my husband was in
bed." Thus the wit and wisdom of this Quaker woman saved the
American forces at an important crisis, and perhaps turned the
fate of the Revolutionary War.

During that dreadful winter, 1780, at Valley Forge, the ladies of
Philadelphia combined to furnish clothing for the army. Money and
jewels were contributed in profusion. Those who could not give money,
gave their services freely. Not less than $7,500 were contributed to
an association for this purpose, of which Esther De Berdt Reed was
president. Though an English woman, the French Secretary said of her:
"She is called to this office as the best patriot, the most zealous
and active, and the most attached to the interests of the country."

The archives of the Keystone State prove that she can boast many noble
women from the time of that great struggle for the nation's existence,
the signal for which was given when the brave old bell rang out from
Independence Hall its message of freedom. The very colors then
unfurled, and for the first time named the flag of the United States,
were the handiwork, and in part the invention of a woman. That to the
taste and suggestions of Mrs. Elizabeth Ross, of Philadelphia, we owe
the beauty of the Union's flag can not be denied. There are those who
would deprive her of all credit in this connection, and assert that
the committee appointed to prepare a flag gave her the perfected
design; but the evidence is in favor of her having had a large share
in the change from the original design to the flag as it now is; the
same flag which we have held as a nation since the memorable year of
the Declaration of Independence, the flag which now floats on every
sea, whose stars and stripes carry hope to all the oppressed nations
of the earth; though to woman it is but an _ignis fatuus_, an ever
waving signal of the ingratitude of the republic to one-half its
citizens.

An anecdote of a female spy is related in the journal of Major
Tallmadge. While the Americans were at Valley Forge he was stationed
in the vicinity of Philadelphia with a detachment of cavalry to
observe the enemy and limit the range of British foraging parties. His
duties required the utmost vigilance, his squad seldom remained all
night in the same position, and their horses were rarely unsaddled.
Hearing that a country girl had gone into the city with eggs; having
been sent by one of the American officers to gain information;
Tallmadge advanc