Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1917-04-25
oDc8o0o0o0o010c8o01(c010
) Our Flag s
(SOuthern RuraliSt.D

Stripes displayed, son, stand up and
take Off your hat! Somebody may
litter. 1t Is popular to deride all ex-
preston of noble sentiment. You
may blaspheme in the street, and
stagger drunken in public places,
and the bystanders will not pay
much attention to you; but If you
should get down on your knees in
the street and pray to Almighty God,
or If you should stand bareheaded
while company Of old soldiers
marched by their flag, some people
will sneer.
Don't you mind! When Old Glory
comes along, salute, and let them
think what they please! When you
hear the band play "The Star Span
gled Banner" in a restaurant or
hotel, get up, even if you rise alone;
stand there and don't be ashamed Of
it, either.
For of all the signs and symbols
since the world began, there is never
another, save only the cross sancti-
fed on Calvary, so full Of meaning
as the flag of our country.
That piece Of red, white and blue
bunting means five Thousand years
Of struggle upward. 1t is the full
blown flower Of ages OF fighting for
liberty. 1t is the century plant of
human hope in bloom.
1t means the answered prayer of
generations Of slaves, of the helots Of
Greece, Of the human chattes of
Rome, of the vassals Of feudalism, of
the serfs of Russia, of the blacks of
America, Of all the down-trodden
people OF the ages
Your flag stands for humanity, for
an equal opportunity to all the sons
of men. We haven't arrived yet at
that goal there is injustice still
among us, many senseless and cruel
customs of the past still cling to
us, but the only hope of righting
the wrongs of men lies in the feeling
produced In our bosoms by the sight
Of that flag.
1t stands for no race. 1t Is not
like an English, French or German
flag. 1t stands for all men who will
come and live with us under its pro-
lection. 1t is the only banner that
means mankind. Other flags mean a
glorious past, this flag means glori-
GUS future. 1t Is not so much the
flag of our fathers as it is the flag of
rs onrl q hildren,- - and Of oil children g.
children yet unborn. It is the flag of
to-nlOrrow-the signal Of the Good
Time Coming" 1t is not the flag of
your king; 1t is the flag Of yourself
and Of your neighbors.
II has a power concealed in It's
folds and scatters abroad an influ-
ence from its flutterings. That power
and influence mean that in due time,
slowly and by force of law, yet
surely as the footsteps Of God, the
last ancient fraud shall be smitten,
the last unearned privilege removed,
the last irregularity set right, the
last man shall have a place to work
and living wage, the last woman
shall have all her rights Of person
and Of citizenship, and the last and
least Of children shall be sheltered
and trained and equipped by the SOW
ereign state. and so have their right
to live.
Don't be ashamed when your
throat chokes and the tears come, as
You see 1t flying from the mast of a
ship in some foreign port. You will
never have worthier emotion. Rev.
erence it as you would reverence the
signature Of the Deity.
BY thousands the victims of old
world caste are streaming westward.
seeking here the thing that flag
stands for-opportunity. It stands
for the open door Of ambition against
the closed door Of caste.
1t waves defiance at all ghosts,
they that have for long intimidated
men; the ghost Of monarchy, the
ghost Of aristocracy, the ghost of
war, the ghost Of ecclesiastic rule;
all they that still lay shadowy hands
upon the life of Europe and Asia.
Listen, son! The band is playing
'"The Star Spangled Banner" They
have let loose "Old Glory" yonder
Stand up and hurrach for the flag of
your country.