Henderson daily dispatch. (Henderson, N.C.) 1914-1995, 1936-06-13

upper left while marching by the
war veterans in Il patriotic parade a
Proudly waving over the land of the
free and the home of the brave FOR
more IN a century and 9 half, Old
Glory celebrates anO"t4r anniversary
on jane II.
Back in the fast dimming twilight
of the Revolution the folds of the
Stars ard Stripes first frttered in the
treeze. The flag 5 first official birth
ddv was June Ii 1871
Long before Old Glory was torn,
other symbolic bits of bunting had
expressed the fcres and aspirations
OF liberty-loving rcople. Early col
onial flags show anchors, beavers,
pine trees and other insignia, and
some of them bore the words, "hope,'
Liberty" or can Appeal 20 Heaven"
Prominent among these early ban
ners wore the rattlesnake and Grand
Union designs: the former showing a
rattiesnake spread across the thirteen
stripes, and the latter bearing the
crosses of st. George and st. Andrew,
where white stars in blue field are
now shown.
Old Gloy was born when thirteen
struggling colonies chung tenaciously
to a marrow war-ravaged strip of land
along the Atlantic coast. 1t was the
symbol of men who had dared to say,
I'VE hold this truth to be self evident
that all men are craeted free and
equal"
For a brief space the flag under
which they had fought and purchased
their freedom chung to a narrow Dor
derline of earth along the Atlantic
seaboard, and then it started west
ward.
Today the forests and the noun
tains of the Far North know that ban
ner and the tale it's bears; the prairies
of the West, the cliffs and gorges of
the Rockies the swamps and bayous
and rich rice fields Of the sunny
South. Yet the half Of that story has
not been told.
Ever above that toiing, fighting
epic of a great nation floated the
Stars and Stripes. At first it blazed
the trail across a primitive wilder
ness, remaining to fly it's starry folds
above an industrious people, busted
with the development of continent
they had wrested from the elements
But that story has not always been
a tale Of workshop and forge and
store and farm or Of pioneering men
and women. The American Flag was
born in the heat of battle-and bat
tile has been its heritage down thro-
ugh the years Not battles of conquest
but battles of self-preservation.
1t waved above John Paul Jones
when he stood on the deck of the Bon
Homme Richard, with his ship sink
ing beneath him and calmly answer
ed the British demands for surrender
with: II have not yet begun to fight"
Love of Stars and Stripes was the
inspiration for Captain Lawrence,
who died on the decks of the Chesa-
peake with his lips forming his last
words: Don't give up the ship"
by the dawn's carly light" on Sep
TENDER ID, 1914, Francis Scott Kew
saw the Star SpangIed Banner still
waving over Fort McHenry and com
posed the song which is now the ma
tional anthem.
1t flew proudly over our little fleet
on Lake Erie, when Perry sent his
immortal message, 1--WE have met the
enemy and they are ours" and a few
years later it triumphantly led the
way when Zachary Taylor voiced our
protest at Buena Vista and Monterey
in Mexico.
And when the Lost Cause went
down to a most honorable defeat in
the war between the States, it was
Old Glory that waved above a nation
reunited to hold once more within its
waving folds every State and Common
wealth in a common bond of allep-
lance.
Later the flag was our symbol when
proud and naughty Spain was forever
i'anished from our continent to Wir
freedom for the oppressed people OF
other lands. Pledged as a symbol OF
life, liberty and the pursuit of happi-
ness Old Glory has been in campaigns
abroad only when the ideals of dem.
ocracy have been endangered.
Perhaps our ideals have not always
been realized, but history will bear
witness that lust Of conquest or thirst
for world dominion have neve,
prompted us to take up arms
Although historians disagree, ira
dition points to Betsy Ross, popular
Philadelphia flag maker of the day
as the maker of the first sample ot
the Stars and Stripes. We are TOLD
that a committee headed bV Georp.