"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 'the 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 beneficent 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 struggle 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 heartbreaks and tired muscles.

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

STUDIES AND NOTES

1. What does Mr. Lane mean by saying that the Georgia boy, the mother in Michigan, the school teacher in Ohio, are all Makers of the Flag? How do you think of the United States-as a great population ruled by a President, a Congress, and a judiciary at Washington, and by the various state and city governments, with an army and a navy for defence, or as something more? What is it, do you think, to be an American? Does it only mean the right to vote and to hold office? Have you any part in

America?

2. What kinds of service does Mr. Lane have in mind-service for one's self alone? What ideas about life, held by some people, does he omit? Put into a paragraph a statement about "How the farmer helps make the Flag." (For "farmer" you may substitute the occupation of the man or woman who is the best flag-maker you know.)

3. "I am your belief in yourself, your dream of what a people may become." What do you think is meant by "belief in yourself"? Name several illustrations of what you would like to see our country become your ideals of a great nation. Which of these ideals would you like to see made real in your own life and career?

4. Think of several ways in which your school can co-operate in making the flag.

IV. "THE WORK THAT WE DO IS THE MAKING OF THE FLAG."

America has had many men and women who have written of democracy. Among them none has expressed so fully the idea of co-operation and brotherhood as has Walt Whitman. Several of his poems, therefore, are to be found in various parts of this book. He was devoted to Lincoln, and wrote his most beautiful poems about the death of his friend. He saw hospital service during the Civil War, and wrote intimately and tenderly about the sufferings of wounded and dying soldiers. He loved men― the crowds on the Brooklyn ferries, and the thousands who made homes in the great western wilderness. His point of view, in many things that he wrote, is like that of Secretary Lane "the work that we do is the making of the flag."

In the lines that follow, the good gray poet, as he has been called, tells us about America at work, and singing about the work-"strong with pride, when workmen do an honest piece of work, fitting rails together truly."

I HEAR AMERICA SINGING

WALT WHITMAN

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear, Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be, blithe and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam, The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the deck-hand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing as he stands,

The wood-cutters' song, the plowboy's on his way in the morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown, The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else, The day what belongs to the day-at night the party of young fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

V. THE LIVING FLAG.

You see, by this time, that the idea that the soldiers are the team, and that the flag is the banner of the school to which we all belong, is quite insufficient. You are not on the side-lines, cheering the team to victory: you have a part to play. That thought about the past victories was all right in a way, but it did not go far enough. We can't think, for example, "Our soldiers showed at Chippewa the kind of stuff Uncle Sam manufactures, and our sailors on Lake Erie showed what kind of team we can put out in an All-World Series, and that's what we are going to do to Germany." That is, we can't think of these things and just sit back in our seats in the grandstand and watch the game.

For, now that we think of it, who is Uncle Sam? Is he the Government, pictured as a rather funny looking old gentleman who kindly watches over us, takes care of us, keeps the burglars away with his gun?

You are Uncle Sam.

In a patriotic celebration held not long ago in one of