The herald., 1898-12-25
Give Back Their Flags

To the Editor of the Los Angeles Herald:
For years | have desired to see returned to
the survivors of the Coniederacy their flags,
lost in battle.
| was southern born and reared; during
the sixties, the younger years OF my lie,
was intensely loyal; yet | could never fail
to honor the fidelity of my people to what
they, at that time, believed to be right
| know them and their pecuharities; how
devoted are their affections and how in
tensely they regard the relics left by loved
ones.
1t appears to me the time has arrived for
the obliterating of sectional lines by that
crowning act of trust and patriotism In re-
turning to them these sacred mementoes.
They would not desire them for the senti-
ment they once represented for, happily,
such sentiment has long ceased to exist.
They would delight in their possession from
the associations and memories they hold.
Can we not all unite in the new year in a
gift which would make glad the heart of
the nation? Perhaps if every paper in the
land friendly to the idea would urge it, and
every reader who desires its success-men
and women, young men and maidens, would
mail postal card to their representatives
in congress and senate, kindly asking for
such action, the next few weeks might see
its realization.
Is this too much to ask of all who feel
that such act would cement togther our
country in fraternal patriotism?
The consummation is worthy of the effort.
With prayer for its success commend it
to you and them.
GIVE BACK THEIR FLAGS
Give back their flags.
Those soiled relics of heroic age,
Whose every star and bar and fold
Some memory sweet to aching hearts
OF absent ones must ever hold.
They have paid enough for them.
On Cuban fields, 'gainst foreign foe,
Their blood has cleansed the stain
OF erors of the long ago.
Give back their flags.
Why not? To you they must remain
Simple emblems of a mighty victory won.
To them they stand for holier things; the
OF mother, wife or son.
Perchance if you mid other scenes
And circumstances had been born,
Would, 100, have fought and fell beneath
their folds,
And slept, these years. in graves unknown.
Give back their flags.
Aye! And with each flag give back
The last of hate and sneer: and in
The dawn!ng of this brighter day
Reach for the helping hand of cheer.
Why should you longer hold these trophies
OF the day when truth and freedom won.
Purchased by your blood, in that great
victory
Achieved upon our own?
Give back their flags.
A trembling message from some silent soul
Is the rustic of each fold to them;
For healing to some broken, bleeding
heart,
They flutter forth their muffled requiem.
Can you ask more than they have given
OF life and blood, of Drawn and brain?
To seal their faith and prove their love
They gave their hearts and lives again.
Give back their flags.
And there would spring from every walk
of life,
In the crowning of that happy day,
A nobler thought, grander pean
OF honor TO the dead, alike of blue and
For manhood is the same wherever found
Meath southern suns or northern skies,
And falters not in trying hours
To pay the greater sacrifice.
Give back their flags.
We are one people and one blood,
Though born in different field or cline;
And from this day, united, we
Shall stand a nation, grand sublime.
We reach across the chasm and clasp
Each strong, confiding hand; henceforth
As brothers we shall stand together 10 the
last,
For God and home and native land.
Give back their flags.
They Will battle them with their tears,
And bless you for the act alone:
In ali the country brighter yeaiN
VIII love you for ;he deeds you've done.
We standing glad embrace today;
Our eagle screams of freedom perched on
foreign crags.
Lift up your hearts in thankfulness to
God,
And give to them their flags.
II. CLAY NEEDHAM
Los Angeles, Cal, December a. 1898.
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