Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1917-05-04
"THE FLAGS STORY"

"THE FLAGS STORY"
The American Flag is much in evil
dence these days and rightly so; it is
a fine thing for us as nation that
the attention of old and young has
been centered on the National EN-
blem. The following story was writ
ten by Ruth Wade of ,Tifin, a girl
of twelve years, at the time of writ
ing the story and is furnished US by
Mr.. and Mrs. Allen Shadle who are
warm friends of Miss Ruth's parents
as well as of the young lady herself:
"Well," said the flag, "this is De-
cember 9, 1907 and we are to start
from Hampton Roads to take our trip
around the world. Of course they will
put me on top of the big ship and that
is just what want because 1 can see
every thing"
We went down the Atlantic Ocean
till we came to Cuba. thought I
would just die of LAUGHING when 1
saw the little negro boys and girls
picking up coffee while their father
was up in the tree shaking the coffee
down. Well l waved to them and you
ought to see them wave back. But
didn't get to see them long because
their father said, "Hey, get to work"
and then they said "good bye" and
went to picking up the coffee again.
We went on round South America
and | saw people that We're in the
rice fields but they didn't look up SO
couldn't wave.
We went up the Pacific Ocean till
we came to San Francisco. There
were crowds of people on the shore
waving their handkerchiefs and | wav-
ed merrily to them. After seeing all
of those black people l think there
are no people quite so pretty as the
American people. Well we didn't have
much time to spend in San Francisco.
We set off for China at last and after
seeing all of those black people I saw
some that were even worse There
came a little Chinese woman being
| hauled in a two-wheeled cart by a
man. Her dress was of flowered goods
and her sleeves touched the ground
Her hair was in long braid and the
mans hair instead of being short was
braided long like the woman's.
We had to leave China and went
down the Pacific Ocean to Japan.
While we were on the way we met
a Japanese vessel. They passed us
very slowly and the Japanese flag
said to me, "My you think you are
wonderful waving in the air like YOU
do" "Why should l not" | said awe
are the greatest nation in this world >
That made him angry and he didn't
OF
Japan at last and the people looked
and were dressed nearly the same as
those of China. Their eyes were slant.
ing and they had high cheek bones
We could not stay here long but must
go on until we came to Africa.
Here | saw the most beautiful
orange groves, but the people were
not as pretty as the oranges because
they were nearly all negroes. We
went through the Arabian Sea anC
saw the Holy Land We could moi
stay long here either but must go OF
again. We went through the Sue,
Canal and saw the northern part Of
Africa. But while we were on the
canal the soldiers on the ship 90
word that we must go right to Italy
That there had been a terrible eartI
quake. When we got there we 'founC
that thousands of persons had beer
wiped out of existence in thirtv-twC
seconds. We came back and when We
were in the Mediterranean Sea, We
met an English battle ship. I thought
to myself, "Here is where l have
some more fun"
reached the ship at last and O.
course the English flag thought he wa.
the prettiest and said all kinds of mic,
things about his country and said tha
if he couldn't belong to any better
country than the United States h
wouldn't be flag. But he was prett,
much ashamed when I said "Look her,
old fellow, every time your peopl
have had war with US, we Won"
didn't have much time to talk but w
sailed away smiling
We went through the Mediterranean
Sea to the Straights of Gibraltar an,
one of the most beautiful things i
| the world is the Gibraltar Rock. w
went from the Straight of Gibra1ta
J into the Atlantic Ocean. We passe
Cuba but I didn't see the negro chill
dren again. Well on February q
we landed home again. Oh! how gla
was and after seeing all the worl
l think there is no nation quite s
good as dear old United States.