The San Bernardino County Sun from San Bernardino, California • Page 26

ecalls Woodlirow Wi sons Pr as Day Ulcill II II' and Oregon, came under the Stars and Stripes. When Mexico gained her independence from Spain in 1821, she also gained control of all Spanish territory in the Southwest of the American continent. THE Russian, Argentina and California Bear Flags made their appearance, then each in turn disappeared. Other ships under other flags waited anxiously in nearby harbors, watching for opportunities to acquire new territory. An American ship was among them.

At the close of the war between Mexico and the United States, Mexico granted the Pacific fir llc 1 ISm I i Iff fi) i I Iwl IfuA It South to the United States. Already a few American soldiers, traders and adventurers were trodding its high mountains and fertile valleys. But hardly had the news of the acquisition of the Southwest reached the ears of the citizens of the Atlantic Coast towns than words of greater interest, "Gold in California, Gold in California," were being shouted everywhere. Lucky for Americans that the gold strike was not made before the Mexican treaty, for then California might never have passed from under the Flag of Mexico. Gold seekers rushed in by the thousands, and California grew into a qualified state within two years.

Without the Pacific Slope the Flag, on its 159th birthday, would be minus seven white stars. The Oregon Country, added to the Union in 184G, provided the 33rd, 42nd and 43rd stars, representing Oregon, Washington and Idaho, respectively. The Mexican cession of 1848 added four stars, the 31st, 36th, 45th and 48th, representing California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. Each star tells a different story, and you can read the history of the United States by reading the stars of the Flag as you read the lines of a book. Stars stand for states in order of their ratification of the Declaration of Independence or admission into the Union.

On June 14, 1777, the Flag of thirteen stars stood for thirteen freedom-loving colonies in the "Old Glory" Waves Again in the Breeze, in Celebration of 159 Years of Freedom From Foreign Rule. Above: Girls Fashioning Bunting Flags for the United States Army. "Old Glory" Stands For Independence Free Government By A Free Electorate By Etta May FOR 159 years the same glorious flag has been passing by. Sunday, June 14, is Flag Day, the 150th birthday of the Stars and Stripes. On June 14, 1777, Charles Thomson, recording the minutes of the Fourth Continental Congress, wrote "Resolved, that the Flay of the United States be IS stripes alternate ted and ichite, that the Union be 13 stars hite in a blue field representing) a new constellation." But it was not until 1SS5, when the Flag was 10S years old, that it occurred to anyone to hold a special birthday celebration in its honor.

As years passed patriotic societies and associations began to notice Flag and now and then a governor directed special displays of Flags. The American Flag Day Association and the National Flag Day Association were formed. In 1907 there convened in Chicago a National Congress of patriotic and civic organizations, delegates having been sent by the governors of our states. The purpose of the convention was to devise plans for bringing about a special national observance of Flag Day. That same year the Committee on Work and Ritual of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was instructed to draft a program for Flag Day which would be suitable for all Lodges to present each year.

The ritual as presented by the committee was adopted the next year by the Grand Lodge, and since then it has been customary for every Elk Lodge throughout the land to observe Flag Day. As a result of the untiring efforts of these various patriotic organizations, Flag Day was nationalized by proclamation made by President Woodrow Wilson, May 30, 1916. ELEVEN years later President Calvin Cool-idge Issued a statement regarding Flag Day. He said in part: "It is fitting that we should recall all that our Flag means, what it represents to our citizens and to the nations of the earth. There should be no more appropriate time to give thanks for the blessings that have descended upon our people in this century and a half, and to rededlcate ourselves to the high principles for which our Ensign stands.

It will be futile merely to show outward respect for our National Emblem if we do not cherish in our hearts an unquenchable love of and devotion to the unseen which It represents. To the end that we may direct our attention to these things, I suggest that Flag Day be observed in the display of the Stars and Stripes in public places and upon public and private buildings and by patriotic exercises In to adopt the Oregon Country. "My life is of little worth if I cannot save this country to the American people," said Dr. Whitman. His five months' ride through winter snows from coast to coast was as Important to the Northwest as the midnight ride of Paul Revere was to the East.

Arriving in Washington on March 3, one day before Congress adjourned, gave him little time to be heard. The efforts of these men were not in vain, for three years later, on August 5, 1846, a new treaty was sl od by Great Britain and the United States, ftd the Oregon Country, including the present states of Washington, Idaho East. June 14, 1936, the Flag of 48 stars stands for forty-eight freedom-loving states in the East and West. Today one Flag for the East and West the East and West for one Flag. Hats off! The Flag is passing by.

an occasion for a rededication of our lives and energies to the defense of our government, its democratic institutions and its principles of equality and liberty." ALTHOUGH the West did not help in the fight for the freedom that gave birth to the Stars and Stripes, it did send its quota of soldiers overseas in 1918, and now, though far removed from the Atlantic Coast, it has an eonnl sha'- the principles for which the Flag stands. iJut ir donu oi early Congressmen had had their way, the Pacific Coast would now be paying homage to some other national flag. "We have territory enough. Improve, adorn what we have. Seek no further," said Daniel Webster when motion was made to expand to the Oregon Country.

