"

Answer them, sons of the self-same race,
And blood of the self-same clan;
Let us speak with each other face to face
And answer as man to man,
And loyally love and trust each other as none but free men can.

Now fling them out to the breeze,
Shamrock, Thistle, and Rose,
And the Star-Spangled Banner unfurl with these--
A message of friends and foes
Wherever the sails of peace are seen and wherever the war wind
blows--

A message to bond and thrall to wake,
For wherever we come, we twain,
The throne of the tyrant shall rock and quake,
And his menace be void and vain,
For you are lords of a strong young land and we are lords of
the main.

Yes, this is the voice on the bluff March gale;
We severed have been too long,
But now we are done with a worn-out tale--
The tale of an ancient wrong--
And our friendship shall last long as love doth last and be
stronger than death is strong.

MAKERS OF THE FLAG

FRANKLIN K. LANE

[A portion of an address delivered by the Secretary of the Interior
to the employees of the Department of the Interior, on Flag Day,
1914.]

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? 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 of yesterday
straightening out the tangle of that farmer's homestead in Idaho, or
perhaps you found the mistake in that 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, or brought relief to the old soldier in Wyoming.
No matter; whichever one of these beneficient 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 larger on the flag
than the stru