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? 5 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 10 of yesterday straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or perhaps you found the mistake in the 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, 15 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 5 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, 10 is making the Flag.

15

"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 nothing more than its shadow.

20 "I am whatever you make me, nothing more.

25

"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 workmen do an honest piece of work, fitting 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 30 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 85 dream of the most daring.

5

10

"I am the Constitution and the courts, the 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 cour15 age, 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."

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Franklin Knight Lane (1864-1921) was born on Prince Edward Island, a province of Canada. While he was yet a small boy his parents moved to California, where he attended the State University at Berkeley, being graduated in 1886. Then he entered the newspaper field and became the New York correspondent for a number of papers in the West. He was admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-five and practiced law in San Francisco. In 1913 he was appointed Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President Wilson. "Makers of the Flag" is an address made by Secretary Lane, in June, 1914, before the five thousand officers and employees of the Department of the Interior.

Note. In order to be a flag maker, everyone is expected to do his part of the world's work. A wide acquaintance with occupations, both at first hand and through reading, will help you to know about the various kinds of vocations, so that you will be able to choose your work wisely. It will also give you greater sympathy for the worker and deeper appreciation of the service that may be rendered by faithfulness in everyday toil.

Discussion. 1. Why did the Flag greet the author as "Mr. Flag Maker"? 2. Why are the Georgia boy, the mother in Michigan, and the school teacher in Ohio makers of the Flag? 3. Tell in your own words

some of the things that Mr. Lane says the Flag is. 4. What does the Flag mean by saying, "I am all that you hope to be and have the courage to try for"? 5. How is the Flag a "symbol of yourself"? 6. Do you think that you are a maker of the Flag? 7. In your opinion who are the greatest makers of the Flag? 8. Read again what is said in the first paragraph on page 296, and tell how this address shows the "infinite activities" of America. 9. What great activities are symbolized in the picture on page 441? 10. Find in the Glossary the meaning of: peon; statute; reasoned. 11. Pronounce: cordial; garish.

swelter of yesterday, 441, 9

financial panics, 442, 11

Phrases for Study

cynically I play the coward, 442, 28

ego that blasts judgment, 442, 29 clutch of an idea, 443, 6

purpose of resolution, 443, 6

Library Reading. The Story of Great Inventions, Burns; The Boys' Book of Inventions, Baker; Stories of Useful Inventions, Forman; The Boys' Airplane Book, Collins; The Book of Wireless, Collins.

Suggestions for Theme Topics. 1. A school boy or girl flag maker. 2. An interesting account of some particular service rendered by a doctor that I know; a policeman; a fireman; a nurse; a milkman: a postman; a newsboy; a soldier.

I HEAR AMERICA SINGING

WALT WHITMAN

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be, blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off

work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The woodcutters' song, the plowboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission, or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day-at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

5 Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

NOTES AND QUESTIONS

Biography. Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was born in Huntington, Long Island, and educated in the public schools of Brooklyn. He left school at the early age of thirteen to make his own way in life. At different times he was school teacher, carpenter, builder, journalist, and poet. During the Civil War he became a volunteer nurse in and about Washington, D. C., and the story of his unselfish hospital service is inspiring. Lincoln said of him, "Well, he looks like a man!"

Two points about Whitman are worthy of notice. The first is that he was a man of intensely democratic sympathies. He wrote of "the dear love of comrades" as the real means for bringing about a better understanding among men of every nation, a better government, and the end of war. He loved every part of America, and all America's sons and daughters. The word “democracy” constantly occurs in his poetry and his prose, and by it he means the cultivation of love and coöperation among men. He had a vision of the time when oppressive governments, and all forms of selfishness, should cease among men; like Burns, he dwelt on the time when men all over the world should be brothers.

The second point is closely related to the first. In his dislike for conventional life he objected even to the form developed for poetry through centuries. He was a lover of freedom, even in writing. So he rarely uses rimes and stanzas. He calls his form of writing "chants," and so they are, chants of human brotherhood and sympathy.

Discussion. 1. Who is it that the poet hears singing? 2. In line 1, what "varied carols" does he hear? 3. What do you think was the poet's underlying idea in writing this poem? 4. Do you think he meant to point out that the road to happiness is the road to work? 5. When the worker is interested in his work he enjoys it, for he puts his heart into it; can you give an instance from your own experience?