making of them." Another
flag, belonging to a company of Massachusetts cavalry, seems to have
been something quite out of the common, for it was of damask and silk
and adorned with silver fringe. A real artist must have used his brush
upon it, for the bill read, "For painting in oyle on both sides a
Cornett on rich crimson damask, with a hand and sword and invelloped
with a scarfe about the arms of gold, black and silver"; and for all
that gorgeousness, generously painted "on both sides," the charge was
the moderate one of L5 2_s._ 6_d._ This was made for what was known as
the "Three County Troop," composed of cavalry from Essex, Middlesex,
and Suffolk Counties in Massachusetts, and was probably used in King
Philip's War.

Now, wherever a discoverer planted the sole of his foot, he took
possession for his sovereign of all the land in sight and all the land
which joined that land. Naturally, the claims of the colonies soon
conflicted. The good folk of New England made an alliance to defend
themselves against the Dutch, Swedes, and French. They managed to be
good allies for forty years without a flag. Then came one brilliant
enough to make up for the delay, and sent to them across the sea by no
less a man than King James II himself. This was of white with a St.
George's cross of red. In the center of the cross was a golden crown and
under it the King's monogram in black. A few years later matters in
England had changed. King James II had proved to be a very poor sort of
sovereign, and it was made clear to him that for his health and
comfort--possibly for his head--it would be wise for him to leave the
country. This he did in alarm and at full speed, tossing the royal seal
into the Thames on his way. It is small wonder that New Englanders
preferred a new flag. The only marvel is that they waited so long a time
before getting it. When it was finally chosen, it proved to be red with
a white canton or union cut by a red St. George's cross into four
squares. In one of these squares was the representation of a pine tree.
This representation can hardly have been a work of art, for one
historian says unkindly of it that it "no more resembled a pine tree
than a cabbage." Evidently the brave colonists were not artists.
Nevertheless, even if the good folk of Massachusetts could not draw a
pine tree, they were fond of it, and their General Court decreed that it
should be stamped upon the coins minted in that colony. Now it was the
r