The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1904-06-12

on his trade in the same little old house on Arch-st,
and she, assisting him therein. was well adapted to
the task. The room in which the work was done,
eleven by sixteen feet in size, is as 1t was then. The
rough, board flooring is unchanged the blue Dutch
tiles of the fireplace are nearly all originals, though
two of the restored ones, being fresher of face. were
deity distracted by a patriotic but absent-minded
w%orshiper not many weeks ago. Let him learn from
this that he stole restored ones, and feel remorse and
other things as best he can.
The rough, plastered walls and ceiling still remain,
though wallpaper constitutes an anachronlsm on one
side and a gas-jet has replaced the candles by which
the fair Betsy worked. All around the house a great
commercial civilization has thrown UP buildings
which have nearly crowded it out Of existence, and a
modern Fire Department rescued it in the nick Of
time from a fire at the back little more than a month ago.
None the less, it remains, thanks to the Flag House
Association, one of the most interesting of historical
souvenirs, and shortly will be presented to the nation.
The actual face OF Betsy Ross, however, will forever
remain more or less obscure. Like those of some other
famous characters, her portrait is a theoretical COM
posite. Events took their way, and more than a
century passed before it occurred to any artist that
the birth of the flag had never been painted. This
artist was Charles H. Weisgerber. The subject being
admirable, he sought for a picture of the central
figure; but none was to be had. The only available
material lay in descriptions of her and daguerreotypes
of her four daughters. History declared her to have
been dark of complexion. auburn as to hair. short and
plump as to figure, and twenty-four years old.
With these substantial facts, and the four daguerreo-
types, Weisgerber's brush limned a composite Betsy
Ross, which was duly submitted to the assembled
descendants, was criticized by those who had seen her,
and modified accordingly. 1t was then used in the
weil-known picture, The Birth of Our Nations Flag
showing Washington, Morris, Ross and herself dis
playing the flag that she had just finished, which had
the place of honor in the Pennsylvania Building at the
Worlds Fair of 1893. There was SO great a demand
for copies of this picture that the artist sold them by
thousands. Thence arose a plan by which half the
proceeds of such sales were to be devoted to the rescue
of the house and the American Flag House, and the
Betsy. Ross Memorial Association" was formed with
such well-known names as those of DR.. Morgan Dix,
DR.. Fetterolf of Girard College, John Wanamaker,
General Howard, DIR. Henry c. McCook and many
Others, as charter members.
Up to date nine hundred twenty-five thousand
copies of the picture have been sold by the association
at ten cents each to purchasers from all States and all
countries. The Purchase Fund now exceeds twenty
two thousand dollars, and when it reaches twenty-five
thousand the transfer of the property will be made
to the Association under the existing option, and
the gift of it made to the nation. The hope of
the Association is that Congress will purchase the
adjoining property as far as the adjacent streets, and
thus leave the house in the center of an ornamental
square measuring four hundred feet by four hundred
feet as an enduring national memorial to the flag.
Mr.. Canby's indignant denial that Mrs. Ross was
directly or Indirectly in any way affiliated to a