the Flag of fifteen stars and
stripes, which floated over Fort McHenry--near Baltimore--in the War of
1812, and which Francis Scott Key (imprisoned on a British ship) saw "by
the dawn's early light" after watching through the night "the rocket's
red glare, the bombs bursting in air" as proof that the fort had not
fallen to the enemy. The next day he wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner."

It is said that peace has its victories as well as war, and Scouts will
want to know that our flag flew from the first vessel ever propelled by
steam--Robert Fulton's _Clermont_.

It was carried by Wilbur Wright on his first successful airplane flight
in France.

It was the flag planted at the North Pole by Robert Peary.

It was the National emblem painted upon the first airplane to make the
transatlantic flight, May, 1919.

At first, when states came into the Union, a new stripe and a new star
were added to the flag, but it was soon evident that the added stripes
would make it very unwieldly. So on April 4, 1818, Congress passed this
act to establish the flag of the United States:

"Sec. 1. Be it enacted ... That from and after the 4th of July next, the
flag of the United States be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red
and white; that the union have twenty stars, white on a blue field.

"Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, that, on admission of every new State
into the Union, one star be added to the union of the flag; and that
such addition shall take effect on the 4th day of July succeeding such
admission."

In 1917 after the United States entered the World War, the Stars and
Stripes were placed with the flags of the Allies in the great English
Cathedral of St. Paul's in London, and on April 20, 1917, the flag was
hoisted beside the English flag over the House of Parliament as a symbol
that the two great English-speaking nations of the world had joined
hands in the cause of human brotherhood.

RESPECT DUE THE FLAG

1. The flag should be raised at sunrise and lowered at sunset. It should
not be displayed on stormy days or left out over night, except during
war. Although there is no authoritative ruling which compels civilians
to lower the flag at sundown, good taste should impel them to follow the
traditions of the Army and Navy in this sundown ceremonial. Primarily,
the flag is raised to be seen and secondarily, the flag is something to
be guarded, treasured, and so tradition holds it shall not be menaced by
the darkness.