The Wadsworth dispatch. [volume] (Wadsworth, Nev.) 1892-1899, 1895-08-21
PHILOSOPHY OF FLAG WORSHIP.

There is a great deal more in General
Harrison's recent speech at Old Forge
than suggests itself to a careless reader.
The theme of the ex President was
American patriotism, and he necessarily
extolled the flag as the symbol of pa
triotism, as ''the outward and visible
sign OF an inward and spiritual grace"
II we may apply a theological definition
to a national virtue. The orator pic
tured the flag as it waved at Lexington,
at Concord, at Valley Forge, at Sarato-
ga, at Vicksburg, at Chattanooga, at
Gettysburg, and at Appomattox, and he
recalled the great men whose lives
were spent in service of the high
sentiment of which the flag is an
emblem, Washington and Franklin,
and Jackson and Scott, Sheridan, SHEER
man, Grant and the illustrious Lincoln.
Yet it is not by the wildly kaleido-
scopic views of great battles and OF
great men that the orator presents, but
by his clear perception OF what these
battles were waged for, and of why
these men fought and labored that the
thoughtful reader is most impressed.
A flag of itself is but a piece of cloth,
just as each of the sacramental elements
is of itself but a piece OF bread or u cup
full of wine. In all cases it is true that
at is the altar that sanctifieth the gift"
The flag of Dahomey does not count for
much; it is but the ensign of a despotic
power. The flag of the United States is
adorable because it is the emblem of
The land OF the free and the home
of the brave.
General Harrison's correctly philo-
sophical expositions of the cause OF the
flag worship runs thus:
1t is the story that is woven into it
that makes it precious to us; it is thus
that it inspires us. 1t is that for which
it stands, a Union of States, "a govern
ment of the people, for they made it;
by the people, for they conduct it; and
for the people, for it has missed its OBJ
ject if it does not accomplish their good.
1t stands for a government of law, for a
civil organization, for a constitution what
has assigned powers. 1t stands for the
thought that our people have pledged
their loyalty to a system OF laws OF their
W making, subject to be changed by
them; but, while they are laws, de-
handing the allegiance of every man
and m in the country.
This is the quintessence of American
ism. 1t is a high expression of That in
t~elligent alteration which is at the very
antipodes of mere fetch worship. And
the intelligently devout express their
religious feeling by the declaration,
"We ought to love Him, because He
first loved us, so the intclligently pa
triotic reverence the flag supremacy
among all earthly thing because it is
the symbol OF all that is best on earth.
Suggestion begets suggestion. almost
to intinity, on this subject. What serious
obligations rest upon the lawmakers and
executives of this country, who; swear
to 1egislate and to administer in accord
ance with the constitution OF which the
flag Is the emblem! What grave duties
are entrusted to the citizens who elect
lawmakers and executivesl What a
burden is laid upon the conscience of
every teacher in an American school,
public or private, that he instruct his
pupils as to the responsibilities OF the
citizenship into which they soon are to
enterl What a trust is confided to par
ents that they bring up their children to
be defenders OF their birthright.-Car-
son Tribune.