Robert Morris died May 8, 1806, and his remains lie buried under Christ Church parish house, on Second Street near Market. Over his remains is the simple inscription:

The Family Vault, of WM WHITE, & ROBT MORRIS, The latter, who was Financier of the United States during the Revolution, died the 8th May, 1806, aged 73 Years.

EVER

BETSY ROSS AND THE FLAG.

'VERY American boy and girl should know that the flag of our country had its birth in the city of Philadelphia; that it was a patriotic woman of Philadelphia who made the first flag; that it first waved over the United States Congress in session in Independence Hall; and that to Philadelphia belongs the honor of originating the custom of observing Flag Day in the public schools.

To-day the American flag floats over almost every schoolhouse in the country, teaching a lesson of patriotism to the boys and girls of our public schools. Children are taught to admire its graceful motion, so expressive of freedom; its bright stars, the symbols of hope, equality, and national aspiration; and its broad stripes, which remind us of the struggle of the thirteen colonies in the sacred cause of freedom. They are taught to prize its heavenly blue, as an emblem of power, protection, and justice; its spotless white, as the symbol of purity, virtue, and peace; and its royal red, as a token of courage, vigilance, and zeal. It

speaks to the child of the noble deeds and heroic acts of his forefathers; and its lessons of patriotism are as clear to-day as upon the day of its adoption by Congress.

The American flag was a natural development, and not a special creation. Before the Revolution each colony had its own flag or banner. These emblems differed in size, in color, in devices, and in mottoes. No two of the colonies had a flag of the same design, and many different flags were used in the same colony. The flags of the North had one device in common, a pine tree, with the inscription, "An appeal to heaven," while the flag of the South had a rattlesnake, with the inscription, "Don't tread on me." At the beginning of the Revolution the dominant color of the flag of the army was red, while that of the navy was white. Hidden in every fold of these flags, however, was the sentiment, "Liberty and union." As this idea was common to all the colonies, our forefathers sought to invent a design that should represent the freedom and union of the colonies. They wanted a flag that would speak comfort to the oppressed of every nation, defiance to the tyrant, and be the emblem of those principles of justice for which they contended.

When Dr. Franklin, Mr. Lynch, and Mr. Harrison, as a committee from Congress, visited Washington at Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1775, to discuss the condition of the American army, they realized the necessity of a national ensign in order that our sailors at sea and our troops on land might recognize each other, and be united in action under a common flag in a common cause. They consulted with Washington about an emblem, and it is probable that his recollection of the standard of the

Philadelphia light horse, which escorted him on his way out of the city on the morning of June 21, 1775, to his command of the American forces at Cambridge, had impressed him with its field of alternate colors as being appropriate for a national flag.

The result of the conference at Cambridge was the adoption of a flag with thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, emblematic of the thirteen original colonies. On the upper right-hand corner of the flag was a blue field. with the king's colors, red and white, thus acknowledging fealty to the king; for though the Americans were in arms. against the king's troops, they still hoped that the English Parliament would repeal the obnoxious laws it had passed, and restore to the colonists those English rights that were theirs by inheritance and by royal colonial charters. For this reason they retained on their flag the king's colors. Up to January 1, 1776, the Americans had no red, white, and blue flag. This new flag was called "Washington's Grand Union" flag, and it was first unfurled by Washington over the camp at Cambridge, Massachusetts, January 2, 1776, where it was saluted with thirteen guns and thirteen cheers. There were two classes of persons, however, who did not favor this flag. The Protestant religious element, objected to the cross as savoring of papistry, and the radical patriots objected to the king's colors at all times. However, it was accepted and unfurled on sea and on land as the Continental flag.

There was, however, no national flag authorized by any act of the United States Congress until the year 1777. Every colonial flag up to the 19th of April, 1777, was unmarked by a single star. The portrait of Washington

at the battle of Trenton, December 26, 1776, painted by Charles Wilson Peale in 1779, represents the Union Jack with thirteen stars arranged in a circle; an unfinished sketch of the battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777, painted by Colonel Trumbull, who was in active service until February, 1777, represents the American flag carried by the troops as having thirteen stripes, red and white alternately, with a blue field, one star in the center and twelve in a square surrounding it; and Leutze's painting of Washington crossing the Delaware pictures a flag with the stars and stripes floating; yet it is probable that these flags were not intended to be historically accurate, but were used merely for artistic effect.

In the spring of 1776 the navy was flying a flag under commission from Congress. This was a yellow silk flag bearing as its device a pine tree and a rattlesnake with thirteen rattles. One year later Congress appointed a committee to design a national flag; it is not known who suggested the blue field and the stars. When the Congress of the United States assembled at Independence Hall, Saturday, June 14, 1777, they "Resolved, That the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." This act was officially signed and publicly proclaimed by Congress September 3, 1777; thus it was nearly a year and a half after the adoption of the Declaration of Independence before a national flag representing the "new constellation" was adopted by the Congress of the United States.

There is a tradition that the committee appointed by Congress to prepare a design for the new flag consisted of

General Washington, Robert Morris, and Colonel George Ross. From the diary of Washington we learn that he was not in Philadelphia

June 14, 1777, but at Middlebrook, New Jersey; nor had he been in Philadelphia from June 5, 1776, to August 31, 1777. He may have been, however, one of the chosen committee, and furnished a design for their consideration, and the device may have been suggested by the design on his coat of arms. Colonel Ross had a relative, Betsy Ross, who lived.

at 239 Arch Street, and who had previously made flags for the American army and navy. The committee called upon Mrs. Ross, stated their mission, and asked her if she would make a flag such as was ordered by Congress. "I do not know whether I can, but I'll try," was her reply. As the act of Congress did not specify the number of points of the stars or their arrangement, Mrs. Ross suggested that a star of five points would be more distinct, pleasing, and appropriate than the six-pointed star which the committee had designed. Folding a piece of white paper, she cut, with a single clip of her scissors, a fivepointed star, and placing it on a blue field, delighted the

STO. OF PHIL.-18