The San Francisco call., 1898-06-12

| this radiant gem of words should have acquired so limited fame But Ouida | has all her life been a disagreeable freak. She has the temper of wildcat | the manners of a COW, and with years she has grown meaner. Age does not deck her with silvered di~nity, but comes upon her bringin~ with it bitter ness, and turning the natural sour ot 1 her to an actual venom which runs from the end of her pen in halting meter. She has taken to making po- etry, jerky verse. punctuated by drops of gall. Her latest, and let it be hoped her last, is a parody on the poet laur- eate's joint tribute to England and America. Evidently this malign an- tique does not view an alliance with favor, or ascribe the proposal to lofty motives, for she says:
 So fling 'em out on the breeze,
 Bluster and Bully and Brag, And the standard of spangled shoddy
 Shall wave OCT Sea of Swag, Wherever the Press shall vapor
 And wherever the Purse shall wag.
 For wherever we come, we twain.
 The machine gun shall benow of Jesus. And the Bible preach gin and gain.
 For our creed and gospels the same.
 And if we've made an end of the Redskin
 So have you of his Maori kin.
 There IS more of the same sort. The querulous lady deserves to he how cotted. So curious a compound or virility and senility has rarely heen able to find publisher. Possibly she is suffering from indigestion due to the loss of her teeth.
 There Is feeling that Spain may yield without more of a struggle. nope 1t is groundless. Since the United States have been forced into a war. for this to cease before the Spanish shall nave been driven back to their native land, divested of their last insular pos session, would be a calamity to the world. The presence of their flag should be no longer tolerated over the colonies they have for centuries mis- ruled. If they were now to sue for peace the terms granted would doubt less be more advantageous They would be left with some foothold close to the civilization of the west, and be as they always have been, a curse and a clog. They should be defeated at every point as thoroughly as they have been in Manila Bay, and when all is over not a vestige of them left. The United States is the one power to make the terms, and the men and ships and guns are available wherewith to be explicit If, when the Philippines and Cuba and Porto Rico are under the stars and stripes. the reeking old monarchy still keeps up the farce of resistance, squadron should visit Cadiz. Spain has for many decades sought lesson. Now that she is getting it I want it to be a good one.
 Editorial mention lately came under my eye that among some of the Orien- tals this country is known as the Land of the Beautiful Flag" The designa- ton is one appealing to the pride and tenderer sentiment of Americans. For they know the United States is the land of the beautiful flag, and they glory in the stars and stripes. Once, perhaps, this feeling was beneath the surface, but not now; not now, when the streets echo to the tramp of armed men, and from far over sea comes word that the flag is waving where tyranny has ruled, proving that oceans cannot stay the march of freedom. Its shadow falls on Cuban soil, it proudly streams above the waters of Manila Bay and perhaps the distant isles of the Pacific have learned its colors and acknowledged it's sway. AS the benign domain of the stars and stripes extends there comes to us a new sense of the potency it rep resents, a fresh jubilation that 1t has never stood for dishonor nor been un- furled save above brave men who are of our blood It is fitting, as the ed torial suggested, that next Tuesday be made a special flag day, because then the emblem will have attained the age of 121 years, not a great age. as history goes, but one marked by high achieve ment and growth unparalleled. And the coming of this anniversary will find the common heart touched with pa triotic fire, and the thought in every mind that this is the Land of the Beautiful Flag; that 1t is our land, and our flag. Next Tuesday I expect the city will be decked as never before, not with gaudy arches and transparencies, but with the flag. There could be no finer decoration. Lovely in hue and n design, upheld by valor, cheered by affection, the eye fills with tears to see 1t, tears of which none is ashamed. So put the flag out Tuesday; it means so much just now.