JUN

THE

Vol. XXIII

MEETINGS

Bay Section the California Teachers' Association; Lewis B. Avery, President, Oakland, Cal.; W. L. Glascock, Secretary, San Mateo, Cal.

Northern California Teachers' Association, S. P. Robbins, President, Chico, Cal.; Mrs. Minnie O'Neil, Secretary.

Central California Teachers' Association, F. H. Boren, Lindsay, President; E. W. Lindsay, Fresno, Secretary. Southern California Teachers' Association, Mrs. Grace Stanley, President, San Bernardino; J. O. Cross, Secretary, Los Angeles.

tary.

California Council of Education, E. M. Cox, Oakland, Cal., President; A. H. Chamberlain, San Francisco, Cal., Secre California Federation of School Women's Clubs. Miss Anna Keefe, President, Oakland, Cal.; Miss Cora Hampel, Secretary, Oakland, Cal.

California Education Officers, Sacramento, Cal., Hon. Edward Hyatt, Superintendent of Public Instruction; Dr. Margaret Schallenberger-McNaught, Commissioner Elementary Schools; Edwin R. Snyder, Commissioner Vocational Education; Will C. Wood, Commissioner Secondary Schools.

State Board of Education, E. P. Clarke, President; Mrs. O. Shepard Barnum, Charles A. Whitmore, T. S. Montgomery, Marshall De Motte, Mrs. Agnes Ray, George W. Stone.

Little Talks by the Way

By EDWARD HYATT

(Under this head Superintendent Hyatt will try to give some account of what he sees and hears and thinks in traveling about officially among the schools of California. It will be somewhat hasty and ill-digested, being jottings on the road. It will deal with personal experiences, and so may look egotistic. It will be subject to frequent change of opinion, and will seem inconsistent. It is done as a free and easy means of communication between the school people of the State and the central school office. If it provokes retort or comment, that will be printed, too, provided that it be brief and interesting.)

Mr. James V. Kelleher, principal of the Arcadia schools, prepared the following program to be used by the California schools on Flay Day, June 14th.

It

Mr. Kelleher sent it in to the superintendent's office, modestly saying that he desired no credit for the work in any way, but offering it freely to the schools. seemed to me a very helpful program that should be of assistance to many teachers in celebrating Flag Day. I have ventured to sign his name to the opening paragraphs and forward it to the Western Journal of Education, hoping that many schools may EDWARD HYATT.

use it.

To the Teachers of the Public Schools:

The following program, designed to occupy not more than an hour's time, is offered to the public schools of this State as an eminently fitting and appropriate means of celebrating Flag Day on the 14th day of June, 1917. Should this be received by any school that closes before June 14th, have the program rendered on some other day. Invite in the Grand Army men, and public in general, to help honor the Flag. Request the children to wear small emblems on Flag Day.

Sincerely yours,

JAMES V. KELLEHER. School Flag Day Celebration, June 14, 1917 First Let all rise, salute the flag, and say in unison: I pledge allegiance to my flag, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Second-Still standing, let all sing "Flag of the Free" or some other appropriate flag song, but not "The Star Spangled Banner" which is reserved for the conclusion of the program.

SAN FRANCISCO, MAY, 1917

The Story of Our Flag: Today millions of American flags are waving in all parts of our country, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. To the "Stars and Stripes" we Americans pledge our allegiance, and uncover as we pass. It is therefore bo natural and fitting that on this 14th day of June, our National Flag Day, we review the history of our most sacred emblem.

It has been well said that just as the cross stands for Christianity, so our flag is a symbol that stands for the hopes, desires, beliefs, ideals and ideas, and the dominant power of our country. Our flag is

not the flag of a family, or a house, or a person, but the flag of the whole people,

YOUR FLAG AND MY FLAG
Your flag and my flag,

And how it flies today
In your land and my land
And half a world away!
Rose-red and blood-red

The stripes forever gleam;
Snow-white and soul-white-

The good forefathers' dream; Sky-blue and true blue, with stars to gleam aright

The glorified guidon of the day; a shelter through the night.

Your flag and my flag

And, oh, how much it holds-
Your land and my land-
Secure within its folds!
Your heart and my heart

Beat quicker at the sight;
Sun-kissed and wind-tossed-

Red and blue and white. The one flag-the great flag-the flag for me and you—

Glorified all else beside-the red and white and blue!

-By Wilbur D. Nesbit.

and to the whole people it is an emblem of liberty and independence. Far from being merely painted and dyed cloth, it represents the constitution and government of more than a hundred million souls, and records the history of their nation.

The official history of our flag does not begin until June 14, 1777, but to start our story there would be like attempting to build a house without first laying the foundation.

From earliest times the tribes and nations of the world have had their flags or ensigns. The origin of these would be very interesting, but need not now be considered. The first emblem of practical import to us is the pennant that floated from the flagship of Columbus, when he discovered America in 1492.

