citizen gazes on his native banner floating to the breeze, a
thrill of ecstacy and pride moves his inmost being. As he
sees embodied in its fluttering folds the power of his country
and protection of his rights, he is conscious of an exalted
feeling and his blood surges through his body with fresh and
invigorating strength. At home or abroad, who can gaze
upon our beloved ensign without being thrilled with an in
describable feeling coming o'er his person, enraping one in
its resistless influence! The Stars and Stripes call forth
every ennobling thought and sentiment—every patriotic
feeling. Under their ample folds rests the greatest republic
the world has ever seen; under their sheltering care flourish
the free institutions of America. Everytime we behold its
sacred presence let us draw from it new lessons of purity
and truth.
Each stripe of red, dyed in the blood of perishing heroes
and the fallen brave, should be hallowed. to every AMerican
heart; each stripe of white should, present the purity of pur
pose and the motives that prompted the minds of the brave
men of the nation to do and to dare. Its field of blue with
its constellation of stars should always represent the ever
growing strength and prosperity of the Union.
Sacred to us as citizens and countrymen, how much dearer
must it be to the daring heroes who go out to fight for its
silken folds, to battle for liberty and right. The influence
of fhe Stars and Stripes over the American soldier at all
times, especially in war, can be described only by those who
participated in its triumps and defeats. •We can but guess
what its influence must have been on the wasted fields of
Cuba; we can but imagine its thrilling effect on the Ameri
can soldiers in the Philippines. Drake aptly put it when
he wrote:—
"Flag of the brave! thy folds shall fly.
The sign of hope and triumph high,
When speaks the signal trumpet tone
Anti the long line comes gleaming on;
The Fiizding of a jezvel.