ously bowed his acknowledgment, and when the hand-clapping
ceased he began:

"Honored teachers, diligent pupils, faithful directors, patriotic
citizens, and friends. This is a most momentous occasion. We are met
to-day to do honor to the flag of our country, a flag for which--and I
say it with pardonable pride--I, myself, have fought on many a bloody
and well-known field."

There was a round of applause.

The colonel's face flushed with pleasure, his voice rose and expanded,
and in many a well-rounded phrase and burst of eloquence he appealed
to the latent patriotism of his hearers.

At the end of fifteen minutes he glanced at his watch which was lying
on a table at his side, and then looked at his daughter Millicent who
was occupying a chair in the front row as she had said she would. She
frowned at him forbiddingly. But he was as yet scarcely half through
his speech. He picked up his manuscript from the table and glanced at
it, and then looked appealingly at her. She was obdurate. She held a
warning forefinger in the air.

"I am reminded," he said, "by one in the audience whose judgment I am
bound to respect, that the time allotted to me in this program has
nearly elapsed."

"Fully elapsed," whispered his daughter with pursed lips, in such
manner that, looking at her, he could not fail to catch the words.

"Therefore," continued the colonel, with a sigh, "I must hasten to my
conclusion. I wish to acknowledge my deep indebtedness to your
faithful teacher, Miss Grey, by reason of whose patriotic initiative
the opportunity was presented to me to make this gift. I wish also to
commend the vigilance and effort of the young gentleman who brought
the matter to my immediate and personal attention, and who, I am
informed, will fittingly and eloquently respond to this brief and
somewhat unsatisfactory address, Master Alexander Sands."

Back somewhere in the audience, at the sound of the name, there was an
audible sniff which was immediately drowned by loud hand-clapping on
the part of the Riverbeds. But Colonel Butler was not yet quite
through. Avoiding any ominous look which might have been aimed at him
by his daughter, he hurried on:

"And now, in conclusion, as I turn this flag over into your custody,
let me charge you to guard it with exceeding care. It should be
treated with reverence because it symbolizes our common country.
Whoever regards it with indifference has no patriotic blood in his
veins. Whoever lays