"The Ridge of the Rockies should be forever a national boundary," declared Senator Benton. "We are nearer to the remote nations of Europe than to Oregon," said asjother. Congressmen had not seen the beauty of the great Northwest, hut Jason Lee and Marcus Whitman, missionaries with vision and foresight, had seen and realized the value and opportunities there. To them the Northwest is indebted. It was Lee and Whitman who, at different times, rode horseback from Willamette Valley, Oregon, to Washington to plead with Congress our schools and community centers throughout the land." Flag Day coming on Sunday this year and when many public schools in the West will be closed for the term, special celebrations will, in most cases, be in the hands of patriotic societies and organizations.

The Daughters of the American Revolution Chapters will hold special Flag Day programs on or near June 14. The American Legion and other Veterans' groups, too numerous to mention here, will eommemorate Flag Day, either in single meeting, or by co-operating with other societies. In many cities and counties is a United Veterans Council, composed of representatives of all groups of all wars, and these councils will participate in appropriate Flag Day celebrations. Mr. George M.

Smith, President of the California Elks Association, when recently asked, "Why celebrate Flag Day?" replied: "Every patriotic American citizen should realize the importance of the annual observance of Flag Day, June 14th. The Flag is the visible symbol which typifies to us the glorious heritage of a free government which has come to us of the present day, from our ancestors of Revolutionary times. "At a period like the present when our Democracy is being attacked by foes from both within and without our lands, it is very proper that our citizenry should observe Flag Day as I Sixty Second rrom Lire "INTERLUDE' By John Richard Finch tiful than I ever dreamed! Listen! They're still playing our song 'A Pretty Girl Is Like a Mel ody'. Remember? Across there in that same old pavilion, an orchestra played it fifteen years ago, while I held you in my arms and told you FAINTLY across the quiet waters of the lake, strains of an orchestra came to Doris on the night winds. Standing against a tall pine, her body blending into its slender trunk, she watched the silver sheen of the moon send platinum shafts of light dancing over the water in rhythm to the music.

A dreaminess crept over her, Memories came to life, letting the years slip backward. Could it have been fifteen years ago that she had stood under this very tree I loved you. And now, like the words of the song, you've come back!" "Yes. Ronny. I remember." She was trem bling.

Her voice came in a whisper. He moved a step closer, towering above her, tall and straight as the pines. More handsome than ever, Reminiscences Of A Rover she thought. She closed her eyes. A swooning "AN OLD SONG" By Peter Wolff sweetness stole over her.

The music throbbed. Strong arms closed about her. Eager lips pressed hers, caressed her face and throat. Somewhere in the ambient darkness, a night bird sent its persistent notes treading across the air. "I love you Doris.

I've never stopped loving with Ronny Waring? It seemed like only yesterday! The same moonbeams and star-dust, night winds and cloud fancies were there. The Wisconsin woods were the same. Here was Lake Tomahawk, immutable, serene, as on that night. Just over the rise was her aunt's summer cottageAunt Martha In the same old rocker on the porch. But Ronny was gone! She was nineteen then and In love.

She. smiled a little you. I'm going to carry you off to the ends of the earth. I'll never let you go again. You gave me an inkling of what might have been when you said if I'd bundled you off to a preacher that night you might now be Mrs.

Waring." "That was fifteen years ago, Ronny." Gently, reluctantly, she pushed him away. "I won't take no for an answer this time. Chance didn't bring me here, darling. I wrote to your aunt and she told me the exact date you were arriving. I've planned this for weeks.

You're going away with me to Europe, South America, the South Seas any place you like. We'll make up for all the time we've lost. I'll devote my whole life to making you happy." "HE couldn't stop him. Agrain his arms en circled her. Despite herself, she experienced a pleasant helplessness.

She felt like an actress playing a part a very agreeable one. Why not play her part well before the curtain fell? Her arms stole around his neck and in the kiss that she gave him she sensed his triumph, and did not resent it. Suddenly, a strange sadness smote her. This evening would never come again! The night winds were blowing it away. "Darling, go pack your bag.

I'll get my things together and meet you THERE wasn't any good reason to stay inside the big room, so we walked out into the garden, where the moon was a silver crescent high overhead. We stood there for a time, me remembering all the weeks I hadn't seen her a lot of time wasted. What a girl thinks about those times no one will ever know, 'cause they don't talk about it. Presently she began to sing, "When Lights Are Low" very softly, so you could hardly hear the words. Something had come over both of us.