Later on, when these shores became colonized, and the people began to associate

No. 5

in communities, they manifested their loyalty to the mother countries by the display of their flags. After the colonies founded by peoples other than the English had, one following another, come under the rule of England, and when still later the English drove the French from the Ohio valley and conquered them in Canada, the English flag floated over those colonies along the eastern shore of our country that are known as the thirteen original colonies. But the colonies cherished their own individuality, and so many colonial flags came into being, with the English colors and insignia predominating.

On the 4th day of July, 1776, the Declaration of Independence of the American colonies proclaimed "that all political connection between us and the state of Great Britain is and ought to be totally dissolved." At that time the king's colors flew on forts and ships of war, but the white ensign, with the red cross of St. George, was the flag of the people.

The New England colonies also had a flag in common, known as the Pine Tree Flag. It was a blue ground, with the red cross of St. George in the corner, quartering a white field, with a pine tree in the upper left corner. This is the flag believed to have been displayed by the Americans. at the Battle of Bunker Hill.

History does not record what flag, if any, was carried by the "embattled farmers" who fired "the shot heard round the world" at Lexington and Concord.

When General Putnam took command of his troops at Cambridge in 1775, he unfurled a scarlet flag bearing on one side the Latin words "Qui transtulit sustinet" and on the other, "An appeal to heaven."

It is not practicable to enumerate all of the various flags used by the colonies in 1775 and 1776. There were flags of red and blue stripes, of red and white stripes, of white and yellow stripes, and of yellow and green stripes. The stripes were usually thirteen in number, to stand for the thirteen colonies in rebellion.

It is believed that the first American flag bearing thirteen alternate red and white stripes was a Union flag used by the Philadelphia Light Horse Brigade early in 1775. A similar flag is mentioned as having been. displayed in Savannah in 1775.

resent the united colonies, and not a separate state. Congress was at this time fitting out a navy, which made the demand for an authorized union flag more urgent, for an armed vessel without an authorized flag has always been considered a pirate. George Washington and Benjamin Franklin were selected by Congress to recommend such a flag. The flag selected by them was the thirteen alternate red and white stripes with the union jack in the upper left corner.

The new flag was first displayed at the camp before Boston in 1776. General Washington said of this flag: "We hoisted the Union Flag in compliment to the united colonies, and saluted it with thirteen. guns." The same flag probably was hoisted on the naval ship of John Paul Jones at about the same time.

The national flag grew in a direct way out of the banner that waved over the colonies. The flag of the united colonies had been thirteen stars, and a stripe for each colony. It also displayed the king's colors, but the union with the king being dissolved, the new union, with a circle of silver stars in a blue sky, was substituted.

Betsy Ross

Tradition says that in the latter part of May, 1776, Washington, accompanied by two others, called on Betsy Ross, who ran a little upholstery shop on Arch Street, in Philadelpaih, and engaged her to make the first American flag. The star that the committee decided upon had six points, but Mrs. Ross advised the five-pointed star, which has ever since been used in the United States flag. The flag designed by the committee was colored by a local artist, and from this colored copy Betsy Ross made the first flag. We are told that the materials used were an old army overcoat, a red flannel petticoat, and a white shirt.

The official history of our flag begins the next year, on June 14, 1777, when the American Congress adopted the following resolution:

"Resolved, That the flag of the United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white on a blue field, representing a new constellation."

Washington said: "We take the stars from Heaven, and the red from our mother country, separating it by white stripes, thus showing that we have separated from her, and the white stripes shall go down to posterity representing liberty."

The origin of the design of June 14, 1777, has been the subject of much controversy, though many writers believe it to have been suggested by the coat of arms of the Washington family, which contains both the stars and the stripes.

In designing the flag, there was much discussion as to the arrangement of the stars in the field of blue. Also it was thought at first that a new stripe as well as a new star should be added for each new state admitted to the Union. Indeed, in 1794 Congress passed an act to the effect that on and after May 1, 1795, the flag of the United States be fifteen stripes, alternate red and white, and that the union be fifteen stars, white in a field of blue. These additional stars and stripes were for the states of Vermont and Kentucky.

The impracticability of adding a stripe

for each new state became apparent as

"An Act to Establish the Flag of the United States:

"Sec. I. Pe it enacteu, That from and after the fourth day of July next, the flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union have twenty stars, white in a blue field.

"Sec. II. Be it further enacted, That on the admission of every new state into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag, and that such addition shall take effect on the fourth day of July succeeding such admission."

June 14th, the anniversary of the adoption of the flag, is now celebrated as National Flag Day throughout the United States.

