d possessions.

"We are so proud of America to-day, Colonel Butler," she exclaimed,
"that we can't help cheering and waving flags."

And the _medecin-chef_ shouted joyously:

"_A la bonne heure, mon Colonel!_"

Pen, looking on with glowing eyes and cheeks flushed with enthusiasm,
called out:

"Grandfather, isn't it glorious? If I could only fight it all over
again, now, under my own American flag!"

Colonel Butler's face had never before been so radiant, his eyes so
tender, or his voice so vibrant with emotion as when standing on the
raised edge of the alcove, he replied:

"On behalf of my beloved country, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you.
She has taken her rightful place on the side of humanity. Her flag,
splendid and spotless, floats, to-day, side by side with the tri-color
and the Union Jack, over the manhood of nations united to save the
world from bondage and barbarism."

He faced the _medecin-chef_ and continued: "Your cry to us to 'come
over into Macedonia and help' you, shall no longer go unheeded. Our
wealth, our brains, our brawn shall be poured into your country as
freely as water, to aid you in bringing the German tyrant to his
knees, and, as our great President has said: 'To make the world safe
for democracy.'"

He turned toward the rapt faces of the listening scores who lined the
wards: "And men, my brothers, I say to you that you have not fought
and suffered in vain. We shall win this war; and out of our great
victory shall come that thousand years of peace foretold by holy men
of old, in which your flag, and yours, and yours, and mine, floating
over the heads of freemen in each beloved land, will be the most
inspiring, the most beautiful, the most splendid thing on which the
sun's rays shall ever fall."

Short Historical Sketch of the United States Flag

After the war of the Revolution, it became necessary for the newly
formed United States of America to devise a symbol, representing their
freedom. During the war the different colonies had displayed various
flags, but no national emblem had been selected. The American
Congress, consequently, on the 14th of June, 1777, passed the
following Resolution:

"Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen united states shall be
thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, that the union be
thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new
constellation."

Betsy Ross, an upholsterer, living at 239 Arch Street, Philadelph