FLAGEOLET 



2201 



FLAME 



JAMES MONTGOMERY 

 FLAGG 



FLAGEOLET, flaj o let', a small wind instru- 

 ment, formerly used in orchestras. Its sound 

 is regulated by six holes, besides one each at 

 the bottom, mouthpiece and behind the neck. 

 Its compass is two octaves. The quality of its 

 tone is shrill, but softer than that of the pic- 

 colo. 



FLAGG, JAMES MONTGOMERY (1877- ), 

 one of the most successful of American illus- 

 trators and an interesting and witty writer. He 

 works with equal ease in charcoal, crayon, pen- 

 and-ink, water-colors and oils. Although he 

 has won consid- 

 erable success in 

 portraiture, he is 

 at his best as an 

 illustrator. 

 He possesses a 

 gift of humor 

 which seems in- 

 exhaustible. 

 Flagg was born ait ' 

 Pelham Manor, 

 now a part 

 of New York 

 City. At the age 

 of fourteen his 

 first accepted 

 drawing appeared in Life, and when fifteen his 

 work was bringing him an income of about 

 $1,200 a year. Since then he has contributed 

 regularly to many of the leading magazines and 

 has illustrated several works of fiction. Not- 

 able among his own publications are Yankee 

 Girls Abroad, All in the Same Boat, If A 

 Guide to Bad Manners, Why They Married, 

 The Adventures of Kitty Cobb and A Book of 

 Tomfoolery. 



FLAG OF TRUCE, a flag, or any white 

 material, hoisted by one of two warring parties 

 to indicate a desire to communicate with the 

 other. By international law and custom a flag 

 of truce is granted certain privileges, but the 

 general impression that all hostilities must 

 necessarily cease as soon as a white flag is 

 hoisted is wrong. Once acknowledged or ac- 

 cepted by the enemy, however, such a flag 

 assumes a sacred character, and the person 

 carrying it and bearing messages must not be 

 harmed. Any attempt to take advantage of 

 the use of a flag of truce for obtaining infor- 

 mation is punishable by the sternest measures. 

 Firing on a white flag after there has been an 

 expression of willingness to "parley," or com- 

 municate, is regarded as treacherous. The 

 same applies to the act of firing on the enemy 



while claiming the protection afforded by a flag 

 of truce. 



The hoisting of a white flag by a body of 

 troops or garrison hard pressed does not imply 

 instant surrender, but a desire to discuss terms 

 for such surrender. 



FLAIL, flayl, a hand implement in early 

 days in use on the farm to thresh any kind of 

 grain. The flail consisted of a short, thick 

 club attached by a leather thong to a long 

 wooden handle in such a way that it could 

 swing easily. The threshing 

 machine has taken the place 

 of this primitive implement in 

 all advanced countries, al- 

 though the flail is yet employed 

 by some Asiatics and Africans. 

 In the Middle Ages the flail, 

 made much 

 stronger and fur- 

 nished with iron 

 spikes, was used 

 as a weapon of 

 warfare. It was 

 one of the earliest THE FLAIL 



of the world's weapons to be retained in the 

 hand during combat. 



FLAME, the outward and visible sign of 

 burning gas or vapor. When a candle burns it 

 is not the solid wax that ignites, but the melted 

 wax which has been drawn up to the top of 

 the wick and there vaporized. A similar thing 

 happens when we get flame from other solids 

 or liquids. 



Flame is always accompanied by heat, and 

 generally by a bright flare of light. It is a 

 mistake, however, to suppose that a substance 

 is not prqperly a flame unless strongly lumin- 

 ous, for some gases burn with very little light. 

 Hydrogen, for example, which burns at an 

 extremely high temperature, has a very faint 

 blue flame, almost invisible. 



What Causes Flame. Flame is the result of 

 the combustion that occurs when the solid 

 particles of the gas generally atoms of car- 

 bon come into 'contact with particles of oxy- 

 gen in the air (see COMBUSTION). Without 

 oxygen there can be no flame. If we exclude 

 air from a fire it will not burn; and if a 

 lighted candle is placed in a bottle filled with 

 "bad air" breathed out of the human lungs 

 its flame will be extinguished almost imme- 

 diately, because the oxygen in the air was used 

 up before exhalation. 



Its Triple Structure. If we take the flame 

 of a candle or a gas-jet as a type and observe it 



