Cumberland's _History of the Union Jack_ (latest edition),
to the _Flag Charts_, by Mrs. Fessenden, and to _The Flag of
Canada_, by Sir Joseph Pope. For the stories of the patron saints
of England, Scotland, and Ireland, see Appendix.

THE COLOURS OF THE FLAG

What is the blue on our flag, boys?
The waves of the boundless sea,
Where our vessels ride in their tameless pride,
And the feet of the winds are free;
From the sun and smiles of the coral isles
To the ice of the South and North,
With dauntless tread through tempests dread
The guardian ships go forth.

What is the white on our flag, boys?
The honour of our land,
Which burns in our sight like a beacon light
And stands while the hills shall stand;
Yea, dearer than fame is our land's great name,
And we fight, wherever we be,
For the mothers and wives that pray for the lives
Of the brave hearts over the sea.

What is the red on our flag, boys?
The blood of our heroes slain,
On the burning sands in the wild waste lands
And the froth of the purple main;
And it cries to God from the crimsoned sod
And the crest of the waves outrolled,
That He send us men to fight again
As our fathers fought of old.

We'll stand by the dear old flag, boys,
Whatever be said or done,
Though the shots come fast, as we face the blast,
And the foe be ten to one--
Though our only reward be the thrust of a sword
And a bullet in heart or brain.
What matters one gone, if the flag float on
And Britain be Lord of the main!

--Frederick George Scott

THE UNION JACK

It's only a small piece of bunting,
It's only an old coloured rag;
Yet thousands have died for its honour,
And shed their best blood for the flag.

It's charged with the cross of St. Andrew,
Which, of old, Scotland's heroes has led;
It carries the cross of St. Patrick,
For which Ireland's bravest have bled.

Joined with these is our old English ensign,
St. George's red cross on white field;
Round which, from Richard to Roberts,
Britons conquer or die, but ne'er yield.

It flutters triumphant o'er ocean,
As free as the wind and the waves;
And bondsmen from shackles unloosened,
'Neath its shadows no longer are slaves.

It floats o'er Australia, New Zeala