We was afraid to talk much, fearing the spell would break, The garden was quiet, too strains of the music coming to us as if from miles away, I may be prejudiced some, but a radiance seemed to come from Mary, like the light of the stars was shinin' through her from millions of miles off. It was one of those times you just didn't have to talk 'cause somehow we know everything was all right. We knew that we could answer any question the other asked, so we didn't ask. The quarrel we'd had didn't matter any longer. We'd both of us acted foolish, and by this time we knew it.

How a man loses his head an' gets so mad he doesn't know what he's saying, is a mystery. An' I guess, beln' a woman, she understood. Most of them do if they stop to figure a man out. If I hadn't loved her, I wouldn't have been angry. To me, that was plain enough.

Nothin', I guess, so nice had ever happened to me before, or to Mary, It didn't seem right that next mornin' I'd be out at sea alone, without Mary to talk with. The call of the sea was faint In my ears, an' the queer smell a ship carries was lost in the smell of the roses of the garden. When you're young you get poetic, sometimes I remember I though the hands of a thousand lovers pressed against my eyes, as I closed them hard to take with me the picture of Mary an' that garden. She knew that I was leavin' with the sun sailing for the Malay Straits on a special job for the zoo. I'd be gone a long while, stoppin' at a lot of strange port" where temptation can take a sailor by the throat.

Eut not a word did she say about that, or ask me to stay. It would have taken only a gesture of her hand a breath from her lips, "Robin, don't go!" She didn't say anything about when I'd come home again, an' maybe that hurt a little. Queer, what a man wants from a girl when it isn't easy for her to give it. I'd have stayed like a shot, an' let the Betsy Ann sail without me. BEIN' proud, I didn't mention anything 'cept that I was sailin' with the dawn.

If I had, she might have run in to the dance again, an' I didn't want to be left alone just then. So I didn't speak. I was afraid to say what was near my heart wasn't brave, that night. Just a kid, wonderin' what would happen when I woke up. Son, a man carries the dream of a dream a sort of vision In his heart an' mind.

He goes 'sound the world lookin' for lovely faces, an' sometimes sees beauty In a woman where no beauty ever was. In one be sees part of his dream, in another some more of it. He's on a pilgrimage from girl to girl until presently be gives up in despair 'cause none of them suit him. Ships can be like a woman, to a sailing man. John Masefield wrote something, once, that tells what I mean: "I cannot tell their wonder nor make known Magic that once thrilled me to the bone, But all men praise some beauty, tell some tale, Vent a high mood which makes the rest seem pale, Pour their heart's blood to flourish one green leaf, Follow some Helen for her gift of grief, And fail in what they mean, whate'er they do; You should have seen, man cannot tell to you The beauty of the ships of that my city They are my country's line, her great art done By strong brains labouring on the thought unwon, They mark our passage as a race of men, Earth will not see such ships again." SOMETHING like that was what Mary meant to me, but that night she wasn't sure.

She thought, perhaps, that she was just another girl, and of no special importance to a man sailing for foreign lands. I hadn't words to tell her, then hadn't read Masefield, didn't know how words could explain things so well. So we stood quiet for a time. We couldn't go back to the dance again, it wouldn't have been the Bame, We walked away from the hall, heading for her home an' walkln' slow so as not to get there too quick. "I'm comin' back I said.

She looked up at me, still not answering. It was like she didn't dare believe anything more than for that minute. We got to her house at last. "Just as soon as I can," I Baid, "the Straits aren't far." The Straits Settlements were far enough, round the other side of the world for a woman, might have been another planet. She'd seen boys go from that town 'cross to China an' further boys who didn't come home.

Letters came to their families an' sweethearts, but that was all. Then the letters would stop comin' an' no one knew what happened to them. Mary was thinkin' of that, maybe. She takes my hand, presses hard, an' runs into the house. I turned away, not feelin' too fine about it.

You'd say it sounded like the end, but that was the beginning. I came back from the long trip, not havin' forgotten anything. Not one of the dozen ports we made could make me forget. Strange sights and strange people only reminded me I belonged somewhere else. Back home where Mary waited and she did.

Standin' by the gate to her house where I'd left her, watchln' the Betsy Ann come Into harborand knowin' I'd come to the house for her, first thing. Yes, we've had quarrels since. Ifs human, now and then. But you get bad dreams, too without lettin' them spoil your life. "When twilight falls on the dim old walls, And the day Is past and done; Am we sit and dream in the fading gleam, Come memories one by one Old friends known in the years long gone, In fancy greet us still, And voices dear, that we long to hear, The silence seem to fill.

