ight of the King to coin money, and when Charles II heard that the
ambitious colonists were making it for themselves, he was not pleased.
"But it is only for their own use," said a courtier who favored the
colonies, and taking a New England coin from his pocket, he showed it to
the King. "What tree is that?" demanded the aggrieved monarch. "That,"
said the quick-witted courtier, "is the royal oak which saved Your
Majesty's life." "Well, well," said the King, "those colonists are not
so bad after all. They're a parcel of honest dogs!" Perhaps they were,
even if their likenesses of pine trees could not be distinguished from
cabbages and oaks. Hawthorne's story, "The Pine-Tree Shillings," is
written about this inartistic coinage.

So the story of the flags went on. Besides the English flag every
little company of militia had its standard. One flag bore a hemisphere
in the corner in place of a pine tree, and another bore nothing but a
tree. The colonists did not trouble themselves about being artistic or
choosing colors of any special significance; if the ground of the flag
was of one color and the cross or whatever other figure was chosen was
of another, they were satisfied. Charleston, South Carolina, had a
specially elegant flag--blue with a silver crescent--to use on
"dress-up" days. After a time even the Indians were sometimes
furnished with flags, for one kindly governor gave them a Union Jack
as a protection. He presented them also with a red flag to indicate
war and a white one as a sign of peace; and probably the fortunate
Indians felt with all this magnificence quite like white folk.

In 1745, when that remarkable expedition of New Englanders--which had
"a lawyer for contriver, a merchant for general, and farmers,
fishermen, and mechanics for soldiers"--set off to capture Louisburg
from the French, they sailed proudly away under a flag whereon was
written in Latin, "Never despair, for Christ is our leader." It was on
this same expedition that a new flag was hoisted, the like of which
was never seen before. An officer discovered that a battery on the
shore of the harbor was apparently vacant. There was no flag flying
from the staff and no smoke rising from the chimney. It looked as if
that battery might be taken easily. On the other hand it was also
quite possible that this was a ruse and was meant to decoy the
colonists within. The officer concluded to run the risk--of losing the
life of some one else. Holding up