire
of our enemies. We are about to bid thousands, hundreds of thousands,
it may be millions, of our men--the young, the strong, the capable men
of the nation--to go forth and die beneath it on fields of blood far
away....
Woe be to the man, or group of men, that seeks to stand in our way in
this day of high resolution, when every principle we hold dearest is
to be vindicated and made secure for the salvation of the nations. We
are ready to plead at the bar of history, and our flag shall wear a
new luster. Once more we shall make good with our lives and fortunes
the great faith to which we were born, and a new glory shall shine in
the face of our people.
_Woodrow Wilson_
From Flag Day Address, June 14, 1917
STORY OF THE "STAR SPANGLED BANNER"
In the War of 1812, when an attack was being made upon Fort McHenry,
Mr. Key and his friend were on board an American vessel just in sight
of the enemy's fleet and the flag of Fort McHenry. They remained on
board all through the night, holding their breath at every shell that
went careering over among their countrymen in the fort, and every
moment expecting an explosion.
Suddenly the firing ceased, and as they had no connection with the
enemy's ships they could not find out whether the fort had been
abandoned, or the siege given up. For the remainder of the night they
paced to and fro upon the deck in terrible anxiety, longing for the
return of the day, and looking every few moments at their watches to
see how long they must wait for it.
Light came at last, and they could see that our flag was still there.
At length they were told that the attack had failed and that the
British were re-embarking.
The words of the "Star Spangled Banner" were written by Mr. Key, as he
walked the deck in the darkness and suspense.
In less than an hour after it went into the printer's hands it was all
over town, was hailed with joy, and at once took its place among our
national pieces.
Ferdinand Durag, an actor, saw it, and catching up a volume of flute
music, he whistled tune after tune; at length, he chanced upon one
called "Anacreon in Heaven," and as note after note fell from his
lips, he cried, "Boys, I've hit it!" Then, taking up the words, there
rang out for the first time the "Song of the Star Spangled Banner."
How the men shouted and clapped!
The actor sang it in public. It was caught up in camps, sung around
bivouac fires, and whistled in the streets. When peace was declared
and the people scattered to their homes, it was sung around thousands
of firesides.
THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER
Oh, say, can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?
On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected, now shines on the stream;
'Tis the star-spangled banner; oh, long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved homes and the war's desolation,
Blest with victory and peace, may the Heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust!"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
_Francis Scott Key_
* * * * *
A man came from Europe to this country, and went to Cuba in 1867. He
was arrested as a spy, court-martialed and condemned to be shot. He
sent for the American and English consuls, and proved to them that
he was not a spy. They went to one of the Spanish officers and said,
"This man you have condemned to be shot is an innocent man." The
Spanish officer said, "The man has been legally tried by our laws and
condemned, and the law must take its course and the man must die." The
next morning the man was led out; the grave was already dug for him,
the black cap was put on him, the soldiers were there ready to receive
the order "Fire," and in a few moments the man would be shot and put
in that grave. Then the American consul took the American flag and
wrapped it around the prisoner, and the English consul took the English
flag and wrapped it around him, and they said to those soldiers, "Fire
on those flags if you dare!" Not a man dared. Why? _There were two
great governments behind those flags._
Let us love our flag, because behind it is "the greatest of the best
and the best of the great of all governments."
* * * * *