The Washington times., 1918-03-12
MRS. WASHINGTON,
. 79 YEARS OLD, IS
new BETSY ROSS
',I wanted to do my bit"

81 wanted to do my bit"
with these words, which Betsy Ross
might have used when she made the
first American flag for Washington,
back in Revolutionary days, did Mrs.
Thornton A. Washington, of 1888 Thir-
teenth street northwest, explain why
she made a service flag to be flung to
the breeze from st. Joseph's Orphan
Asylum on H street. between Ninth
and Tenth.
Related to Washington.
Despite her nearly four-score years,
Mrs. Washington, who is the widow
OF a great-grandnephew of George
Washington, alone and unaided. made
the hRg-a good sized, banner,
specked with hfty-nve stars, each one
cut out and sewed on with painstak-
ing labor, to represent the ffty-five
young men from st. Joseph's Orphan
age who have answered their coun-
try's call and are serving in her army
or navy to make this world once again
Mt for human habitage.
The nag was hung out from the in
stitution in H street this morning.
There were no exercises, no ceremony,
nothing but the simple running out
ofrths flag on the pole put up for the
purpose. But as the nag unfurled,
none present could help but think OF
those hfty-five young men-fatherless,
motherless, fighting somewhere "over
there" for the country they called
both motherlaAd and fatherland-and
the proud, CHEEKY old woman, seventy
nine years of age, whose patriotism
and love of her country and the boys
fighting for~it had gone into every one
OF the countless stitches needed to
make the emblem.
Mrs. Washington, despite her sew
enty-pine years, Is a keen follower Of
the worlds news. She has seen the
Union preserved in the civil war, she
has seen Spain roundly thrashed by
Americas fighting men-and she eX-
poets to live to- see the day when
German aptocracy shall have been
vRnquished forever. by the boys under
Old Glory:
How She Made Flag.
Sitting in her room, which she
rarely leaves, at her home in Thir-
teenth street, Mrs. Washington told
OF how she came to make the flag.
ct wanted to do my Bit" she ex-
planned. "and when I was told by
friends OF the fifty-five boys from
st. Josephs who are at the front for
Uncle Sam, / saw my chance. Why
not make a service flag for the or
phanage? So ! started the work
and when / had ii finished. two and
a half days later, l knew 1 had un-
dertaken a greater work than 1 had
anticipated. But I'm proud to know
I've done something, at least"
Mrs. Washington Is the widow OF
Col. Thornton A. Washington, who
died about twenty-siX years ago. He
held a position in the Patent Office,
and was prominent in the life of the
Capital in his day. Colonel WASH
ington was a great-grandnephew Of
George Washington, and a graduate
OF West Point, where he was later
an instructor. In the civil war, he
fought under Lee. Mrs. Washing
toms Americanism is OF the same
type. Though an invalid. and practi-
cally confined to one room, she is
always eager for the latest war news,
and hopes for the day when America
shall once again be victor.
Three OF the 55 young men from
St. Joseph's Asylum now in the SER
vice are known to hold commissions
as officers. Several others are nom
commissioned officers, while the re-
mainder are in the ranks on land or
sea-