Just when the day la over, Just whan the lights are low, Back to the heart returneth, Life's golden long ago SON, you wouldn't know how that old song gets Into my heart tonight. A young man never knows how fine old times can be, 'till he looks back an' then he's old, like me. Thanks for singin' it to me. Every time I hear it I recall that night Mary sang it, the night I went off to sea the night we made up a quarrel. Two weary long months we'd been apart, an' I was sick at heart.

All on account of another lad that Mary smiled at too often to suit my stubborn pride. Girls are funny, an' we'll never understand them. She smiled partly 'cause she liked him, an' some 'cause she wanted to team me. Independence, too that was the way of it. She loved to be tied tight when he was her choice, but when a man drew up the rules well, you've had experience, yourself.

Mary wanted to see, maybe, if I'd be jealous. Son, she found out. I exploded all over the landscape, I was rude a mild word for it, she says. Every man has a blind spot somewhere, an' mine was that. She'd danced with the lad a nice lookin' sort, too without so much as askin' me, an' when I took a girl to a country dance I was used to have them ask me if they wanted to dance with someone else.

It was the custom, then. Had to do with a man's pride, which on occasion is a delicate matter. I said things I wouldn't have said if I'd been calm. An' true or false, words can hurt. You believe them yourself when they're said, an' a minute later you'd give anything to get them back again.

It ended up in my not callin' her at all. I just dropped from sight, where she was concerned. There's pride, again. A childish sort of attitude, an' stupid. Love lasts longer when you can laugh.

Then came the night at the town hall before the Betsy Ann sailed. Mary was there, an' I went half way hoping to have a word with her before I left. I asked her for a waltz, frightened down inside that she'd say no. She hesitated, as if thinkin' me over, an' then she agreed. We danced around that crowded room to the music, and the room wasn't crowded anymore.

The other people didn't exist. They were there, lookin on, kind of knowing like-as if they thought we was dancin' in some paradise of our own. Which we were, and not lonely, cither. PAGE TWO-A U7 Um4 at your aunt's in half an hour." He was all enthusiasm. "Ronny, I can't, I "Nonsense, you will.

Come." She shrugged. There was no use trying to argue with him in this mood. Arm in arm they walked to his car, and, with a swift caress, he was gone. Doris watched the red tall light of his car until it was lost from sight around a bend in the road. Then, she turned, went Into wistfully into the darkness.

Water under the bridge! With a laugh Doris dismissed the past for the present. She inhaled deeply the clean pungent odor of pine cones that filled the air. That tune they were playing hauntingly familiar! No, it couldn't be not their song! "Remember that song, Doris?" A voice out of the darkness brought a startled exclamation to her lips. Was Fate and the night toying with her? That voice it was Ronny's. A man moved toward her out of the darkness.

"Did I startle you, Doris? I'm sorry. Should have whistled a tune or rustled the bushes to let you know I was coming, but I wanted to surprise you. Your aunt told me I'd find you here." "Ronny Waring! I can't believe it's you. Why, It's been I haven't seen you since, I "A summer night fifteen years ago. I know.

I haven't been back since, but I've never forgotten that night, nor you, Doris. Come over here by the water where I can get good look at you in the moonlight. It's grand to see you again." "It's good to see you, too, Ronny. I've just been thinking." "About me, I hope," he interrupted. SHE laughed.

"You haven't changed much, Ronny. You're just as egotistical as you were that night so long ago when you she hesitated. "Please go on. When I what?" "When you almost swept me off my feet." She took his arm and together they walked down to the shore. "I've always regretted that 'almost'.

A thousand times since, waking and sleeping, I've dreamed of what might have been. I should have grabbed you up in my arms and bundled you off to the preacher at Mlnocqua." "While confessions are in order, I may as well tell you that if you had I should probably now be Mrs. Waring." "What a pity!" He held her at arms length and looked at her. "My, but you're lovelier than ever, Doris! Here, let me frame you In moonlight." He turned her so the moon was on her face and In her hair. "Yes, the same blue eyes, checks like rose petals and all the fiery glory of the setting sun in your hail." He contemplated her in silence for a moment, while she thanked the night for hiding the warm flush that came to her cheeks.

"Yes, the bud has blossomed! You're beautiful, Doris! More beau Mm the house and began packing her things. Aunt Martha met Doris at the foot of the stairs as she came down, suitcase in hand. Her kind blue eyes held the calmness of ice but not its coldness. "I'm sorry, Doris. Maybe I've been mistaken, but I know you've never gotten Ronny out of your mind, and I wanted to bring you two to gether again for your own peace of mind.

You're going away with him?" Doris shook her head. "No, Aunt Martha. But you were right to bring Ronny and me together. It's made me see. oh so very clearly, how mad a night on the lake can make one.

We must hurry, aunty. You can drive me to the station at Minocqua. I'll just have time to catch the midnight train. I'm going homo to my husband." Comisht, IM. a.