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SAVE THE FLAG.

ELIZA ALLEN STARR.

ELIZA ALLEN STARR, a noted American writer and art critic, was born at Deerfield, Massachusetts, in August, 1824. She died in 1900. Her chief work is "The Three Keys," a book which contains explanations of Raphael's frescoes in the Vatican.

"Lay me down and save the flag!" said brave Colonel Mulligan, when mortally wounded on the field of battle. But what! is the flag to be of more value than a brave man's life?.

It is made of bunting, with red and white stripes, and stars on a square of blue at the top. It does not cost much, and even if made of silk and gold thread, how could it be worth as much as a brave man's life?

It is not what the flag is made of, but what it means, what it stands for, that makes it worth more than a brave man's life.

The flag of a country means the country itself. When the flag is in danger the country is in danger. Brave men must fly to the rescue.

Leonardo da Vinci painted a picture called the "Battle of the Standard." Men, and even the horses they ride, are fighting each other with the utmost fury. Are they fighting for a mere rag, a piece of bunting, or even silk?

No! they are fighting for what is the symbol of their country, the symbol which stands for its safety and its honor, the National Flag.

We should be not only proud of the "Star-Spangled

Banner" of the United States, but we should be ready to defend it from dangers and from insult.

Only when we are ready to defend our country even at cost of life, can we be really good soldiers or good officers or good citizens. Only when we are resolved to do this, if need be, have we a right to sing,

"The Star Spangled Banner, oh, long may it wave,

O'er the land of the free, and the home of the brave."

Symbol: a sign, a representation.

THE VAIN RUSHLIGHT.

"See how strong and bright the light which I send over the world. I am greater and more beautiful than the sun, the moon, or the stars."

As the vain Rushlight ceased speaking, it tried to send out long rays of light; but just a little breeze came along, and blew out the flame.

The owner of the Rushlight said, as he relighted it: "Your boasting makes your neighbors laugh. Be content to shine as a rushlight and not try to compare yourself with the great lights above you. Whoever saw a puff of wind blow out the light of the sun, the moon, or the stars?" Æsop's Fables.

There is nothing meaner than he who is rich, and has nothing but money. Oliver Wendell Holmes.

THE BOSTON BOYS IN 1775.

The British troops which were sent to Boston, previous to the commencement of the Revolutionary War, to keep that rebellious town in order, were everywhere received with the most unequivocal marks of anger and detestation. During their stay the very air seemed filled with suppressed breathings of indignation.

The insolence and indiscretions of some subaltern officers increased the ill-will of the citizens, and vexations and quarrels multiplied daily. At this time the Boston boys were accustomed to build hills of snow for sliding places. It was a pleasing sight to see the sturdy lads gliding down the hard-packed snow hills and out on the pond in the Common.

The British soldiers, from mere love of tantalizing, destroyed their snow hills. The boys complained of the injury, and industriously set about repairs. However, when they returned from school, they found the snow hills leveled again.

The exasperated boys held a meeting, and decided upon a course of action. Several of them waited upon the British captain, to inform him of the misconduct of his soldiers. No notice was taken of their complaint, and the soldiers became more and more insolent.

At last the boys resolved to call a meeting of all the largest boys in town, who would go to General Gage, Commander-in-Chief of the British forces. When shown

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