The San Francisco call., 1898-04-29
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 : STORY OF OLD GLORY. : >A NA1 ANA >>k
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N S a nation we are the most pictorial ~ in the world, writes M. c. Rayne in n the Chicago Times-Herald, and we 4 A began early to read from symbols our first standard of independent rule be- ing the design of a rattlesnake cut in thirteen pieces, representing the thirteen colonies, bearing first the motto Unite or Die," and later the significant warn ing, Don't Tread on Me- the rattle snake being typifed in an attitude pre- pared to strike. Rude as the device was it had a terrible significance, but one in which. science, history and power held formidable parts, ana v was a motive of wise statesmanship that gave it as a warning to foreign pressure, when that pressure developed into tyranny.
 Dr. Franklin, seeing the emblem one day, wrote of it in lnis admirable expla- nation:
 "On inquiry and from study 1 learn that the ancients considered the serpent an emblem of wisdom, and in some attitudes Of endless duration. Also that countries are often represented by animals peculiar to that country. The rattlesnake is found nowhere but in America. Her eye is eX- ceedingly bright and without eyelids- emblem of vigilance She never begins an attack and she never urrenders-emblem of magnanimity and courage. She. never
  erously gives them warning not to tread on her, which is mathematical of the spirit of the people who inhabit her coun- try. She appears apparently weak and defenseless but her weapons are never theless formidable. Her poison is the en- cesSary means for the digestion of her food, but certain death to her enemies showing the power of American re- sources. Her thirteen rattles, the only part which increases in number, are dis ah n n n " nf n nm ed that they cannot be disconnected without breaking them to "ieces, showing the inn possibility of an American. republic with will give no sound alone, but the ringing of the thirteen together is sufficient to startle. the boldest man alive. She is beautiful in youth and her beauty in- creases with age. Her tongue is forked as the lightning, and her abode is among the impenetrable rocks
 This magnificent apostrophe to a rat tleSnake reads like an fmproviSa tion from the Book of Job or the Psalms of David and, connected as it is with every epoch of American liberty, it should be as i'm mortal in it's sentiments as the Declara- tion of Independence
 It will soon be the one hundred and twenty-f1rSt anniversary of the American flag, or rather it's adoption by Congress George Washington being chairman oi the committee which gave the order foI the thirteen stars and stripes. The patri. otic women of that day did not immor- talize themselves by making the flag with tnelr own hands, but the expert needle woman who drew the threads and did the fine stitching on George Washington s shirts made our first national banner and within late years her house, which is still standing. has become a resort for the pa trfotic. It has long been designated ,.the Betsey Ross flag, so it goes down to poSterity with a woman'S name attached as 3. factor in it's being. f
 It was succeeded by the flag of fifteen stars, which will come to be known as the Francis Key flag our national an them. 'The Star-spangled Banner" hay ing been written under its folds, or rather it was the flag which Key saw while in diting his poem.,
 have had the pleasure of hearing from the lips of one who knew the history o1 the name given to. our flag. in recent years, 'Old Glory" the incidents of the occasion. The narrator, George w Bates of Detroit, Mich, a gentleman of unusual information on all topics. and an ardent patriot, says that 1t was applied to the flag of the United States for the first time by. Captain Stephen Driver, an old sea captain who was living in Nashville Tenn, in 1862. In order to keep the flag which had been presented to him while abroad by American friends. he hid it ir quilt and slept unuer its folds without its enemies being any the wiser Or awakening in the morning he would ascribe his good sleep to the concealed flag. which he called by the pet name "Old Glory" and when the Federals en- tered Nashville he flung "Old Glory" tc the breeze and told the story everywhere The name is now as national as the flag