Part 30 (1/2)
”Hurrah for the Concord flag,” cried Kitty Corwin, as she hoisted up a small maroon banner inscribed with the motto, ”Conquer or Die.” ”This is one of the oldest flags in America, for it was the one carried when the 'embattled farmers fired the shot heard round the world'”-she twirled it high in air-”on the 19th of April, 1775, at the first battle of the Revolution!”
”Oh, but your flag hasn't the romance that mine has,” said Edith, ostentatiously waving a crimson flag fringed at the ends, and with a cord and ta.s.sel. ”This is the Eutaw flag and was made by Miss Jane Elliot. Col. William Was.h.i.+ngton-he was a relative or something of little Georgie-when stationed at Charleston, South Carolina, fell in love with Miss Jane. One night, after spending the evening with his lady love, as he bade her good night, she said she hoped to hear good news of his flag and fortune. Whereupon the poor colonel was forced to confess that his corps had no flag. Upon hearing this the young lady pulled down one of the portieres, cut it to the right size, fringed it at the ends, stuck it on a curtain pole, and then presented it to her gallant lover, telling him to make it his standard. Of course after that it brought good luck and won a great victory at Cowpens, January, 1781, and another at Eutaw Springs the following September. Forty years later the flag was presented by the hands that made it to the Was.h.i.+ngton Light Infantry of Charleston, for the fair Jane married the colonel, all right.”
”Well, don't you girls boast too much,” declared Jessie, ”for if it hadn't been for my flag there wouldn't have been any banners of liberty to make you patriotic.” And Jessie held up a white flag barred with the scarlet cross of St. George, the flag dear to Merrie Old England as the flag of the people, and beloved by the colonists as the ensign that floated from the little s.h.i.+p _Mayflower_.
As if to supplement Jessie's declaration, an Oriole gayly flaunted the Red Ensign of Great Britain with its canton quartered by the cross of St. George and St. Andrew. ”This is the flag that followed Jessie's and was necessarily adopted by the colonists as the flag of the mother country. It was called the Union flag-the two crosses signifying the union of Scotland and England, when King James of Scotland became king-and remained in use in America until the beginning of the Revolution.”
Grace, who had been impatiently waiting to float her flag, now cried, ”Away with your old Johnnie Bull flags! Mine is worth a hundred of those old English rags, for it was the first distinctively American flag used by the Colonies, 'The Pine Tree Flag of New England.'”
”But it has the red cross on the white canton just the same,” ventured Jessie, ”and it is red, too.”
”Of course it has the cross on it,” quickly retorted Grace, ”for at that time the Colonies still belonged to England; but if you look, my lady, you'll see that pine in the first quarter of the canton, and that is American all through, every pine on it. It meant that the colonists, although they were English, had a right to representation in the mother country and to a symbol of their own.”
”Well,” persisted Jessie, in whose veins flowed a goodly supply of English blood, ”your scrubby old pine was such a poor representation of that n.o.ble tree that Charles II asked what it represented-and was told it was an oak.”
”Come, Jessie,” laughed Helen, ”that story is a back number. Every one can guess without much effort that the man who told that yarn to the king was a New Englander. He wanted to gain favor with Charles and bluffed him a bit, trying to make out it was a model of the royal oak in which his majesty took refuge after the battle of Worcester.”
”Oh, stop discussing the merits of that old pine and look at my banner,”
sang out Louise Gaynor, shaking her flag furiously to and fro so as to get the attention of the girls. ”This flag is the Crescent flag and stands for the bravest of the brave. Now listen, and you will all understand what true heroism means.”
The girls, impressed by the Flower's declaration, grew silent, and gazed curiously at a red banner with a white crescent in the upper corner near the staff. ”This flag was designed by Col. Moultrie of the Second Carolina Infantry in 1775. During the siege of Charleston when the flag was shot down, Sergeant William Jasper at the peril of his life recovered it, and held it in place on the parapet until another staff was found. In 1779, at the a.s.sault on Savannah, it was again shot from its holdings. Two lieutenants sprang forward and held it in position until they were killed by the enemy's bullets. Jasper again sprang forward and held the colors up until he, too, was riddled with bullets, and fell into a ditch. As he was dying he seized the flag in his hands and cried, 'Tell Mrs. Elliot'-she was the wife of one of the majors-'that I lost my life supporting the colors she gave our regiment.'”
Barbara, who was usually so placid and mild, now grew quite intense as she pointed to her flag, the Cambridge flag, claiming that it was the first flag on this side of the water to float the red and white bars. It signified, she said, that although the colonists were willing to return to the rule of the English, they were a body of armed men fighting for just and equal rights with their brothers who had crossed the sea to whip them into submission. ”But they didn't,” ended Barbara with triumphant eyes. ”And this flag, also known as the Union flag-meaning that the colonists stood as a man in their desire for the right-was displayed by Was.h.i.+ngton in his camp at Cambridge, January 2nd, 1776.”
”Now let me have a chance,” pleaded Nathalie, who had been impatiently waiting to show her design for some time. ”My flag has a story, too.”
She held up as high as she could a white flag with a rattlesnake in the center. It bore in black letters the name, ”The Culpeper Minute Men of Virginia,” the snaky slogan, ”Don't Tread On Me,” and the famous words of its commander, Patrick Henry, ”Liberty or Death!”
”Do you see that rattlesnake?” continued Miss Nathalie, as she brought her flag to a standstill and pointed to the snaky emblem. ”That has a story-”
”Pooh,” interposed Edith, who was jealously guarding her declaration that her flag was the most beautiful because it had a story. ”I don't see any story about that snaky old thing. Ugh, I never could understand why so many flags had that design.”
”I will tell you why,” declared Nathalie, ”because I have looked it up, and-”
”But you are not the only one who has looked up flags,” chimed Jessie, ”for my eyes were just about ruined trying to get a merit badge for proficiency in flag history-”
”And for deftness and skill in making our flags,” broke in a Pioneer from the Bob White group.
”I beg your pardon, girls, I know you are all very wise on the subject of flags this morning,” rejoined Nathalie good-naturedly, ”but do you know why the rattlesnake was chosen as an ensign?”
She waited a moment, but as no one seemed to know she went on. ”The rattlesnake is to be found only in America; my authority is Benjamin Franklin. It is the wisest of the snake family, therefore a symbol of wisdom. Its bright, lidless eyes never close, this signifies vigilance.
It never attacks without giving due notice, which meant that the American colonies were on the square. Each rattle is perfect, while at the same time it is so firmly attached to its fellows that it cannot be separated without incurring the ruin of all; each colony was a complete unit in itself, and yet it could not stand unless it had the support of the others. As it ages, the rattles increase in numbers, which meant that it was the fervent desire of the people that the colonies should increase in numbers with the years.”
As Nathalie finished her little lecture, Helen, with a sudden movement, shouldered her flag like a musket, and parting the group of girls, marched jubilantly down the center, crying, ”Oh, girls, you have had the floor long enough to tell of the beauties and glories of your paltry banners, but let me tell you, not a flag has won the honors and glories that mine has. Hurrah, girls, for Old Glory!” she ended with a triumphant wave of the Stars and Stripes above their heads.
As if inspired by the sight of the cheery banner so gallantly flung to the breezes by their comrade, the girls with one accord broke into the flag cheer:
”Hear! hear; hear Girl Pioneer!
For flag so dear give a cheer!