The Stars and Stripes, 2g 



It was a pretty, graceful courtesy, my friend, to dis- 

 play from the upper window the " Stars and Stripes," 

 in honor of the arrival of your American guests, and 

 prettier still to have across your hall as a portiere, 

 under which all must bow as they entered, that flag 

 which tells of a government founded upon the born 

 equality of man. Thanks ! Such things touch the 

 heart as well as the patriotic chord which vibrates in 

 the breast of every one so fortunate as to claim that 

 glorious standard as the emblem of the land he fondly 

 calls his own. Colonel Robert Ingersoll, that wonderful 

 orator, says that when abroad, after a long interval, he 

 saw in one of the seaports the Stars and Stripes flutter- 

 ing in the breeze, " he felt the air had blossomed into 

 joy." It was he too who told the South long ago that 

 " there wasn't air enough upon the American continent 

 to float two flags." Right there, Colonel! 



Do you know why the American worships the starry 

 banner with a more intense passion than even the Brit- 

 on does his flag? I will tell you. It is because it is not 

 the flag of a government which discriminates between 

 her children, decreeing privilege to one and denying it 

 to another, but the flag of the people which gives the 

 same rights to all. The British flag was born too soon 

 to be close to the masses. It came before their time, 

 when they had little or no power. They were not con- 

 sulted about it. Some conclave made it, as a pope is 

 made, and handed it down to the nation. But the 



