Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-02-25
FLAG PRESENTATION.

At the Twenty-second of February
celebration in this city, the flag present.
ed by the Junior Order of United
American Mechanics to Hallowell
school (the girls schooD was received
in behalf of that school'by T. M. Wat
son, a pupil of Snowden school (the col
ored boys schooD who spoke as follows:
Sir-In the name of the teachers ami
pupils of Hallowell school to whom you
bring an otferipg-our country's flag
we address the organization of which
you are a representative. You could
not have chosen more fitting day as
the one upon which to present the ban
ner of our common country to this
school than the anniversary of the birth
of the immortal Washington, who was
first in war, first in peace. first in the
hearts of his countrymen. He whose
life you would have these to whom
you bring your offering emulate, whose
untiring devotion and unceasing love
of country were its main stay and de-
peudence in time of war, and the incen-
tives which nodded and fashioned its
policies in time of peace, was the
first to take the reins of government
of the new republic; guided the ship OF
state over an unknown sea without
chart, sextant or compass, and when
giving up the reins, quit the helm and
left as heritage to succeeding genera,
tions policies which have gained for us
a recognition, and for our flag signif-
canoe that have caused the tottering OF
kingdoms and the decay of dynasties,
and in their stead have reared govern
ments which derive their powers from
the consent of the governed. Therefore
no better day could have been chosen
upon which to offer to this school
the compliments of your patriotism.
We accept your offering. The motives
which actuated the spirit to which it
owes its origin arethose which strike q
responsive chord in the hearts of all
true Americans. Your offering is ac-
cepted, but not half so gratefully as are
the motives by which it was inspired;
the effect of q cause which when tried
by the crucial test of American patriot
ism forces from us the exclamation.
How ennoblipg! how exalted are the
expounded principles of the Junior Or
der of American Mechanics! The IL
tent of your organization we are told
is the perpetuation ofthe union. Your
founders were alive to the fact that the
best means of attaining this end is to
instill in the minds, nay hearts of the
young the love of country, the admira-
tion Of Our nations flag. Your fatherly
concern in the intellectual and moral
advancement of the youth of our COM
mon country bespeaks your fraternity
q bulwsrk of American liberty and ad-
vancement, menace to those who
would limit or curtail our national
rights. Your expressed object does but
voice the sentiment of all those who
love this, our country's flag. The in
terest manifested in your order is wide
spread and general. From the Atlantic
in the east to the Pacific in the west,
from the inland seas and the St. Law
renee in the north to the Gulf
and Rio Grande in the south,
the benign influences of your pa
triotic fraternity are to be felt.
We accept your offering with the
knowledge of the meaning it conveys in
behalf of the teachers and pupils of this
school. Girls of America, upon whom
will soon devolve the duty of rearing
and training the young minds, it is to
you that We look. From you we eX-
pect generations unborn to receive their
instructions, to imbibe from your store
of patriotism that love of country, that
alteration of our nations flag which will
inspire them to go forth to do and
die, that their country may live.
Teachers, it is essentially your duty to
impress upon the minds of those wi o n
you instruct from day to day, ,hts
who must soon assume the respon.i-
bility of citizenship, the full meaning
the word conveys. We should i'm
press upon them the fact that Ameri-
can citizenship implies more than the
benefits derived from its legislation in
time of peace. 1t implies as we'll
that desire to defend its liberties, its
institutions and its traditions in time of
war. We should so train their minds
that when they shall assume the reins
of government that their instructive
love of country expounded by your
careful training will be ever on the
alert and certain 10 detect any move
ment which has for its object the im-
pairment or destruction of our national
fabric. We should ever remind them
too of the object of this fraternity which
would foster and engender that quality
of manliness which distinguished
Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and
those martyrs who fought and fell upon
a thousand battle6elds, men who
fought that their country might live,
that our flag, by their prowess, should
remain the untarnished emblem of the
greatest nation of all the earth. Sir,
the signs of the times indicate that this
flag may be at the head of many a
dreadful march, and the shroud of many
q hero who shall have fought beneath
its inspiring folds. We therefore, with
gratitude unbounded, accept your Of
fering, wishing your noble, patriotic fra
ternity God speed.
The entering wedge of fatal complaint is
often slight cold, (which dose or two of
Ayers Cherry Pectoral might have cured at
tn !, commencement Thereforeit IS advisable
to have this prompt and sure remedy aiws5