which was of the best. The period of
formation was over; the battle-filled days of the Revolution saw the
birth of the American woman as an individual entity.

There is yet another name which must be recorded here, less for the
merit of the work done than for the sentiment which attaches to that
work. There still stands on Arch Street, Philadelphia, the little house
where Betsy Ross made the first American flag that was given to the
breeze of battle and conquest. Not perhaps the very first American flag,
since Paul Jones's rattlesnake flag might fitly claim that honor, but
the first to be recognized as in any way national and to survive, and
therefore honored as truly the first of its kind. It is not Betsy Ross,
but the birth of the flag of our country, of which we think when we look
at that little house and remember why it is honored. But it is fitting
that the maker of that flag which is the symbol of our country should
find mention here, even though she had no other claim to be remembered
among the notable women of our land.

And her fate is happier than that of her sisters of the Revolution, for
the outward evidence of her work remains while that of the rest has
passed away and is forgotten. Yet their work, regarded as done by the
women of our country in general, was greater than hers, for she but
furnished the symbol of that which they, by their courage and endurance
of hardness and enthusiasm and faith, made a living thing. Nor must
there be forgotten another contribution of the women to the cause of
their native land,--their prayers. It is a scoffing age, but there still
remain some who believe that prayer is of avail, that "more things are
wrought by prayer than this world dreams of," and these will not doubt
that the petitions which went up from the length and breadth of the land
for the success of the beloved cause were effectual in result. There
were many women who, from lack of opportunity or power, had nothing else
to give than their prayers for their country; and these they gave in
full measure and with a fervency that doubtless helped to win the answer
that they sought.

CHAPTER VIII

THE WOMEN OF CANADA

The Revolution marked an era in the social as in the political history
of the United States, and the transition furnishes an opportunity to
tell something of the women of Canada. For the sake of completeness, it
is needful also to cast a fleeting glance at those strange hyperboreans,
the E