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THE NATIONAL FLAG

HENRY WARD BEECHER

A thoughtful mind, when it sees a nation's flag, sees not the flag, but the nation itself. When the French tricolor rolls out to the wind, we see France. When the new-found Italian flag is unfurled, we see unified Italy. When the united crosses of St. Andrew and St. George, on a fiery ground, set forth the banner of old England, we see not the cloth merely; there rises up before the mind the idea of that great monarchy.

This nation has a banner, too; and wherever this flag comes, and men behold it, they see in its sacred emblazonry no ramping lion and no fierce eagle, no embattled castles or insignia of imperial authority; they see the symbols of light. It is the banner of dawn. It means liberty; and the galley slave, the poor, oppressed conscript, the trodden-down creature of foreign despotism, sees in the American flag the very promise of God.

If one, then, asks me the meaning of our flag, I say to him: It means just what Concord and Lexington meant, what Bunker Hill meant. It means the whole glorious Revolutionary War. It means all that the Declaration of Independence meant. It means all that the Constitution of our people, organizing for justice, for liberty, and for happiness, meant.

Our flag carries American ideas, American history, and American feelings. Beginning with the colonies, and coming down to our time, in its sacred heraldry, in its glorious insignia, it has gathered and stored chiefly this supreme idea: divine right of liberty in man. Every color means liberty; every thread means liberty; every form of star and beam or stripe of light means liberty lawlessness, not license, but organized, institutional liberty — liberty through law, and laws for liberty!

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This American flag was the safeguard of liberty. Not an atom of crown was allowed to go into its insignia. Not a symbol of authority in the ruler was permitted to go into it. It was an ordinance of liberty by the people for the people. That it meant, that it means, and, by the blessing of God, that it shall mean to the end of time!

Under this banner rode Washington and his armies. Before it Burgoyne laid down his arms. It waved on the highlands at West Point. When Arnold would have surrendered these valuable fortresses and precious legacies, his night was turned into day and his treachery was driven away by the beams of light from this starry banner.

It cheered our army, driven out from around New York, and in their painful pilgrimages through New Jersey. In New Jersey, more than in almost every other state, grows the trailing arbutus. May I not think it is sacred drops of Pilgrim blood that come forth in beauteous flowers on this sandiest of soils? For this sweet blossom that lays its cheek on the very snow is the true Pilgrim's Mayflower! This banner streamed in light over the soldiers' heads at Valley Forge and at Morristown. It crossed the waters rolling with ice at Trenton, and when its stars gleamed in the cold morning with victory, a new day of hope dawned on the despondency of this nation.

Our states grew up under it. And when our ships began to swarm upon the ocean to carry forth our commerce, and Great Britain arrogantly demanded the right to intrude her search warrants upon American decks, then up went the lightning flag, and every star meant liberty and every stripe streamed defiance. The gallant fleet of Lake Erie — have you forgotten it? The thunders that echoed to either shore were overshadowed by this broad ensign of our American liberty. Those glorious men that went forth in the old ship Constitution carried this banner to battle and to victory. The old ship is alive yet. Bless the name, bless the ship, bless her historic memory, and bless the old flag that waves over her yet!

How glorious, then, has been its origin! How glorious has been its history! How divine is its meaning! Accept it in all its fullness of meaning. It is not a painted rag. It is a whole national history. It is the Constitution. It is the government; and for the sake of its ideas rather than its mere emblazonry, be true to your country's flag.

NOTE. In the selection which follows the rhythmical impulses of Pulsative Emphasis are especially illustrated.

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PART II

THE DELIVERY

I. THE PRINCIPLES OF VOCAL EXPRESSION

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"An Element," says Webster, "is one of the essential parts or principles upon which the fundamental powers of anything are based." The notes of the song bird and the roar of the mountain storm, so different in significance, accord with nature's elements of expression. These elements are as old as nature itself. The principles of man's vocal art are no less traceable to nature, the original source from which we must draw our knowledge of applied elocution. All the principles of elocution herein set forth are heard in the sounds of nature, and we must learn to use them correctly if we would be natural in public speech. Furthermore, there is a close relation between these principles and the triune nature of man previously discussed (Part I, p. 4), so that each one has its foundation in our inward consciousness as well as in the external realms of nature.

There are four fundamental vocal principles, - (1) Time, (2) Quality, (3) Force, and (4) Pitch. Briefly defined, Time is the duration of utterance; Quality is the kind of sound; Force is the power with which sound is emitted; and Pitch is the elevation or depression of the notes on the scale. These are essential to all utterance, since no sound can be made that does not embody all of them, while in their various modifications and combinations every shade of expression can be traced.

As a tabular view of all the vocal principles and their triune relation, and for use as a reference page as each element is discussed, we subjoin the following diagram :

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