Article March 16, 1899 Issue

"Old Glory"

At a Fourth of July dinner in Shanghai, the English consul toasted the British flag. He said: "Here is to the Union Jack — the flag of flags, the flag that has floated on every continent and every sea for a thousand years, the flag on which the sun never sets."

It was a strong sentiment, and the Americans were a little overawed until Eli Perkins was called to toast the Stars and Stripes. Looking into the proud faces of the Englishmen, he said: —

"Here is to the Stars and Stripes of the new republic; when the setting sun lights up her stars in Alaska, the rising sun salutes her on the rock-bound coast of Maine. It is the flag of Liberty, never lowered to any foe, and the only flag that whipped the flag on which the sun never sets!"

And may the Stars and Stripes and the Red Cross of Britain never clash again in mortal strife, but together, floating over millions of the same blood, form the bulwark of the world's hope and dictate peace to the warring powers of Christendom.

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