| Show proper salute to the greatest of all the flags HE question ol 01 sa the flag his been and is now be ing agitated exten with the la d able object of in stilling into every youthful heart that patriotism without which no country can live saluting the flag may be new to some but it Is old to this writer away back in the 60 s when a tiny child of tender years upon the death 0 my mother my father being in the army of the cumberland I 1 was left in the care of the widow of the late capt john cleves symmes of arctic fame U S A mrs symmes was the daughter of an army officer col U S A and the widow arst of capt loch wood USA then of capt symmes and was a most heroic army woman at the time of which I 1 write she was 80 years old full of vigor and activity the civil war engrossed her entirely everything she could do or say for her beloved union she said and did her energies were often directed toward me and well have I 1 cause never to forget the flag from the time I 1 could bend tiny body I 1 was or dered to salute it promptly at 9 a m we often went on parade that is we walked out over the old streets of newport by generally ending the day at the old barricks now destroyed to hear the band at the evening concert and then again she would tell me that flag has been the winding sheet of my father of my two gallant hus bands and will be of m son and grandsons now serving their country this always broke down my poor little heart for had I 1 not a dear fa ther on the battlefield marching with sherman to the seab one of my childish honors was when twice a year we went to cm cenati where grandma received her pension from the government in gold As we would approach the build ing on third street over which the flag was floating salute the flag child she would command then she and I 1 would make the courtesy she was from the waist low almost to the ground and in the most profound man ner which seemed to me a kind of funereal it always at tracked the attention of surprised peo pie she never noticed them but to me it was a real concern which the bright little gold dollar my part of the pension could not wholly do away with everywhere and under any circumstances I 1 would never fall to salute that flag and she saw to it that I 1 understood why this act of rey arence was rendered it is your atry and later it Is the union it represents tor which so many hae laid down their lives to save one day there came a letter to me all to my own little self from my ta ther written on the battlefield 0 the envelope had a little flag in the oft a had a narrow border in blue and red around it sta was thus decorated in those war days he had been wounded slightly in the shoulder and must go to the hospital wanted to write to his darling child himself so that it his name appeared among the wounded or killed in the dally papers I 1 might know the truth while be wrote a large smooth chip of wood served tor his writing desk and his back was braced against the huge for est tree from which the chip had been cut by some woodsman when the bat tie began this friendly tree protected him as he wrote from the bullets which were still flying although the tide of battle had turned in favor of the union my father did not write how he bad received the wound but I 1 learned aft erward during the fight indeed at the crisis a standard bearer was shot through the head and he fell to the ground bearing down the flag with tl e staff broken in twain my father standing near saw it tall and rushing to the spot raised the flag and carried it with both hands high as his arma could each on vard to the thickest ot the fight the regiment rallied and followed with all speed and alas was cut to piece my fathers cap was shot from his head and he was wounded in the der but his act I 1 have been told helped to save the day that impressed me greatly the tact that my father had risked his life to keep that flag aloft surely I 1 thought in my childish brain as I 1 tried to reason it all out it must be something very very great and it would be a very very wicked little girl or boy who could ever see that noble banner and fall to salute it at that time it was not customary and few even did it now it Is gener ally observed the only question raised is what particular way Is the besta I 1 have seen many different forms of salute and have read of many others but to my mind there Is none sweeter nor quainter than the one employed by a noble old lady and a little child bowing low from the waist with the right hand just raised to the forehead then brought down to the right side in grateful and loving salute to the greatest of all flags the star spangled banner |
