The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1901-05-30
The Flag.


Memorial Day may we'll be called
the alag Day." The "Stars and
Stripes" are in evidence on every side.
1t floats over the headquarters of every
post of the Grand Army, every organlza-
ton of veterans, every camp OF Sons of
Veterans. 1t waves at the head of every
procession, large or small that takes up
it's line of march to cemeteries wherein
sleep departed heroes of the war of the
Union and 1t marks every grave to be
decorated by the hands of surviving COM
rades.
The flag is beautiful in itself The
happy combination of colors and the
symmetry of form appeal to the artistic
eye and to those who appreciate the
harmonious and the beautiful. The
designers of the alag of Our Country"
were fortunate in their conception of the
emblem of authority SO dearly loved by
patriotic and heroic people. Our flag
is all right from an artistic point of view
and it is much more than this. 1t is not
only to be admired for what it is, but it
is to be held in sacred regard for what
it represents. There is not only beauty
in it, there is power In it. Not the
the power that by virtue of force and
iron will, governs peoples, but the power
to inspire love and veneration and cause
people to submit to law, right and even
hardship because Of love for it and for
the government of which it is an en-
blem; because of faith In that govern
ment and confidence in its triumphs, in
it's mission for freedom and liberty
among the nations of the earth.
To no man upon earth is The Flag
more significant than to the veteran who
has fought beneath it. He has contribut-
ed more to its support and triumph than
any other man and looks upon it with a
feeling far different from that man who
has simply helped to raise 1t on fourth
of July celebrations or in political cam
paigns. We do not intend to argue that
the veteran, only, can properly apprec-
ate and honor the flag but do claim that
he who has fought for his country under
the flag, can, by virtue OF that service
better appreciate the value of our
country and its institutions, and better
appreciate the emblem of authority, the
national flag, than though he had not
rendered that service.
The placing of the miniature flag over
the graves of those who served in cam
paign against the enemies of the govern
ment represented by that flag, is an act
befitting Memorial day and worthy Of
commentator. The too free and care
less use of the national emblem for ad-
vertisng and even base purposes, in dis
reputable places, to cover illegal acts
and sinister designs is unworthy our
people and to be deprecated. The flag is
not disg:aced thereby, 1t cannot be, but
the people who do these things do not
appreciate the situation and have no
conception of the honor due the "Stars
and Stripes" the glorious emblem of
our great country, and the love its de-.
tenders have for 1t. Upon this day,
when the patriotic acts of the veteran
of the civil war is being recalled and his
memory honored in word and in the
graceful deed of placing flowers upon
his grave, we can, in perfect accord with
this word and this deed, honor the flag
under which he fought by joining in the
chorus, "Three cheers for the Red,
White and Blue"