No changes other than the addition of new stars have been made in our national flag since 1818. flag since 1818. Several stars have been added, until today there are forty-eight in all. Every state has its star, and each of the original thirteen colonies has its stripe. the original thirteen colonies has its stripe. The territories are not represented on the flag. The last addition to the constellation was made in 1912, when Arizona and New Mexico became states. In October of that year Congress definitely fixed the size and arrangement of the stars in their present order of six rows of stars, with eight stars in each row. Such is our flag today, the emblem of a nation that knows today, the emblem of a nation that knows not defeat. So long as the United States exists the flag will remain in its present form, except that new stars will be displayed as new states come in. It will forIt will forever exhibit the origin of the nation from the thirteen colonies and its growth into a Union of several states.

The national flag was displayed at the battle of Brandywine, at Germantown, and at Saratoga, the turning point of the war for Independence, where the British general, Burgoyne, surrendered to the Americans. All these battles were fought in 1777. The vessels of the American navy flew this flag on the high seas, and their victories made it respected everywhere. John Paul Jones was appointed to the Ranger on June 14, 1777, and he claims that he was the first to display the official stars and stripes on a naval vessel. Ranger sailed from Portsmouth, N. H., on November 1, 1777.

The

John Copley, an American-born painter, was the first to display the Stars and Stripes in Great Britain. On the day that George III acknowledged the independence of the United States, December 5, 1782, he painted the flag of the United States in the background of a large portrait and placed it on public exhibition.

Captain Moors, of the ship Bedford, sailed into the Downs, England, on February 3, 1783, flying the first national flag of this country ever displayed in a British port. At the treaty of peace between Great Britain and the United States, in 1783, our flag was admitted on equal terms with the standards of ancient king

doms and states to the company of banners of the world.

It remains but to add a few interesting facts relative to individual flags:

In the American Museum at Washington now repose thirty historic American flags. Included among them is the original "Star Spangled Banner" of immortal fame, the flag of the highest historic and sentimental value to our whole country. This flag flew over Fort McHenry, in Baltimore harbor, during the bombardment on September 13 and 14, 1814, and was the inspiration of Francis Scott Key's immortal poem, now sung as our national anthem. It is of the fifteen star-and-stripe type adopted by the Act approved by President Washington in 1794. The Star Spangled Banner measures about thirty feet square, though it was probably longer. It is much battered and torn, with one star missing, probably shot away. This great historic souvenir of the War of 1812 has lately been preserved by quilting on heavy linen, and will ever remain one of the country's most precious relics.

The largest American flag was recently unfurled in St. Louis, Mo. It is 150 feet by 78 feet, made of wool bunting, and weighs a quarter of a ton.

Today there is being waged in western Europe a series of battles that will go down. into history as by far the greatest, longest, most terrible and bloodiest series of battles known to man. Also to the north, the south and the east of Europe, legions and legions of men are fighting to the death in a great world struggle between autocracy and democracy. When the myriad battles are done, above the carnage and the slaughter, and over a conquered despotism, there will float at least one flag, unsullied and unstained, wafting Freedom's message to the world.

(Here display the star-spangled banner, while all sing the national anthem.)

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BEACON NEWS COLUMN Every publisher who has some primary reading books to sell ought to be out in full force boosting for The Beacon Method because the child who starts with The Beacon Method learns to read more quickly than with any other method, and reads so readily that he needs at least a dozen primers and first readers during his first year in school.

The publishers of The Beacon Method have hundreds of letters from primary teachers and superintendents to prove this. In last month's Beacon News Column one such letter was given. Here is another:

"After using The Beacon Method of Teaching Reading for two years, I am more firmly convinced than ever before that we are using the simplest possible key' for the mastery of word forms, and because we are using this key, we are more quickly and easily getting the thought from the printed page. Visitors from different places who have heard our children read recently have been loud in their praises of the splendid expression and ease in thought getting and giving which they show in their reading. The children who have learned word mastery as these children have, would never think of going to the teacher with fingers on words, with the timeworn question, 'What's that word, teacher?' because they have gained independent power in mastery of forms to such a degree that such a silly unpedagogical habit is no longer thought of. The little boy who said: 'Aw, shoot! if it wasn't for the words I could read it all right,' certainly spoke truly of the necessity of the power of word mastery first. "The proof of the pudding'-you know the rest. I have repeatedly tested these children in various ways and have heard them tested by others and they know what they are reading. It is not mere word calling. If you doubt it, come and see!"

(Signed) LILLIAN O. HEILMAN, Primary Supervisor in Eureka, Cal., Schools.

Nineteen counties and more than twenty California cities are now using the Beacon Method to a greater or less extent, and wherever used, better results with half the work are obtained.

Last year many thousands of children in this field learned to read with pleasure by the Beacon Method-next year many thousands more will do likewise.

If the Beacon light is not shining in your neighborhood, write the publisher, GINN & CO., 20 Second St., San Francisco, for "A Few Facts About Phonetics," and copies of the miniature Beacon Charts, all of which will be sent to teachers free of charge. BE A BEACON BOOSTER and you'll be happy.