The Newtown bee., 1895-09-20
Affairs About Town.
THE FLAG RAISING

AT THE ACADEMY ON MONDAY Aztec
NooN.-A LARGE AND REPREsENTATIv
GATHERING.-THE EXERCISES BRIGH
AND INTERESTING. WHO THE SPEAK
ERs WERE AND INCIDENTS OF TIL
DAY.
Monday mornings clouds and Sigh
shower seemed to forebode stormy da.
for the flag raising at the Academy, bu
by noon the sun had appeared and dis
PEELED the gloom. On account of tn
GOODNESS of the day the exercises wer'
held indoors.
Rev Mr. Linsley, the president of thu
Academical association, presided, ant
called on Rev o. o. Wright who made
the opening prayer. Then followed thu
singing of "My country tits of Thee,
Prof c. S. Platt presiding at the piano
Rev Mr. Linsley made an exceedingly
happy and felicitous address in opening
On behalf of the trustees he welcomed
all on this occasion, which he believed
was both spieous and significant. The
occasion was of interest because of the
change to some extent in the manage
ment. He referred to the discouragine
condition of the school five years ago anG
of the success which had attended the
the new principal, William FL. Hoyt
The success of any school, continued
Mr. Linsley, depends on the faithfulness
of che teachers, and the work of the pu.
pills.
Following Rev Mr. Linsley's remarks,
came the singing of "Hail Columbia, .
after which Rev Mr. Barker was intro.
duced, who spoke in his usual forcible
and interesting style. Among other
things he said:
The cheerful fire that blazes on the
hearth-stone in some of our homes on
this chill September day sends out its
bright heat and warmth, and we have
| gathered here to rekindle the fires OF
patriotism that in some of our hearts
have been smouldering and to let them
! she'd forth their rich glow. 1t is natu.
raj for men to believe, to believe in some.
| thing; men must have something around
| which their thoughts shall center and
| their feelings entwine. Thus children
believe in their home, a father believes
in the honesty of his boy, mother be-
lieves in her child. We, as citizens of
this broad land, believe in our country
and in our flag.
But what is a flag? Surely it is not
so much silk or bunting, or so many
yards of cloth. If that is all we see in
our flag, then the soldier boys who died
in its defense upon the bloody field
worse than threw their lives away, then
Capt Perry, who fell on the battlefield
of Fredericksburg and who, as the film
of death was gathering over his eyes,
said "Boys, do not wait for me; just
open the folds of the old flag and let me
see it once more before l die,'' was only
talking gibberish, having lost his reason
in the near approach of death. We look
upon our flag; we gaze fondly on its
bars of white and red, on its broad field
of blue. We see not the cloth of which
our flag is made, we see our nation there
its government, its truth, its princi-
piles, its history.
Our flag speaks to US of history, a
history without parallel anywhere else
on earth. Four centuries ago great
continent came leaping out of the sea,
and it at once leaped into potency of
life. The red man fled before the white
man, the thickness of the forest shade
haze of oblivion that had hung over
these plains since creations dawn re-
treated before the advancing light of
liberty and truth. When Israel of old
stood on the borders of Canaan, Gods
strong command came to them, go We
in and possess the land''; SO, these later
| centuries, to the down-trodden, the op-
pressed of every land, to those who
wished to see what man could be when
he had the opportunity to be a man
to those who wished to see the expert
ment tried of making every man king
God said:
| "'Lol l uncover the land
Which hid of old time in the west,
| AS sculptor uncovers his statue,
When he has wrought his best;'
| 20 ye in now and possess the land
Our flag speaks of sacrifice. Never
since our national life was begun, have
men been wanting who believed in thu
experiment which has here been tried, O
| Joining lihprtv with law nf mating ius
/ tice with mercy, of uniting hope in re
gard to the future with devotion to ;
| glorious past and never have been wan
ting men who have been ready to defent
these ideas, if need be, with the shed
ding of their blood. Our Civil War wa
fought-and such civil war the worl,
has never seen before, and, we pray Coz
it may never see again-that from tn
folds our flag might be forever washe,
the black stain of slavery, and that
of all the national emblems of the earth
have been often asked how many wer
killed In our late War. / have the fig
ures at my command: 483, 765, nearl
that the union of these states might b
preserved. But you cannot appreciat
the sacrifice, words cannot measure il
figures cannot tell it, language canne
describe it, human speech cannot set
forth. What about the wives and mott
ers, sisters and sweethearts who stage
at home. but suffered and sorrowe