The Irish standard. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn. ;) 1886-1920, 1895-06-29
The Glorious Yankee Flag Was
Born Id the Thunder Cloud
Amid Wars Desolation. s.s
Now 1t Waves Majestic y Over 9
United Country Embracing 4
Forty-Four States,
"Old Glory" Took Shape Under the
Deft Fingers Of a Patriotic
Quaker Seamstress.


can flag took shape under the deft fingers
Of a Quaker seamstress, cooperating With
al committee with q continental congress,
says Robert Ellis Thompson in the Irish sl
World She was disowned by the So
ciety Of Friends for the offense Of helping
to make banner to be borne In war, but
She survived this discipline for many
year. In truth the Qnakers Of that day,
like the Episcopalians and Merhod1sts,
were not, as rule, on the side Of the adj
yocates of American independence. The
yearly. meeting OF Philadelphia was in
very close relations with that Of London,
ard it disciplined those Of its membe
who took active part in the measures
which looked toward resistance to Great
Britain. The continental congress found
it necessary to transport several Of che
leaders OF that meeting to Virginia, and to
keep them there. Modern Quakers repre-
sent this as aggression on personal rights
for which there was not excuse ;but think
they do not take into consid deration all the
circumstances under which it done.
OF course there was minority Of
strong patriots among the Friends, and
these withdrew and formed a separate
meeting, which lasted long time, under
the name of the White Quakers, or, in
popular pariance, the Fighting Quakers.
Whether our Quaker seemstress belonged
to them do not know. VI.
Up to the time when the stars and
stripes were planned the party Of indie
pendence and the troops they raised had
a variety Of flags. Thus Massachusetts,
displayed a flag with a. serpent erect, as if
tn defiance of British tyranny; South Car
.olina had a flag with a palmetto tree, and
,stI he new dag son aced an
others. It was the first effective symbol
of national unity; and as the great battles
of the war for independence were fought
under it it soon became an object of en-
thusiastc attachment to both the soldiers,
the patriotic citizens Of America. There
were no songs written above 1t because
the Americans of that day were not song
writer's to any extent. That war did not
produce a single song that any one now re-
calls. 1t was not until 1898, when Judge
Hcpkinson wrote "EIail Columbia" that
the country had song really popular tru-
ly American lyric. N
1T was in the war Of 1sl2-is15 that the
flag first became an object Of general
and intense feeling among the people. TO
Francis S. Key Of Baltimore we owe the
FIRST great song which Wreathed the flag
in sentiment. His "Star Spangled Ban
ner'' was written Under circumstances
which fired his heart with enthusiasm,
and Inspired him with a really fine lyric.
1t is not altogether IN ideal song for uni
yyersai use. It is too long, and its metre
too elaborate. Bat nothing has yet su-
perseded it in the affections of the
American people. Those who have heard
it sung abroad, Al some celebration Of the
glorious Fourth in Europe, can never for
get the feeling with which it has filled
them 1t was as when the Jews were
called to sing the songs Of their Zion in a
strange land, the lard Of their captivity.
b II was in the four years Of the war for.
the Union, the most :heroic.of American
history. that the flag became forever and
intensely dear to the American heart.
When proposals OF secession were under
discussion, its opponents appealed to the
fag as the symbol Of national unity,
which would lie dishonored and humbled
by the division Of the country into separ
ate confederacies. The friends Of dis
union, both South and North. both fire.
eaters like Mr.. Yancsy and Abolitionists
like Mr. Wendell Phillips, met the appeal
with: a sneer. They told Mr.. Everett that
he was welcome to the piece OF colored
cotton over which he was spending his
pathos, and that he had better put it into
a museum for pressr yayion.
3 They little knew Of the outburst of ma
tional enthusiasm which was to follow
10 to that moment the people at large
had hoped against all evidence that there
was some way out Of the tangle; and
that the South would stop short OF the
irnpiety OF attacking the symbol Of the
coi1ntry's united existence. It was the
shot at. Fort Sumter which settled the
matter. q When the telegraph told that
hour after hour guns trained by South
.ern hands sent shot and she'll upon the
Stars and Stripes, and that at the last
It's Sscanuy defenders had been driven to
haul iit down and surrender, then at last
the country realized how completely its
Homes had been frustrated, and that war
M must come. Till the dispatch nine men
out of ten were for peace. After it not
The tenth man could be found who had
10 made lid his mind for war. ss
Theose OF us who remember that day
.of the terrible news of the surrender of
Fort Sumter will never forget the In
fansitv Of excitement which was shown
on every side. was a schooiboy in those