West Bound 



with her older and younger daughter, and when 

 one looks at what they have in common, is it 

 wise to make much of a little difference in the 

 colour of bunting ? " 



" But surely, Jack,'* said Tom, " devotion 

 to the flag of your country is a fine thing ? " 



"Look," said I, "at those Stars and Stripes flying 

 from the mainmast of that Cunarder, bound 

 to New York, and at the red ensign of our mer- 

 chant service flying from the flagstaff aft. Do 

 you see that, though a different pattern, they are 

 both red, white, and blue, and don't you remember 

 that old Christian legend of the red and blue 

 cross on the white ground, the mantle of St. John 

 de Matha, which, set as a sail, bore a cargo of 

 slaves to a land of freedom and justice ? Now, 

 if our flags still stand for those two things, com- 

 bined with full recognition of the rights of others 

 and the will to do unto others as we would be 

 done by, let us be devoted to our flags by all 

 means. And now think of Canada and her elder 

 sister, the United States, in relation to our old 

 land, the Mother of Parliaments — all in a broad 

 sense sprung from the same races, with one 

 language, one literature, and may we not add 

 practically one faith also ; with many close 

 family ties, and, to drop to a lower plane, with 

 enormous financial and commercial inter-relation- 



2J 



