The Parker post., 1917-05-19
VIEWED BY
A SPECTATOR
THE KINDNESS OF A LITTLE PAR
KER GIRL TO STRANGERS WINS
APPRECIATION AND INSPIRES
PRAISE.
{ BY A. w. AthertOn.) J

Two Of us newcomers were stand
ing in the circle around the new flag
pole, awaiting the opening of the
program. Along came a tiny tot
OF girl, with a curly poll and a
pair of starry eyes. She stopped be-
fore us and gravely regarded us with
those eyes. We kept very still
Presently the sweet face broke into
a winsome smile, and a dear voice
said, "HellO!" Can you imagine
what that meant to a lonely man.
fully conscious of 1.-The defective
quality Of being a stranger?" We
felt inspected and pproved-cOrdial-
ly adopted, as it were Twas good.
Later, this little lady christened
the fiagpOle. There, again, she won
us by her fneness. You see, the bot
tie wouldn't break when she struck
the pole. Three times she tried,
valiantly, and then she just threw
the contents out of the neck in the
usual way. 'There,' she cried,
triumphantly; and then. THAT
water felt awful cold to my handsi"
which brought down the crowd!
Dear. tiny, Lady Dunbar! T know
of several great, strong men whom
you christened knights OF yours
with that same libation!
When that really beautiful flag
passed from the hands of the cul-
tured and eloquent Mrs. Duc!os, and
rose, amid the cheers, to it's place of
honor, there were two questions be-
ing silently asked by everyone pres
ont. Why the flag in itself? Why
rhe raising of it, here and now? The
missing orator of the evening doubt
less would have answered. Since he
was not there, perhaps I had better
try.
The answers put in issue all the
lessons OF history, all the yerities
lovable, all the hopes that would
create'a United Nations OF the World,
based upon the same Divineiy fash
ioned rock Of principle upon which
stands the United States of America
II there be--and one does not doubt
it-a "Divinity that shapes our ends,
rough heW them how We may"
then we Of America unQuestiOnably
have been and are the chosen instru-
ments of that Divinity in the shaping
Of the ends of the nations of the
world. The command OF cid was
Let My People go!" That, being
translated into terms of today. reads
best as set down by Ralph Waldo
Emerson: "The People themselves,
are the wealth." And there are Of
record, in the capital at Washington,
these words: I'VE, The People of the
United States of America, in order to
form more perfect Union, provide
for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the bles-
sings of liberty to ourselves and our
pOsterity, do hereby ordain and es-
tablish this constitution
And there you have it! The magic
words, yOicing the dominant idea,
are THE People" For chem stands
the flag. To them it is an emblem
of all that they are, and all that they
have and all that they hope in this
life. For the idea which it
embodies they will go as far as need
demands
1t is we'll for us to think again
these thoughts in this hour. For
that purpose we raise our flag.
There is no element of threat or de-
lance in the act. We do it, not
only 'lest we forget" but also that
we may realize.
For upon us rests a solemn, God
given duty--tO set upon the World
for all time the Great White Seal OF
the Big Idea. This is no war of
nations or Of peoples. Il is clash
ing of the two Great Ideas. The
people, themselves, of whatever ma
ton, are fine, and, doWr in their
hearts, they love one another, as they
were born to do. But, facing each
other, stand Kaiserism and People
ism. One or the other must dOmin-
ate. The Kaiser, however sincere,
however exalted, stands but as an
enlarged and modernized Cave Man,
whose only law is personal desire,
whose only argument is brute vio-
lence. The President, head OF The