ggle which the boy in Georgia is making to win the Corn
Club prize this summer.

"Yesterday the Congress spoke a word which will open the door of
Alaska; but a mother in Michigan worked from sunrise until far into
the night, to give her boy an education. She, too, is making the flag.

"Yesterday we made a new law to prevent financial panics, and
yesterday, maybe, a school teacher in Ohio taught his first letters to
a boy who will one day write a song that will give cheer to the
millions of our race. We are all making the flag."

"But," I said impatiently, "these people were only working!"

Then came a great shout from The Flag:--

"The work that we do is the making of the flag.

"I am not the flag; not at all. I am nothing more than its shadow.

"I am whatever you make me, nothing more.

"I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a People may become.

"I live a changing life, a life of moods and passions, of heart breaks
and tired muscles.

"Sometimes I am strong with pride, when workmen do an honest piece of
work, fitting the rails together truly.

"Sometimes I droop, for then purpose has gone from me, and cynically I
play the coward.

"Sometimes I am loud, garish, and full of that ego that blasts
judgment.

"But always, I am all that you hope to be, and have the courage to try
for.

"I am song and fear, struggle and panic, and ennobling hope.

"I am the day's work of the weakest man, and the largest dream of the
most daring.

"I am the Constitution and the courts, statutes and the statute
makers, soldier and dreadnaught, drayman and street sweep, cook,
counselor, and clerk.

"I am the battle of yesterday, and the mistake of to-morrow.

"I am the mystery of the men who do without knowing why.

"I am the clutch of an idea, and the reasoned purpose of resolution.

"I am no more than what you believe me to be, and I am all that you
believe I can be.

"I am what you make me, nothing more.

"I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of
yourself, the pictured suggestion of that big thing which makes this
nation. My stars and my stripes are your dream and your labors. They
are bright with cheer, brilliant with courage, firm with faith,
because you have made them so out of your hearts. For you are the
makers of the flag and it is well that you glory in the making."

OUR FLAG

MARGARET SANGSTER

Flag of the fearless-hearted,
Flag of the broken chain,