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Show "30urfFlaff Older Than Even i t . China 8. fTlia "Eir-SparKUd liannor" tbut '"yit'trrnbu 1aUtrtb(freo und-1 und-1 30 homo of tho bravo" bus a history auliko tbht of tho fiiublom of tmy other people. It la older than tbo prcceut ting of Great Britain, which antiB Iroiu 1801; older thuu tho Qetmoii Empire etandnrd 1870; older than that cf Ftauua 1791 ; or that cf Spain 1785. older, In fact, tbau any of the present iluga of tho ancient empires of Ohlua nnd Japan. Tho lliat legislative notion, nf which thero ia uuy record, uonnarn ut tho design and adoption of a uatin, a Hag, wua taken in n itsulutloti oi GongrosB at Philadelphia on Juno 11, 1775, out it waa not until Ootobar or November of that ytir that a com mlfsluu of three, apioliited for that purpoao, mot in tho old oily of Oambrldgo, and outorcd upon thoir dutli'B. iienjiunin Franklin waa ouo of this number. After considerable deliberation they adopted a design consisting of tbo king's oolora tbo crosses of St. George and St. Audrew with thirteen parallel horizontal Btrlpes, altoruate rod aud white. A most strnugo and uufortnuate seleot inn, it would seem, aud uuexpluiu nble when such nu ardont patriot as Honjamin Franklin wna ouo of ila authors. Thla flag waa unfurlod for tho first time over the Continental camp at Oambrldgo, on the eeuond day of Jauuary, 1770. We havo no record or what Georgo Washington thought of tbia flag with its royal emblems when ho took oommand of tbo little army under tbe big elm on the Oambrldgo Oam-brldgo greou, but it ia reasonable to aouoludo that he was not pleased. Wo do know that when the ensign was first displayed nt Cambridge, tbo British regulars assumed that it was Intended as an indication of submission sub-mission by tbe thirteen States to tho king wboso speech had jest been sent to tbe Americans. Tho comment of the British Register or 1770 on the now standard la interesting: ''The rebala burnt tho king's epeoub nnd ohauged tho flag from a plain banner to one bearing thirteen fitrlpcB, as a symbol of tbo number and union of tbe colonies." 'I UK NEW IDEA WOMAN'S MAGAZINE for July. |